𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 𓍼ོ

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 1 ~ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲

                           𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄
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   Days could have been normal.

   Calix awoke with a small yawn, slowly opening his eyes. He looked over to the bedside table only to see the clock. "SHIT!"  The prince quickly fumbled out of bed, racing to put on the outfit his servants had laid out previously.
   Calix looked at his clock once more, it reading 10:30 am. His father would be furious with him for being late to breakfast with the neighboring kingdom, Callistor, but hopefully he wasn't too late.
   After finishing up, the boy took off down the hallway of the corridor, before slowing down to walk into the victorian dining room. The room itself was massive, but the newly polished dining table took up most of its space. However, the cursing look on the King's face as the curly haired boy walked in, stopped him in his tracks.
   "Please excuse my lateness, for I had taken a longer minute to get ready for our guests." Calix let out a breathy laugh as his father rolled his eyes, refocused on their esteemed guests.
   "Sit." He was clearly pissed. The prince did as told, sitting next to his older sister, Mila, the princess. Across from them sat the queen and princess of Callistor, Queen Flora and Princess Celene. At the ends of the table, both kings sat, discussing business of something. Calix didn't truly care for the "royal talk" of things. He came for the food, which is always cooked to perfection when guests are visiting.
    "We are glad to have you as out honored guests. So about the........" The king led off. The young boy spaced out, thinking of what normal life would have been like. The thought of getting to wake up later, not having to rush... gosh.. it sounded amazing. But alas, that wasn't the "normal" he was used to.
Shortly after they all finished eating, both families arose and bowed, a common decency between kingdoms in the country of Erastinia.
Calix gave a small smile to Princess Celene. She instantly became flustered and as red as a strawberry. Had she fallen for him already? The two barely talked, barely even two words! The poor boy cleared his throat before averting his attention to the king "Father, may I be excused?" The man gave a curt nod to the boy, giving him permission to finally escape the void of awkwardness with the princess. He turned away and began to walk back to his room through the corridor.
It wasn't that he hated having guests in the palace. It was more so that he didn't want them making useless conversation with him. With the princess for instance, he didn't even get a word in before she was practically choking on her own air just from a smile.
As Calix turned the corner to his room, a small envelope was encased on his dresser by the doorway. Noticing it immediately, he grabbed it and began looking at it, slightly confused. Maybe the servant left it this morning? After inspecting it a little more he finally opened the envelope, revealing a folded note inside. Taking it out carefully, Calix opened the letter, reading...

My dearest prince,

   Your room is simply lovely, just as are you. My love, you will soon see the love I have for thee. Just wait for my next letter and you will see what I hath done for you. Because I will do anything to claim you as my own. Anything.

Calix felt his breath hold pause. His eyes widened, dropping the letter. Tears welled puddles in his eyes, his mouth held open, softly panting in horror.

What the fuck. WHAT. THE. FUCK.

author's note ;
{ thank you for reading chapter 1 of Prince of Ashes! chapters may be larger in the future depending on the scene. nevertheless, i hope you enjoyed chapter 1 <3 }