Heir of Golden Storms

“Where are you going?” I ask as I walk down the stairs.

“To the Court of Spirits,” Easton says. For a moment, I mistake his voice with Zephyrus’s because Zephyrus is standing next to him. It is common for when someone gets married to spend time in the court of their partner.

Easton and Gracin are standing in the middle of the living room with bags around them. Zephyrus was talking to Easton, but I interrupted them. From another hall, Marin and Blaise come. Blaise is also holding bags. A few meters behind him appears Haldol, then Ailsa, and then a servant with their bags.

“Oh, Rowan!” Marin says, waving at me as I continue walking towards them. She embraces me on a hug as everyone continue talking to each other. “We will back in five days for your wedding.”

They are returning to the Court of Summer. A prince and a princess cannot be gone for so long from their court. I look at Marin closely. I did not know when I was getting married. It is one of the many things that I did not ask.

Five days. Five days for father to expect me to come up with a plan to get rid of Willow. Five days to discover what Zephyrus and Haldol has planned. Five days for Zephyrus to try to include me in his plans. Five days before a nightmare break loose.

“If you need to escape the stress of this court before the wedding or after do not hesitates to come to the Court of Summer,” Marin says. I nod. Then she whispers, “That Thalia, wow, you got an H-O-T woman. You are lucky.” I laugh, because she is trying to convince me that marrying Thalia is not a bad idea.

“My love, are you ready to leave?” Blaise calls Marin.

“Of course,” Marin says.

If I want to have a marriage like someone’s, it would be like Marin’s marriage. Their marriage was arranged too, but they fell in love with each other. They are the happiest couple comparing to my brothers. They joke around with each other and they never seem to run out of topics to talk about, even if they are with each other most of the time.

I walk with them towards the entrance. Zephyrus and I stand on the steps. There are three carriages, each one for each couple. Blaise is the only one to help the servants with the bags. The rest sit on their carriage waiting for their bags to be packed. When they are done, the carriages leave one behind the other.

I look at Zephyrus when the carriages are out of sight. I realized now that Zephyrus and I are the only brothers remaining in this castle. The others reminding here are Thalia, Tinley, and father. This castle feels too big all of a sudden. I turn around to walk inside before Zephyrus can ask me whatever his plan has.

“Little brother, can I speak to you?” Zephyrus asks from behind me. I could not have made myself disappear faster.

“Sure,” I say, turning around to face him. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Are we in a hurry?” he asks and walks past me. It is so normal for him to be this tedious. “Let us discuss this over coffee.”

Classic Zephyrus, to extend everything in order to make me impatient. I follow him without trying look annoyed. I need to remember to breathe and not look irritable. Zephyrus leads me to one of the living rooms. He orders a servant for coffee as he sits down on an elegant chair. I sit on the chair opposite from him. The coffee comes in a minute or two of silence.

“Tell me, what do you have planned for after your wedding?” Zephyrus asks. A question that he is waiting for one specific answer.

“I do not know what the future holds,” I tell him, pouring sugar in my coffee. It is the vaguest answer that I can come up with.

“Would you remain here or live at the Court of Storms?” Zephyrus asks, ignoring my vague answer.

“Well, as you know, a prince remains in his kingdom and his wife comes to live with him,” I say. “Of course, whenever is necessary, a prince might go to his wife’s old court.”

“Ah, so you have not given much thought to father’s proposal,” Zephyrus says. He takes a sip from his coffee. Father has told him his idea of disappearing Queen Willow for me to become the Storm King. “Having a bigger Court of Miracles could be beneficial for us. Look at it this way,” he places his mug on the table between us, “Soon I will be king, and you will become king of the Court of Storms. We could rule side by side.” Could, not will. It is not a promise.

Soon I will be king.

My suspicions have become real. He is planning to steal the crown from father’s head. Now, it only raises more questions. Why does he want the crown right now when father is going to retire in less than three decades? What is the role of Haldol in all of this? Even if Zephyrus is promising me and Haldol to be his equal, it will all change when he rises to king.

“The only thing that you must do is remove the queen from the chessboard,” he says, standing up with elegance. “Do that, and the whole chessboard will be yours. That is if you can prove that you are not a coward.”

Zephyrus leaves the room without glancing one last time at me. I continue drinking my coffee, sitting as comfortable as I can. He and father expect one thing from me. They want me to murder Queen Willow. It is an opportunity to be equal to them. It is an opportunity to belong among them. But even if I do it, I will only be equal to them in title. I will still be Zephyrus’s little brother. And what would I tell Thalia when her mother vanishes?

