To Keep a Promise

.15.

I woke up with a start, but when I looked around the dark study I couldn't see a reason for the jump. I looked at the large clock on the far wall and saw that it was almost dinner time. Where the stillness of the room had felt comforting before, now it settled uneasily, an anticipation hung in the air.

Leaning into intuition, I got up and moved along to the wall, just before the door swung open and two men opened the room. I could almost roll my eyes at myself when I recognised The King and Mason, clearly getting caught in their conversations was becoming a habit of mine. I was about to step forward and make my presence known when Mason began to pace agitatedly.

'So just because you can't handle a little civil disturbance, you're handing the army over to a KNOWN enemy, despite what I think'

The frustration in his voice was evident to me, but the King seemed to not catch on. They hadn't bothered to light the fire and I was grateful, knowing if they did I would be discovered almost immediately. I crouched down silently and subtly slid further out of view beside a protruding bookcase.

When he responded the Kings voice was deathly calm, in a tone that was familiar to me from the reprimands from my mother in my youth, and I could tell he was in trouble even if he didn't know it yet.

'Despite what you think, I am still the King and you are not. My decisions are final, and I will NOT have you question them in front of people'

Mason stared at his father in disbelief 'So you don't care about my opinion despite the fact that this is what you've been trying to train me for?'

'Exactly, you are in training, you are not ready'

'I will never be ready if you don't consider my opinion!'

'You do not know the details' the King roared and I held my breath at this side of him that looked a lot like the kind of King I had grown up with.

'Then tell me the details!' Masons voice was rising with his frustration but he stood his ground. The King stared at him for a moment before wiping his face with his hand and sighing heavily. He motioned for Mason to sit then he took the seat that I had just vacated.

They sat in silence for what felt like hours but was most likely a few minutes. I felt my leg cramp and gently pushed it out in front of me, still keeping out of sight.

The king leant forward and began to speak, barely loud enough to be heard.

'When I met your Mother, she was betrothed to the son of the King of Nadora. I had been travelling around the kingdom's to find a princess to marry and when I met Grace, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and a princess, I knew I had to marry her'

Mason looked at his father confused, 'But mother said that her father swore she would marry an enemy of Nadora because of the battle of the 20th year'

'It was not that simple for Taev. The Kingdom was in dire need of money by the time your mother was 17 and both her Mother and Father were long dead, so without her permission she was promised to the Prince of Nadora'

I held in my shock. I had known nothing about how my parents had come to marry, and I had been severely discouraged from asking by Master Lewin. His exact words had been 'Do not open that barrel of snakes' and so I had trusted him and not wasted any of the limited time with my parents asking about their pasts.

'Then how did she come to marry you?'

For the first time since they walked in the room I saw the King smile as he recounted
'I went to the palace for a ball, and the minute I laid eyes on her I knew I had to ask her to dance, and after we danced, I knew I had to marry her'