Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 57 - Darius - Heavy is the Head Which Carries the Crown

"Everyone's damaged, but yes, we're a couple of misfits."

"God to know I'm no longer the only one in the club." She snorts, but no smile gets anywhere near her lips.

We drift back into silence, my eyes drifting to the now snow-covered ground. I don't remember it snowing.

The quiet suddenly becomes too hushed and I find myself standing up, near slipping on an empty bottle. "Come on. If your sisters decide to show, I'll simply order them to leave you be until you're ready to approach them."

"I suppose it's a good thing to have a King as a fellow depressed friend," she teases.

"I suppose so."

She stands on steadier legs than I, likely recovering from the amount of kidzra we consumed quicker than me. I take her hand and then we're misting out of the Moonrise Tower and into the top floor of the Royal Chambers. My father never liked these rooms, and it's not my old room, and it's far enough from the Healer's Tower, so it's the best place for me to sleep and do it without being subconscious of my surroundings.

"The Highland Tower is empty. There are spare rooms on the second and third floors you can use. Take your pick," I tell her with a wave of my hand.

"I'll take the second floor." My mouth quirks up, knowing she means the entirety of the floor.

"Before you go..." I walk over to one of the two sitting rooms this huge chamber has and grab the metal, flower-shaped pin Aracely gave me. According to Willa, they're totems that keep people like them away. It's dormant now, sitting in a wooden case that Aracely said would block their power. I hand her the box. "Open the box when you get into your room, and your sisters won't be able to go near you."

She stares through her lashes at me, then slowly takes the box and holds it as if it's an egg. "How do I know that it won't push me out?"

"Three drops of your blood on the pin will make you immune to it, but do it quickly. Once you open the box you'll have about five seconds before it kicks in."

"Wonderful," she states dryly. "Try not to die while I'm gone, alright?"

"Relax. The Bhaltayr are already in the halls."

She snickers at the closed doors that lead out to the hallway before heading for them. "Gods they really are hawks."

"Last I checked, you and your sisters are just as bad - perhaps worse."

She throws a vulgar gesture over her shoulder and then mists out just before she reaches the door, saving me from having to come face to face with a dozen expressions of pity and worry. I stand there for a moment, adjusting to the new type of silence these walls hold. I can't hear them, but I can feel their breaths and who's where. I kept the little fact that I let a breeze push them from the halls below and up here from Rohana. As much as I don't want to be near any of them due to the sympathy they'll reek when they see me, I don't want to be alone either. Loneliness is the only thing left for my hands to feel, and it stings like a blizzard's breath.

I take my time bathing, staying in the water until it goes cold, and then letting my power ease off by heating it back up a few times or holding its warmth. After that, I go to the bedroom and try to find decent enough clothes. Whoever stayed in here in the past months apparently took most of the clothes elsewhere. I'd say it was Xaxias, but there's no trace of his presence up here. It's mostly in the throne room and Eagle Wing where I can feel small pieces of him. I suppose death leaves traces, only this time I can actually feel where it has stepped.

I find some black trousers and a blue tunic, both loose but comfortable. The shoes are a little harder to find, especially with there being five rooms to rummage through. The first night we were here we all stayed in the hallway outside of Clarice's room in the Healer's Tower. It felt rude for me to leave, but it killed me to stay so close. The feeling is mostly dormant now, but I can't help the blankness I feel when I'm close. After that night I came up here, voting to take the chambers that go with my new title, though I still think it's weird to have the word King in front of my name. I've been called Prince for so long that the higher title feels...itchy. It's why I don't correct the Ginerva when they call me Pater. It sounds closer to Prince than its true meaning.