Rule the World

She looked down at the ground, and to surprise me further, she wrapped both her arms around mine. "Tell me about your mother then. Tell me about Aylyn."

After I regained my composure, I nodded and began down the street again, telling her about the person I wished I could go back to being.

Sera

I was brushing my bed hair when Elena popped up beside me. “You got back early!”

I jumped. “I got back at two in the morning...”

“Yes...so how did it go? What did you two do?” Her voice was high with anticipation.

“Aren’t you a little old to be interested in things like that?”

“Nonsense! It matters that he treated you well...and you didn’t do anything you regretted...”

My eyes widened. “No! There was absolutely none of that!”

“Okay...”

“I’m serious, Elena!”

“Alright! I didn’t say there was!”

“Your tone of voice did!” I pulled my shoes out from under my bed. “We just talked, alright?”

“What’d you talk about?”

“Stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“And things.”

“That’s a really interesting topic.”

“Shut up!” I pulled my boot laces up harshly. “Nothing happened, but talking. Why does it matter?”

“Because! You make Roy happy! We like when our king to be happy! So you two just talked? Anything intersting?”

I realized she called Roy by his name too. He must really not care for formalities...“Horses, music, his village...Did you know he was originally from Aylyn?”

Elena nodded. “He wasn’t off much better than a lot of us. That’s why he’s always been so generous.”

I got up from my bed and reached for door. “Do you know anyone named Lucien?” I asked, pausing.

“No, why?”

“Because when we were walking, a man stopped Roy, acted like he knew him personally. Roy called him Lucien.”

Elena shook her head. “I don’t know anything about it.”

I shrugged and left the room.

|

I scrubbed at the floor vigorously, trying to remove the grease from the stone.

“Hello, Elip. Is Seraphine here?” Roy’s voice carried over to me from across the great kitchen.

“Yes, sir,” Elip, the head cook said, “She’s cleaning the floors. Seraphine!” I poked my head over the table. “His Highness wished to see you. Caleb will finish up for you if you’re not back.”

I threw the brush in the bucket, dusted myself off and strode purposely towards the two men. Roy bowed his head to me and gestured for me to follow him.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we walked down the hall.

“To the stable,” he answered.

I looked at him questionably, but said nothing. When we turned the corner into the entrance of the stable, Nadar was standing there, holding the reins to Majestic who had been saddled.

“You ready to get on a horse?” Roy asked me.

I frozen to the floor, my brain unable to believe that she was saddled. For me! I finally nodded and Roy led me over to the gorgeous mare. Roy took the reins and Nadar hobbled over to grab and bucket and place it under the stirrup.

“She’s a beast,” the old man said. “Too tall for my liking.”

I smiled and looked at Roy who nodded for me to get on. I stepped onto the bucket, put my foot in the stirrup, pulled myself up, and swung my other leg over. It was a long ways down to the floor below.

Roy began to walk and Majestic followed slowly behind him. I clinged to the front of saddle swells, not used to the motion of being on such a creature. She was calm though, and took things slowly, her giant, feathered hooves clicking on the stone floor. Nadar opened a door off to the side and Roy led us through it.

I gasped. It was a large arena filled with dirt and sky lights that let in the pale sunlight. It was cool and stuffy, the air smelling strongly of upturned earth. I’d never smelled anything like it. Truthfully, dirt wasn’t common around here.

Roy handed me the reins and I shook my head. “You’ll fine. Just trust her.”

I took the reins hesitantly and nudged her with my heels. She began to walk across the arena at an easy going pace, her head down in a lazy fashion. After some time of letting her walk, I nudged her again and we sprang into a smooth trot. It was amazing how graceful such a large animal could be and I found myself laughing. I’m sure I didn’t look like the best rider, but it didn’t matter. I felt free.

Roy

I watched her as Majestic carried her around the arena. She was smiling more than I’d ever seen her and it made my heart lighten. Majestic and her seemed to be get along well.

“She reminds me a lot of the other one.” Nadar’s statement made my hands clench, but I kept my eyes on Sera. “I don’t mean to rub salt in the wounds, Highness,” he said. “It just...surprised me when I first seen her here.”

I didn’t say anything and Nadar took that as he shouldn’t either. She had loved horses too. All these coincidences...it seemed something was trying to make this as torturing as possible.