Little Princess

Exhausted

TW: self harm

Queen Elvira- Witch Queen

*Nymeria's P.O.V*

I stare tiredly at the papers in front of me, my eyes burning from how exhausted I was. It was like tiny bees stinging my eyes and leaving me in an exhausted, tired mood. Closing my eyes gave me relief but only for as long as my eyes are closed.

Perhaps I should just lose this battle, go to sleep and recover from my exhaustion but I didn't want to. Sure I had stayed awake for over two days straight but in all fairness, I hadn't had anyone say I couldn't do that. It had been a few weeks since all of the royals had left but they visited me often. Elvira would teleport people to me or would teleport me to go visit them depending on who was more busy.

They had told me they would be busy this week but I hadn't realized that meant that they wouldn't be able to visit me. Or when they had managed, it wasn't for long. Apparently it was some super important meeting with other supernaturals but for the past two days, no one had come to visit.

It hadn't helped that the night before last, I had gotten into this weird sort of mindset.  It was this mindset that if I didn't keep working, something bad was going to happen. It wasn't like a normal feeling, not for me at least. It was this thought that made my heart hammer in my chest whenever it popped up.

Normally I could ignore these thoughts, they would leave me alone if I just let them pass through. This one didn't though. This one stayed in my head, bouncing around like a trapped animal. Snarling and vicious, the fangs of this thought latched onto my brain and wouldn't let go.

I flinch as I feel a cool hand on my shoulder. Even through the fabric of my dress, I can feel the coolness since my skin burns. It's like lava is boiling under my skin even when I try to cool myself off. My eyes open as the hand tightens on my shoulder. I stare up at Castien blankly, not sure why he is interrupting me.

"You need to take a break," Castien says and I can see him studying me. He glances at my hands and I frown, biting my bottom lip. I pause as I look at my hands. I've chewed my nails down until I can't chew on them anymore, my fingers hurting from how short I have made them. The skin around my nails is blood from me picking at it.

"I'm fine Cas, go back to patrolling," I say as I glance at him, my voice wavering from how hard it is to even speak. I just want him to go away. I can get back to work after he leaves and finish everything.

"It's 11 in the morning, I've already patrolled," Castien says, making me pause. The last time I checked the time, it was 5 in the afternoon. Has time already passed so fast? That couldn't be possible.... Three days awake seemed like an impossible thing.

"Oh, then go train some of the newer guards," I suggest, waving him away. He grabs my hand and I glare at his audacity. He had no right to do that! I was the one in charge, he was my guard and he was supposed to listen to me! That's how it worked.

"Nymeria, get up. You're exhausted and sick, your skin is burning hot!" Castien says as he pulls me up by the arm. I whine as I try to jerk my arm away from him. He had no right to do that, I deserved to be able to do whatever I wanted.

"Stop it Cas, you're being a jerk," I try to twist away, wanting to get back to my paperwork. I had already done most of it, even the stuff not due for months but there was never a time for a break. I had to keep working!

"No, I'm not," Castien says as he lets me go. I flop back in my chair as he leaves the room and I look down at the paper I had been reading. I focus on it, reading through it. My eyes hurt and the words keep blurring together. My brain is being stupid! I'm not able to absorb anything that I am reading and even after the fifth time of reading through it, I haven't grasped any context for what the paper is talking about.

I put my head down, running my fingers through my hair and pulling at it. "Stupid, so fucking stupid," I say as I hit the side of my head with a curled up fist. Why couldn't I just read the damn paper? Why did I have to be so fucking stupid?!

I let out a noise of anger as a sob escapes me, my eyes burning not only from tiredness but also from tears. I don't know how long I sit there, anger at myself burning in my chest before I feel something drop into my lap. I look down at it, through blurry eyes, I see Elvira's crown.

"Go to them Nymeria, you need it," Castien says as I look at him. I stare down at the crown on my lap as I look back and forth between him and the crown. I pick it up, opening my mouth to protest. I thought I had hidden the crown, hiding it behind a hidden door in my room.

"But...the paperwork...the kingdom," the protests don't seem to phase him as he just rolls his eyes.

"Go Nym, the kingdom would suffer a lot worse if you died," he states and I nod. I think about going to see Elvira and it feels like there is a tightness surrounding my body. I suck in a deep breath and close my eyes when white light seems to envelop me.

A noise escapes me when the feeling fades and I open my eyes to see Elvira in front of me. Her eyes widen and she opens her mouth before shutting it.

"Nymeria," she says softly as she gets up, wrapping her arms around. Her hand rests on my back as I look at her, a quiet whimper escaping me. "You're burning up sweetheart," she whispers as she looks down at me, her eyes showing concern.

I bury my face into her chest, not even daring to protest to as she lifts me up. I go limp against her, feeling her hands get colder as she rubs her hands up and down my back before going down my arms to try and cool me off. I can't even lift my head up as my exhaustion fully hits me, my eyes closing as Elvira sits down. I can feel the thought that's constantly been stuck in the back of my head loosen with each moment that I listen to her heartbeat before it fades away. With it fading, my ability to stay awake does too. I fall asleep curled up against Elvira with her hands still trying to cool me off.