Of Starlight and Gold

Chapter Six

Weylen stood before the king, his hands clasped behind his back and Nova sitting next to him. He resisted the urge to look over at the king's familiar, Pel, the giant lioness currently cleaning her paws in the corner of the room. As if sensing his unease, Pel lifted her golden head, eyes gleaming. She yawned, a deep rumbling that even made Nova shift.

King Ephra finished scratching out a letter, all but ignoring Weylen and his familiar. Weylen knew that tactic. He'd seen it countless times before. The king wanted to make the captain uncomfortable, though he knew he wasn't in much trouble. If he had let Briah go off on her own, that would be a different story.

"My daughter insists that your outing was all her doing," the king said suddenly. His voice rumbled deeper than Pel's yawn as he lifted his hazel eyes to meet Weylen. "Is this true?"

Weylen looked at Nova, who turned her head away. This is on you, pretty boy.

"Your Majesty...I did my best to stop her but you know the princess. She's—" Weylen fought the urge to pinch his brow, "—stubborn. I figured it would be better if she had someone protecting her."

The king nodded, though his eyes still shone with disapproval. "She takes after me in that regard." He moved away from his desk with the sigh of an exasperated father to face the window. "We raised her to be independent, to not be limited because of her disadvantage. Perhaps it was a mistake, our foolish mistake, considering she was not, originally, the heir."

Weylen dropped his gaze, eyes burning. He would not cry in front of the king, not give into the still raw wound that festered in his chest. Not when the king had the right to grieve more.

Nova threw him a sympathetic look but remained silent. She felt the loss, the loss of her own best friend.

"She is not as helpless as you may think," Weylen offered, after a heartbeat of silence. "For all your leniency, you had her and Asper trained to protect themselves."

The king didn't react, didn't respond. He just stared out the window. The silence stretched on and Weylen was about to excuse himself when the king spoke, his voice soft and quiet.

"Sometimes, I think the shoes that Briah has to fill are too big for her. She was not raised to be a queen, instead had the title of heir thrust upon her. She doesn't see the outing as an issue because she's never had to think of herself as crown princess. Leahna was supposed to carry on the legacy..."

Weylen clenched his jaw. Never before had the king spoken so freely. So honestly. The loss of the former crown princess was still fresh, emotions were still untethered. Each member of the royal family reacted in their own way. Briah acted with brazen care. The king turned to his work. And yet, uf Briah knew her father didn't think she was fit to be queen, it would destroy her. Living in her sister's shadow was hard enough.

"She's capable," he said, "she is stronger than you may give her credit for."

The king turned to face the captain, but his eyes snapped to something over Weylen's shoulder. The king dipped his head in reverence and Weylen didn't even have to look to know who walked into the room.

"My daughter is born of my mother's bloodline, of course she's strong," came a cool, authoritative voice, "but her strengths may also be her faults."

The queen strolled into the room, her familiar, a giant stag, lingering in the hall. Adding the impressive stag would be uncomfortably cramped with two familiars and three humans in the office. However, Nova and Pel looked and lowered their heads at their sovereign familiar. They were governed by the stag, just as the queen governed the king and Weylen. Linuk, ever the watchful and serene, tilted his head at the other two familiars, his brown eyes surrounded by long lashes.