The Blood King's Bride

The Blood Kingdom.

The palace gates...

Calhoun loved his father. He did. But he couldn’t understand the undying feeling he had to bury the man alive. After their discussion the other day about him getting a bride, his father wasted no time helping him prepare for his journey. Before Calhoun could even speak, his loads were packed, he was dressed, and finally sent out of the palace. One would wonder why he didn’t do anything through the whole tirade. His father knew him very well, already expecting him to react that way, and so he brought the only thing he knew he couldn’t react to.

His Mother.

The poor woman was already crying her eyes out, going on and on about finally having a daughter-in-law and becoming a grandmother. Calhoun didn’t know how to react. He hasn’t even seen his bride, but his parents had already started giving their future grandchildren names. But all these weren’t the worst of it all. It was the procession that his father arranged. The whole Kingdom came out to pay homage to the Blood King who was going out to search for his Bride. Everyone then knew that if he was to come back, he was to bring a bride with him, and if not, he isn’t the perfect King as they deem him to be.

Calhoun wouldn’t deny the fact that he thought of taking some time off for himself. Maybe a few months perhaps, and if he were to find a bride, fine. If not, there also wasn’t any problem. He could go home and continue life as it were for him. But with the whole kingdom knowing what he was intended to do, his father had inadvertently made it a decree. Of course, it wasn’t voiced out, but his father knew that he knew the repercussions. He turned to face his father. He smiled and waved his hands as if he was already missing his son.

The sly man.

His mother was crying gently, but one would notice the undeniable pride shining from her eyes for her son if one looked closely. Calhoun sighed. He might as well get serious with the plan.

“Go get her son,” his father said. Calhoun ignored him and climbed up his saddled horse. Taking one last look at his parents, he gently nudged the horse and began his journey in search of a Bride.

The Kingdom of Neba.

The Red Queen restaurant...

It was a public holiday in the Kingdom. They were celebrating the Birthday of the King, and it was to be a bountiful event that would go on for a week. Elena knew that the current King was her grandfather, but she couldn’t bring herself to see him. She was also afraid that meeting him would expose her hideout to her father, so she convinced herself to remain hidden. However, that did not mean that Elena wouldn’t partake in the celebration. She was curious how the whole Kingdom was preparing for the King’s birthday and how it was going to be celebrated. She heard that there would be a huge banquet thrown for the people, and then there would be a special banquet held only for the nobles. As she hasn’t identified herself yet, she would have to be part of the people. She couldn’t wait to experience it.

“Hey Elena, when are we going to the market to buy ingredients?” Forest asked her. Ever since he started working here, Elena noticed that he had been extra attentive and courteous towards her. He treated her almost like a brother would, or what she thinks a brother would treat his sister as. Elena found that she enjoyed the attention. She was happy that she was slowly building a family of her own.

“We can go now. The whole Kingdom is preparing for the King’s birthday. I bet things would be sold at a cheaper rate.”

“You’re right,” Mac said, coming out of the kitchen. He smelled of spices and smoke. After the small competition between their restaurant and Joüs restaurant, Elena encouraged him to cook up new recipes. The Red Queen was his restaurant; he could make it grow if he added recipes Joüstin never knew of. Together with their combined recipes, they could bring the Red queen to the top of the Kingdom. Elena could already see it happening. Just that week alone, they had received thrice the reservations they normally received and had received two important people they served at the VIP room. That alone boosted their morale, and they strived to work even harder.

“Here, take this,” Mac said, handing Forest a rough sheet of paper. “I need these particular ingredients. I want to try something out. I think I know what is missing in my royal stew.” Forest took a look at the paper and then handed it to Elena, who immediately began to scan through it.

“Okay,” Elena said, standing. “Let’s go, Forest.” She said, leaving the restaurant with Forest right behind her.

The street was filled with color. There were lamps of different colors hung at different houses, petals were flying from every street area. Some people were dressed in their finest. Elena could never get used to the freedom she found here. She enjoyed the place and had temporarily forgotten that she had suffered in the neighboring Kingdom. As they made their way to the market, they received several greetings from different people. Most were from different young women hoping that Forest would look at them. He didn’t disappoint them, though; he greeted them and asked after them and their family. He even openly flirted with some of them. The women blushed so hard Elena swore that their faces would explode. She wondered how Forest did it. She didn’t care, though. Those women brought more customers to the Red queen. As long as she made her profit, Elena was satisfied.

