Heir of Golden Storms

Crimson lets a scream out of her. She keeps pushing against the invisible wall. I land on the ground in front of Thalia. I grab her hand and help her stand up. “Are you all right?” I ask.

“Now that she is gone,” Thalia answers. Thalia brushes the dirt off her clothes as I scan her, looking to see if Crimson hurt her anywhere else.

“Hey! I am a lady too,” I hear Hesperia complain. “You could have helped me stand up.”

I turn. Glade is standing in front of North, brushing the dirt off her shoulder. He has helped her stand up. Hesperia is behind them, brushing her hands together, trying to take the dirt off.

“I hope that you are happy about this, Rowan,” Crimson says. She has stopped trying to escape the Forbidden Forest. She has enchanted herself again, and now she looks calm as if the furious pixie seconds ago never existed.

“I am,” I answer. “We gave you the option to control your creatures, and you did not take it. You have chosen this all by yourself.”

She laughs. “You really believe that, huh? Well, you do not know what you have done. You see, you have trapped every pixie in this side. You trapped your family, the people who could give you the answers about who you are.”

“Who said anything about needing to know where I came from?” I say. “I am here, and that is all that matters.”

“For now,” she says. “You will grow more curious and impatient until you will pay anything for answers, and I will be here waiting for you to come.” She then stops looking at me and turns to Glade. “Are you satisfied, Glade? Are you happy that there is a wall between us? Congratulations! You took your revenge!”

“I did not want this, but you gave me no choice,” Glade says. “I had to defend the court that accepted me.” I asked him to show loyalty to the Court of Storms. He did show it.

Crimson laughs again. “A court of faeries accepted you? Do not make me laugh. Faeries will never accept you. They hate everything but themselves.”

“That is about to change in our court,” I say. Thalia steps behind me, grabbing my right hand. She is showing support. “We will accept sprites and faeries alike.”

“Sure,” Crimson answers. “That will end up horrible for you two. Faeries do not like change, and you will soon learn it.” She looks back at Glade. “If this is what you want, then fine. I will release you from your services. Go and be happy with faeries. There are still laws that prohibit sprites from creating families with faeries.”

“Let’s leave her,” I say as I turn. There is no point on hearing her anymore. She is going to keep saying whatever comes to her mind to make us regret our decision. We have won.

She remains quiet as we walk away.

***

The carriage comes to a stop. A knight opens the door for me, and I step out. I lift my hand, letting Thalia lay her hand on me as she walks out. We are at one of the towns in the Court of Storms. The town of Windford is the biggest town in the Court of Storms. Most of the population lives her. Stone buildings with wooden doors and brick ceilings. The floor is made of irregular gray cobblestones.

We are at the plaza in the middle of Windford. A wooden scaffold has been built in the middle for us. There are only businesses around the plaza; the houses must be after them. The sun shines and there are no clouds in the sky. The people start kneeling when they see Thalia and me.

Thalia slides her arm between mine as we move to the stage. Two other carriages stop behind ours. From the middle one, Hesperia steps out, and from the last, North and Glade step out. Sir Fafner led the carriages on his black horse. Now he is standing on the stage, waiting for us to approach him.

“Welcome citizens of the Court of Storms,” Sir Fafner announces after we stepped on the stage and sat on the elegant wooden chairs that represents a smaller version of the thrones. “We have asked to gather you here today to hear the announcements from our king and queen. I will leave you all with our Queen Thalia of Storms.”

Thalia stands up. She is wearing the golden crown on her head. She has a simple long dress, darker than the purple that she usually wears. The people kneel once again as she walks to the front of the stage.

“You may rise,” she tells them, and they follow her command. “We have come here to tell you how everything is at the Court of Storms because you are our citizens and you deserve to know.” She sniffs and her voice breaks when she starts to talk again. “Last night, one of our friends, the closest friend that my mother had, passed away. Her name was Sephira, the magical expert of our council.” She stops for a second to clean a tear from the corner of her eye.

“I know that things at the Court of Storms have been difficult.” Thalia continues. “We had a war and creatures invaded our court. My husband will speak about it later. Right now, I want to announce that we are going to rise a monument in honor of Queen Willow, Sephira, and the fallen from the war or last night events. A statue will be built right here in the middle of this plaza with the names of every loved one that are now with the Saints.” She waits some seconds for the crowd to gasp and murmur with each other. “I will leave you with my husband, King Rowan.”

I stand up and walk towards the front. I lay a hand on Thalia’s shoulder as she passes me. It is a small gesture, but I need her to know that I am with her on this. She stops behind me, still standing. The citizens kneel to my presence. I rise my hands, letting them know to stand up.

“Greetings,” I announce, thinking of the script that I had to memorize. “Most of you do not know me and most of you might think that these past events came because of me.” I wanted to say that all the problems that this court have received is because of me, but the council said that I should not admit to any fault. It will only wild the crowd enough to rebel against me and even Thalia.

