Erivale: The Lost Princess

Chapter 23: Part 2

A gentle knock on my door surprised me. Not many knocked on my bedroom door as it was customary for the guards to announce their presence first. That meant that there could only be a handful of potential individuals on the other side of the thick wood.

Standing to my feet, I took a deep breath and flatted my hands down the front of my white dress, ironing out invisible wrinkles. As I walked to the familiar doors, my hand strayed to the crown atop my head, making sure that it was perfectly straight.

This crown was much lighter than the one I was initially coronated with, that crown was locked somewhere in the palace with other crown jewels. This one I had specially made with Jae's help to honor the Elven traditions and the flower crown that had helped me defeat Luciana. The thin band of gold was wrapped in golden jeweled flowers and peaked elegantly above my forehead.

Reaching the door, I pulled it open and smiled at the man on the other side. Ulric looked the same as he always did and always had. His black shirt was loose around his broad shoulders and tucked into black leather pants, which were, in turn, tucked into black boots.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"No," I admitted with a nervous laugh. "But let's do this."

He pulled me into a tight hug, something that Ulric had reserved only for me, and I relished the warmth that his body provided me. He had become quite constant in my life, and I was grateful for it.

When he pulled away, he offered me his arm. Looping my own arm through his, we set off down the hallways. When we reached the throne room doors, raucous applause greeted us, well, mostly me.

I had been back at the palace for over a month now, but no one besides my private council had seen me. For the most part, I have been stuck in bed, still recuperating from my injury. Some of my most important meetings were conducted while I sat in bed as I worked tirelessly to restructure Ithica and Erivale. Not many could say that the Unified Nations council had been in their bedroom.

Even so, we had done some excellent work. With Zora the new royal sorcerer and now head of the magical education system, we worked hard with the other nations to restructure the magic being taught and reverse the damage that Henrich and Luciana had done to all magic users.

I had appointed Seraphina the new general of the army, and she has spent most of her time integrating all of the former resistance members into the more traditional Ithican military system.

Almost immediately after the rest of the resistance had made their way to the palace, I tasked Alana and the twins, Eadric and Nils, to track down all of the underground slave trades to disband them officially and have the members arrested. They were working closely with some of Canaan's top Fauns and Satyrs for the task.

As I walked through the throne room now, I was surprised at how different the atmosphere felt. Before, everything was uptight and unemotional. Now there was an energy to the place as everyone stood mixed together without a care in the world.

I spotted Octavius along my path and offered him a small wave. I had invited him to live here at the palace now that he no longer had his father. He had been remarkably eager to accept and told me he wanted to be a princess, just like me.

At the end of the carpeted pathway was the twin thrones Heinrich and Luciana had sat in. They looked the same, but the folks surrounding them were not the same. I had appointed my own private council consisting of Leon, Sven, Gerard, Soren, and Tamas. Zora also stood next to them.

In the last few steps, I let go of Ulric's arm and made my way to the throne all on my own. Sitting down, I stared out at everyone around me. We had experienced growing pains, as any succession would, but slowly and surely, I had begun to win over the hearts of Ithica. These were my citizens. I had worked hard for them, and I had worked hard to get here. Now I needed to keep them safe.

Sitting there, before everyone, I couldn't help the smile on my face as I reminisced on how far we had all come, how far I had come. Less than a year ago, I had barely known anything about this world. This world had taught me more than just it's customs and traditions; it taught me about myself. It gave me the confidence to be a leader and to fight a war for what I believed in.

It had taught me how to conquer my mountains, whatever they may be, and to keep getting up off the ground no matter what. I didn't need to worry about what other people thought of me anymore, their words meant nothing. It was time for me to show them all what I was made of.

And I would, I would show them by being the best queen I could be and by teaching them humanity.

I was handed a goblet of some type of ale as a toast, and I raised it up for everyone to see before taking a large drink. The festivities had officially begun. The citizens of Ithica and guests from the other nations all sipped their own drinks and began to dance to the music played by the live band. We were all celebrating a fresh start.

As the music grew in volume accompanied by individuals who began to sing and dance along, sound vibrations started to grow as well. The beat of the music reverberated off of the stone room, and every stomp of the dance caused the lights to shake. Amongst the joy, another vibration began, but it was unlike any of the others. The tremor was unmistakable, although it was mostly unnoticed by those enjoying the festivities. Even so, I couldn't ignore the rattle that ran through the floor of the throne room and the faint pressure that accompanied it. My danger intuition recognized that something was amiss, something big.

I stared down at the goblet that rest against the flat arm of the throne. I noticed the ripple that moved through the dark, amber liquid as another vibration pulsed.

"What was that?" Ulric whispered in my ear.

I turned to him, a frown on my face. "Something isn't right in Erivale."

The End