Messenger

Chapter 22

 Trigger warning for assault 

What's his game? You don't just call someone away from a party thrown in your honor for no reason and Flower didn't trust any of this in the slightest. In fact, she didn't trust the King as far as she could dropkick him.

King Howard stalked ahead of her down a long corridor that connected to the heart of the palace, venturing further from the ball and away from the other guests. The hall was used as a way to display pieces of art, but that didn't stop the carvings and statues from casting looming shadows across the darkened walls. Flower wasn't a very superstitious person and even she took that as a bad sign of things to come. Even the sounds of the no doubt loud party couldn't be heard. Where was he going? Flower didn't think Maika and Yohio showed him this part of the grounds.

Finally, King Howard stopped at one of the last sets of large doors at the back of the castle that Flower wasn't a stranger to; the library. Although it now holds many memories of trying to understand government and countless lectures, some part of the library is comforting. A younger Flower had spent many mornings trying to figure out the best plan of action to sneak in to "steal" a few books to smuggle back to her hideout, always getting caught in the process and no one caring as long as she brought them back later. The only question was why was she brought here now to supposedly just 'talk'?

He bowed slightly as he held the door open. "Please, sit. I have much to discuss with you."

"Is it important enough that you need to miss the party?" And that you need to talk to me without anyone else around, she questioned in her head.

"Well, it seemed that in this whole visit, I've hardly had any time to speak with you." The King stated, dripped with faux sweetness. He walked further into the back of the room where a few tables were setup and pulled out one of the chairs for Flower to take a seat. Just go with it without getting him mad and then get back to other people. Just get it over with.

Sounds easy enough. "Now might not be the best time."

"It looks like it's the only time I'll get."

Then spit it out so we can all do something else with our time. "What do you need to talk about?"

He smiled eerily, letting the dim lamps of the space reflect off his clothing and darken the forming folds of his skin. "It's your parents."

Ice shot through Flower's vein. Her parents? What does he want with them? Why would he want to talk about the one thing that she could hardly keep her composure together with? Her stance tightened and expression steeled for whatever could come next.

"They would like to see you. And have you visit my kingdom."

"Why?" The question slipped out before Flower could stop it.

King Howard brushed it away like that was exactly what he was waiting for her to ask. "As I'm sure someone as intelligent as you would know, our cultures have many stark differences that you could only truly understand if you saw them firsthand. When I came to power, my dear mother, the Queen had taught me for long years how to lead and gave me decades to watch her example until I was ready for that role and--"

"Excuse me, but decades?" Flower tried to stop her surprise from entering her tone, but dang.

He clearly didn't find that question nearly as interesting to answer. "Yes... the Queen wanted to be very.. certain that I was ready for her task and sadly, she never got to see it through on her own."

"Oh."

"But it showed me how to rule gracefully with great success and that is what your parents want to give you. Especially since you'll find yourself on the throne sooner than you'd expect." He explained appearing the bask in his own 'glory.'