The Rightful Heir

☁︎ 33

• 33 • a blurry offer •

➪

I anxiously follow the fae down an unfamiliar hallway. He opens a tall and wide door for me that leads to what appears to be an elegant conference room with the queen already sitting comfortably.

"Good afternoon Theodosia, take a seat." She greets with expression.

"Good afternoon your royal majesty." I bow before her then follow her instructions. "Your request?"

"Would you like something to drink first?" A waiter sits a clear glass of water before I could respond, then quickly exits the room. 

"Now, I have an offer to propose."

I nod, allowing her to continue with her proposition.

"You posses extraordinary abilities, you understand that Theodosia? You put yourself in grave danger when the outburst at the Golden State Arena occurred and I'm willing to offer you royal protection if you work for the kingdoms logging company."

Logging Company: the most dangerous job in the kingdom.

Logging accidents happen often as a result of getting struck by falling objects such as logs and entire trees. Including the spirits and creatures that live in the land, I'd rather not disturb the natives.

If I take this opportunity, every day I go to work I'll have the possibility of not making it back home.

And no amount of royal protection will keep me safe from the job.

I'm already living in danger. I already learned my lesson. I'm not taking another risky job.

Why would the queen offer me the most dangerous job in the kingdom?

It's because I'm the most powerful. Now I feel selfish, I have powers that can change the kingdom and I choose to not help?

But what do I look like cutting trees for the rest of my life.

"I'm sorry, I can't." I cough, feeling a disgusting substance in the middle of my throat. I rub my hands on my pants, trying to remove the layer of glimmering sweat on my palms. "I'm sorry."

"May I ask why Theodosia? This is a opportunity, your rejecting a great gift."

"I'm sorry." I wipe the beads of sweat off my forehead "That's even more dangerous than the current perdicament I'm in, and I'm just not interested."

"Are you sure Theodosia?" Queen Bruna repeats my name with venom laced in her voice.

My head begins to pound "Um-"

"Think about it." She says.

"I'll think about it." I reply immediately, without thinking.

No. I won't think about it.
I already said no.

"Have a good day Theodosia." She sits back on her seat and watches as I get up and leave.

My head aggressively pounds as I walk alone down the hallway back to my chamber. I look around in confusion, searching where everyone else was but not having the energy to look.

I barley reach my door until I hear my name being called out from down the hallway. "Theodosia!" I look back to see Tiara and Leia's blurry figures coming my way.

I quint my eyes, trying to improve my vision but it doesn't work. I hear them calling out while speeding up the pace  towards me but my scenes completely fail when they reach me and I pass out in my sisters arms.

••

I woke up surrounded by soft and warm covers, the same large and comfortable bed I've been waking up in this castle.

When I look around, Tiara is standing on the balcony looking out into the town. "Ti?" I call for her.

She turns around quickly and startled, walking towards the bed immediately. "How are you feeling?"

"Um, fine." I look around more and drop my head into my hands, groaning at the situation. Me, not in complete health again and Tiara, assisting me again. "What happened?"

"I should be asking you that." She looks at me equally as confused. "You passed out in front of your door. I got the royal medical assistants to help you, they didn't do much. They said you'll be fine."

I run my hands through my hair and swing my legs off the bed while Tiara stairs at me contentedly.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"Um, morning."

"Morning?"

"Yea, tonight's the ball. You slept through all of yesterday afternoon and night."

"Damn-"

"Lazy bitch."

"Shut up." I glare at her.

"You're okay though, right?" She ask for conformation.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

A silent moment passes until she ask another question. "What did the queen want?"

"She offered me a job, in return for royal protection. We didn't even talk about it, my head was hurting and I didn't want too. I said no."

"What? Why? What did she offer?"

"To be logging worker, work for the kingdoms logging company. What the hell do I look like chopping logs."

"Why would she want you too be a logger? That's dangerous, you can- you can get hurt in so many ways that's extremely dangerous and you're still young. You shouldn't be working in that type of field-"

"I'm powerful. I can do it-"

"But you're not going to."

"I already told her that but she insisted. She said think about it and we'll discuss further."

"I don't care, you're not doing it and you don't need protection or supervision from royalty, nobody cares anymore about the outburst. It's all dyed down, everyones back to normal."

"Really?"

"Yes, it's not on the news anymore. Their aren't any protest or anything, I mean their are probably still people suspicious but, you don't need royal protection anymore- that's crap."

"Well, then what. How long are we gonna stay here, she's not going to let us stay forever."

"Work with me at the motel, they already offer shelter and food. We'll save up, get our own place, go back to normal. We have to go back to school too, you want to move back to the golden city?"

"If it's safe..."

"By the time we get settled it will be." She reassures but the idea all seems too hopeful to be true. "We'll figure it out later. We have to get ready for the party."