... sitting in that throne, covered in the thick furs of beasts conquered, was the man who held that power: King of the Eternal Realm of the Moon, Rune Ariesson.
King Rune lifted his silver chalice from the table in front of him.
"Master of Garden."
Orion answered with his head humble. "Your majesty."
"The meal you have prepared today has once again proven to me that your hands can form even simple fruits into rare treasures." The King said. At the simple sentence a fury of conversation was ignited from the nobles that were gathered behind tables on either side of the hall. Voices murmured empathies with the King's proclamation as they sipped from their glasses. Alta had never seen so many of the nobles in one place at the same time. His eyes became busy as they flitted about the hall, focusing on trying to place faces with house-given names and which symbol represented them.
His eyes stuck onto one man whose beard could not hide his rosy-red cheeks complimented the wine loudly, holding up the cup of wine that looked like a mere trinket in his hands. He had to have been from the House of Boerne. Alta scanned the sigils on the stone walls, finding the one to match. A two-tusked boar standing with five spears in its back. Resilient and loyal. The words came to Alta's mind like reading a sentence off a page.
"I am both humble and grateful for your praises, your majesty." Master Orion bowed his entire upper body to the King. It startled Alta out of his thoughts as he hurriedly followed his master with a bow of his own.
"Rise, there is no need for you to be humble here."
Master Orion and Alta both straightened their backs at the King's word. Alta's eyes caught this time on a woman sitting on the right side of the King. Or, rather, her hair is what caught his attention. Wavy, soft and green, like flower petals on a budding rose. A demon.
Alta had never seen such a sight as the King's demon, let alone any demon, even after living within the castle grounds for most of his life. In the Temple's halls, in his own room under candlelight, he had read the stories of the evils of demons. Of how they took over souls and corrupted them, changing those they tricked into bonding with them into power-thirsty monsters that drank another human's blood on a new moon when the Goddess was not able to watch over the innocent. Only the divine blood of the Goddesses line itself could hold the curse back.
He had always imagined them to have horns on top of their head or scales that poked out from beneath peeled skin, mouths overrun with blood. Instead, this jade demon was- beautiful. The colour did not just fit her, but seemed to be her as if it illuminated her from the soul inside to out through her skin. Is that what it meant to be a demon?
The green-haired demon looked in his direction, her and Alta's eyes connecting for a few seconds. As if sensing his astonishment, she tried to hide her bemusement. A small upturning of her mouth corner gave it away as she turned back to the King. Her Bonded.
Within the few moments Alta and the demon had interacted, King Rune and Master Orion continued to talk about the wine amidst the low rumble of whispers in the crowd.
"The fruits that the wine was made from comes from flowers that grow on a vine. These flowers only bloom after the vine has grown for seven years, thus giving them the name Coming-of-Age Blooms." Master Orion explained.
"Seven years?" A voice chirped in surprise from two seats to the right side of the King. The woman who had spoken was without a single doubt Queen Portia. She belonged to the richest family in the kingdom, perhaps the entirety of the four realms, and she was not going to let even one person forget the extravagance of the House of Estella. Bright yellow satin down to her ankles and rubies as big as fists weighing down her ears made sure she was a spectacle to all.
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When a Stars Teardrops Become Jewels: Eclipsed Garden
Fantasy| #3 Lavendar Awards 2023 | #8 in Clairvoyant | Alta goes from being an apprentice to a prince of the Eternal Realm in seconds after his mother's affair with the King is made public and him and his younger brother are admitted to the palace, shaking...