A Blood Heir

Chapter 13- A Close Call

“So… what do they call you?” Maya asked the keep’s guard whom Queen Thracia had instructed to escort her to the king as they walked down the long hallways.

He ignored her.

Giving up on trying to make small talk, she allowed her eyes to wonder and marvel at the size and architecture of the fort of stone. Despite her urge to be out of Krystan as soon as possible, the historian in her wanted to explore every inch of the palace.

They entered another wing and she found herself gnawing on the inside of her cheek. What if he saw through her? What if he saw through her fake apology and appreciation? Even without the help of the crystal to make her speak the truth, the male had an intense look that had Maya convinced he could see right to her soul. And that powerful and dangerous aura wasn’t helping. She was going to try nevertheless. It was the only plan she had to get them home.

The warrior came to a halt in front of a large wooden door at one side of the corridor and Maya followed suit. Lifting his hand, he knocked softly on it and then paused to wait for a reply. Nothing came.

He opened it slightly, peered inside then closed it. “Wait here,” he said, before making his way down the hall toward two guards stationed in front of huge double doors.

After a few minutes of talking and glancing in her direction every chance they got, the warrior gestured for her to go to them.

“The king is in the throne room,” he said. “One of them will escort you back to the keep when you’re done talking to him.”

She nodded. “Thank–” He was already gone.

The two warriors held the large pair of golden handles and opened the doors. Maya was barely in the room when she heard them close behind her.

Her gaze automatically drifted to the twenty-foot-high roof admiring the designs of the chandeliers and how the sunlight penetrating through the high windows hit them making rainbow diamonds that danced upon the marble floor and the golden-coloured walls.

Her eyes then darted to the front, at the throne with elaborate pomp. She was struck by confusion. Where was the king? Could he have dematerialized out of here and the guards had no idea?

She would explore the throne room and then go out when she had had her fill, Maya thought.

Her gaze wandered some more across the room as her echoing feet took her to the front. Standing at the bottom of the raised dais, she felt the urge to walk up the steps to the throne and try it but she quickly dismissed it. What if that was a crime punishable by death? And then she would never go home.

She resorted to practising how she would address the king if he was sitting up there. “Your majesty,” Maya recited before trying to make a slight curtsy and failing terribly. Unconsciously, she looked around making sure no one saw that. Her attention was drawn to a slightly open door at the furthest left of the throne.

Moving quietly, she walked towards it. Pausing in front of the door, she pushed it slowly and peeped inside.

The room was dimly lit with gothic medieval wall lamps. Several compartments with names engraved on the stones were raised off the ground. It was a crypt.

The king was standing at the furthest end facing away from her, his head bowed in front of one of the compartments. It wasn’t her intention to eavesdrop but the room echoed his words. “...I miss you and my brothers every day of my semi-immortal life Pa. I wish that you were alive instead of me because your kingdom is too big for me to rule.”

Maya’s heart reached out to him. She couldn’t imagine how painful it would feel if she ever lost her father and brother. Something inside her wanted to walk to him and comfort him. Tell him that even though she might have known him for just a few days, she believed he was a good king. Tell him that his father would have wanted him to live instead because that’s what every parent wanted; their kids to outlive them.