ꜱᴄᴀʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋᴇʏꜱ

Chapter 12: Rheton

 She stated facts and highlighted things in her book. Reylyn seemed smart, but almost ambitious at the same time.

"What's your kingdom famous for again?" he asked.

Reylyn looked up again. "It's famous for forest fires," she laughed. "And crops, in the later years at least,"

Rheton nodded. "I would love to visit your kingdom one day," he admitted.

She scowled at him. "The king would lock you up in a cell so you go crazy," she shook her head. "What is it with people always wanting to go to my kingdom?" She made sure she emphasized the word "my."

"Well, we want to see something other than our own kingdom," he mumbled. "I haven't left my kingdom since I was born,"

Reylyn's gazed softened. "I-I'm sorry," she looked away from him, and focused on the other people in the library.

"It's okay," he flipped through the pages of his own book till a guy caught both of their eyes.

Reylyn squinted at the guy. "He looks familiar," she tapped her fingers on her thigh as they both eyed the man.

The man caught their eye and grinned sweetly, and began walking towards them. He had auburn hair and green eyes. He had a green tailcoat on with dress pants the color of leaves. Rheton would've thought that he was from another kingdom if it wasn't for the leaf imprint on his left hand.

Reylyn stopped her tapping and adjusted her stance to look more intimidating.

"Are you always this rude when it comes to meeting new people?" he asked her, he thought she genuinely did look a little bit more scary than before.

"Depends on the person," she admitted dryly.

The man was about three feet away from them when Reylyn twirled her gladius threateningly to the man's throat.

The man scowled. "I just wanted to have a nice discussion with these two fine kids without getting hurt!" His voice was husky and deep.

"I'll let you go once you tell us why you were eying us like we were a ticket out of this kingdom," Reylyn growled. "Not like you have money to pay for a ticket out or anything,"

He laughed slightly as Reylyn dug her gladius deeper into his neck. "Fine. The queen wanted us," he pointed to the other people that were dressed in the same outfits as him. "To go and inform every single last person.."

Reylyn still dug her gladius deeper into his neck.

"About the Quad ball," Reylyn released her grip.

Rheton's curiosity was spiked. "What's the quad ball?"

The man walked over to him gingerly and took a seat on the chair Reylyn was sitting at before.

She scowled angrily. "You know you just took my spot,"

"And this is my kingdom," the man shot back and eyed her. "You don't look like your from Retano,"

"That's because I-."

Rheton caught her off and chuckled nervously. "Sorry about her, Ms," he pulled out the other chair next to him and gestured for Reylyn to sit.

The man let out a sigh of relief once she wasn't a threat. "First of all," he cleared his throat gingerly. "You can call me Joqino,"

Reylyn let out a loud snort. "Who names their kid that?"

Joqino glared at her. "Anyways," he continued as he fixed his hair. "The Quad kingdom ball is where each of the four kingdoms," he put four fingers up. "Retano, Melani, Valedin and Alnao,"

Rheton heard the shuffling of paper to his left side, and he looked over to see Reylyn kick her feet up and read through her book. At least she's not arguing. He thought bluntly.

"This is the first Quad ball in about a thousand years," he stated. "Every person from each kingdom is invited, unless you're a peasant of course," he snickered.

Reylyn adjusted her stance and cleared her throat. "If you're inviting everyone," she glared again, there was a malicious look in her eyes. "Invite the peasants. It'll impress the other kingdoms,"

Joqino raised his eyebrow impatiently, he glared back at her. "We don't invite peasants, you!"

"Technically you're not inviting everyone," her gaze softened to look more innocent. "I promise it'll help you get sponsors from Maleni,"

He ignored her and continued. "We would like you two to follow my folks," he gestured to the people again. "We would like to design your outfits for the ball,"

"I'm not wearing some skimpy outfit for a night," Reylyn grumbled.

"Oh! I almost forgot about something as well," Joqino stated. "The rulers decided to do this because they think something drastic is gonna happen!" He let out a dramatic squeal of nervousness.

Rheton raised his eyebrow. "They say that even with the normal kingdom balls, Joqino,"

"Yes." he shuddered. "Anyways. Let's go design your outfits," Joqino stood up and waited for them to follow.

Joqino led them through many hallways until he accidentally got sidetracked by a server.

Rheton realized they were close to the plant room. This would be fun. He turned to Reylyn. She still had that irritated look on her face.

"Do you wanna go cause trouble?" he asked her.

She nodded with a wicked grin. "Oh yes I do,"

He smiled back and took her hand. She scowled at first, but she let him.