Title Pending

2

II

The room was vacant except for two figures. A large man, and a thin woman. The man's hair dragged along a floor that was so shiny it was practically a mirror as he paced. "I've given you twenty years. You've run out of time."

Hot tears fell from the thin woman's eyes, hitting the floor with soft plinks as they froze before even touching the ground. "Just a little longer!" She pleaded.

"No extensions."

2Aiyden

Tomorrow Prince Aiydyen, Son of Queen Mariahnia would be 20 years old. He looked at his reflection. His wavy black hair that reached his shoulders was messy from a night of restless sleep. He had deep purple bags under his icy blue eyes that seemed to make them look even brighter. His attention was broken when a sharp rap on his door came.

"Prince, today is your revealing ceremony, you must meet your mother, the Queen in the throne room, she requests your presence."

"Thanks, Jane." The Prince sighed. He looked over at the knight standing in his doorway. She had sharp amber eyes, they were almost red in some lighting, and her long blonde hair was braided neatly. She was the perfect image of a royal knight.

She nodded before leaving his room, her armor hardly making a whisper as she walked away. The prince looked back to his reflection before sighing and getting up to cover it. He looked too much like his mother.

The prince's mother never wanted a son. It was dishonorable to have a man rule a queendom. Despite that, he was still raised with care from everyone but his mother. She grew cold and barely looked at her son. Although her hair was long and silver, and his was the color of raven feathers, a trait he picked up from his father, he still looked remarkably similar to his mother, and he hated it. He didn't want to look like the woman who didn't even want him after he was born. According to rumor, apparently she handed him to a nurse the moment he came out, and never touched him again.

That rumor was true as far as he knew. He'd read books about mothers who loved their sons, he'd watched movies where families laughed together, and he wished he could have that too. Pulling on a pair of black slacks lost in thought he almost missed the crinkle of paper in his pocket, pulling it out, he saw it was a message from the knight, Jane. it read:

Happy birthday, Aiyden!

I hope you know that you are loved.

You remind me of my little sister actually.

Jane

Prince Aiyden folded up the note, slipping it into a small crack in the wall behind his bed. Jane had told him of her little sister before, it almost made him feel like he knew her himself. There you go again, idiot. You aren't allowed to become close to your subordinates. He reminded himself, finishing dressing himself and turning toward his door a little too quickly, making his head pulse and vision blur with static.

---

Aiyden stood in front of the large throne room doors, his hands shook against his will as he reached for the lacquered wood. Before he could even touch the doors, they swung open, and his mother sat before him upon a throne of glass. She could pass for his sister if it was not for the ancient look in her eyes. Her icy eyes glared down at him as he walked forward.

"Well? Are you not going to greet your own mother?" She said, not a hint of emotion in her words

"S-sorry, yes. Hello Mother Queen" Aiyden stammered out, falling to one knee by a great pressure suddenly on his back.

The queen only frowned deeper and dismissed him. He felt relief flood his body as the doors closed behind him. Every day for as long as he could remember she called him into the throne room so he could greet her. 'It's just how she shows her love' He remembered Jane saying to him. She'd only come to the palace two years ago, but had become a secret friend of his.

He wandered the dark halls making his way back to his room. His breath showed in little white puffs right outside his lips, long ears tipped in frost, the chill of the palace grew on him. He almost wished that he could become one with the place. Couldn't be any lonelier than I already am. He thought. Jane had joked that he was like a ghost wandering the halls before. Maids ignored him, actually, they were trying to avoid him. Knights stood tall, a look of disdain in their eyes as he passed. "Yea, if I could run myself through with that spear I would too" he muttered as he passed.

---

"You'll never find a wife being that gloomy." Aiyden looked up to the upper branches of the tree where Jane sat, eating a crisp red apple. "Who said I'd live long enough to marry? We both know that my mother is just waiting to have a daughter so she doesn't taint the bloodline with me." Jane scrunched up her face at his words. "You really are like my little sister." She dropped the apple core, which harmlessly bounced off the prince's head. Insignificant. "Tell me more about her." the prince requested, standing up to climb up into the branches of the tree.

"Maybe another time, right now you need to go back in to get those final fittings on your presentation outfit." Jane chuckled. She really was like an older sister to the lonely prince.

"Oh I just can't wait to wear that frilly monstrosity." Aiyden said flatly, dropping back to the ground and brushing delicate icy blue leaves from his hair and clothes. He didn't like looking at them, they reminded him too much of his mother's cold unloving eyes. Eyes that he inherited from her.

Walking into the doorway of the room they used for the fitting. The knight, Jane, close at his heels, smelled something strange. "Look out!" she yelled, moving in front of the prince, facing away from him. He felt his head grow foggy, and eyelids grow heavy. Tripping over his own feet he fell with one word on the tip of his tongue: Shit.