“I want to introduce myself and answer every question that you have and every doubt about me,” I continue. “I was Rowan Miracle, fifth prince of the Court of Miracles. I believed to be the son of High King Auden. At my wedding with Thalia, it was revealed that I was not his son.”

People whisper around us. I have admitted to the rumors. I have admitted that I am not of royal blood. In the Court of Miracles, every royal married someone royal or wealthy. I do not know if it is the same here, now that I am a nobody.

“The High King dishonored me and sent me to the dungeons,” I say. “I carry the scars to prove for the sins that I did not commit. That same day, the High King killed our precious Queen Willow, leaving three faeries orphaned.”

The council had written a vague but effective speech. I must blame everything to the High King in order to answer why the Court of Storms is no longer allied to the Court of Miracles. I must not mention details that could potentially harm our court. I must cause emotion on each citizen to truly see me as their king.

“I was rescued by Thalia,” I grab Thalia’s hand and moves it to my lips. I plant a kiss on the back of it. It is an effort to raise emotion in the crowd. “Even though the High King did not want me as his son, since I was not his blood, we decided to keep the alliance for the sake of our courts. Of course, that all change when he betrayed us.” I look at North. “North, could you stand up?”

She nods, showing hints in her eyes of being scared. There were only three scripts written by the council: Thalia’s, Hesperia’s, and mines. North does not know that she was playing a part in this. She stands up and approaches us all the same.

I turn back to the crowd. “North, here, is a friend of Thalia and me. The High King killed her family She was tortured by the High King and poisoned to die a slow painful death. I rescued her, our friend, from the High King’s grasp. It costed us our alliance with the Court of Miracles.

“North has taught us compassion. She has taught us patience. And she has taught us that every creature is as equal as faeries. We could not leave the person with the biggest heart that we know to suffer.” I look at Thalia as I pull out the Cursemaker. “Would you do the honors?”

Thalia nods as she takes the sword. “North, please, kneel.” North does, her eyes searching for an explanation. Thalia lays the sword on North’s shoulder as she says, “North from the Court of Winter, by the power vested on me as your queen, and the power vested on Rowan as your king, I hereby grant you the position of the magical expert of the Storm Council.”

“What?” she says, standing up. “I do not know what to say. I-I… Thank you.” Thalia smiles at her and they walk back to the chairs.

“When our alliance was broken, the High King waged war against us,” I continue the speech. “I will admit, even though it might show weakness, I personally begged the High King to end the attack. It did not work, and I ended up asking help from sprites.”

The crowd murmurs. They look between me and Glade. I know that faeries were taught to fear sprites. They were taught that faeries are the paragon of creatures and sprites are born to be animals.

“Thanks to Glade and the sprites, we defended our court from the attacking courts,” I say, and he stands up in cue. It was thanks to Glade that I was lured to the Slumbering Forest in the first place. It is technically his fault that I spoke with the sprite’s kings and queens. I signal him to sit down again.

“I also have to thank my old friend, Hesperia,” I say and rise a hand towards her. She stands up. “She was born in the royal family of the Court of Swarm, one of the courts that attacked us. I will step back to let her speak to you.”

Hesperia moves to the front as I sit back. She has a dark purple dress, lighter than Thalia’s and lighter than what I am wearing. Her blonde hair has been braided. It was Master Nidd’s idea to make her look innocent, even though that is not the word that I would use to describe her.

“I am Hesperia, princess of the Court of Swarm,” she says. Butterflies starts flying towards her, landing on her hair. It is all planned to make her seem harmless. “I escaped the Court of Swarm to warn the Court of Storms of the attack. I betrayed my own court.”

She stops, letting it sink on the people. “I am here to say that I trust the Storm King blindly. I will be behind him until I am of no use to him.” She was supposed to say that she trusted Thalia and me. She cannot lie; she does not trust Thalia. “I will announce in front of the citizens of the Court of Storms that I, Hesperia Swarm, renounce to the title of princess of the Court of Swarm and pledge myself to the Court of Storms.”

She steps back, butterflies following here. She does not wait for the town to start murmuring. Something inside me told me that she was not going to go through with the speech. She did. She has pledged her alliance not only to the Court of Storms, but to me. I know that she is not doing it for the court, but for me. She has shown her love in more ways that I could have ask for.

“I have two things more to say,” I start talking once again in front of the stage. “The creatures that were here last night came from the Forbidden Forest. The curse guarding us from them was broken.” The council forbid me from saying that I was the one that broke it. “There is nothing to be concerned about anymore. We created the magical wall again to keep the creatures out of the Forbidden Forest. We have knights tracking every other creature that escaped and sending them back to their rightful home.”

Thalia stands up and walks towards me. She stops beside me, grabbing my hand. My heart skips a beat. There was nothing about Thalia grabbing my hand in the script.

