Leora - hidden light

Chapter eight

His hands are so cold to hold, no wonder he was warming them up. His other hand is on my back.

"I don't know how to dance." I say nervously. Where I'm from, we don't dance around in little balls, we take out our swords and fight. DEIMO. Totally forgot about it.

"Are you even a princess if you don't know how to dance? Just follow my style." He says as he tightens his grip and starts swaying right, then left. Then back then forward. He places my hand on his shoulders and we continue to do it three more times and I got the hang of it.

"What?" I caught him staring at me intently.

"It's just funny how focused you are on this dance." He starts chuckling again, finding it amusing that I don't know how to dance. His entire body shakes and I start laughing with him. The song suddenly changes and Adonis starts doing it differently.

"Now I'm gonna spin you,"

"What? Ho-" I am cut off as he lets go of ny back and turns away slightly. I do the same and I do a spin and end up standing with my back to his chest. My heart is beating fast. Blood rushed to my face. What am I doing? What's this feeling?

"You're a fast learner." His voice at my ear as a whisper and his tone impressed.

"Leora..." I can hear Luci.

I quickly get off Adonis, letting go of his hand.

"The next lesson will have to wait." I tell him.

"The next lesson will be taught by you." He replies, giving me a half smile, rakes his hand through his hair and turns away. I have no idea what he meant.

"Leora, what is this thing?" Luci asks me when I walk to the entrance of the room to meet him.

"It's a... I don't know what it is. People come together and dance? Yeah, that's what it is." He still looks confused. He looks kind of ridiculous in a black shirt with a dark grey vest over it and a dark grey coat. This one's a different shade of grey though.

"We have an appointment, brother."

We take almost 20 sets of stairs before we reach the Queens diner. The huge doors open and Tellia ushers us in.

"What can I get you two? Some warm milk or... Warm mead? Bread and veggies?" She asks us as we get seated opposite each other, next to the head of the table.

The room is empty except for me and Lucian.
The click click click sound of high heels comes from a hallway in the corner and there appears The Queen. Both of us stand to greet her, even though Luci was a bit hesitant at first, my face signals pushed him to do so.

We get seated and she starts,

"Both of you now see me as a cruel, cold hearted and an awful person. None of that is true. And I want you to know the exact reason that you're here for."

"Well, you BROUGHT us here..." Lucian says through gritted teeth.

"Yes Lux- I mean, Lucian. I brought you here because I need you to help me."

She says as she looks at me and then Luci, in a kind hearted way, in a motherly way?

"And also for a naughty reason of course. I want your father to BEG me. For me release you. He's got such a big ego and I want to see it crumble... Heha". She says as she rubs her hands together. Okay, she's pretty funny.

"It's gonna take a lot more than kidnapping us to make him BEG, your majesty." I say smiling.

The food arrived. The Queen has ordered a well cooked meat of some sort with gravy and many variety of vegetables alongside a glass of red.
Lucian's plate contained the same meat but with a lot more gravy and a tomato soup. I have a plate of bread, cheese, fried vegetables and potato gravy. After an entire minute of silence, which included eating, she continued,

"Well, no. You don't know your father at all then. Do you remember your mother?" The question took me back in time. Eleven years ago, when Luci and I were eight, our last memory of our mother, she was in bed, her eyes closed, her long, curly blonde hair all over the place and I had never seen her like that. Those were the first stages of the sickness, then it got worse and we weren't allowed to see her. Her songs always come to my mind when I go to sleep. Her voice when calling me, Lori, is what she and now Lucian calls me.

"I'm assuming the answer is yes, since I received the silent treatment, " Lucian is moving a piece of meat in his fork whilst staring at his glass of water.

"She was from Kodurk. A Kodurk citizen. But when she met you dad, she wanted to leave behind all of her kingdom. She didn't want this. What I now have. She was my friend. Her father, then King, tried to hunt her down several times, but was always stopped by the strongest, Lux. The handsome prince of Thestronia, the warrior, fighter and protector of all of Thestronia and your mother, Seleya."

Whatever she is saying is going into my head, picture by picture.

"He lost the love of his life. He feels anger towards Kodurk, for making his wife's life miserable but that's not why she died... I'm sorry you'll never be the love of his life like your mother, but he loves you so much. He'll come for you...."

"The King of Delphirs, in Monter. You were going to fight him. Am I right?" She asks.

I nod and she continues. "Well that's what we are going to do as well. The place that lays between Kodurk and Thestronia, is Monter. The place that has day and night, sunlight and moonlight. We need it. "
Her tone suddenly changes into aspirational.

"By adding you two to our chavalry we have a higher chance at winning. I know what you're thinking, 'don't they have dragons?' Well yes. Two of them. One is an infant and it's going to take about thirteen years before it's actually useful. We don't have a lot of Delphirs, we have soldiers, and other resources. But it isn't complete without the two of you. Lux can't take you away from Kodurk forever......"