Royals (Book 1)

Chapter 9 : Denial

I placed my hood over my head as we entered the town, not wanting to be recognized. A part of me wanted to talk to my people as their future queen, but another part wanted me to have genuine interactions with them first. Alarik followed suit, his eyes seeming darker under the shade of his hood, as menacing as he acted. It felt odd consorting with the enemy, though I had to ignore it for my benefit.

"What do you do when you come here?" I asked.

"Eat, talk, drink." He explained vaguely, he seemed genuinely uninterested in a conversation so I took the time to look around. It was difficult to pretend like nothing had happened, but I could not let it sway me away from this.

It was more of a run down town, the streets were littered and I could see homeless people sleeping on the benches. Some of the houses had their windows shattered with doors barely hanging on. To say I was shocked was an understatement, how could a town within two miles of the castle be doing so poorly?

Two kids were running around and playing, their clothes visibly dirty as well as their faces. Yet, they had these huge smiles plastered on their faces and the sweetest giggles coming out of them. I smiled gently as I saw them play what I thought was tag, something Marina and I used to play during our free time when we were kids.

That's when I noticed a man stood on a soapbox, a crowd surrounding him. Alarik and I stood further while he preached about the coming of new royalty. "We will get past these wicked years if we overcome them, it is within our right to revolt!"

The crowd cheered wildly like banshees, egging him on as he continued. My eyes were wide, looking to Alarik for explanation but he only watched him intently. I considered drug use or alcoholism, but he seemed entirely in his right mine. What could he be talking about?

"Miss, you're it!" While I had spaced out, the little boy had touched my thigh. I laughed as he started to run, chasing after the little girl he was playing with. With longer legs I got her with no problem, grabbing her under her arms and lifting her up. She was breathless from laughter and sprinting, so she didn't mind me picking her up. I bounced her on my hip, realizing she could be no older than six. Her blonde hair was tied into two braids, her eyes shimmering with a child-like innocence.

"You're rather pretty, missy! You could be the princess!" She complimented me, not realizing who was holding her.

"I think you are far more fit to be one." I told her, a blush building on her face. I looked at Alarik, who was just observing with his hands shoved in his pants pocket.

"If you were a princess, you could probably do better than the current king and queen!" Her friend exclaimed, she giggled while I felt my blood run cold.

"What do you mean?" I looked at the boy whose height only went to my waist.

"Look around miss, this place has been ruined because of the king and queen." He stuck his arms out to gesture at the entire town. How old could he be, eight?

"Kids have a sixth sense for this kind of thing, but you don't have to be a genius to see something is wrong." Alarik finally spoke up, approaching us.

"But there is a big snake that will save us, and we'll be fine!" The girl said and I rose a brow.

"Big snake?" I asked, the little boy tugged on my jacket. He started walking towards an alley and I followed after him. Once we reached it, I put the little girl down to examine the graffiti tag. There it was, the serpent engulfed by treacherous flames. This was the rebel group they mentioned in the meeting, but there was something on the bottom that they hadn't mentioned.

To the royal family, this marks a rebirth.

"A rebirth?" I was shocked, not able to tell if this was a serious threat or a stunt some kids pulled.