A blue Spouse (Ninjago Royalty AU)

CHAPTER 54: Emotional liberation

"A bit more to the right." The servant moved the thread of hanging jewels according to the princess's instructions. "There, that's perfect. Thank you."

The dining room looked splendorous, the royal family had it decorated with lots of lights, vaporous and colorful fabrics set around the walls and windows, beautiful twinkling decorations hung from the ceiling. The whole place radiated magic. They spared no expenses, it was the last night Jay would be with them in that gigantic residence and everyone wanted for this evening to be one that the boy would remember dearly.

Nya turned around, admiring the whole scene. The table was served with a generous amount of different meals. Since it was a special occasion, the princess and her brother had deemed appropriate preparing quite the banquet.

And speaking about the Maharajah...

Nya's eyes drifted to the red spot a few feet away from her. Kai stood near the table, gaze lost in the feast in front of him, but his sister knew that the boy wasn't really looking at the delicious food. His eyes, once an endless source of joy and confidence, now were vacant, all emotions had left his body. Or at least, that was what the boy pretended. As his sister, Nya knew better than to read her brother's mood just by the surface.

Dudou approached Kai along with a couple of maidens and asked him something about the drinks they were going to have. It took the king a moment to come back to the present and answer the servants' doubt, and although the boy tried his best to put on a smile as he thanked the workers for their attention to the tiniest details, Nya could see the sadness returning to his features as soon as Dudou guided the maidens in their task.

The princess walked over to her brother and poked his arm. Kai simpered, but it was weak, not at all like those smiles he would gift her on a regular basis or those silly grins from when they were still a pair of kids. It was inevitable, she thought, they weren't kids anymore. They had had to grow up in the span of a night when they lost their parents, especially Kai, but deep inside they were both still very innocent sensitive souls.

Nya was aware of the source of Kai's sadness, but playing smartass on him and saying things like "I told you" would not be any beneficial. Surely Kai was intelligent enough to know that he had brought this on himself the very moment he opted to coerce Jay into that absurd pact. Of course Nya was sad because of the boy's imminent departure, but she knew it was being ten times harder on her brother. Kai was not used to rejection, he wasn't used to things not going his way and having to own up to his mistakes, that wasn't the way royal offspring were often educated in. She couldn't imagine how much the boy had pondered about it before he actually resolved he had to let Jay go —and how much he'd loathed saying that same thing three days ago.

Cole appeared on the open door, with Jay by his side and Zane and Lloyd right behind them.

"I told you I could smell the curry from the other floor," the noiret chortled, a wide smile on his face as he observed all the food on display, saliva dribbling from the corners of his mouth.

"Hey, here's the guest of honor." Nya walked up to Jay as the others laughed at Cole and made comments about him being a hungry dog in one of his previous lives. "Do you like it?" Nya motioned around the dining room, showing Jay all they had prepared for him.

The boy ducked his head with subtle embarrassment. "It looks fantastic, but you didn't have to," Jay tried to say but the princess shushed him right away.

"Of course we had to. We'll have lots of fun tonight!" She cheered, giving the boy a warm hug.

Nya's gaze locked with Kai for a brief moment before the Maharajah looked away from them.