Night came soon, and Oren pulled the shortest straw, being chosen to be a lookout. He seemed glad. The starry night above was quite a view. Watching it, he caressed the shining hilt of the sword.
“How is it going?” Narra whispered, also watching the stars. “No rebels coming?”
“No. I doubt they would bother. With Alec dead, they will be thrown to disarray, at least for a while.”
Seeing the stars shine, she let out a sigh and looked at Oren. “I wonder what happened to Irpen. He was always so nice to me.” The memory of the innkeeper was the only one she treasured.
Oren’s face fell. “He is one of them. A good friend of Alec, the man that tried to kill you.”
“Is that right?” She looked back to the sky. “No matter. I’m glad I ran into you.”
“Are you now?” He chuckled. “I was confused at first. You know, when you ran up to me after I left the store and you—.”
“Sorry!” she said loudly. “I wasn’t thinking straight. Ceril was being his true self, and I felt bad.”
He smiled at her. “Want a hug?”
“What?” She jumped up from the ground. “You don’t ask like that, you just know and do it when the time is—.” With a quick jump, he embraced her, and she could feel her cheeks getting warmer.
“You were right,” he said, resting his head on her shoulder. “It feels good.”
Alone Under a Night's Sky
With research underway into the matters of the Li’Ari, the royal court came to a standstill as did the local governments who, without the archon, only kept the peace and went ahead with any pre-planned events.
Aelir was in the library from dawn to dusk and had no time to attend to his father, who closed himself in his chamber and refused to come out. Many were concerned about his health; he would disallow anyone from entering his bedroom. Even Nael Di Reo, his most trusted advisor, was sent away, refused entry.
The night was coming, and Aelir was once again, the last person to remain in the library. Hundreds of books were searched that day, and their synopses were noted down for later use. He took it upon himself to shelf them that night.
While putting the last book, a three thousand pages long history of the war with Li’Ari volume one of seventeen, heard the door opening. He turned and saw the woman with ruffed golden hair and the same height. Arianna Di Reo.
She walked up to him. “Your Majesty,” she said with a bow. “I hope I do not disturb you.”
“Of course not, my lady,” he replied, forcing a stronger accent. “Please let me lightly kiss the knuckles of your precious hand.”
They laughed. “It is nice to see you again,” said Aelir.
“Likewise. Is it alright if I join you?”
“Of course. I was on my way out however,” he admitted. “Still we have found no answers, nothing that could help us.”
She smiled. “I know, all of that. That’s why I came now. I wouldn’t wish to disturb your work. Besides, I am far more interested in precisely everything else than war history. No offense.”
“How could you not wish to read two thousand pages just to know why a region of the size of the imperial gardens actually joined the empire willingly.” He paused and smiled. “At the end, after those two thousand pages, you’ll find out that it is not true and merely speculation that has no merit what so ever.”
With an amused chuckle, she replied, “Now that sounds very entertaining, almost as much as watching you suffer while reading it, but I had other things in mind.”
“May I inquire what things?”
“Join me, and I shall show you.”
Hearing that nervousness took over Aelir, the proposition and Arianna’s tone were quite flirtatious in nature, if his expertise on the subject, coming from books, was of any value. He was unable to refuse her, he didn’t want to anyway, and so they departed the library together.
Through the extravagant hallways of the palace, Arianna led Aelir down two stories into a hall beside her own chambers. There, in the more quaint room, awaited a table with a deck of cards, two glasses, and at least four bottles of various types of alcohol, all of which was expensive and very strong.
“Go on,” Arianna bumped him inside. “Please sit down and let me explain.” He did as she asked. “First, do you know how to play cards?” Aelir shook his head, looking at the deck closer. “It is quite simple. I shall teach you.”
She did reveal to him the rules of a very straightforward game. Each gets delt half of the deck, and they play cards, the one with the higher card wins and adds the two cards into his scrap pile.
That was all, which at first seemed strange to Aelir as the game was quite random and impossible for him to fully win. It all made sense when Arianna introduced drinking into the game, where the loser has to take a sip of his drink, and the one who has the least cards at the end of a round has to finish their glass.
Reluctantly Aelir agreed, at least he told himself he agreed reluctantly. In fact, Aelir was ecstatic to accept and very much excited to play. Given the game was based on luck, he could relax and merely hope he’ll win.
They dealt the cards and began to play, starting with Tristician liquor sweet yellow nectar from a rare flower of the region. It tasted good and only for the better as Aelir began the game on a losing streak. He wasted his high-value cards at the beginning against Arianna’s of the lowest value. Then he was destroyed as his deck lacked all the cards.
By the end of the round, she held two-thirds of all the cards, and as such, Aelir had to finish his drink. Having lost a lot of his cards, the game continued for only two more rounds, both of which he lost until there were no cards left.
Then Arianna made up a new rule that says if one loses an entire deck, they must drink an extra glass. She poured one, of course, at double what he usually had, and he drank it. They dealt cards again, and the game began anew.
