The Mariposa

Chapter 40

A few months later

Elyas

I could hear them everywhere I went.

The whispers in the halls, outside the doors, through the windows, in the trees. They surrounded me.

I didn't know what they were saying, but I know it was about me. And I doubted it was good.

On the surface, everything about being king had been going smoothly. The royal guard was demoted since I couldn't trust many of them, replaced mostly by The Mariposa, who were fiercely loyal to me. Generals had been replaced in my army as well by Veralians and Mariposa. The attack we had sprung on the factory had made closing it that much easier.

But that's when the whispers started getting worse.

I hadn't seen Maeve since the day I... Since that day. One, I was far too busy. But mostly, I couldn't bring myself to, with everything going on. She was with the Mariposa, back at their HQ. Kalon, who had become my personal guard and advisor, had told me she was happy and at peace for once. I couldn't take that away from her.

But there wasn't a moment I wasn't thinking of her. Thoughts of her were my escape from the heavy reality of my current day to day. Every move I made, every decision, every step held so much weight. But for just a moment, I could stop and remember the way she was in the ballroom, or kissing me in the clouds, arguing with me in the abandoned headquarters. Trying to stop me the last day I saw her from doing something that would haunt me every night.

That was another woman haunting my every step. Her haunt was not a pleasant one, however. Every night I was visited by her, to the point that I could feel her blood still dripping down my brow from the crown I had stored away in a locked room.

I was thankfully broken from yet another flashback when the person I summoned finally walked through the doors. I had asked him to meet me back at the abandoned headquarters. It was one of the last places left I couldn't hear the whispers.

"There better be a good reason you made me fly through that freaking storm again, Princess," came Ezekiel's voice, as brash and blunt as always.

I smiled at him, happy to finally be around someone I could more or less trust. Despite the fact that he didn't like me, at least he didn't hide it. I knew exactly what his intentions and feelings were, loud and clear. I couldn't say that for many people anymore.

"It's good to see you. I do apologize, but there's not many places I could ask to talk to you that we would not be joined by... other ears," I explained, leaning back against the counter that stood in the middle of the lobby.

He nodded slowly, walking closer. "Paranoid, are we?"

My jaw clenched. "You would be too."

Ezekiel let out a brief chuckle, averting his gaze. "True. I don't envy your position, Princess. I can't fathom why you'd choose to do something like this to yourself."

"I'm going to cut to the chase, Ezekiel. I likely don't have much time and I don't want to waste it," I said, cutting the chitchat short.

Ezekiel returned his gaze to me, seemingly interested now that I was being solemn. "Fair enough, what do you want?"

"I plan on confessing my feelings to Maeve," I said in a breath, the words rushing out of me with finality, relaxing my whole body with the verbal confirmation of my decision.