by Carys Jones
*
“They will expect you to commence with your royal duties as soon as possible,” Orion explained.
“Royal duties? Like what?” Marie was still trying to make sense of this strange, fantastical world she found herself in.
“Royals usually greet their subjects from the throne room.”
“The throne room?” Marie’s heart beat quickened slightly as she imaged how opulent such a room would be, given the grandeur she had already witnessed within the castle.
“It’s quite a sight to behold,” Orion’s eyes twinkled as he sensed Marie’s excitement.
“Members of the royal family sit upon the golden throne and meet their subjects as they are presented with gifts. Then, it is common for newly crowned royals to walk through the streets of Azriel whilst rare flowers are thrown upon them.”
“It sounds amazing,” Marie gushed. “But like I told you, I’m not a princess.”
As she spoke her gaze drifted over the sumptuous fabric of the dress she was wearing. All colour within it was impossibly bright, as though a rainbow had been stitched together to create it.
“At least entertain us,” Orion urged. “Azriel has been in shadow since your departure. Cast your light upon your subjects, let them feel the warmth of the sun again.”
“But everything here seems so wondrous,” Marie noted. “The golden buildings, the vast castle, the emerald grass. This doesn’t look like a shadowed world.”
“Trust me,” Orion walked across the room to the balcony which overlooked vast open fields of swaying grass. Marie joined him and let her gaze drift out across the vista.
“All of this was once a great, bustling city of gold which towered high up in to the sky,” he gestured to the endless space ahead of them stretching off towards the horizon.
“Azriel was the most glorious of all the cities, people travelled from miles around to bask in its glow. But as the light at the centre diminished, so did the town. Now, Azriel is but a little village. Had you not returned when you did, we would have eventually disappeared all together.”
“How is that even possible?” Marie failed to understand how one person could control the fate of an entire city like that.
“The royal heir is the life blood of Azriel, we are bound together. Upon the throne, you could live forever.”
“Forever?” Immortality existed in books about brooding men with fangs, nowhere else. Or so Marie thought.
“As you nourish the city, the city nourishes you.”
“Then why did the King and Queen die?”
“They didn’t die,” Orion sighed. “They were killed.”
“By insurgents,” Marie remembered. “But how can that happen if they’re supposed to live forever?”
“Sitting on the throne isn’t without its dangers,” Orion warned. “There are those that want to see Azriel fall.”
“I don’t want to put a huge target on my back by sitting on some throne!” Marie drew her arms protectively around herself.
“That was a different time,” Orion assured her. “We would protect you. That’s what my training was always for. We learnt to harness the magic within the city to help protect both ourselves and when you returned, to protect you too.”
Marie was sceptical but couldn’t help but feel intrigued to see the throne room first hand.
“Shall we go?” Orion offered her his hand which she elegantly accepted. As their palms connected a surge of energy swept through her body, making every nerve tingle. Marie’s cheeks flushed as she tried to hide how she was feeling.
“I promise that you won’t be disappointed when you see it,” Orion smiled, his eyes sparkling.
*
Orion had been right. Marie wasn’t disappointed when she saw the throne room. Far from it. As she stepped in the cavernous room she was subdued in to an awed silence.
Tilting her head she could see golden beams twinkling in the rafters and behind them the ever present image of stars sparkling in a dark sky. The golden beams drew down in to golden pillars which lined the vast, long room like stoic guards.
The floor beneath her still bare feet gleamed and shone, made of the same pearl as the grand staircase. As Marie took it all in she felt her mouth fall open. It was impossibly beautiful and a spectacle to behold. As a little girl, it was exactly how she’d imagined a throne room to look. It was grand, beautiful and stunningly magical.
Finally her eyes settled upon the throne itself. It was positioned at the end of the long room atop a slight platform. Tentatively, Marie let Orion lead her up towards the throne. It was solid gold and at least ten feet tall. A silk purple cushion was placed where Marie should sit and then ornate gold spires, not unlike the great trees she had first encountered in Azriel, weaved their way up the back of the throne creating a huge, glittering sculpture.
Diamonds were etched along the top of the throne making it twinkle majestically in the light. It was a throne built for the most illustrious of kings and queens. Marie couldn’t possibly sit upon it, it felt almost sacrilegious to even contemplate it.
“It’s amazing,” Marie uttered, scared to raise her voice too much. She felt completely in awe and full of reverence for such a beautiful place. Like a child within a church, she didn’t know how to behave, she just sensed that she was somewhere of grave importance and so she didn’t dare move or speak for fear of breaking something precious and irreplaceable.
“Told you,” Orion gushed, though he was also speaking quietly now, the effects of the throne room not lost on him.
“So you’ve seen it before?” Marie queried. “But I thought you’d never been in the palace?”