They finally reached the market. It was bustling more than ever. Different people were shouting out, selling their wares to whoever was interested. There was a stall that sold different colored lamps, another that sold beautiful pottery, and another that sold lovely hairpins. Right from the time she came to this Kingdom, Elena knew that the market was her weakness. Forest and Mac had bared witness to her excessive spending. As she never had any of these back at the palace of Pres, it was no wonder she wanted to have all of it then, especially if she could now afford it. Once, she wasted her whole month’s salary on dresses, hairpins, and so many other items she didn’t need. But she was happy. She had a room that Mac built for her when renovating the restaurant, and when he built it, she was happy that she had a place to stay. The room had looked empty then, but one could not compare it to how colorful it was after spending more than a month there. It was filled with different kinds of things one would wish to have; it was colorful and screamed of the experiences and beautiful moments she had throughout her stay at the Kingdom.

As if knowing what she was about to do, Forest dragged her from the temptations of the different stalls and straight to the food market.

“We do not have the time to go through your excessive spending routine.” He scolded.

“But-”

“No buts! You have a problem with spending Elena. If you can’t curb it, then I will.”

“Hey, I’m the boss here,” Elena said with her arms crossed. “You can’t do anything to me.”

“Do you want me to tell Mac?” He said. Elena dropped her hands down and frowned at Forest. Ever since the day she spent all her monthly earnings at once, Mac has been helping her keep her allowance, only giving her some portions of it at specific periods. She didn’t want Forest to tell Mac. She didn’t want Mac to stop giving her the small portions he was giving her. Mac may even start to follow her when shopping if worse comes to worst. He had threatened to do as much. Elena sighed. She opened the list Mac gave her and started to look for the ingredients written on it.

After getting all the ingredients on the list, Elena and Forest went further into the market. They studied the way people went about preparing for the royal banquet, both commoners and nobles alike. The female nobles all had their faces covered with a veil and had a maid or two flanking at their sides. Some were rude, some were quiet, letting their maid do everything for them. The commoners looked at them in awe, their faces bright as if seeing goddesses. There were also some male nobles. Some of them, Elena suspected, were the female nobles’ brothers, while others could be their betrothed, or they were just wooing them.

Unlike the commoners, Elena never looked at any nobles in awe. She had had enough of that life and knew that one cannot trust the nobles. She ignored them and dragged Forest further into the market. Having seen all that was there to see, Elena and Forest began making their way out of the market. They hadn’t passed more than four stalls when suddenly a fight broke out.

“Pay me my money you pig!” A man screamed and jumped on another man who had been pushed to the ground. He started laying punches on him, not minding the fact that the poor man on the ground wasn’t fighting back.

“How can you come here and drink away your life and then tell me you do not have money?” He said, still hitting the man on the ground. The poor man was bleeding from his face, his eyes were black, and his cheeks were swollen. Yet, he lay there doing nothing to block the attack.

“Pay me my money. Pay me my money!” The angry man shouted out in between his punches.

Elena had had enough after seeing all these. She didn’t care who was at fault, but she couldn’t bear to see the sight of the man on the floor. She quickly ran over and shouted.

“Enough!” The angry man and the crowd that had gathered paused to look at her. Only the man on the floor was immobile. Elena felt immense pity well up inside her.

“How much does he owe you? Tell me I’ll pay.” She said. The angry man looked at her curiously. Then he looked at the man he had beaten to a pulp. He looked at her again. Having come to a conclusion, he then said,

“100 gold coins.” He had a devious look on his face. Elena knew that he was lying, but she couldn’t do anything to prove it as he was the bar owner. She also knew that she didn’t have up to that amount of money with her ever since Mac started keeping her money for her. So she looked to Forest for help.

Forest sighed and brought out two pouches he threw at the angry man.

“There. Can you let the poor man be then?” Elena asked. The bar owner was shocked that they could afford that amount so easily. His perception of them immediately changed, and he stood up from the man and looked at them respectfully.

“Of course. I’m sorry for the ruckus that was caused.” Elena and Forest ignored him and went over to pick the poor man from the floor. The man could barely move his body, and Elena was afraid that had they come in too late, he probably would have been beaten to death. They both dragged the beaten man back to the Red Queen restaurant, not minding the strange stares they were receiving from people on the road.

Mac almost had a heart attack when he saw how they looked. He quickly rushed over to help them with the man who had been beaten up. They took him to Forest’s room, a spare room Mac built when renovating the restaurant just in case he might need it for anything and laid him down on Forest’s bed. They tended to his wounds and bandaged his already battered body.

Mac made a drink made of herbs to give the man, while Forest cleaned off the dirt and grime on the man with a piece of wet cloth, a bowl of water by his side. Elena watched as they did this to the man and couldn’t help but be grateful that Mac and Forest were her families now. Elena looked at the man lying on the bed and wondered what kind of life he lived that made him like this.