The game stopped after their first bottle was empty as neither of them cared for the game and drank of their own volition. It became clear to Aelir that it was all a ruse, and Arianna most likely cheated, he would not have lost otherwise, but he cared little as the jokes she told were making him fall from the chair and faceplant right on the floorboards.
Arianna, of course, found that extremely entertaining to a point where she also fell from her chair face-first onto the floor. Neither of them got up, and so they crawled closer to each other and grabbed a bottle from the table. The need for glasses has passed, and so they began exchanging the bottles with one other.
“Aelir, can I call you that even?” she asked, slurring her words.
He, unsure of what she was actually asking, replied to the best of his abilities, “My name is Aelir. Call me, Aelir.”
With a joyful look and a cheer, she agreed. “How come we’ve not met before?”
“You were not here.” So much he wished to ask the same question to the universe. In the end, he should be happy they met young. “Also, most likely, you would not have seen me anywhere, but the library past nine in the evening.”
“Of course.” She passed the bottle and laid on the ground. “How come you were there so late?”
“I like it when it’s quiet. No one there, I can sip on hot cholate and read books. No one can see me cry when reading something emotional--.” He stopped himself for the last part he wished not to say. “I meant I enjoy books and the smell.”
Arianna ignored his attempt to save face and laughed, almost spilling the drink on the floor. “Can I ask you something?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Have you ever wondered how it’d feel to live out there?” She gestured towards the window. “Going to school, having friends, partners, and boyfriends and being free at ten and then doing whatever.”
“I do,” he admitted, his mind sobering just a bit. “I never had to do anything. There were no rules. If I wanted, I could have gone there, I presume. What you say never crossed my mind.”
She rolled over beside him and lay very
close. “Right, I forgot you are a prince. I thought it would be difficult. As in not being able to, well, do anything. Being forced to learn and fight and rule.”
“With magic, there’s no need to know how to fight, besides the chances of me surpassing my dear brother are so incredibly low ants tower over them.” He sighed. “My stance with a sword is awful, and my bones would most likely shatter if I punched somebody. It helps to be able to incinerate them with a mere thought.”
“And now there is new magic as well.” She grabbed his hand, making his heart pound. To hide his face turning red he drank the rest of the third bottle. “Do you know what it is?” With her finger, she touched the runes on his wrists.
Aelir shrugged. “Barely. It’s some sort of power, coming from Areon, of course, but who gives a damn. Father doesn’t, Morael’s gonna want to fight to try it, and I have no use for it.”
“Come here,” she shouted and grabbed his collar, dragging him down to the ground beside her. “My neck hurts having to look up.”
Lying there together, they began to converse of other things, of Aelir’s life and her own. From their hobbies to their favorite flowers, hers was the Light’s Tear. The two royals were quite similar, both enjoyed reading long books about fictional people and their adventures. They found some disagreement when it came to the best flavor of tea but agreed on hot chocolate being an exceptional beverage.
“Why did you come to the capital?” he finally asked the question that he wished. “Nael may be here, but your home isn’t.”
She smiled. “I was promised in marriage to a,” she tried to recall his name, “don’t remember. He came down with a fever and then died. Our parents are not here anymore, and Nael wanted me close. I refused to promise my hand to someone else, and he can’t force me.”
“Your parents couldn’t either.”
“I know. It was an instinct to listen to them.” Her hazel eyes looked at him. “What about you? How does marriage work when you’re a prince?”
He chuckled. “Quite ordinary. Find a royal match, marry, and make babies. There are no rules really, only the emperor can dictate anything to a prince, and they so rarely do, as most wait until they ascend to the throne. I believe a couple of them married complete commoners.” He laughed at the thought and took a sip of a drink. “There is no pressure for me to marry. Morael isn’t going anywhere, and prolonging our lineage is his job.”
“You don’t want to marry?”
Aelir shrugged. “Never gave it much thought. I guess not.”
“Would you truly wish to be alone forever?”
“No. Friends are also a family in a peculiar way. At least I consider them so.”
Woken by the sound of shattering glass Aelir jumped up. Beside him, Arianna did the same. A bottle fell from the table as one of them kicked it in their sleep.
“What happened?” Aelir asked before grabbing the temples of his head.
“We drank,” Arianna replied, embarrassed. “I may have gone too far.” She jumped up, also grabbing her head. “I will have this cleaned right away.”
He nodded. “Alright.”
“Ael-- Your Majesty, I am so sorry. Please forgive me, I did not mean for any of this to happen,” she said, stuttering while looking at the empty bottles and shard of glass.
With an amused chuckle, he stood up, the light from outside, making the head pain even worse. “I told you, you can call me Aelir.” He stumbled to a chair, threw himself on it to sit down and then with a snap of his fingers turned almost all the windows dark to not allow light in. “Do not apologize! I had fun.” Rapidly blinking, feeling the headache set in he cracked his knuckles and took a deep breath. “We should do this again.”
Arianna tried much to hide her happiness, but in the end, she couldn’t. “Thank you.” The dark did little to help in hiding the grinning smile she had.
“Why did you plan this?” he asked. “I enjoyed it, but it interests me.”
