Finding Eden

by Camilla Beavers

  “Sir,” I stop him after the meeting, “may I ask your name?”

  “My name?”

  “Yes.”

  “Marius, my lady.”

  “Thank you, Marius,” I say, “you were a huge help during the meeting.”

  “It was nothing, I assure you. I was only doing my duty.”

  I smile at him and he smiles back, warily at first then with more gusto toward the end. He excuses himself from my presence and I watch him walk back over to the table and motioned, telling the others in the room the specifics of what needs to be done.

  I stand there awkwardly for a few minutes, not sure if I should stay go. But it's boring, so I walk slowly out of the room. At least someone was friendly in there. I wonder how much longer that will last, or if the others will be just as friendly as Marius.

  Somehow the meeting managed to last longer than I thought it did and the sun is setting behind the hills in the distance.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  I stretch in bed. It's still early in the day and I hear a few birds chirping outside of my window. There's a loud thumping noise on my door and before I can answer, the door is thrown open and Tobi comes crashing into my room.

  “You're up! You're up! You're up!” Tobi screams as he runs into the room, jumping happily onto my bed and almost kneeing me in the process.

  “Oi, Tobi, you're going to kill me one of these days by jumping on me like this.”

  “No I won't,” he says, “you're strong.”

  I laugh at his optimism and ruffle his hair.

  “I'm not that strong.”

  “Yes you are.”

  “Why do you say that?” I ask.

  “Because you saved me when no one else was able to,” he says, “so you're stronger than everyone!”

  I chuckle at his obviously infallible logic. I hope I can be this optimistic.

  “Plus,” he says, “You can make people feel happy, or sad, or angry whenever you want! That's pretty cool.”

  There's a timid knock on my door and I look up. Tobi's teacher, Avaria, slowly walks in.

  “Oh! My Queen! I'm so sorry he's come in here again,” she says, bowing slightly, “I'll try to keep him from disturbing you.”

  “Don't worry about it,” I say, “he doesn't bother me.”

  I ruffle Tobi's hair again as he slides off my bed and bounds up to Avaria. She smiles meekly at me and excuses them both from the room. My smile fades as I stare at my feet, wondering when I was going to be able to get my powers under control. At least the colors don't overwhelm me anymore and really only show if I concentrate on it.

  I sigh as I climb out of bed and try not to trip over myself while walking to my bathroom as my fists rub sleep from my eyes. I draw the hot water into the bath, rub my temples, and slip into the water dreading the paperwork that I know that's waiting for me.

  I've been queen for little over two months and so far, aside from meeting my family and the whole thing with Tobi, it's been relatively uneventful (save for the war) and full of paperwork. I slink water up my arms and watch it drip back into the tub.

  Am I doing everything alright? Gods, I hope I am.

  I quickly wash my hair, scrub down my arms and legs and get out of the tub before I shirk any of my duties off. Even if there is a war, there still a city to run and it's my job to do it. I dress as simply and as quickly as I can. I'm about to step out the door when I realize I've forgotten something. I sigh, reach over, and plunk the familiar weight on top of my head.

  There is barely anyone in the hallway, which I'm immeasurably glad for. I don't particularly feel like talking to anyone at the moment. Turning the corner though, I have no choice. There is someone walking toward me.

  I look around and try to see if there is an escape, but there isn't. Awesome. I sigh and start walking down the hall again, hoping that I wouldn't be stopped for too long. But halfway down the hall I see it's someone that I wouldn't mind being interrupted by.

  “Hello my lady,” Marius bows, “how are you doing this morning?”

  “I'm doing well,” I say, “just dreading the pile of paperwork that I know is waiting for me.”

  He smiles knowingly at me, “I don't think anyone really looks forward to paperwork.”

  “If someone did then those people are insane. I just wish there was some way I could put off actually doing it.”

  As if I had magically called upon it, my stomach growls. My face burns with embarrassment.

  “Okay, I swear I didn't know that was going to happen.”

  Marius chuckles and motions for me to follow him. He and I have been bumping into each other a lot after that first meeting. At first it was a little awkward, but the more we saw each other, the conversations came easier. Now I've come to see him as a friend. A very charming blue eyed friend.

  “So,” I say after a few minutes of walking in silence, “are you planning on telling me where you're taking me or are you kidnapping me?”

  “Kidnapping implies that I'm taking you against your will,” he says, “and I'm pretty sure you'd like some food.”

  “Ah, you're right. I promise not to press charges.”

  “Besides,” Marius says, “I don't think I'd ever want to kidnap you, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to get away with it.”

  “Yeah. I am the queen.”

  “Not that,” he shakes his head, “you're very – what's the word – protected?”

  He leads me through a series of doors and hallways until we come to a stop at a very nondescript door. He motions for me not to make a sound as he silently opens it and motions for me to walk in. I throw a questioning glance at him as I walk in front of him, attempting to look regal while sneaking around my own castle and trying to be quiet in this not-so-sneaky attire.

  “Where are we?” I ask.

