𝙌𝙐𝙀𝙀𝙉 𝙊𝙁 𝙁𝙄𝙍𝙔 & 𝙁𝙐𝙍𝙔 - 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡

CHAPTER TWO

Tumbling into consciousness, Romlie tried to grasp wakefulness as a hand gripped her arm, an alarmed voice further confusing her weary mind. Hands pushing her upright from where she had been lying under her layers of furs and blankets, she pulled away strands of her messy auburn-brown hair to meet eyes with one of her chamber servants.
"Scion!" the young girl no older than sixteen frantically exclaimed, her features contorted into panic. "Scion, please! Wake!"
"What is it?" Romelei uttered, mirroring the girl's panic. Behind her, the Scion saw her chamber door wide open, light pouring in ass guards and people of the keep rushed back and forth with an urgency that immediately began to frighten her. She looked back to the servant, her heart sinking. "Tell me what has happened."
The girl was on the verge of tears, stumbling over her words. "His Grace– the king—"
Immediately and without allowing for the servant to finish, Romelei was yanking away the furs, her feet not bothering to slide into her slippers as her bare feet padded against the cold, polished stone floor with an urgency that was moments from a run.
Head poking out into the hall, she was met with the rushing, shadowy forms of guards cast by the eternally glowing torches that served as the only light so far within the keep at any given time. She did not care that she was clad in only the white cotton nightgown hanging off of her frame, or that her feet were scuffing against the cold stone of the hall as she ran. Shoving aside any who dared block her way, the Scion's heart was roaring as she made the handful of turns through the halls that brought her to her father and Sereniz's shared royal chambers.
The sobs of the Queen Consort were enough to confirm Romelei's worst fears before she was forced to see them herself. As she neared the entrance, the queen looked to her with red-tinted blue eyes from where she was seated on the floor in her nightgown with her knees to her chest, her handmaids working diligently to soothe her. Guards and officials alike were crowded in the hall, talking in hushed voices.
Aesira and Alek were nowhere to be seen, perhaps a small grace for the time being she thought. Romelei tore her gaze from Sereniz to the entrance of the chambers, to the bed where her father lay.
If not for knowing the truth, it might have appeared that Aramis was simply sleeping where he lay on his back with his head resting on his pillow. More officials of the court, guards, and the arch healer were present, speaking softly where they stood against the wall as if Aramis' still body were a plague to be avoided at all cost.
As Romelei neared him, she saw his expression was soft and auburn hair ruffled, but his skin was cold when Romelei cupped his cheek. A croak of a sob escaped her throat as she sank down to her knees at the bedside. The hot tears came quickly, engulfing her vision as she held her father's forearm.
"He shouldn't be cold," she mumbled mostly to herself, fussing over him like a mother hen. Not necessarily to any one person around her, she ordered "Stoke the fire, it is frigid in here."
"Your Grace," one of the council members she didn't bother to identify by voice said from behind her. From the corner of her eye, Romelei briefly acknowledged that High Scholar Lycus Gyvin, her father' advisor, was trying to urgently pull the councilman away. "With the king's death, there is much urgent matters that need your attendance immediately–,"
Viciously, Romelei jumped to her feet and whirled toward the councilman. She bared her teeth, the tears hot and heavy in her eyes. The only thing stopping her from getting a grip of the councilman was the ever loyal Benjamyn, having appeared from seemingly nowhere to contain her wrath. He gripped her waist as she fought to get her hands on anyone who dared test her rage.
"Romelei, please—," he tried to say, wrestling against her efforts to grab a hold of those that had enraged her. Her hands pushed against his armored arms as he pulled her. No matter how hard she fought, he was taller and far stronger.
"OUT!" She roared furiously, her snarl echoing off of the walls of the chamber like a crack of thunder. She could feel the flames begging to escape her hands as they began to heat the metal of his gauntlets. Benjamyn hissed from the heat seeping through to his skin. "OUT! ALL OF YOU!" She nearly escaped Benjamyn's grasp to clear the space between the councilman where he cowered, the flames flaring against Ben's gauntlets more. "BY MY COMMAND NO ONE WILL ENTER THIS CHAMBER!"
Letting go of her either by the command or the pain inflicted by her flames, Ben made his exit with the others despite normally having stayed there for her. She had hardly registered that he was there at all, holding her back amidst the pain, not with the rage that had consumed her with the councilman's ridiculous behavior.
One would not be able to count the fingers on their hand before those in the king's chambers fled by her threat, the chamber door closing behind them. Darkness engulfed the room with the waning of the hall's light. Romelei's breath was ragged as the flames on her now balled fists died, her heart racing and stomach clenching. She turned back to her father, dropping harshly to her knees on the floor with no acknowledgment to the pain that shot through her bones.
Arms snaking over her fathers cooling, still body, the sobs the Scion felt gather in her throat remained stuck. She couldn't breath for a time as she grasped him for dear life as if it might bring him back, might make the eerie cold of him turn to warmth one more. Eventually, the sob escaped her throat in an ugly blubber. She remained as such, wailing and cursing at Nenh and the Luxir, such until her head pounded horrifically and she was reduced to being slumped on the floor against the bed frame, mewling her cries as she held her fathers hand against her cheek.
No thought truly formed in her mind for only the creator knew how long. With no access to sunlight, the Scion had no sense of time. Eventually, the few torches that had been brought into the room burnt out, a darkness ensuing and causing her to hold a flame in her palm to be able to see her father's face, for she knew soon she would never see it again in the coming days.
No one dared enter the chamber. She drifted on and off despite fighting the exhaustion with all she had. She did not eat, did not drink. She did not relieve herself. Her mourning lasted until the chamber door finally opened, the light of a flame casting against her wincing face.
Aesira entered, her sister clad in all black, her hair fashioned modestly. Her pretty features were contorted into a concerned frown, dark circles under her eyes. She covered the distance between them with her own flame casting from her hand to guide the way, lowering herself to her knees to face Romelei eye to eye.
"I commanded that no one enter this chamber," Romelei croaked from where her head rested against the wooden bed frame, her throat raw and dry. She winced at the light emitting from her sister's palm.
Aesira sighed. "It has been two days, sister. I fought the councilmen to allow you this time. I grieve as much as you do, but we do not want him to spoil," her eyes glanced to where their fathers body still lay in the bed behind Romelei before looking back to the Scion, pain in her eyes. "By the grace of this cool keep, he has not. Let the embalmers take him. Alek and I would like to say our goodbyes before they do."
No matter how delirious she had grown after a day and a night in darkness with no food or water and trudging her way through the beginnings of a debilitating grief, Romelei would not deny her brother and sister their right to say goodbye to their father. Though she fought every instinct to stay by his side, she managed to rise to her feet with the help of Aesira's free hand to place his cold arm back at his side. She allowed Aesira to guide her toward the door, her body aching and exhausted.