Orion pointed to a side door built from strong oak.
“There,” he said. “That’s where the subjects enter the castle. You get to see the throne room but nothing else. That was your parents’ idea. Once there were whispers of a potential attack they thought it was best to keep people out of the castle as much as they could. But they couldn’t stop the subjects of Azriel from witnessing the wonder of the throne room. This belongs to everyone, not just to the royal family.”
Marie kept pivoting, looking around, exploring every corner of the grand room with her eyes. She felt out of her depth.
“Come on, have a sit on it,” Orion was on the steps which led up to the throne.
“I couldn’t,” Marie shook her head fiercely.
“Come on,” he urged again, extending his hand out to her.
“No,” Marie took a step back, away from the throne. It felt so wrong to her, to pretend to be a princess when she wasn’t.
“Don’t you want to sit upon your throne?” a voice boomed as someone entered the throne room behind them. Marie turned to see Leo advancing purposefully towards them, his golden suit catching the light within the room.
“It’s not mine,” Marie objected.
“Every princess dreams of the day they get to sit upon their throne,” Leo noted, ignoring her objections.
“Give it a try.”
Marie wanted to protest, to tell both of them in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t a princess. Far from it. She was nobody. But as her eyes watched the throne glisten she couldn’t help but be drawn to it. Carefully she lifted the hem of her dress and ascended the steps which led up to it as Leo watched on, smiling triumphantly.
“There you go!” he declared as Marie turned and carefully sat upon the purple cushion within the seat of the throne.
The cushion was deceptively comfortable. Marie felt like she was sitting on a sumptuous sofa rather than a cushion atop of a hard, golden base.
Her arms neatly positioned themselves on the golden armrests around her. Marie looked down at her hands in surprise, she hadn’t told her body to do that, it just somehow knew how to sit upon the throne.
“You look perfect!” Leo called up to her.
“It suits you,” Orion whispered from his position close by, winking playfully as he did.
From her position on the throne the r
oom before her looked even longer. Marie knew in her mind that none of this made sense that it was all completely impossible but she was swept away with the wonder of it all.
“Princess North, your subjects are eager to meet you,” Leo gestured towards the wooden doors which Orion had pointed out before.
“I can’t do this,” Marie shot Orion a terrified glance. “I’m not a princess!”
“Well, you certainly look like one,” Orion assured her. “Just smile sweetly and wave, that’s all you’ve got to do.”
“But this isn’t real!” Marie declared, raising her voice slightly. Leo didn’t hear her as he was already striding over to the wooden doors, eager to welcome in the denizens of Azriel.
Orion placed a hand over hers as she was clutching the edge of the arm rest. Her pulse instantly quickened.
“It all feels pretty real to me,” he concluded, gazing deeply in to her eyes.
Marie was so lost to his golden gaze that she didn’t see the throng of people begin entering the throne room in their array of colour themed outfits.
Orion noticed them first and quickly removed himself from the vicinity of the throne though he remained close by, lingering behind a golden pillar. Marie took a deep breath and turned to face the people in the room.
“All of Azriel has come to greet their long lost Princess!” Leo addressed both her and the crowd when he spoke. Considering it was supposedly all of Azriel, they only filled an eighth of the room. There looked to be just under two hundred people there. Not a staggering number but enough to make Marie shudder with nerves.
She’d not been in front of such an audience since she’d played Mary in her school’s nativity play. Back then, her nerves had gotten the better of her and she’d wet herself on stage. But that was acceptable at five years old, it certainly wouldn’t do now she was a grown woman. Inhaling sharply Marie tried to control her anxiety as her heart beat throbbed manically in her ears.
“People of Ariel, behold, your Princess North!” Leo introduced Marie with all the grandeur a man in a golden suit can possess.
The assembled crowd broke out in to gleeful shouts and cheers, some even fell to their knees and wept. Marie watched the scene unfold with surreal interest. She couldn’t believe that their reaction was all for her.
“You’ve returned!”
“Oh bless us!”
“Glory for Azriel!”
“The Princess has returned!”
“Long live the princess!”
Marie looked nervously for Orion who immediately caught her gaze and nodded reassuringly, a smile playing upon his lips. Then he raised his hand and stimulated an elegant wave. Marie nodded and repeated the gesture which made the mediocre crowd even more excited.
“She’s so beautiful!” someone gushed.
“A true princess!” another declared.
Marie blushed upon the throne. No one had ever said such complimentary things about her before. She wasn’t quite sure how to behave when faced with such adoration.
“Thank you,” she called out, feeling that she had to say something to acknowledge the kind remarks being directed her way. Then, after she’d spoke, she realised that instead of telling these people that she wasn’t their princess, she was acting the part. She was regally waving at them and thanking them for being there. Her instinct to run and expose herself for the fraud she was had been completely subdued.
