The Enchanting Rapture (#1)

Chapter 21

Annika

     "I don't understand why we have to attend," Inferno huffed out as they walked towards the throne room, "we don't even live in this realm!" Only a day had passed before it was time for Prince Brexon to become King Brexon. 

     The hallways were cooled from the air conditioning built within the elegant walls of the castle. Gorgeous paintings of wildlife decorated the walls, framed by golden frames, granting an artistic flare to the home's theme. 

     "Prince Brexon requested our audience, we cannot refuse him," Soren explained calmly. Annika looked over at his gorgeous form that was wrapped in his usual choice of dark clothing. 

     "Well, I sure as hell can," Inferno grumbled, tugging at the collar of her blue button-up shirt. Her pants were brown leather and snuggly fitted to her slim legs. 

     "I want to go," Annika chimed in, skimming her hand over the simple white T-shirt and black pants she sported. She had never been to one, but she expected it to be as Grand as what she had seen so far. There would be people of high stature going also, and she acknowledged how nervous that made her.

     "Of course you do, you've haven't gone to a coronation until now. They take just about three hundred years, I tell ya'!"

     Annika's eyes widened. "Three hundred years?"

     "How many of these events have you been to?" Soren interrogated with a narrow gaze. His shoulder just barely brushed Annika's. She was glad for his near proximity.

     "Plenty of human ones, enough to know majority of the rituals are pure bullshit," she answered smugly. 

     "Three hundred years?" Annika repeated incredulously. 

     Inferno briefly patted her on the shoulder with a gentle pressure. "Don't you fret, babe, I don't mean it literally. You'll know what I mean when we actually attend it." Annika appreciated how surprisingly friendly and patient the fierce pixie acted towards her.

     "Is it true that Kings have to be married?" Annika questioned curiously. Now that her silence was no longer a requirement as it was as a slave, she was eager to ask questions, to absorb knowledge she had missed out on for so many years. 

     "Well, eventually they must produce an heir, but they don't have to be married in order to become King," Inferno answered casually as they got closer to the throne room. 

     "Interesting," Annika muttered, "must be tough, being King."

     "Depends on what kind of King you are," she responded with a shrug.

     "What do you mean by that?" Annika did not know much about Kings and hearing her opinion on in it was of great knowledgeable importance. 

     "Any job is just a job when it comes down to it. Any King is just a King, but it's how you preform that determines the difficulty of it."

     Inferno must have noticed Annika's subtle frown of confusion and continued, "when a King puts no effort into their ruling, the role may seem positively easy to them. All they have to do is sit on their obnoxiously large chairs, produce an heir, and leave all the decision making to their greedy council members. When a King cares, when they want to rule the right way, their roles aren't of just pleasing and fostering themselves but their people, and doing that, I would gather, is quite laborious."

     Annika nodded, listening to her sage-filled explanation. "So, anyone can be a King? Whether their roles are hard or not is decided by their... effort?"