I put my mug with delicacy on the table. I stand up, pushing my chair without making a sound. In one swing of my arm, I let out my anger and shove all the mugs and sugar pot away from the table. They crash on the floor in pieces. I straighten out my clothes, practice my fake smile and leave the broken mugs behind.

***

“What do you think of lecture today?” North asks. Small talk. I do not like small talk.

“Useless,” I say. The lecture today was about smiths. We went to Fairdell, looking into every smith’s workshop. The purpose of this lesson was to see if anyone, other than the princes and princesses, would want to try their fortune on becoming smiths.

“Agree,” North says, agreeing for the first time to an opinion of mines.

“North,” I say, and she turns her sight from the path between the Slumbering Forest. “Why do you go to lectures? You are the only commoner there.”

“I want to learn,” she says after minutes of thinking. “When I started going to school, I was a kid and there were others like me.” She is not going to call them what I called her. “We were together on every lecture, but they could not withstand the humiliation of other classmates. In the end, I am the only one standing.”

If it were not for Thalia, I would not have thought how difficult North’s life is at lecture. Everyone, but especially Hesperia, Caspian, and I have made her life, and the rest of the commoners, horrible. It is no wonder why she never spoke when we were partnered up at the poison lecture.

“Oh, no!” North says. She is looking at the forest. The sprite’s eyes are looking at me again. I did not miss them.

Next time that you see me is when I am going to cash in my favor. Bring this girl with you.

“Time to return our favor and get this over with,” I say, pushing North into the forest.

“But I do not want to go,” she says, struggling.

“He wants you there,” I say. “He said that you are a reasonable faerie.”

If she had not spoken during our conversation with the sprite, he would not have asked for her to return. He might think that North can control me. He is wrong. I am lucky that he has not met Thalia.

I continue pushing her until she starts walking on her own. The whispers start as soon as I enter the forest. I try to make out what they are saying, but I still cannot understand them. Instead, I focus on the whispers instead of the words. I did not notice before, but only a few whispers start and more chime in with each step I take.

“What do you want?” I ask the forest sprite.

“I want to redeem my favor,” he says. He is still wearing his leaves, branches, and roots clothes. It seems to be sprites’ casual clothes.

“No, no, no,” I say. “First answer me about the whispers and I will reconsider the favor.”

“Reconsider?” the sprite says. That is the problem with faeries and sprites, they are always interested on every single word.

“He already accepted your conditions last time that we were here,” North says. “A faerie cannot go back on its word, and even less on a deal.”

“That is why I told you to bring her the next time that we meet,” he tells me.

“B-but you also said that you were going to answer his question about the whispers,” North says, trying to cover what she just said against me.

“I said perhaps,” the sprite says. “But all right. Come.” He starts walking towards the closest tree and North and I follow him. “Lay your palm against the tree.” I hesitate and he sighs. “Just do it.”

I press my palm against the tree. It appears to be shaking but once my hand is completely on the surface of the tree, it stops and with it, the closest whisper disappears.

“These are no ordinary trees,” the forest sprite says when he sees my eyes widen. “Once, these trees were in every inch of the world. They lived in harmony with faeries, sprites, goblin, trolls, ogres, and every other living creature. Why do you think that this forest is named the Slumbering Forest?” I do not answer. “These are treefolk that were cursed to sleep through eternity. The whispers are their call for anyone to wake them.”

I always thought that treefolk were a myth or a story passed by generations without another purpose than to entertain. If treefolk are real, why were they cursed?

“Why can’t I hear them?” North asks. I look at her as I move away my palm from the tree. How can’t she hear them?

“Faeries can’t hear them,” the forest sprite says.

“But I can hear them,” I say. I am a faerie too.

“I do not have the definite answer,” the sprite says. “The curse casted specified that they will awaken by the last destroyer of curses in this land.” He points at the sword on my side. “That is the Cursebreaker and whoever wields it can break curses.”

How does he know about the Cursebreaker? I lived at the Miracle Castle my whole life, where the Cursebreaker was, and I had never heard about it. Even if he had heard stories about it, how can he identify it so easily?

“You can also hear the treefolk calling,” the sprite continues. “That cannot be a coincidence.”

“What are you trying to say?” North asks.

“That the last destroyer of curses is also the final wielder of the Cursebreaker,” the sprite answers.

“No,” I say, but it is more to myself. “You want me to break the curse.” It is not a question, but he nods. “I will not. Someone casted a curse on them for a reason. I am not going to break it without knowing why they were cursed on the first place.”

“Your court was the one to cast the curse,” he says.

