The morning came and Morthia was sitting on her bed, already dressed. Her nose inside the book she had brought with her from Valeron. A knock landed on her door, she looked up and sighed. Was it already time, she was not even half past the book.
"It is open." She said loud enough and the door opened. Drayk entered her room.
"And I find her on her bed with her nose inside a book." He said, in his hands he had a tray with food. "Breakfast is being served, and no need to worry about poison I made all of it myself." He placed the tray next to her and pointed towards the book. "Is it any good?" She nodded, while grabbing some toast. She took a bit, surprised that the bread was a perfect combination of sweet and salty.
"This is excellent, if you ever want to rethink your carrier inside the guard, you always fall back on science or cooking." She said, and he started to chuckle.
"My father wouldn't allow it." He said and he looked at the closed door. "Speaking of him, he is really on edge ever since the attempt on your life. He still hasn't found who was behind it, and he already wants to blame it on The Blackmarket. But they never tried to poison to someone."
"The Blackmarket?" She asked, he nodded.
"A criminal organization that is held bend to make our lives difficult. But an attempt on a life of a high ranking court member, is really a step too far them. And that is even besides the type of poison that was used, I believe that there is no coincident. The one who did it, knows the details of your mother's death." She nodded agreeing with that part, she however still didn't know the Blackmarket personally. Still she wanted to trust his judgement. "Eat the rest you really need the strenght, those dress fittings can last for ages." She smiled and placed another piece of toast inside her mouth. Another knock landed on her door and this time her grandparents entered the room.
"Well good to know that this room is just like the other's." Her grandmother said, mockingly. "Would it kill our king to house our oldest granddaughter in some warmth." Morthia closed her book, and climbed off the bed. Walking into her grandmother's embrace. "Hello darling, and of course. Hello Drayk, why those it not surprises me to find you here." Drayk bowed his head. "And do not tell me that you're here to do your job." Her grandmother stepped back and pointed her finger at him. "Do not worry." Morthia smiled.
"Grandmother, we do not know each other long for that." Morthia said and her grandmother started to chuckle.
"Keep telling yourself that. The sparks are flying between the two of you. And the pairing of you wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility, Drayk is a member of the Herema family." Her grandmother said. Morthia looked shocked towards Drayk, who simply looked away. His cheeks redder then her hair. "But enough, about the two of you." She turned around. "The dressmaker, is always a few minutes early and I have talked to Crux and we both agreed that it would be better that we do this inside the triplets room." She took Morthia by the hand and marched outside the room. The walk toward the triplets' room was not as far as she remembered. She knocked and madam Charlo opened.
"Good morning, princess. They are having breakfast and they are overall well-behaved." Madam Charlo said with a smile.
"Let me guess, Tina." She said and Madam Charlo nodded.
"Not that I can blame her, their whole lives have been uprooted. They are in a strange location and the only family they knew is outside their reach. Not that I blame you for that, princess." She added the last part quickly. "From what I have heard is that you were busy." Morthia nodded and smiled.
"May we come in, the dressmaker will come over not all to long and the triplets are going to have some more family." Morthia said. Madam Charlo nodded and she stepped out of the opening. Morthia stepped inside and was directly attacked by Andrea. She wrapped her arms around her waist. "Hello Andrea, did you sleep well?" The girl nodded and let go. Tina and MJ were sitting at a table, they looked up for a moment.
"You look like a princess." Andrea said. "Are those moms old clothes?" Morthia nodded. "They are so pretty." Morthia smiled at her little sister.
"Alright, Tina, MJ. I want you all to be on your best behavior, because you have guests." Morthia said, and she motioned towards the other two to come. That is when her grandmother and grandfather entered the room. "These are Lady and Lord Herema. They are the mother's parents." Andrea's eyes widened. Her grandmother placed her hand in front of her mouth like she had done the day before.
"By the dragon." She whispered.
"Grandmother, grandfather. Allow me to introduce you to, Andrea. Tina and Micheal Junior." Morthia touched the heads of the siblings while introducing them. "Better known as MJ." Andrea walked towards their grandmother.
"All you alright, madam? Do you want a huge?" She asked, and her grandmother nodded. Andrea wrapped her arms around their grandmother's waist and this is when Lady Herema broke down.
******
The dressmaker came and went, they all would have a whole new set of clothing at the end of the day. Of course the man would use Dragonfire tech to make the clothes, so now they were left to their own. Lady Herema started to tell them stories about their mother's childhood. The books she read, the mischief she pulled. Lord Herema didn't say much and Morthia was able to see that these memories were painful, knowing that he was no longer able to share them with his daughter. Morthia took his hand, and he gave her a small smile. There was a knock on the door, interrupting a good story. Morthia looked over her shoulder and saw that her father was standing in the door opening. Nobody moved, which made things a bit awkward.
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"My king." Her grandfather then said. "We were just telling our grandchildren stories about their mother's childhood." There was no love, no respect in his voice. Morthia wondered why, he was their son-in-law. Or rather he was, their family ties broke on the day her mother died. Her father nodded.
