Something With a Prince

Two Months Ago

Lansing

Arriving in Slerian was like riding up to a forgotten dream. Everything was white, but not the brilliant kind that is dreamt up in novels. The neglected white that is stained grey with age and hard water. Rain was coming down in the bucketful when I reached the steps, making everything look and feel twice as gloomy. My clothes were soaked through, it was freezing, and to top it all off, I had lost half of my supplies on the journey up the mountain due to a mudslide.

There was no one to receive me at the gates since I had arrived a day earlier than expected. Well, no one but the statues. They lined the steps like people frozen in time. All of them looked at me, with their withered faces, leaking with tears and covered in this brown film. The rose bushes had clawed their way over the railing of the steps and wrapped around the figure's wrists, legs, and necks. There were two weeping angels before the door, their wings dripping with grey water and strewn across stone slabs like a sacrifice.

I couldn't help but feel that was a bad sign.

The whole castle was beautiful, in that eerie kind of way that draws you in before trapping you. It had stately architecture that conquered the sky as you looked up. I couldn't tell the towers from clouds and wondered if the castle was white for that exact purpose. Alluring, unassuming, camouflaged. This was a place fit for angels, with its perfumed rose gardens and fountains and massive, laced windows. But one had to wonder why all the angels were crying, and why heaven was caged by thorns. At least, I was wondering.

I knocked on the door, holding my coat as close to me as possible, and passed one more look at the statues. They were all facing away from me now and for some reason, I found that to be creepier than anything. After a moment, the door was answered by a woman, who offered to take my coat. I declined and asked to see Queen Cassida on a matter of business.

The woman looked at me strangely, then her eyes went wide and she took a lower bow than necessary, "Your Highness. Her Majesty was not expecting you until tomorrow. Actually, we were expecting His Highness the Crown Prince."

"My brother had other business and sent me in his place. I set off a day early in case there was bad weather. Luckily, it seems I've just run into the storm upon my arrival." I offered a half smile. "Where is Queen Cassida?"

"Follow me please, Your Highness."

I followed the woman through a series of winding corridors and rooms. There seemed to be more doors than necessary in each hallway. Everything was draped in finery and in the royal colors. Pictures of wasps, and trees, and crowns were everywhere I looked. Once we entered the throne room, I was struck by the massive tree that stood in its very center. The marble flooring looked as if it had been torn out only last week, and yet, the tree was beyond ancient. Its highest branches touched the vaulted ceiling with ease. But it was not its size that was captivating. The tree was bleeding. Thick red blood poured out from gashes in its bark.

"What a surprise, Prince Lansing," A voice interrupted my inspection.

After taking a few steps around its trunk, I saw Queen Cassida sitting leisurely atop her throne, a pale pink dress flowing over her feet and onto the carpeted steps. I greeted her with a bow, giving my best smile. The one that always works at inviting happy feelings.

My response was practiced, "I heard you are fond of surprises. I hope that makes up for any disappointment."

Cassida peered down at me from the top of her nose, taking in my dripping clothes and muddy boots. I probably looked like a brown smudge in her crystalline home. Everything I was wearing was brown, including my own skin which had grown tan during travel. Her eyes, to be fair, were a common sort of brown color but her skin was alarmingly white and that seemed to counteract it. She was nearly as ivory as her castle. I wondered what this all looked like before she became Queen. Allowing, for a moment, my imagination to try and conjure someone else in that throne. Maybe an old queen with greying hair. But it did not work. Nobody claimed this space like Cassida. I suppose that's why they let her become Queen in the first place.