“The rumor going around is that the king will announce the next ruler, is that true?”

Aura and I were currently in the ball room of the castle.

Her contact managed to get us on the list and we were let in.

Makes me wonder who this mysterious benefactor is.

“Well . . . I wouldn’t be surprised if he is going to do that. All his heirs are either dead . . no missing as they say or exiled”

Aura said as she gracefully took a drink from a passing servant’s plate.

She surprisingly went all out in her appearance.

Her dress was turquoise, although it leaned heavily towards being green.

It had several extravagant layers that went over her legs.

She already had good looks due to being part Fae but still her true origins elude me.

Aura was looking radiant tonight, but probably not as flashy as the real Tanya.

She’s not telling me something, but all I can hope is that it won’t become a problem for me later on.

Her eyes were distracted, constantly going through the entire room.

But she was right, all the heirs of Emisia were gone.

The first prince and princess were scheduled to depart on a diplomatic mission across the ocean to the other continent.

The second princess decided to sneak aboard and join her siblings.

That would be the last anyone saw of them.

Their ship later sank in a storm, with only a single messenger bird making it out.

The queen went in to shock as a result of this and she never leaves her chambers now.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

This all happened decades ago, but the king decided to adopt a child more recently.

He picked a teenaged boy off the streets and raised him as his new son/heir.

But the child later tried to take the throne by force.

No one knew why he would do such a foolish thing.

The king had all but given him the keys to the kingdom, all he had to do was wait.

They took the new prince away and no one has heard from him since.

There can’t possibly be anyone left that he trusts, so this might be interesting.

“YOUNG MISS”

I snapped.

“Hm?”

Aura said as she broke out of a daze.

“I must insist that you calm down, you’re attracting stares”

I leaned in closer to whisper.

“What’s wrong?”

She looked at me with eyes that were devoid of the strong will I had come to know.

“I . . . I don’t know if I’m ready for this”

What the?

“What are you talking about? This is simple “talk” you’re going to have with the king, right? I’m expecting us to be chased

by the end of the night but you’ve been through worse, right?”

But just before she could answer, the sound of multiple horns started to play.

Everyone in the room started to part to the sides and looked at the twin curving staircase.

The old man himself appeared at the top and was followed by a white hooded figure.

From what I could tell, they were related to the church somehow.

But still, there’s not many who put such flashy streaks of gold on white.

“ANNOUNCING HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, KING DARRIUS AND THE HOLY SAINT MARIA”  

The figure took off her hood and revealed a smiling girl a little older looking than us.

Her long black hair was a good backdrop for her piercing blue eyes.

“No way”

Aura and I said almost at the same time.

I looked at her and she at me. 

“You recognize her?”

“Yea, . . . she’s who got us in. And you?”

“. . .I thought she was a regular priestess. But maybe we shouldn’t do anything drastic if not outright try to leave right now”

“Maria got us in, right? So, she probably has her reasons”

“I no longer think something bad will happen, I now know it’s inevitable”

I turned around to leave the crowd but Aura grabbed my arm.

“Where are you going?”

“To do what I came here to, good luck to you. Oh and definitely stay away from her”

----------------------------------------

I watched as Tanya disappeared in to the crowd and then I turned back to the king.

He had finished giving his greetings when he turned to Maria.

“As many of you know, the future of Emisia has been called in to question. I assure you, I will not let the stability that Foren

has given to the land break down. As such, I have decided to relinquish control over to the Holy Saint and the church”

The crowd erupted in to murmurs and everyone was confused at this development.

This was not something I would ever expect to happen.

Why?

Maria, why did you want me here? 

I thought you were just a citizen concerned with the future of the city.

Not only are you the Holy Saint but also the new ruler of . . .

No . . . it can’t be, you want me here to . . .

NO MATTER

I came here to meet him again.

Maria, you won’t stop me from seeing him.

Not even Morwen will stop me.