Prologue~ The King and his Throne
The King sits in silence, gazing at the awake but motionless figure of his Queen. Her glossy dark brown hair is spread across the pillow. One of her hands is across her stomach, the other lazily flopping out of the bed. She blinks slowly, a clear sign of being about to sink into slumber. Cerulean hazel-shaped eyes lock into his for a moment before flickering away.
The King feels a smile play across his lips. She just lies there in all her beauty, her lithe, slender body curled close to his.
He reaches out absently and fingers a lock of her hair, admiring the way it shines in the half-light.
The faintest of smiles appears across her face just before her azure eyes disappear completely behind a curtain of dark lashes.
All is silent, except for the sound of collective breathing.
The King wishes she'd stay awake longer. He wants to talk to her, whisper sweet nothing, and tell her for the hundredth time how much he loves her.
That was much easier while she was asleep, since she couldn't offer any snappy comebacks, but it was less satisfying.
He moves closer to her to plant a soft, lingering kiss on her cheek. "Sleep well." He whispers, although he knows she can't hear him. He thinks she loves him- he's convinced she loves him.
But she never said so. Not once did she ever say 'I love you.'
And silence means more than a thousand words.
He recalls the times they were scared, and got each other through it. He remembers the first time he saw her, wearing a periwinkle silken toga-like garment, her hair done up elegantly with violets and bluebells, with coconut bathing her scent.
He groans. The first thing he had done that day was stumble up to her, injured and limping, and he asked her for help. She had regarded him with an almost sinister little smile, and had said, "So this young man would ask for my assistance?"
Her friends had laughed, but with good nature and not scorn.
"Come." She had beckoned to two of her friends- a girl with honey blond hair and another with red hair- "Help me get him inside."
She had helped him.
The King groans and tries to stop thinking about her. As much as he cares for her, he feels like she's putting his crown on her own head. He knows for a fact she is no loyal subject. And her rule is an accident waiting to happen.
She stood below him while he sat in the apple tree, her eyes narrowed with disdain.
"Get down!" She called.
He ignored that and threw her an apple. She leapt up and caught it between ivory palms, rather ungracefully.
"I'm serious." She said harshly, shining the apple on her gauzy white blouse. "Get down. We ought to talk."
"If you want to talk, come up!" He teased.
She made an angry sound, the type of sigh a bull would give before charging. She moved to the trunk of the tree, surveying it with a pondering look on her face.
"Can't catch me!" He taunted.
This was the final straw for her. She hopped onto the nearest protuberance and started making her ascent.
He let her get close, then moved further up.
"Get back here!"She shouted, with a touch of genuine anger.
He tossed another apple her way. She squeaked and leaned out of the way.
"Don't you dare..."
Despite her command, he hurled more red fruit her way.
She avoided some, but others bounced off her, making her give him a contemptuous glare.
"Get. Back. Here!" She became a quick-paced squirrel, scratching her way up the tree and using branches as leverage. She was light, so she could creep acros the thinnest branches, but she was not fast, and she cared more for dignity than fun and games.
He, on the other hand, was an ample climber, scaling the entwining branches with skill and determination. He was not very quick, but a strategizer.
"Ooh, the little girl can't catch up with her mean ol' trickster!" He reached the highest he could without snapping branches and waited for her.
"This little girl is going to kill you." She replied, deadly calm as she swung up in a sophisticated way to sit beside him.
She bit into an apple with a playful smile, then threw it at him.
"Argh!" He jerked back. "You've killed me, you have!"
She laughed radiantly, tossing back her hair and lightly closing her eyes.
His mind went blank. She had beautiful, fairy-like laughter, and he had never really heard it before. The most he had ever expected was a smile. He had never associated her with being warm, but he had been pleasantly surprised.
"It's good to hear you laugh." He said without shame.
She instantly stopped, but smiled like she was choking down more laughter.
He sighs and rolled over. The room smells of lavender, and it slowly makes him drowsier, until his eylids droop and he sinks into pleasant dreams. Dreams of gold and fortune, of azure skies, the same colour as his Queen's eyes, fields of emerald green and ornate clouds. Crystalline waterfall, forbidden lagoons and mystic greenstone structures.
Beauty features in his dreams tonight.
Simone M :P and Lovely Nesha