  He's closed the door and the room is pitch black. I blink in an attempt to make my eyes see any light, but it's no use. Marius brushes against my arm and I twitch away from him, surprised more than anything by the contact. No one had dared to touch me since I had arrived, accept for Sahariel. I forgot what it was like.

  “Sorry,” he mumbles.

  He moves around me and I know exactly where he is even though I can't see him. He is one of my subjects and I can feel his loyalty to me like a string of blue yarn connecting him to my heart. I know this man will never betray me and that knowledge makes me smile.

  “Okay,” he says, “close your eyes.”

  I give his aura a weird look and close my eyes. Behind my eyelids I can see that a light has come on in the room. Marius comes closer to me, but I still jump when his hands land on my shoulders and start guiding me somewhere.

  “Can I open my eyes now?” I ask once he's pushed me down into a seat of some sort.

  “Sure can.” So I do.

  We are in a small room and I'm seated on a couch with a low coffee table in front of me. On the other side of the room there is an archway, but the next room is dark, so I can't see where it leads.

  “I thought you were bringing me to food,” I say.

  Marius chuckles. It's a nice sound. The blue around him swirls with yellow, pink and violet. He's a very nice man and I can tell that just from concentrating on his aura. He walks around the small space, pulling containers from random areas and I have no idea what he's doing. He sets the containers on the table then walks to the next room. When he comes back he sets a plate in front of me and one across from me.

  “Are you ready for the ultimate meal experience?”

  I laugh and say yes.

  He pops open the containers and spoons food onto my plate. After mine is full, he does the same to his and sits down across from me. I stab something that looks oddly like a potato, but probably isn't, and pop it into my mouth. There's an explosion of what tastes like butter and garlic on my tongue and I can help but smile.

  I look across the table at him and take in his raven black hair as he looks across the table at me with his dark, sapphire blue
eyes. He's really cute, and I can't help it when my face flushes when he looks up at me.

  “How's everything?”

  “Delicious,” I gush, “but that could be because I'm starved.”

  “True,” he says, “very true.”

  After a few minutes of silence and me trying not to stare at him I decide to ask a question that's been nagging at me.

  “How old are you?”

  Marius almost chokes on his food after the question bursts out of my mouth. He wipes his mouth and looks at me with wide eyes.

  “That's a bit personal, don't you think?”

  “Not particularly. Everyone knows how old I am. You don't look that old, but I've learned that looks can be deceiving.”

  “That's a wise thing to think. But do you really want to know exactly how old I am?”

  I stare at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not I really want to know the answer. But my curiosity wins.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Well,” he says, “let me think. I was born around when the television was invented.”

  “You were born when the television was invented?”

  “Too old?”

  I sputter, “No, no. Not too old I suppose.”

  Marius laughs.

  “You know Sahariel is older, right?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He hasn't told you how old he is?”

  “No.”

  “I believe he was in his mid-twenties during the Victorian era.”

  My fork drops from my fingers and clangs on the plate. In my mind I immediately picture Sahariel in a luxurious, high-end pin-striped suit. And coat tails. And maybe even a monocle. And that's when I lose it. I start laughing and Marius looks at me like I'm a crazy woman.

  “Sorry,” I say, wiping tears from my eyes, “I was just picturing Sahariel with coat tails and a monocle.”

  “Well, I do suppose that would be a funny image.”

  There's a loud noise outside of the door, like someone is shouting. A few moments later a knock sounds on the door.

  “I'll get that,” he says to me, then a little louder, “One moment.”

  He walks over to the door and opens it. There is a guard on the other side with a worried expression on his face.

  “Marius, have you seen her? She was due in her office over an hour ago. We can't find her anywhere.”

  “Find who?”

  “The Queen.”

  “Oh,” he says, “I might have seen her.”

  “Where?”

  “Right here,” Marius opens the door wider.

  The guard peers inside the room and I wave at him. I watch as the worry washes away and relief floods his features.

  “My lady, I wish you would have told someone where you were. We've been looking everywhere for you for the last hour.”

  “That's my fault,” Marius says, “I kidnapped her and brought her here to over-feed her.”

  I barely cover a laugh as the guard looks horrified when Marius mentions kidnapping. Marius chuckles but apologizes to the man. I stand up and excuse myself.

  “Oh, no, my lady, you don't have to leave,” the guard says, waving his hands in front of himself, “we were just very worried about you.”

  “No, it's fine,” I say, “I was just leaving anyway. That paperwork on my desk won't do itself now will it?”

  Marius smiles at me and I smile back, enjoying the simple exchange. I can feel my skin sort of tingle when he looks at me. I look down at the floor shyly. I excuse myself quietly and leave the room, the guard closing the door as I leave the room. I can feel Marius' eyes on me, and it makes me feel giddy, but I also feel bad.

  “There you are!”

  I turn around and I see Kal running up to me. He was worried about me, which makes me feel even worse about leaving without informing him.

  “How's Lelaine?” I ask.

  “She's good,” he says, “and don't change the subject. If you do that again Sahariel will have my head.”

