Nazim went into a bow right away, while I stayed standing. "Hello Father," I greeted him.
"I told you to stay home," his deep voice sounded exhausted, but of course it was laced with annoyance.
"Yes, you did. But you spoke to me as my father, and well," I shrugged, "children rebel all the time. And according to everyone I'm still in my teen rebelling immortal years."
My father opened his mouth to reply to me when he doubled a look down at Nazim, who was still in a bow. He huffed a frustrating breath, "Nazim you may rise, and leave this room. I need to speak to my daughter alone."
"Yes your majesty," he said clearly. And as he rose he gently took the Spring book from were I was holding it behind my back. My grip on the book tightened slightly, but he lightly dug his nail into my skin telling me to let go. So I did.
He gathered the rest of the books I had finished reading and without looking back he left the room. My father didn't have his usual guards following him, so we were truly alone in my summer room. I looked at my father, and it was like looking in the mirror. Sure his skin was darker than mine, but our eyes and the way our face was shaped, were the same. For the few times he's laughed, I've realized that I had his smile. But ever since I saved him, he seemed to have lost that - joy. But I'm guessing being a statue prisoner for one hundred years can do that to a person. Even a king.
"Why didn't you announce yourself when you came?" Is what he said, but I heard the undertone of his voice, he wanted to know why I went to his brother first.
"I needed to know what was going on here in Summer. That's why I came. And Elis is the only one who tells me anything - no matter how bad it may seem."
"Well I'm sure he told you that this doesn't seem like a Spring issue after all, so it seems like you should have stayed in winter and waited patiently for the next letter I sent you."
"And what would that have said?" my voice started to have a hint of annoyance, "Dear daughter, everything is fine and safe. Every thing is right in the world again, love Dad. No, because it's not. Just because the quakes might not be from Spring themselves, there is still issues with them and Autumn."
"They won't even let you go into Spring or Autumn without making it a cause for war, yes this issue is because of you, and how they fear you. But there is nothing you can do to help at this point. You don't know them, but I do. I have known them for as long as I can remember, and right now they are still grieving their king."
I looked at him, how the sun favored his skin and made him glow, "You think I don't regret what happened to their king?" I asked, "I tried to save him, you know that very well. But it was either him or the innocent lives of my people and every time I will go with the choice to protect those who cannot protect themselves."
He hasen't moved from his spot near the door, and neither have I. "If they want to be petty and hold an immortal grudge that their king was killed by my mother and not I then they need some growing up to do," I sighed through my nose, the smell of smoke was still lingering through my nostrils, "But I will also be the bigger person if that means avoiding a war."
My father just looked at me, like he wanted to say something, but didn't know how to word it. And that's how it usually was, he tended to pick and chose what the right words were to say in front of me. And I hated it. He never yelled, never let his true emotions out.
I sighed again and let the frustration from this broken father daughter relationship leek out of my skin, " I am going to write a letter for Spring - again. I'll send it through Lovell if I have to, but one way or another I am going to have them listen to me."
My father nodded his head, and sensing that the conversation was done, he left the room.
I waited a couple of minutes before I left to find Nazim. He was in his room re-reading the book from Spring. He sat on his deep red couch that gave him direct sunlight from the long open window.
"Why don't you want my father to know we have a book from Spring?" I asked when I sat down next to him.
He sighed and closed the book. The faded green cover looked even more washed out next to the saturated red from the couch. "Because, he may be my king - but he hasen't taken the other seasons actions to be threats." Nazim kept his eyes down as he took in a breath, "I know he wants peace - we all do - but he is ignoring the problem. And turning a blind eye to it will not make the problem go away, it'll only make everything worse. So thats why I want this to stay between us for right now cousin."
Nazim slid the book across the cushions until the hardcover was touching me. I picked up the book and gently held the old thing in my hands.
"I agree with you," I said quietly, "This is not something that we can just out right say to him, especially without solid evidence. It'll look like I'm just a whiny Queen, already getting paranoid of the other seasons."
I shook my head lightly. Nazim caught the words I didn't say out loud, that if I brought this to my father now, I wouldn't know who's side he'd choose: his daughters, or the other seasonal kings. It's as if he's proving to them that by siding with them, he's being civil and equal, but in reality he's pushing me away.
"You know I'm not trying to take over Summer right?" I whispered.
"I know that, if you wanted to, you would have by now. But you're not the evil scheming ice Queen everyone thinks you are."
I slid my head down to rest on his broad shoulder and sighed," I wish you were apart of my winter court."
He kissed the top of my head gently, "Me too cousin, but I absolutely loathe the cold."
