Our Curse Breaker (GirlxGirlxGirl)

4: In abundance

"My Duchess, welcome to Len, and to the Golden Palace."

"It's hardly a pleasing welcome."

Delyth gets off her horse, landing comfortably on the ground. Sand dusts beneath her feet, escaping the rhythmic beat of her footsteps as she walks up the steps of the Golden Palace. A boy behind her grabs the saddle strings of her horse and leads it away, but she doesn't look back for the animal. The sun is setting behind the loud, hot, bustling capital, and her dark brown hair sticks to the top of her forehead from the intense heat.

"I hear His Majesty is considering peace with that Empress from the east." Her footsteps are heavy and loud against the yellow stone floors. Her thin blue dress flutters with the movements of her fast pace, and the slight mercy of a wind. She is followed swiftly by the now long aged and tired Rasmus Voubia, her uncle's, and now her cousin's most trusted right hand man. The kind of man a person like her cousin could send to greet her at the Golden Palace gates, instead of doing it himself.

"Peace is a wise decision, Your Grace. A kingdom cannot wage war forever. Not against the Ophion Empire." His rough, wheezy voice cuts through the slightly chiller indoor air. Delyth glances back at him, her sharp, icy blue eyes still managing to look just like the very centre of a burning flame. "Is that praise for the 'great' Ophion Empire I hear? You would do well to watch your tongue." She snaps her head back around, allowing the old man some respite from the rather strange royal blue eyes that all members of the Zeleon family have. He wheezes as he catches up with her in the large hallway.

"Your Grace is fiercely loyal to battle, as always."

Delyth keeps walking, her head held high and a frown on her face. The entrance hallway of the Golden Palace is wide, allowing dozens of people to crowd through at the same time. They all bow to her as she passes by, not a single servant or member of the king's court being able to miss her.

Members of the Zeleon family possess dark brown hair and a darker complexion, which is nothing short of a strong contrast against their almost greyish blue eyes. They are hard to not notice. There are not many of them left, really it's only her and her cousin's small family, him and his two sons. But it seems the rarer she is, the more amazed the glances that are thrown in her way become. She is Duchess now. The rare, lonely Duchess.

The war has taken all members of her family. It's only because she is a woman that she is alive, it is only because she has been denied battle that she is still here. Or so they say. Delyth would rather die in battle than live as some rare gemstone for her cousin's political plans. Alas, here she is anyway. And the war has seemingly come to an end.

"I take it the weather in the Hightones has been good?"

"The weather is rainy, and the temperature pleasing. It's almost pleasing enough to make me forget how my dear uncle, His late Majesty, moved my family seat from Cracend to the most western part of the kingdom." Delyth spits out her words, dropping her sour expression for a mere moment as the ladies of the golden court pass by with their bows and smiles. Rasmus follows behind her, quick to his steps despite his age. He, as always, ignores her harsh words, turning criticism into compliment.

"Highstones is a much larger Dukedom than Cracend. His Majesty was most wise to give his only living family member, aside from his son, the most valuable Dukedom in the kingdom."

It's been so long since the war started. The kingdom of Zeleon allied with its neighbouring kingdoms and independent dukedoms, the kingdoms of Leoreuz, and the dukedom of Qinth and Emera, to diminish the growing threat of the Ophion Empire. War is all Delyth has ever known. It has swallowed her family whole, all her brothers both younger and older, and her father too. Only Delyth remains, but despite there being an Empress fighting on the front lines, she is denied battle. The thought always irks her to the bone.