The Hidden Orphan (The Chronicles of Mistar - Book 2)

Twenty-One · · · Dusk (.2)

The Advisors' Table was a dark room in the back of Casa Vona, Blood Valley's infamous castle. Duck never thought it belonged there, but ever since he was little he knew it sat behind the thrones of King Fantish, Queen Lolonin, and Prince Keddin. The silver lining of the thrones made a chill run down Dusk's spine. He was going to see the king.

The room was dark. No windows lined the room's walls, the people seated at the silver table almost invisible due to their skin and hair, but they all wore white. The required outfits for the Advisors. The people in the room that didn't wear white, besides Dusk's smokey gray, were the bright silvers and blood-colored maroons of royal robes and the prince's armor. Dusk wasn't one for clothes, but they were the most beautiful pieces of fabric that he had ever seen.

Dusk noticed the king right away, sitting on another silver chair. King Fantish's clothes wore the same maroon that the table held in the middle, the outline of Opa's symbol, a crescent moon laying on its back with two roses sprouting out of it. Where the roses' thorns hit the skin of the moon, blood leaked down its side until it was spilled around it. It was a gruesome crest, but Dusk knew it since birth. To him, it was normal.

Queen Lolonin sat next to the king, beautiful as always. Her dark hair was gorgeous, lips a luscious red like her apple earrings. Her gown was the same color but her crown was made of obsidian and adorned in silver. The queen was magnificent. She didn't even have to try to look regal.

Just like the king, Prince Keddin had brown, somewhat curled hair. To Dusk, they looked identical. They wore the same clothes, had the same small beard, but the only thing that was different was their eyes. Prince Keddin shared eyes with his mother, black, dark, and intense. King Fantish's were more a lighter tone, which made them all the more menacing. Dusk could feel them watch him as he entered the room.

His spine shook. It wasn't just the king who stared. It was every single person in the room besides his parents, the royals plus the other five Advisors.

The king's eyes followed as Dusk moved to stand behind his parents. He jumped when King Fantish commanded, "Porcelain. Grab him a chair. He will sit next to you."

One of the Advisors scurried from her chair and grabbed one from the back of the room. The room was so dark, Dusk didn't even know it was there. He sat in the chair warily and looked at the woman he sat next to. Instantly, he knew her. It Advisor Nannonda Kiddinon and she looked like porcelain, like her bones could break in half she was so skinny, but Dusk didn't let that give him the wrong impression. He figured she was a beast underneath, stopping any fight with one blow from her fist.

Dusk turned his attention back to the king. He was still staring at Dusk. King Fantish in a breath and at the same glanced at Dusk's father.

"Rand," he said, his voice commanding without even having to try. "I got your message. Thank you for updating me. It's been months... but that's better than never."

Dusk was surprised when King Fantish gave him a slight nod before unclipping his long black cape, lined in dark brown elckon fur. Here, on Opa, elckon fur was rare but not uncommon. Dusk even owned an elckon coat of his own.

Rand gave a smile. Dusk knew his father was uneasy, but the Advisor looked at calm as the mist that rolled over Opa's gray hills. He watched as Rand folded his hands over the table as he eyed the king. Rand didn't look frightened. He looked like he could be a king himself.

"I'm glad to hear that," Rand said as he clicked his fingers together.

King Fantish ignored Rand, obviously annoyed by Rand's hierarchy. Until now, Dusk didn't understand how much his family was respected. He knew that they always were but now, at the Advisors' Table, he was able to see the extent. Not even the most stern-looking Advisors' dared to look Rand, Ponsis, or Dusk in the eye. Dusk had never gotten this kind of respect from anyone except the servants that worked at his house. Other than that, he was treated like any other person, normal. It felt weird and he didn't like it. He wished for that normality.