"I was able to gather as much. Morthia do you have a moment for me?" He asked. Her grandmother stood up from one of the triplets beds.
"Carlos, I want to take the triplets to our estate. They might be the product of the betrayal of Micheal and our daughter. But they are innocent and besides that Morthia those not have time to look after them, and their father is locked up." She motioned to her husband. "They are our grandchildren." Morthia looked at her father, all what her grandmother said was true. They were the only family that was free, besides her that the triplets had. But her father shook his head.
"No. They stay here, were I can keep an eye on them." He said.
"Why, so that you keep reminding yourself that she ran away! You know damn well why she ran ..." Her grandmother snapped at him.
"I said no, Lady Hemera. And do not forget who is the king here." He said and this was the first trace of anger that Morthia saw in him. "You are free to visit them, but you really should hold your tongue." He now looked at Morthia. "Shall we have that talk?" She wanted to shake her head, not sure what to think right now. But instead she nodded, this was her father, he might be angry at her grandmother. They walked out of the room. "I am so sorry that you needed to witness that." He said. "Your grandmother, is not the easiest woman to be around. And specially when you are not of their bloodline. But I did not come her to talk about your grandmother, I came here to tell you that you are free to decorate your room. I know that the palace is a bit empty and cold, and right now your room is too." He said and he sighed. She nodded and wanted to thank him. "I will let Crux know that he needs to help you with it." He walked away after that. She frowned for a moment, and look at his back. This became stranger, and stranger. Drayk came into the hallway, he was also frowning.
"Drayk..." She started, but he placed a finger to his lips. He pointed towards the walls and then to his ears. Pointing out that he thought about the same thing, she nodded. She walked into the room and her grandmother was in tears. Her grandfather was consoling her.
"I can't believe this all happening over again. First with Brialea and now with our grandchildren." She said between tears.
"Lady Hemera, I know that this is hard. But please think real hard about your next words." Drayk said. He made the same motion that he did a few seconds back.
"Don't you think I already know that." Her grandmother sniffed, Morthia walked towards her and gave her a huge. "I just want to hold something of my daughter close." She motioned to the children.
"Drayk do you think we can duplicate the photo that is inside my room?" Morthia asked and he nodded.
"I will grab it. Morthia stay here with them." He said and she nodded. He left the room and she didn't know how to feel about all of this. Her grandfather took her hand and squized it a little.
"There is so much that we are not able to tell you right now, but know that if you need use..." He didn't finish his sentence because the door of the room opened and Derock entered. He looked at and sighed.
"You two know better, I am doing everything in my power to keep this Moonlovers a live and you two almost ruined it with that stupid request!" Derock snapped. "Do you even think that they would be safe, if you take them away from here!" He pointed at the triplets. "And do not get me started on the princess." He now looked at her and now looked shocked. "Oh I am sorry." She shook her head.
"Don't be sorry, I am glad to see that you care about me and my siblings." She said. The door opened again and Drayk entered.
"I have a copy of the picture." He handed it to her grandparents. "It is not much but..."
"It is more then we ever hoped for. Oh, look how adorable they were. Morthia even then you looked like your mother." Her grandmother gashped. She placed the photo against her heart and sighed thank the Dragon for this gift.
********
Morthia sat in her room, listing to a lecture about the history of the Dragonship Empire. Given by the one and only Drayk when Mister Crux entered the room.
"The Dragon King told me that you wanted to change your rooms' decor. I can understand why, it is too dark and gloomy. But not my castle, not my rooms to decorate." He said and he handed her a tablet. "Here are some designs I made in my spare time." She looked at the designs, they were all tasteful but they didn't call home to her. She grabbed the tablet Drayk had given her for her homework and started to share pieces of Crux designs to her own tablet.
"All right this is a nice carpet, and this seems like a good working desk. Ohh that is a large book cabinet, I do not have a lot of books here. But I always can start to collect them again." She said.
"Your room on Valeron was filled with books." Drayk said and he looked at Crux. "Is there away to get all of these to here, so that she those not have to start from scratch." Crux frowned.
"Did all those books have the royal seal?" He asked and she nodded. "Then I can't see why not. Maybe we can collect some of the toys and stuffed animal from the triplets. If we are on it, I think we can get that done. Your father wanted to send some troops to that house to source for evidence." Crux looked at the design and nodded. "This looks like a solid plan, do you have a color you want for the sheets?"
"Green, and royal blue. That are my favorite colors, I ordered my dresses in the same color scheme." She said and he nods. "If it is possible, I want the carpet also in the same color." And he nodded again.
"Alright, I am going to do my job." He said, he grabbed his tablet, and left the room.
"So can we go back to our lesson?" Drayk asked, but another knock landed on the door. This time a maid entered the room, her hands were filled with boxes. Drayk shot forward to help her. "Never mind, your dresses are here."