“We want to apologize for all the events that occurred,” I say. “We are throwing a ball tonight at the Storm Castle to thank you for understanding. This ball will mark our new beginning of a chapter in our court’s story as a new lively court.”

Thalia and I bow, and with that, we all leave to our carriages.

***

“With whom is going to be your first dance?” Thalia asks.

She is at the throne on my left that both has been moved to the ball room. The golden crown sits on her head. Even the amethysts on her crown shines brighter tonight. Her dress has been made by one of the finest tailors in the court. The tailor even made it to match my suit. The ball started an hour ago and the castle is already filled with different faeries and I am sure that it would go on until the sun comes again.

I have not danced with anyone and Thalia neither. We have decided to take it slowly since if we ask someone to dance, everyone will start asking to dance with us. Hesperia brought me a goblet of wine thirty minutes into the ball without me asking her to. She then disappeared to the dance floor to pick the hottest faeries there are to dance with.

In the corner of my eye, I spot North dancing slowly and awkwardly. She does not like dancing. She dislikes the attention that draws it. She prefers to sit down, hear the music, and speak with faeries that approach her. I do not know what made her change her mind into dancing, but then I see that Glade is dancing with her. He might be a smooth talker.

“She needs to be someone special,” I answer Thalia’s question, looking through the crowd. “Someone who is more beautiful than I am. Someone who leaves me breathless when I see her.” I put the goblet down on the small table beside the throne. I stand up and extend a hand towards Thalia. “Would you do me the honor of granting me this dance?”

“Charming,” she says, taking my hand.

I take her to the middle of the ball room where everyone is dancing. The faeries start moving, opening the path for us. When we get to the middle, I pull her close, one hand on her waist and the other holding her hand. The musician start playing, and I recognize the song. It is the first song that I heard Thalia sing.

I lead her through the dancefloor. She dances swiftly, anticipating every move that I make. She clearly has danced many times before. That is when I noticed that this is the first time that I have danced with her.

I do not want to close my eyes. I want to remember every second of it. I want to remember how her body moves gracefully with the music. I want to remember the way the pink azaleas on her hair move whenever I spin her around. I want to remember her face, the way she smiles whenever she catches me staring at her sapphire eyes with a curve on my mouth.

When the song ends, I want to beg her to stay with me dancing. I want to feel the heat of her body close to me. I want to hear her giggle again whenever I make an unexpected move. I want her fingers entwined in mines. But she lets go and moves to the faerie closer to her, a man bigger than me.

I move to the nearest lady. I dance with her and switch partner whenever the song comes to an end, until I can leave the dancefloor. I sit on the throne, where Hesperia is leaning on. She has a goblet of wine in her hand.

“Tired of dancing?” she asks. I shrug as I grab the goblet that I left on the table. “I was waiting for you to ask me to dance, but I will die of age until you do, and you know that faeries cannot die of age. Would you like to dance with me?”

“Hesperia, don’t you know that princesses cannot ask a man to dance? It is not very lady-like,” I say.

“Well, too bad that I am not a princess anymore,” she says. “And also, this is a court that treats women with the same rights as men. I can ask to dance whomever I want to.” She moves to be in front of me. “Would you dance with me? I will not ask again.”

I smile. “Of course, I will,” I say as I take her hand.

A continues laugh interrupts us from moving to the dance floor. The faeries gasp and start moving away from the middle. I jog my way to the middle, followed by Hesperia. I push my way until I can see.

Thalia is laying on the floor with a bitten apple in her hand. The apple on her hand starts turning from red to black, rotting in the process. I take a step back. A figure is standing next to her laughing. He turns to face me as his laugh dies out. He is me, wearing the same clothes and even the crown. I draw the Cursemaker out.

“Who are you?” I yell. How dare someone pretend to be me? Even in my home.

The other Rowan laughs again, making me hate even my own laugh. He rises his hand and the enchantment in him breaks. “Surprised?” Crimson asks, standing where the other Rowan was. The crown that was on her head disappeared, but she is still wearing the same clothes that I am.

“How…?” but I am without words.

“How did I escape the Forbidden Forest? I did not,” she says. “You forget the problem with trapping curses, they do not work on pixies and sprites when there is a special event just like this ball. I can go out until morning, but I must leave without my powers. I can return by magic whenever I want to, though.”

“But you became me,” I say. I do not know what to ask. Crimson being able to escape whenever someone throws a ball or when the day is a holiday changes a lot of things.

“Ah, that tricked I made it before leaving the Forbidden Forest, just like this apple,” she smiles. “Breaking a spell does not need even a drop of my magic.”

“What did you do to her?” I ask, rising my sword more and trying to keep it steady.

“Me?” she asks, faking a surprised. “I only planted a curse on the apple. She will sleep for the rest of her life unless the curse is broken.” She turns to leave. She takes several steps until she turns around again. “Oh, I forgot to mention. You have until midnight to break the curse or she will be sleeping forever.” She waves at me before she disappears in thin air.