Dark Prince: The Death Realm

Chapter 18

Night passed in the kingdom in relative silence. The fae slept in the room at the end of the hall, unused and quite dusty, if they were to be honest. But it was nothing they were unable to live with, for after living in the glen their entire lives, they had slept in a lot worse conditions than this.

At least there is a roof over our heads. Genevia thought as she turned on her side, settling into the slow breathing rhythm of sleep.

When she awoke, the first thought that entered her head was this: There is one day left. I have one day to mingle with the living before I am cast down into the depths of the Death Realm for the rest of eternity.

She saw that Jiskita was still asleep, lying splayed out on the bed to her right. One foot hung out of the bed. Others might cringe at all of the dirt and mud that was left in the bed, but the fae didn't care. That was how they lived, all others could just deal with the consequences that they saw.

The fae didn't see it that way, however. Dirt and mud were not consequences, and if they were, it was just the consequences of the so-called "mother nature" doing her work. Genevia doubted that much of the kingdom was awake at the current time, so she quietly snuck out, her footsteps practically inaudible against the hard, wooden floors.

She had time to spend until the Pact was performed tonight, so why not get a head start on all the things that she deemed necessary to do during these last twenty-some hours?

Genevia took on her small fae form and flew out to the glen, tracking her old advisor, who was sure to be up by this time in the sun's path. The old fae queen regained her humanoid form just outside the door of the advisors hut. She had just barely done such before the said advisor came out to greet her. She didn't even look surprised at the appearance of her dead client.

"Come in, Genevia. Would you like some tea?" she asked with a smile upon her face, not even a hint of the frightened look which had haunted so many other fae.

"Thank you, Wrenesk. It would be much appreciated."

"What brings you back to the land of the living? Did Kalik go easy on you and let you come back? Or perhaps he was frightened by the combination of you and your husband in his realm at the same time?" she joked, chuckling softly.

"Unfortunately not." Genevia's face held the ghost of a smile. "I have come to ask about the current queen, Jiskita. She was not my successor, for I had no foresight to create a testimony of my death wishes, so I do not know how well she is ruling and how good her decisions will be in the future."

"I see, my Lady." the advisor nodded, passing her ghostly client a cup of herbal tea. "I cannot say much about her, as she has had so short of a royal session here that she has yet to develop any real habits in her decision making as royalty."

"From what she has done so far, what do you predict happening in the future? From what I know of her, she seems rather... slow and not as bright as some of the previous fae queens."

"Yes..." the word was drawn out as though Wrenesk had thought of this but had been unwilling to come forth with this conclusion which Genevia had made. "However, it does mean that she will not be rash in her decision making."

Genevia could tell that her adivsor was scrambling to find a good point about the new queen. That was bad. That meant that there were things she knew--bad things--which Jiskita had done and Wrenesk did not wish to tell her about them, lest she incite the dead queen's anger.

Genevia sipped the tea, savoring the flavour which was a shadow of what it had been while she was alive, but it was good. It was the last thing which would probably sit upon her tastebuds before she went back to the realm of the dead.