Noah
I wanted to be anywhere but here right now, and I could feel the same from the other three in my family. Currently we all were knelt before an altar where the deceased King Dacre's body lay, waiting to be burned. To William's right was Asher and his family, to my left knelt Joshua and his daughter.
"I thank you all for gathering to send this man off to the land of Hades. Even if he has wronged so many of us in the past, it's only proper that we send him off with his burial rights."
I saw William nod out of the corner of my eye. Royals, no matter how universally badly seen, got buried the right way. Sure, in place of the ceremony of honor was the ceremony of disgrace, but at the end of the day, each royals funeral was exactly the same duration of time.
The service was rather boring, many angers were professed, not one person shed a tear for the man, not even his children. They opened up about his years of abuse and I could quickly see why. As it drew to a close, Zion called up every Royal to take a torch and burn the body with her.
We all stood around his body sharing a look with one another as the priestess sends him off. I look at the body and note that the only evidence of his brutal death is a single scar going from his right temple to just left of his chin. They'd done a good job of stitching him up, so I knew the scar was left there purposefully. A mark to forever serve as a reminder.
We wait for her to give us the go ahead before we all catch the stray timber and the entire pyre goes up. We take a few step backs, the fire blasting a green color before settling again, the color of his magic.
The procession was a small affair, the people of Hazelwrenn that bothered coming gathered around trying to catch a glimpse of those assembled, trying to gage our grief. Our faces were covered with thick black veils, no one made a sound, not until the carriages pulled away from Hades' temple, not until we made it back to the castle where we all broke the silence.
The children looked relieved that they could finally go on and play, and we'd sent a governess to watch over them.
A maid came by to pour wine in our chalices as we all sat around the removed common area, waiting for the family of the deceased to say something, anything.
"So, our biggest threat is gone. I hope this alliance holds and we all aren't at one another's throats like in the old days." Zion remarks, causing Ramsey to scoff.
"What a way to break the silence, sister." Ryland says, shaking his head.
If her complexion allowed for it to be more noticeable I'd say she was flushed at his call out, but I couldn't exactly be sure at the moment.
"I still can't believe you all orchestrated this without our knowledge." Robin says.
Winston gives a grunt in agreement.
"To be fair, the man had you both wrapped around his finger. It would have been counter productive." Kyrennia states, sipping from her chalice.
Truth be told, I had no clue Atlantis bothered themselves in this affair, but I guess it makes sense. We all fear them too much to pull a rug out from under them. They must have known.
"This all doesn't matter now. What's done is done. The kingdom is grieving, but we are celebrating." Ryland raises his chalice into the air. "Long live the queen."
We all mutter the same and d ink to that, Zion giving a slight bow of her head.
"I never caught the story of how you were moved to our cause, Prince Ryland." I say, looking to him expectantly.
He sighs at this.
"Betraying my father wasn't the hard part. It was believing my sister was alive. There'd been whispers around the castle of a child who resembled Zion. From what I understand
Zion knew she couldn't out right face a crowd at first, she needed time to strategize. She thought that it'd be fine for Joshua and my darling niece to go out of their temporary home. One of my guards lived in the town Zion had been hiding in visiting family and he told us about how a little girl nearly knocked the bread out of his hands. He described her as having the same wild hair as Zion, and he said that the eyes made the resemblance undeniable. I simply had to see it for myself.
"Father has been going mad for ages, that's no secret. Everyone could see it. I was worried and lost and wanted nothing more than for my big sister to guide me, so I took a leap of faith. I went back to the town and caught one look of her and knew. I could feel the same power pouring off of Lily as yours did- does, Zion. I knew that she was my niece. I also knew that Z had no mate when she died. Her being there meant that my sister was alive. My sister being alive meant that my father had lied. That meant that he'd killed her and didn't bother making sure the job was done.
"From then on it became impossible for me to see him as anything other than a selfish monster. She didn't want to lead how he wanted her too so he got rid of her. It made me think that if his own children are this expendable then what about our people. Father had suspected we'd been spied on for weeks, we all waved him off dismissively, calling him needlessly paranoid, but at that same time each and every one of us had pledged ourselves to the cause. We joined because letting the public take power would mean many uprisings down the line as people kept seeing that family's power dwindle, and because everyone had been ready to pledge themselves to my sister's rule a decade earlier, so what was the difference now." he answers.
The room remained silent for a few seconds as everyone soaked in his perspective. It took a great deal of strength to do what Ryland had done, maybe I'd underestimated him before hand.
The night continued on, the royals around me downing their drinks in good fun, I having stopped at three glasses, but I didn't sully their fun. It's amazing to hear what monarchs will say when drunk off their mind, and I knew this gossip would amuse the staff of this castle for a good month or two. Even though drunk, I knew that none of them would say too much.
Suddenly, the governess we sent to watch after our children rushes in the room, my poor baby boy in her arms, his arm twisted at a strange angle, and his temple bleeding. He screamed out in pain, not seeming to be healing, and if the flush to his face said anything, he was probably running a fever as well. Getting injured and sick was all normal for a pup to do, I could beat that, but if it all happens at once then their as good as human and my heart broke to see my baby like that.
I clear the couch of unnecessary pillows and help her lie him down on it, propping up his head in my lap.
"Daddy it hurts." he sobs out.
I gently caress his hair and coo to calm him down.
"Arty you need to calm down okay my boy? You'll be just fine. If you panic you won't be able to heal yourself."
The rest of the room crowded at a distance, William coming my side, feeling Artan's forehead.
"Go get the others." Zion ordered the governess.
"We have to reset you arm otherwise it won't heal properly. Do you trust me?" Will asks our son.
Arty nods without hesitation, and I look away as William takes hold of his arm and puts it back into place, a gut wrenching crack sounding through the air, and another yelp of pain coming from Artan.
I shush him lightly, reassuring him that he's a strong boy and he can heal.
It always felt cruel to allow children to sit in pain, but shifter children weren't mortals. If we get a healer before they try then their spirits will never be able to heal them as normal. The fact that Artan is a golden wolf meant that he had a bigger pain tolerance than other pups, and he healed much faster than even William. We needed him to learn to do that for himself before we called our medical team. It's our way of life.
The rest of the children filled in, crowding around the couch looking at Artan sadly.
"What happened?" William asked them.
"We were playing witches and dragons outside and Artan climbed up the tree with me to cast a few spells at the ones who shifted, but then Lily swooped around the branch and surprised him and he fell." Wyatt explains.
"I didn't mean to hurt him, we were just playing." Lily defends.
"Who cares? Is he going to be okay?" Elliot, the oldest of the Natus bunch, questions.
"He'll be just fine. See his cuts already started to heal. He just needs to sleep it off and his wolf will heal him." I tell them all.
Mira looks the most relieved and we all decide now was a fine time to send all of the kids off to bed.
"Children should come with a warning label. I feel as though my heart got shattered." William says after we put them both down.
I nod in agreement, settling down beside him on the mattress, a small grin on my face as he kisses my forehead.