The Stolen Throne

Chapter Fourteen - Memories and Promises

Dark clouds tumbled overhead, threatening rain as hundreds of people stood around the raised platform where the de Lumens were stood. King James was in the middle, directly under his family's crest, raised high on an ornate flag that blew slightly in the wind. His eldest son stood to his left and his youngest to his right, with his daughter stood next to Edward.

Edward peered round subtly to where Lucy was stood, her eyes raised to the sky. She was far in front of him, past the assembled crowd, standing with her countrymen who were readying themselves to walk down the aisle with their kingdom's standard. He couldn't tell whether she was thinking about her father and Alex up in the kingdom of the Gods or whether she was thinking about the weather.

Edward was broken from his wonderings by an intense pain in his side. He was still weak and had only just got to walking around on his own to feet the day before.

Quite frankly, he wasn't sure he could stand up for the entire memorial service but he wanted to at least try, out of respect if not to try and support Lucy in any way he could. He would feel separated from her if she were stood and he was sat down. His father had still offered, however, despite knowing what his son's answer would be.

It had been four days since he'd woken up and he'd spent most of it sleeping as per the physician's orders. Apparently, he'd needed "rest" and "recuperation" in order to be allowed to even leave his quarters. Apparently, Edward's body hadn't been keen to get any "rest" or "recuperation". He'd had trouble sleeping since he'd regained consciousness and was plagued with terrible nightmares whenever he did sleep.

Edward sighed, trying to hide his exhaustion as he pulled on the end of his black tunic as it had bunched slightly, causing discomfort where his bandaged wound was. He scanned his eyes over the crowd, surprised at how many had actually showed. People from all walks of life had attended, lords and ladies, knights and paupers. What also surprised him was the fact that all of their foreign visitors had come to pay their respects to King Thomas and Lord Alexander.

The congregation was split into two halves, with an aisle down the middle, which people were still walking down, finding friends or family and finding a place to stand. Nearly everyone was in deep purple (the traditional colour of mourning), and those that weren't were in dark colours.

The people's somber moods and their somber clothing seemed to reflect their somberness into the greying clouds above as their density increased casting dark shadows across the already shadowed courtyard.

Edward looked behind him at the assembled guards behind the platform going up the steps. The guards also snaked around the outside of the courtyard, enclosing the people in a line of silvery armour. They also stood in the aisle, at regular intervals, expressionless and passive.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Alice scanning her eyes through the crowd and more specifically, at each guard. Edward tried to conceal his smirk as he realised who he was searching for. 

She wasn't particularly subtle, although she had managed to hide her secret from Rupert even if she still believed that Edward was oblivious. When she'd finally stopped fidgeting, he knew she'd found her goal and he followed her line of sight out of his peripheral vision until his eyes landed on Jakob.

The guard wasn't particularly special among the other guards, but after discovering the direction of Alice's attentions, he'd kept a close eye on Jakob. Not only to ensure that he was suitable but also to ensure that nothing too major would happen to him. He hated seeing his sister upset in any way and had therefore created a mental list of everyone she cared about and tried to protect them as best he could.

What with that, and his own mental list of people he cared about that needed his protection, he had his hands quite full. He wasn't surprised at the fact that he couldn't always complete his royal duties with the number of people he'd decided he needed to protect.