Marie continued to graciously wave and smile as individual residents began to cautiously approach her and introduce themselves. Women in green, purple, orange and yellow came and welcomed her, as did men in equally bright suits. No one wore a dull colour, everyone was happy, everyone was jubilant and their delight was contagious. Marie found that her smile was no longer forced. She was beaming at the people of Azriel, happily letting them welcome her as their long lost princess.
*
In Azriel time didn’t seem to exist in the same linear pattern which Marie was accustomed to. When she awoke in the princess’ chambers within the castle she struggled to remember how long she’d been there. Had it been a day, a week? Surely not a month. She couldn’t tell. She’d definitely be there for a considerable amount of time, more than just a day. Yet she struggled to remember when exactly she’d arrived and how much regulated time had passed since that moment.
Since her appearance in the throne room Azriel had started to grow right before her eyes. Each time she glanced out of the windows the golden spires of nearby buildings had shot up a couple of feet. The once empty vista beyond Azriel’s limits had even started to show signs of growth as small homes were beginning to be built and the saplings of what would once be great trees appeared.
“Azriel is growing, isn’t it?” Marie asked Orion over breakfast. He had become her constant companion, an unauthorized guide. Each time she woke, he was patiently waiting just beyond her chambers.
“You’ve noticed,” Orion smiled warmly. “It’s all thanks to you.”
The food in Azriel was not completely dissimilar to the food Marie enjoyed back home. They ate porridge and pancakes for breakfast, rice and vegetables for lunch and a rich soup for dinner. Everything tasted amazingly fresh. But there was no meat. Meat wasn’t even mentioned, it was as if it didn’t exist as a consumable in Azriel. When Marie asked Orion if he enjoyed eating chicken he looked perplexed as though he had no idea what she was talking about.
“You’re here a lot, with me,” Marie noted carefully as she dipped her mother of pearl spoon in to her porridge which had been flavoured with fresh blackberries. The taste of the oats against the sharp tang of the fruit was utterly delightful and she savoured each bite.
“Is that a problem?” Orion instantly stiffened and looked wounded by her words.
“No, no of course not. I like having you around. I just wonder,” Marie drew circles in her porridge.
“Don’t your family miss you?” Marie watched the blank expression upon Orion’s face with interest after she’d delivered the question.
“No,” Orion replied simply. “There is no greater honour than to assist the princess. They are very proud of me.”
“Oh,” Marie smiled. “That’s nice then.”
“Did you miss your family?” Orion turned the question back on her.
“Sorry?” the past tense threw Marie off. Surely he should wonder if she currently missed her family?
“When you were away,” Orion clarified. “Did you miss your family back here in Azriel? Did you even know what had befallen them?”
Marie shook her head. No matter how many times she said she’d never before heard of Azriel, everyone seemed inclined to not believe her, as if one day she’d turn around and declare that suddenly she remembered everything. She remained as clueless as she’d been when she first arrived in the mystical land.
“You still don’t remember anything, do you?” Orion looked disappointed.
“No,” Marie shrugged. “Nothing.”
“But you must be feeling something.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because Azriel is flourishing once more.” Orion’s eyes twinkled with delight and pride.
“You said the town would flourish once I was back.”
“It’s more than that,” Orion leaned forward as he spoke, holding Marie in his golden gaze.
“Your soul is tied to Azriel. As your soul strengthens, so does the town. You’re starting to believe that you belong here.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Marie moved her hand to dismiss the comment away as though it were a fly agitating her.
“Is it?”
Marie pondered Orion’s words for a moment. Ever since she had sat upon the throne something within her had changed, she couldn’t argue with that. She no longer felt like an alien within Azriel. A part of her felt like it belonged and it revelled in playing princess. But that was all she was doing, playing. She wasn’t their princess. She belonged somewhere else, didn’t she?
“I’m not a princess.” Marie concluded
though her voice lacked conviction.
“Well, you certainly seem like one.”
*
A few hours later and Marie’s royal impersonation was put to the test when she was set to walk through the streets of Azriel whilst adoring citizens tossed basketfuls of rose petals in to the air which would cascade down upon her in a floral waterfall.
She was no longer wearing a multi-coloured dress. Instead she was dressed in a golden gown which swirled at her feet. Upon her feet she wore gold sandals and atop her head was placed a golden crown, made of the same golden branch design as the grand throne. Regarding her reflection in the mirror Marie had to admit that she looked like a princess. Her dark hair gleamed against the gold. Even her skin seemed to radiate as though some of the golden sparkle of the garment had been absorbed in to her very being.
