The Royal Curse

Thirty One - A Stormy, Crisped Night

*recommend listening to the music for some ambience. At the piano scene, just skip ahead to the piano part in the video*

Senna Aldorban

"Ten minutes until we dock, Princess," my new friend Arkan said, hitting my arm that rested against the ship's wooden rail. A rolled up piece of parchment nearly slapped my face as he withdrew his hand. "Excited to see your family?"

Yes, I was leaping with joy to potentially see my brother in chains. "I missed Wendigo."

"You know," he began, propping his arm on the wooden rails as he stared out into the sea with me, "the country hasn't been the same without you."

"As if Kandosians find comfort in my presence." Especially after the news of my brother's murdering of Nicholyn and Manea. Would I ever forget how dark he turned?

Arkan tilted his head, though I refused to look at him. A small smile grew. "Kandosians adore you. There was widespread celebrations when they found out you were returning, especially since many of them thought you'd marry Prince Kace."

"What a relief." Arching my neck to the side, I did my best to avoid his prying eyes. Only when I stared out into the sea did I realize the emptiness of it. This trip back could've been very different had Kace asked me to marry him.

Instead, he wouldn't even say he loved me. He didn't follow and stop me. I specifically told Mallor to tell Kace my route to leave, but he didn't stop me. He didn't want me as his wife—that much was clear.

And all I could think about was the warmth of his touch, the softness of his eyes, the shred of kindness he'd shown me before running out of the office only to never turn back for me. When the crew members behind me laughed, I could only imagine Kace's sharp bursts of air that he called "laughing"—and I smiled remembering the rare lines around his lips whenever he curled them upward.

He hated me, and I unfortunately thought he loved me. I was so stupid, so naive. What, was I twelve? Of course he couldn't love me. I was a Kandosian royal—the sister of his brother's murderer. I played a hand in the damnation of his life. One shared night of intimacy changed nothing about our reality, and I needed to get that through my thick, insufferable—

"Senna, are you all right?" I snapped out of my fixation of the waves crashing into the ship and focused on Arkan, who held out a handkerchief. "Are you worried about your brother?"

"What makes you think I'm worried about anything?" I couldn't even look him in the eye saying that.

But his smile softened, which I didn't know was possible considering, well, how he was already being considerate. "You're human. We feel when things go wrong. I'm sorry for what you're going through."

"My brother deserves prison," I asserted, carefully taking the handkerchief from his hand. My eyes burned as I realized I had teared up from my own thoughts.

"No doubt about that." He cocked his head to the side, his dark eyes scavenging me head to toe. "But he's still your brother, so it's normal for you to be upset. Don't tear yourself to shreds for other people. You'll only hurt them and yourself in the process."

He had no idea what I was going through; the emotional turmoil of wishing my brother wasn't a damned idiot, and the wanting of someone that couldn't care less about me. Trying to muster some words, my throat clogged.

Glancing away, I tightened the hood of my cloak and walked to the far side of the deck. As kind as Arkan was, I seriously couldn't handle hearing his infinite wisdom tonight, especially since the only images I had were of...