DISCARDED: The Ones The World Did Not Need

Twenty four

Manderin law states that the King's first son is the heir to the throne but all the king's sons have a claim to the throne if the first son is unfit to rule due to illness,tyranny or otherwise.

In such a case, first born will seize to be heir if a claimant (any of the King's sons) beat him in a duel or is voted in by two-thirds of the king's council.

Micah thought that by the time he got to the palace, his anger would stop chocking him.

He was wrong.

If anything,it burned with an intensity that threatened to scald anything in his path.

The guards seemed to notice this as they quickly let him through.

"Where's Avery?" He asked a maid who was about to duck into a corner when she sighted him.
She shuffled her feet as she looked everywhere but at him.
The discomfort she felt from his magic was nothing compared to how she felt under his cold glare.

"I don't know, my prince."

Micah closed his eyes and counted to ten.

"I understand that you're afraid of what Alexander might do to you," he said when he opened them, "but I might do something much worse if you don't tell me where she is."

The girl looked up in panic.

"She's in the throne room with the prince and Queen! Please forgive me."

Micah ignored her, hurring to the throne room worried by what he would find.

...

The throne room was at the very centre of the palace.
It was dome shaped and filled with the brightest of gold ornaments.

Despite being a timid man; the king liked to show off his wealth.

He,however was not present in his favourite room. Instead, Alexander sat on the throne crossed legged as if he was waiting for him.

This surprised Micah, the one thing Alexander was wary of was tampering with the, frankly too extravagant chair.
It was the only thing the king reacted to.
Once, the boys were whipped by the guards by order of the king for fighting near the throne.

The Queen sat besides Alexander with her hands covering her face. He could hear her faint sobbing.
She looked up when she heard him come in, her eyes were bloodshot and filled with guilt.

"Son..."

Micah spared her a glance before turning to Avery who stood beside Alexander with her head bowed.
She wore a bright yellow dress with long sleeves and way too many ribbons for it to be anything that Avery would wear.

"Avery, I'm here to take you back home."

"This is her home Micah. You did not tell us you were coming; we would have prepared."

"What are you doing on father's throne?" He asked ignoring his comment.

"Oh...nobody told you? Father is very ill at the moment, so I'm acting as king in his stead until he recovers."

"And who decided that?"

"I did. I am the heir aren't I?" He grinned lazily

Micah took a deep breath and walked towards Avery who seemed to shrink as he got closer.

"The earl of Brynd is enamoured by her. Although they have not met,the courtship is going smoothly."

It was getting increasingly harder to ignore his brother.