King's Heir (A Dadmare fic)

23

Silence seemed to fleet itself over the entire castle, the glow from the chandelier hanging from the living room ceiling currently being the only form of light due to it being oil and not electricity like the rest of the castle. The cold was settling, blankets draped around the inhabitants that lived in the castle. The king had sent most of his staff home before the blizzard hit so now the only inhabitants were the king, his sons, and a few maids and butlers, one in particular was currently standing by the king.

Both maid and king stood tall, the king's expression almost unreadable as his lone eyelight stared out the window watchful for any sign that the blizzard may end.

"Your majesty," Calin spoke quietly, her large paw resting on the king's shoulder. "Error is a strong prince, he'll be just fine."

Nightmare gave her no glance, his eye never leaving the window as the snow whizzed past while the lights flickered as if to regain their spark only to go out again. "Strength does not matter, it is a matter of time. He is a child, a godling. He needs my magic for him to grow, if I'm not there...'' he shook his head, tendrils curling and sharpening at a seething rage he felt only towards himself. A swore left his mouth, "If only this storm could let up, I'd be able to look for him."

There was a moment of silence before the small sound of footsteps came to approach. "Daddy?" Horror.

Nightmare turned to look at the youngest, met with that large, singular eyelight that reminded him so much of his own. "Yes Ro, is something wrong?"

Horror approached the large window, "Is Ruru be okay Daddy?" Nightmare didn't have the heart to correct his youngest and he only frowned, looking out the window.

"I don't know..." The king muttered, barely loud enough for his youngest to hear. A frown etched its way onto Horror's face and he looked out the window for a moment. Nightmare turned his gaze away with a pitiful sigh only to see his other three children looking up at him with sadden expressions. Nightmare felt his soul drop and he turned away.

The negativity was swelling; sadness, worry, grief, fear... but tracely, almost as if it wasn't there he felt fear turn into relief before the emotions cut off. A spark of hope panged through the God's corrupted soul and he looked back out to the window. His tendrils lowered themself a bit before curling back up as the king looked to the children.

"Boys," His voice caught their attention, "I have some chores for you today." Eyes now on him, he took a deep breath and motioned to the fireplace. "Cross, go ahead and start a fire. Killer and Dust, you two go gather firewood from the stock. Horror, be a dear and gather up some more blankets." Commands made clear, the four scampered off to their respective jobs, a small distraction to the big problem.

Nightmare sighed, looking back to the window. "Calin."

The goat monster lifted her head to her king, "Yes, your majesty?"

"Make something hot over the fire, doesn't matter what it is, just make sure it's hot." Nightmare watched the monster nod and move out of the corner of his eye. His single eyelight looked back to the window before he turned on his heel. Long strides ahead, he left the living room and made his way to the entrance of the castle. He hand gripped his coat and pulled it off the coathanger, slipping it on with a small grunt.

For a moment he paused, staring at the door handle before looking to the stairs he just came down. A huff left his nasal cavity and he opened the door, walking out into the frigid cold making sure to close the door behind him. The wind howled with anguish, enraged by the trespasser that seemed to block its path. The cold bit at his body any place he could and he felt a shiver run through his body. The blizzard held no mercy to him and held more to his namesake than Nightmare could at the moment. The sun was long gone at this point, the darkness only adding onto the horrible inability to see.