The Reckoning - Book Two

Chapter Three - Daella

Ten days and nights.

I was barely sleeping.

The nightmares are back.

Without them here with me to keep the nightmares away I was sinking into their darkness.

So I found myself drifting from day to day, night to night, the only constant was my routine and if it weren't for my servants even that would be lost.

"I would have thought you would be happy to have heard the news my Lady." Lyari says as she binds my corset behind me.

I look at her reflection in the mirror, two dark shadows where my eyes should be.

"Now that the princes have made it to their camp and are safe and well." She smiles at me and I blink, once, twice.

"What?" I ask, voice breaking.

She looks at me in concern, as she did most days.

"Prince Alvaryn and Prince Aeris, they sent word that they have set up camp and met with the reinforcements. The servants have been talking about it since we heard." She says finishing my corset.

They were safe. They had made camp. He hadn't told me.

I walk to the door, opening it quickly.

"Miss, where are you going? You're not dressed properly?" I hear Lyari call out, her voice following me as I reach the corridor.

"Miss! You're not dressed!" She calls out and I start running, weaving between those in my way as I move towards the Kings office hoping it won't be empty.

The guards snap to attention as I approach and stare at me as I stand in front of them.

"I need to see the King." I say, pulling my hands into fists at my sides as I breathe heavily.

"I need to see the King now!" I say after their silence.

They look at each other, a silent conversation taking place as I wait.

One moves to open the door and I don't wait, I push past him but his hands grab my shoulders as I step into the room.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" I shout as I struggle against the guards hold.

He looks at me, eyes running up and down as he takes me in before turning to the guard holding me back.

"It's alright Daven, let her go." He says with a wave of his hand as he stands behind his desk.

I shrug out of the guards grasp hating the feel of his hands against me.

"Daella, what are you doing here?" He asks calmly.

"How dare you not tell me they were safe? You received a message from them and told me nothing?" I demand, still trying to catch my breath.

"Daella, maybe this isn't the best time to be talking about this, you're not even dressed, where are you servants?" He asks, looking me up and down again and I want to rip out his eyes at the look of shame that crosses his face.

"I don't care! When did you get the message?" I ask, digging my fingernails into my palms as I squeeze my hands tightly.

He only stares at me, like he is deciding whether he was going to bother answering me before sighing.

"That really isn't your concern." He finally answers.

"Of course it is! When did you get the message?" I demand again, growing more enraged at his arrogant expression.

He clears his throat. "Two days ago."

I can barely think, my thoughts scrambling and furious and all I can hear is the raging flame in my ears.

"Two days? You have known for two days and you didn't tell me?" I whisper, unable to look up at him, not wanting to see his eyes, his face, the expression he wears like I am the one to be pitied.

"The message had been addressed to me, why would I tell you about it? If the message had been addressed to you then I would have given it to you. I don't need to keep you up to date on their whereabouts with every message or letter I receive!" He snaps back, his green eyes turning dark and defiant. He actually believes he is in the right. Of course he would.

"Because they are your brothers and they are betrothed to me! You don't think that I would want to know that they are safe, that they are alive! I have been worrying myself sick for the last ten days not knowing if they were okay, if they were injured, nothing, and you have known for two days and didn't stop and think for a moment that I would want to know! What kind of heartless monster are you?" I grit out, my words cold and strained.

"I will remind you that I am your King." His words turn icy as his demeanour changes suddenly as he stands to his full height squaring his shoulders. "Just because you are promised to my brothers does not mean you can barge in and start throwing around accusations or calling me anything other than Your Majesty. Now I suggest you return to your rooms and finish getting dressed instead of running around the palace like a mad woman. And the next time you have the idea to burst into my office and start screaming at me I would reconsider it. I promised my brothers that you could stay here and I would keep you safe, I did not promise that I would allow this kind of behaviour."

"Will you do it again?" I ask quietly. His words rush through me, making me pull back into myself, reeling in every part of myself into a tight ball far away from him.

"Do what?" He asks, agitated.

"Will you keep their messages from me again? Will I remain oblivious until one of my servants informs me?" I ask, feeling all the energy I had entered the room with fade the longer I stand here.

He sighs, looking down at his desk.

"If I receive a message from either of them you will be informed unless it is confidential. You will not be the first to know, or the second, I will have word sent to you in my own time. If there are any messages addressed to you then they will be given to you." He turns, looking at me. "Now, do you have any more demands or can I return to my work?" He asks, clearly done with this conversation and with me.

"Thank you." I say softly. "Your Majesty." I add with a low curtsy finding his eyes watching me as I stand back up.

His eyes are a mixture of emotions and nothing like his brothers, in fact I can't see a single similarity in his face or any part of him. It doesn't make me feel any better or worse.

I turn and walk towards the door knocking gently and waiting for it to open.

I find Lyari waiting with a worried expression.

"Oh there you are! Why did you have to run off like that?" She asks, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and ushering me away from the King. "You had me so worried!"

"I needed to know." I say simply.

"Needed to know what?" She asks in a whisper, eyes wandering around for anyone who might be listening.

"I needed to know if he truly does hate me or if he just doesn't have a heart at all." I answer.

"You can't go barging into the Kings office like that my Lady!" She whispers, her arms guiding me back to my room.

I didn't get my answer.

Perhaps he hated me, perhaps he just had no heart at all.

Lyari stands me in front of the mirror again as Saena stands close by ready to finish dressing me. I stand where I should and stare at the woman in front of me not recognizing the dark eyes that stare back or the haunted expression that watches me.