“Answer to that is about a bottle away,” she replied with a laugh. He laughed too. “I have no friends. My family is an older brother who is an archon with no time for anything but whatever archons do, I still do not understand it, and I was explained in hours-long sessions. Nael enjoyed telling me, I can tell you that much.” She laughed and in a silent whisper added, “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
With an amused sigh, Aelir got up and walked to her. “Well, why do we not make that official?” he asked. “We’re friends.” He handed her his hand, ready for a customary shake, but instead, with her beautiful golden hair ruffed, she threw herself around him in a tight warm embrace.
He tried, but after an eventful night, he couldn’t hide the tears that ran down his cheeks. At that moment, he did not admit it, for the moment was not about him; he wanted Arianna to enjoy it, to gain a memory she can treasure.
He was also so very alone, his only friend an archon, busy with matters of government, and his own brother more interested in adventures around the country, putting himself in unnecessary danger, than his own blood.
Arianna was the companion he was so long searching for. As they held each other, he felt warmth wash over his heart. For so very long, he has not felt that much happiness.
After their morning conversation, Aelir and Arianna departed for their own chambers. It pained him to do so, but he also excused himself from continuing the research in the library, the archons laughed and rushed him to sleep with the words, “Don’t you dare touch a book today,” which left him confused but he was too tired, and his head hurt too much for him to investigate the meaning.
Unknown for how long he slept, Aelir woke up with the moon high up in the sky. He tried to return to the land of dreams, but he felt not tired in the slightest. His head still hurt somewhat, but a glass of water helped, and he was sure a breath of fresh air would do wonders.
With nothing to do and his chamber feeling awfully lonely, the hall attached to his chamber, for his personal use, was mostly empty, he decided that the balcony would be the best place for reading.
He took a book from the library, a book of poetry, not anything related to Li’Ari, and departed for the expansive balcony just one-half set of stairs below him.
It was beautiful, just like any day. The balcony was made of pure marble, but warm with the use of magic. The stars above shined in all their might, and the chairs there were cushioned and also warm. He merely conjured a small table and a candle. A quick call to one of the servants working during the night, and they prepared him a warm cup of strawberry tea. The steam rose into the cold air. He blew on it, adding cold into his own breath, making it just the right temperature. The taste was exquisite, as always. Watching the stars and the warm tea rushing down his throat made him feel at peace.
His serene moment would not last long as he was not the only soul awake. With a knock on the glass door, Arianna appeared. When he saw her, for an unknown, one he did not understand, he felt happy, happier even than before.
He pulled in a chair just next to his and invited her to watch the stars with him. Wearing loose pants and an ill-fitting white shirt, she took a seat beside him. They did not speak, Aelir read her some poetry as she gazed to the stars, and they both enjoyed the moment.
“I wish this moment would never pass,” she uttered.
“Why? There still can be so many more like it.”
With a smile, she looked at him. “Because it’s unique. The first time we watched the stars together. Every time we go here from now on will never be the same. There is beauty in meeting people for the first time, learning of their desires, of their fears and loves.”
“I can prom—.”
She put the finger on his lips. “No. Do not make promises; you know you cannot keep.”
“I promise to never forget,” he whispered. Tears rushed into her eyes and into his also. “Look.” He turned to look back at the sky. “Is not a beautiful sight? I wonder what they are, the stars. Some say they are the ancient gods looking down on us, refusing
to return for they are afraid of their own creation.
“Some say they are just like the sun, just so very far away, further than any one of us can imagine. My theory is different. I think they are the memories of everyone who ever lived.”
“Memories?” Arianna questioned, her hand slowly taking hold of his.
“Exactly. How many do you think there are? We see only a few of them, so so very few.” He tightened his hold on her hand. “I think the stars that shine the brightest are the most precious of memories.”
“What a beautiful theory.” She chuckled. “Where is the star of this moment?”
“If my speculation were true, then it would shine brighter than the sun.”
She let go of his hand and looked at him. “Well,” she whispered, “poetry may not be for you.”
He laughed and lightly touched her chin and brought her head closer to his. His heart that would typically be racing was calm. It was a wonderful moment, one he wished to cherish forever. Arianna, so close to him, looked even more beautiful than before.
“What are you doing?” she whispered as he held her before him, only an inch between them. “Are you afraid?” With a cheeky smile, she bit her lower lip.
He shook his head and let out an amused sigh. “I want to be your friend,” he whispered. “I worry what I feel now will pass, and the friendship that could be would be ruined forever.”
Bursting out laughing, she punched his shoulder. “I told you poetry isn’t for you!” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Only time can tell what the future holds.”
Aelir had no words with which to reply, and so they both looked to the sky again. The stars glowed with their light, shining down onto them. Soon, his cheeks red, he wrapped his hand around Arianna, and the two snuggled even closer.
Then, as if a wake up call by the universe itself, the sky burst with a scarlet light. Aelir jumped up, the runes on his hands burning, gold shining in his eyes. Ready to fight, he turned to the door but shortly after appeared one of the Crown Guard.
Tear of Light Page 19