A small laugh escaped my lips and without moving I started to make it snow only on him. He practically hissed as the snow flakes touched him, shoving me away to the far end of the couch. I let the snow stop and wiggled until I was comfortable and opened the ancient Spring book. The first page crinkled as I turned it, and the words have lost their shine over the years, but still it was readable.
Nazim went to his bed and shut his eyes for some long needed rest.
Within an hour I read about the man named Jules who ruled over air, fire and ice. His grandparents were from Autumn, his mother from Summer, and father from Winter. This was before my mother was born, but still I'm thinking that this information was easy for her to attain, maybe it was one of the reasons why she had winters library destroyed - or why she made me in the first place.
Jules was not only a mixture of three powers, but of his appearance as well. He had gotten the warm chestnut skin from summer, the sharp angled eyes of an autumn with the winters blue color. And his control over his power was as amazing as it was frightful. He came into power - killing it from his parents as most royals do to become King or Queen - at the age of fifty. And from there on he took the seasons, all but spring since he had no power there.
He ruled with a peaceful mind for many immortal years, but then he started to get bored. The kids that he did have only had one or two of his powers, and some non at all. But according to the book he tried to steal away a royal from Spring, her name was Jade. She was the twelfth child of the Spring king, and though she had the lands power, she was far from being the strongest. But what she lacked in strength, she made up for it in beauty - and ignorance. Jade didn't see Jules as the paranoid king as he sent secret letters to her, offering for her hand in marriage.
Jade hadn't realized that he never took a wife, only used women for pleasure. Of course after years of Jules playing the hungry wolf, he slipped and got himself caught by the Spring King. Jade was ordered by her father to never speak to him again.
Jules hadn't cared for Jade at all, but he was enraged that he could not want what he wanted. Like a child throwing a tantrum he sent his armies into Spring, shrinking their amount of land. It wasn't until then that his people in every season started to rebel. Jules felt betrayed by his people, that he has kept safe and fed for more years than he could count, so he had attacked them too. Many of them died out of his vengeance, from starvation or from torture.
Nazim was right in saying that his fall was in vague detail, but somehow they tricked him into stepping foot into Springs boarders and ended him for good. From then they killed his children, their offsprings and so on until there was no one left who was of his blood. The only people that were alive from each season were distant royals who only had one of the lands powers. Royals who have been long dead since then.
I stared at the pages, thinking to myself, that this land was almost not mine... Once the offsprings of Jules were killed, the power transferred to some distant royal in winter - and in summer. The bloodlines that were not on the thrones weren't so pure, or original, as they thought they were. I guess this was a humbling thought. But still a haunting one for me; If anything happens to me, winter would be gone.
My thoughts were still jumbling all over the place when there was a light knock on the door, "Come in," I lazily called. Nazim was on his feet wiping the drool from his cheek and looking like the alert warrior.
A smile bloomed across my face when I saw who came in the door, and the plate of chocolate sweets in her hand. Lave, summers best baker and my dear friend, walked to me and immediately gave me the sweets. I practically moaned at the warmth and freshness of the chocolate scones.
"Made them as soon as I heard you were here," she smiled.
I groaned, "Ugh, you know I love you right?"
Lave's laugh was light as she looked around the room and sighed, "It's only a shame the kids aren't here, today I was making lemon poppyseed muffins." Those were one of the kids favorites - actually any of Lave's creations were their favorites, and mine too.
"I thought it would have been safer to keep them in winter, with the earthquakes here in summer, we thought it was spring. But now that we know it's not," I turned to Nazim,"I want to sent a letter to winter, telling them to bring them here. They were practically crying when I left."
"Maybe we should wait until my mother comes back," he said. But his eyes said another thing as they looked down to were the spring book was resting on the couch.
Lave set the plate of sweets down on the small wooden table that was already scattered with books from the summer library, "So tell me how you've been Evie."
Her straight raven hair was up to her shoulders, but tucked behind her ears to keep away from her face. And her hazel eyes locked onto my dark ones as she sat down across from me. If it were anyone else, they'd have addressed me as a proper royal, but with Lave - over the years our friendships grown.
She is the gentle warmth to my temperamental fires - and ice. She not only has listened to my rants about the other two seasons, she's given me her honest advise and opinion. I've asked her too, to come and live in winter with me, but she's not ready to leave her family just yet. Her eldest brother just had his first child and she wants to see her niece grow up.
"I think that I'm tired of reading for the day-"
"Try reading non stop for the past couple of weeks," Nazim interrupted.
I rolled my eyes, "And so we need an adventure to where the village was damaged by the quake."