Rise- Norta United

Twenty-two

A/n: Sorry I haven't updated, I had midyears, the quarter was ending, the semester was ending, I started wellness class and I'm preparing for a dance recital in May but we need to get choreography right now to prepare so I am so so sorry. I'm back though, and I won't be gone for as long again.

Kamberly 

It's late when I enter my room alone and I sit down on the bed. 

My head won't stop pounding in my head, and it feels like it's killing me. 

I place my head in my hands, and it's burning hot to my touch. 

This annoys me even more. 

I'm sick and running a fever.

A knock at my door sounds like lightning and Mom enters, grinning at Dad as he enters behind her. 

"We were thinking of running down to the game room to join your brothers in a match of footba- Kamberly, are you alright?!" 

I sink down into a chair and nod. "I'm just running a fever. Keep going, I'm fine." 

"Are you sure we shouldn't call the doctor?" Mom asks worriedly. 

I shake my head, mustering a smile. "I'll ask Natalie to send up some tea and I'll go to bed early tonight. I'll be fine, Mom. Go downstairs and play with them." 

She sighs and walks out of the room and Dad kisses my forehead, frowning. "You are a bit warm. Are you sure you'll be alright? 

"Dad, I'll be fine but not if you don't trust that I'm alright. Do you trust me?" 

He frowns. "I'm going to stay by your side in case you've been poisoned, honey. This isn't the first time you've run a fever and then kidnapped. I'm staying with you until your mom can switch me out." 

He takes a seat on the bed as I crawl under the sheets and I look at him as he gazes out the window. 

"Can you tell me the story again of Elara?" I say softly. 

Elara is technically my grandmother on my dad's side but what she did to my mother and father was unforgivable, and she died several years ago. 

"Why are you always so interested in her?" He asks with a small laugh. 

"I guess I want to know more about my family, that's all." 

He smiles sadly as he looks at me. "Right then. Your grandmother.. Elara, was my mother, but she always had a twisted view on the world. When I was born, your grandmother made me learn to walk faster than I could because I was a shy and less willing to do anything baby. In the eyes of my father, the king, that made me look weak compared to your uncle. Elara couldn't have that, she was Queen, even if Cal was already going to be the first in line to the throne, she needed me to be as strong, as better. No matter how many times I would cry out, she would warp my mind so that I would be able to walk at an earlier age, learn how to talk by the time I was 3. I wish I could say that was the last time she warped my mind. She warped my mind not long after I was married to your mother. Turning me against your mother made me feel less human so that I didn't have control over who I was. I killed Evangeline's father, and nearly killed your mother as she tried to gain me back from Elara's vice-like hold. Your mother died for some time but when we brought her back, Elara was dead and she never had control over me again. Sometimes not long after you and your brother were born, I would hear her whispers in my head at night, and it terrified me that she would be after you. Sometimes it still does." 

I prop myself onto an elbow and look into his eyes.

 His portrait done after he married my mother looks different than how he looks now. 

He's older now, obviously. His hair was a deep black, the color of my hair now, but it is now slashed with silver, and his blue eyes are less striking, the color of his irises are duller and there are crease lines around his eyes with smiling so much.

 My father may be older, but he is far from wrinkled, and far from old, he is still devastatingly handsome and sharp as a blade. 

"So Elara is really gone, isn't she?" I ask and he nods.

 "Yes. I burned her ashes and scattered them throughout the slums of the city before we demolished the slums." 

I cackle at that. "So you really made sure she was gone." 

He cracks a smile. "In more ways than one, yes. Try and rest if it's just a virus. I'll be right here, Kamberly." 

I turn on my side and close my eyes. 

Having my father near me reminds me of how it was when I was younger, even now as a grown woman who is nearing her reign.

 I still can't get over the fact that I'll be Queen soon, after my father passes the crown onto me. 

Maven 

Kamberly is growing up to be the queen that me and Mare have taught our entire lives, to be compassionate and caring, to be wise and fair, to be strict and gentle. 

Kamberly reminds me of how Mare is as a Queen, and how lucky Norta is to receive their first monarch by birth, now that the law has been instated that females who are first-born are permitted to be the Crown's first choice. 

Growing up and watching Kamberly grow up and ride every struggle through is inspiring to both me and Mare, and watching her be a responsible sister to her brothers, and a loving friend to Circlette and Eadlyn. 

I am happy that my successor is so prepared and still so innocent enough to be a sharp blade with no dull edge in her utilities. 

I kiss her forehead and smile at her sleeping form. 

She's grown up before my very eyes. 

A/N: I'm baaaack! Next chapter will be all about Caleb and Eadlyn :)