Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown

Something New, Something Sweet

Amity read her book in silence as the sun began to set into the hills. Today was a slow day in Blight Manor. Her mother liked it that way. Slow days meant that everything was in order and according to plan. Slow days meant everything was perfect and just as it should be.

It also meant Edric and Emira were busy. On the rare days her siblings were too busy to bother her were her favourite days. She didn't fear being caught writing her poems or reading romance novels.

After a while of frustrated scribbling, she crumpled up the last piece of paper and huffed in anger. Nothing was coming out right! Why was it so hard to explain how she was feeling!

She gets up and goes downstairs for a drink of water. Maybe refreshments would set her mind straight. She went and filled a glass with cold water. Before Amity walked away, she took a coaster with her.

She stopped in her tracks when she heard her mother's voice come from the room next to her. She appeared to be talking to someone she didn't like because she sounded uptight and angry. Amity wondered who it was and peaked through the doorway.

Lilith .

"Oh. Amity. Come in." her mother said dryly upon spotting her.

Amity's legs wouldn't move. It felt like they were glued to the floor beneath her. Lilith offered her a kind smile, waving at her with one hand as the other held a teacup. Amity doesn't think she's ever seen anyone so pretty.

"Don't just stand there Amity." her mother said coldly. Which was enough for Amity to drag her feet over to them. She sits next to her mother and in front of Lilith. Amity almost swears that Lilith glared at her [mother] for a second.

"What did you want to discuss Lilith?" her mother asked politely, but her eyes told a different story.

Lilith didn't seem to pay much mind to it.

"Upon request of the Emperor, Amity is to become my apprentice, if she accepts that is."

Amity's heart swelled.

An apprenticeship. And actual apprenticeship with Lilith! Was she dreaming? She was probably dreaming. She was never this lucky.

She pinched herself only to feel a sharp pain in her arm.

... This was real.

"I ACCEPT!" She excitedly yelled, knocking over her glass of water in response.

"AMITY!" the two women shouted in unison.

Their tones were polar opposites from one another. Lilith felt like a warm blanket on a cold autumn morning. Hers sounded like hot chocolate after playing in the snow. It was full of concern and care. Her mother's sounded like a stormy sea. Violently hitting the shore. One more wrong move could leave her drowning.

Lilith drew a circle in the air, cleaning up the broken shards and water that splattered on the carpet. It was almost as if she never knocked over the glass.

Amity cleared her throat. "I mean. I accept. Thank you, your majesty."

"No need for that my dear. I may be Empress. But from here on now, I am your teacher. Just Lilith will do."

"Thank you Your- Lilith." she corrects herself.

Lilith gives her a smile. The stars would be jealous of that smile. She thinks. Amity feels a tugging in her chest. Like her heart is silently telling her to go over to her. That if she did, Lilith would pick her up and hug her. That she would sing to her and dance with her. That she would play with her in the gardens.