“Then they must have had a great reason to do it,” I say, even if I do not understand how someone from the Court of Miracles can create a curse.

“Just as great of a reason to destroy our villages and drive us to live here?” the sprite says. He is referring to the story of the Slumbering Forest that Ailsa told Haldol.

“My ancestors did not destroy your villages, you destroyed ours!” I yell. I do not allow anyone to insult my court. “This forest was a gift to your specie, even after all the things your specie did!”

The sprite chuckles. “Is that why they teach you at lecture? Know your facts straight before you speak them with such security.” He takes a few steps back and away from the tree. “I do not care if you do not want to break the curse. You owe me a favor. We made a deal. Faeries can be deceiving but they do not break promises.”

I feel fury boiling in my blood. “If you want me to break the curse, then fine!” I yell.

I put the sword in front of me, holding it with two hands. I do not know what I am doing but hopefully the show will calm him down. A continuous golden ray of light appears from the end of my sword, hitting the tree. The cortex of the tree shines a dark purple, same color as the pommel of the Cursebreaker. When the light disappears, I drop the Cursebreaker.

“It did not work,” the forest sprite says as he watches the tree. It is still immobile. “That means that you are not the last wielder of the Cursebreaker.”

It does not shock me. Swords are never made for only one person. It is meant to be a family heirloom. The first person who owns it will pass it to his son and the son to the grandson, and so on. I will pass it to a son of mine at some point.

“I did your favor. Now we are done,” I say as I take the Cursebreaker. I pull North from her arm until she starts following. “I hope to never see you, nor this place, again.”

“Oh, you will be back,” the forest sprite says. I stop. He must be toying with me. “Regretfully, I still have to keep an eye on you.”

The woman in red who I danced with on the ball the night that we celebrated Easton’s engagement. She went with the forest sprite. She was wearing a red dress. A red dress. How could I have not thought about it?

The woman is a faerie in a red dress. At royal gatherings, faeries must wear their courts’ colors. That means that she must be from a court that have red as their color. She must be from the Court of Ashes.

“You must keep an eye on me, but that does not mean that I have to come to the Slumbering Forest again,” I say.

“You will return,” the forest sprite says. I hate how secure he talks. “You are a curious person and the answers that you seek can only be found here, not on your castle. Farewell, little prince, I will see you soon.”

I want to answer him, but instead continue my way out of the forest.

***

I walk around the castle, searching for something to keep myself busy. I want to talk to Thalia about the forest sprite, but she is with North. Instead of waiting for her, I find myself on the same room that I drank coffee this morning with Zephyrus. I am amazed to find that father and Zephyrus are playing chess. They were talking but silence themselves when they see me walk in.

“Ah, Rowan! How has your day been?” father asks. “Would you like some tea?”

“Of course,” I say, because even a prince cannot deny tea from the king. “As of my day, I wish it was better.”

“Lecture was not interesting?” father asks. With his hand, he has ordered a servant to serve me tea. The servant hands me a teacup with a plate but I only take the teacup.

“No, it was about smiths,” I say as I approach the table. “You were talking about the Court of Autumn before I interrupted, were you not?”

Father only speaks tactics to Zephyrus. Father used to say that he did not talk about strategy to Easton or me because we were too young. As the years passed, and we grew older, he continued strategizing with Zephyrus. Easton at some point decided that he did not want to beg to help father anymore, but I have always wanted to be a strategist.

“Yes, but we were just wrapping it up,” Zephyrus says. He moves the black queen down the board.

“Of course,” I say, but I know that they were ending the conversation because of me. I will show them that I can strategize like them. “Well, the thing about war is that it is just like chess. You have to focus on the king instead of the pawns.” I grab the white bishop from my father’s side of the board and move it, taking out a rook in the process. “Checkmate.”

Zephyrus opens his eyes wide as he stares at the board. He checks every possibility, but his king does not have an escaping route. I take the bishop and rook back on its place right before I touched them.

“Of course, you want to try to take their strongest warriors, even family, but it will not end the game,” I say. I move the white knight and take out the black queen. Zephyrus also looks surprised. “As a strategist, I would like for the game to be over. Less suffering and more people will live.”

I place back the black queen and the white knight to its previous spaces. I gulp down my tea and put the teacup on the table, right next to the chessboard. I bow to the king before turning around to walk towards the door.

“Son, what are you suggesting?” father asks and this time I know that he is including me into his tactics instead of Zephyrus.

“Go directly to the king, hear him out, and strike a deal,” I say. “You have more chess pieces than him. Whatever he wants will be within your range.”

I step out of the room, leaving father to think and Zephyrus to hate me for claiming his spotlight.