  I frown and feel even worse. Why did he have to bring Sahariel up? Why did I have to get these feelings around Marius? Don't I like Sahariel? Like, really like him? Stupid tingly sensation.

  I rub my face with the palm of my hands and try not to show my frustration.

  “Are you alright?”

  “God, I'm fine. Just frustrated.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really,” I admit.

  We make it to my office. I push the door open and I'm petrified. What the hell happened? I turn my face toward Kal.

  “What the hell? I had nothing left after last night,” I motion at the piles of papers covering every spare inch of my desk.

  “Well, didn't you know?” Kal glances around at the room, “A queen's work is never finished.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  After what feels like weeks of endless paperwork and strategy meetings, I finally managed to reduce my workload by making Marius my lead strategist. I rub my face and stand from my desk. I look around the impressively small looking space and double check to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be and that I don't have any paperwork that I didn't see.

  I close the door of my office behind myself, pulling a key from my pocket to lock the door. I turn around and walk down the hallway. My head is throbbing and I wish I had some aspirin or something. But no, things like that don't work over here.

  I sigh and rub my temples, walking down the hallway. My eyes are closed and I feel the steady weight of the crown on my head. I hear others in the hall, but they don't stop me at all; they don't talk to me either. The voices I do hear are low, so low I can't even understand what is being said.

  Yellows, blues and pinks. Even though I can't see them I can somehow feel the emotions of everyone in the hallway. There is the gray worry over the war which is threaded with orange courage. And through it all I can still feel the steady blue loyalty. That lends me courage knowing that these people, my people, are behind me. A smile spreads across my lips, and despite my headache, I open myself up and spread my growing courage through the people around me.

  I walk further into the castle, reeling in my powers so I don't exhaust myself. I stop and lean against a wall, rubbing my face some more and yawning a huge yawn.

  “We really need to stop meeting like this.”

  I smile. I know exactly who it is despite my eyes being closed.

  “Hey, Marius.”

  I look up at him, his deep blue eyes staring down into mine and I get that weird tingly sensation all down my body again. The blue swirls lazily around him, curls around his feet and dusts its way toward me. Orange, yellow and pink ribbon around him like his own personal sunset and his pupils dilate.

  “Haven't seen you outside of the war room lately,” he says conversationally.

  “Yeah, you know me. I love to spend all my time in my office going through stacks of paperwork. Isn't there someone I can promote to do it for me?”

  He chuckles.

  “Not to my knowledge,” he says, “but I'm sure you can get yourself a personal assistant with whom you can split the work load.”

  “I will have to look into that.”

  “You should.”

  “Why's that?”

  “Well, if you continue to spend so much time holed up in your office I will never get another opportunity to kidnap you and force feed you delicious food.”

  “Oh,” I say.

  I can feel my face heat up and I see a faint thread of red swirl around Marius. He continues to smile at me and laughs lightly when he sees the red creep up on my face. God, I can't believe I'm blushing.

  “Anyway,” he says, “what are you doing right now?”

  I give myself a few moments to recover before I speak.

  “Nothing right now. I actually just finished up with my paperwork for the day.”

  “Oh, really? That's amazing. And it's even still daylight out.”

  “I know right?” I say, “My office has
begun to feel like a prison.”

  “Well,” he says, “I don't suppose you'd like to join me for an evening meal?”

  “You mean dinner?”

  “I guess,” he says, “but that makes it sound rather date-ish, don't you think?”

  I laugh, “I suppose it does.”

  “Alright then, follow me.”

  I follow Marius through the halls, the last time we ate making all of this feel like deja-vu, but we're not walking the same way we did before.

  “Okay,” I say, “where are we going?”

  “To the dining hall?”

  “Oh. I thought you were planning on kidnapping me to your room again.”

  “Oh,” he laughs, “no, sorry. After the first time I felt it would probably be really inappropriate to be alone together. But I also thought that you should get out a little more, rather than staying cooped up in your room or your office. You know, for your sanity.”

  “Thanks for keeping an eye on my sanity. It's a good thing too,” I say, “because someone has to since I'm not, because I really don't want to lose it.”

  “Not a problem.”

  We walk together to the dining hall, although “together” is a little more of a stretch since Marius is staying about a foot behind me. At least he doesn't talk to me like I'm an old lady. He treats me like me. I like that.

  The dining hall is deserted when we enter, which is a relief. I don't know if I could stand it if there were many people around. A server emerges a second after we enter asking us what we want. After a short while, our food is served and we're soon left alone.

  “Uh,” Marius looks around.

  “What?”

  “Where's Kal?”

  “Oh,” I say, “we came to an agreement that I wouldn't risk my life on a daily basis and he would only guard me when absolutely necessary.”

  “Well I guess that's a good compromise.”

  “Yep,” I say, “Oh! I'm curious. How's the strategizing coming along?”

  “It's alright,” he says, “We haven't done much of anything. No decisions have been made. All the meetings turn into a room full of men bickering over god knows what.”