Ember of Hope

She entered the throne room behind Nina, or at least she thought she was supposed to be in a throne room because she was meeting a king. But the room they entered was more like a huge medieval drawing room. Beautiful antique looking candle-holders adorned the raw stone walls. One wall displayed a war mural where dragons were painted spewing fire and some figures fought on land with swords and other weapons. It was beautiful in its brutality. A floor to ceiling window opened up to the most beautiful waterfall she’d ever seen. Beautiful gossamer curtains flew in the light cool air wafting in through the open window. Before taking in any more details of the huge drawing room she was in, she raced to the window and hung almost halfway over the balcony rail. The green color of the shrubbery here was so beautiful it had to be unreal, yet it wasn’t. The water fell over the rocky ledge in great streams and plunged down to depths unknown. It was like steam and smoke below… the sound of rushing water, like the most alluring music to her ears.

“It’s quiet beautiful, isn’t it?” a deep voice sounded a ways behind her and she almost jumped out of her skin. Whirling around with a hand on her chest she came face to face with a very handsome man. He looked like he was in his mid thirties. His black hair were shoulder length and neatly styled and his eyes were the most unusual spring green. She wondered how much Valiance had taken on after his father. His attire wasn’t very unusual though, like she’d expected. Not that she knew what she’d expected. He wore black pants and a white shirt with the top button open to show tanned skin and a black long jacket robe; also unbuttoned hung from his broad shoulders, down to his boot clad feet. Overall, he looked quite intimidating.

"Are you the ki..." she stopped herself mid word, remembering Nina's warning, "You're Valiance's father?"

Something passed behind his eyes but it was gone so quickly she couldn’t pinpoint what it was. And then he cleared his throat and extended his hand, “My name is Dragomir D’evreux. I’m glad to see you recovered Raegan. And we don’t have to go to the throne room to meet. This drawing room will do nicely with the view. I quite like it, you see”. He smiled warmly, but she just stood there gaping at him. Snap out of it Raegan. Way to make a first impression. She shook his hand hastily and mumbled an apology, but the king just laughed it off.

“I’m sorry I don’t know the proper protocol. You see, I haven’t met royalty before in my life”. She felt like she was purposely trying to make a fool out of herself.

“Come, let’s sits near the window. Would you like some tea Raegan?”

“Yes please”. She sat in a high backed chair near the window across from the king and started twisting her fingers in her lap; once again letting her nerves get the better of her.

“If you want to send a message home to your family, I can arrange it. They must be very worried about you”.

“There is no family to worry about me. But I do have a best friend who must be very concerned. If you can inform her, it would be great”.

“May I ask what happened to them?” he sat forward with a sad look in his eyes. She somehow felt compelled to tell him.

“My parents and my younger brother; they went out for shopping and on the way back they had a very bad accident. They didn’t make it to hospital. They were all I had”. Unbidden, tears slipped past her closed lashes and a warm hand came to rest upon her trembling ones on her tea cup. She opened her eyes to look at the compassion shining from the king’s eyes. She somehow knew that he understood her loss. She smiled at him weakly, “They wanted me to be forever strong and to pursue my dreams and live a life of fulfillment. And now I’m trying to do just that. And that’s what led me here”. This time her smile was stronger and the king smiled back.

“You’re brave Raegan, very brave”. He said softly, patted her hand and then sat back, “Tell me about your life in human world”.

She laughed softly, “It feels unrealistic; talking about my world in such way… like I’m part of a fantastic tale”. This meeting was going rather well, so unlike her awkward dreams last night, “My father was a businessman and my mother; a painter. They were the most loving and caring people I’ve ever seen and I’m so glad I had them as my parents”. She stopped abruptly to swallow the ball of emotions now stuck in her throat.

“And your brother? What was his name?” the king asked softly.

“Maximus; my little brother… he was ten years younger than me. And he was the most annoying brother in the world”, she laughed. “But I’d give anything to have him pull my hair again… or to steal my chocolates… I just want to see them again. When I was lying there; dying, I was thinking of meeting them again”.

“Yes, we all want to meet the ones we’ve lost”. There was so much underlying pain in his tone that she tried to look in his eyes and see what haunted him, but he averted his gaze. “Spend some days here and then I’ll ask you what you think about Evreux? I’ll tell Valiance to show you around. There is much to see here and I’m sure I can relieve him of his duties for a while”. He smiled, getting up, “Are you comfortable here? If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask. You’re our guest and I’d hate to think you lacked any kind of comfort here”. He gave her his arm to walk her out of the room where Nina was waiting. She thanked the king and he strolled away with a simple nod of his head.

“He was very nice. He didn’t act like a king. He was perfectly polite”.

“I told you”. Nina sang with a smug look on her face and they both shared a laugh.

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