Book 3 - chapter 2

Michael's pov

It was midday by the time we'd arrived at the west side and the first thing I saw was the brown fields. The west and east sides relied on rain storms from the north mountains to water the crops unfortunately almost all the storms had been blown to the east. My kingdom got its supplies from the west as the east was just over the boarder to the neighbouring kingdom that was ruled over by King Garitor.

Mia told me the stories once that Sabrina had told her of King Garitor's family providing the sons born into the royal family a wife from their kingdom. It was the treaty made when the kingdoms first formed and how Mia's birth had almost broke that treaty.

Now that I am king and Dalton is prince one of us shall marry Princess Jane, Garitor's youngest daughter. The treaty will continue and she will be Queen. Most likely it would be Dalton to marry her though I highly doubt he's happy about that. However in order to keep the peace one of us needs to and it can't be me as I married Mia.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I approached the small farming village that was out here. The total population of 150 were all outside ready to greet me. I dismantled my horse and walked up to the man in the middle of the crowd.

He was an old man with grey hair but even I could see the muscles under his flannel shirt from decades of manual labour.

"Your highness thank you so much for coming all the way out here yourself. Its a great honor to meet you, my name is Charles my family have owned the lands for generations." He bowed and I held out my hand which he shook.

"Please call me Michael. I don't like using titles." I smiled and everyone looked a little nervous and taken aback.

"Thank you my lor... I mean Michael..." He said and cleared his throat. "Anyway shall we go to the fields?"

"Yes please I'd like to see the damage and possibly see if my idea I have for the water supply might work." I said and let him lead the way.

"We usually get a lot of rain but this year has been most unfortunate to us. Before the draught we had a mild case of flu in the winter that took the weakest from us. Times have definitely been hard but we always pull through and I have to have hope."

I followed him to the fields and saw just how bad it was. All the crops burnt to a crisp under the sun. I bent down and picked one of the crops and it broke into dust in seconds.

"As you can see everything is destroyed." Charles said and I nodded.

"I have an idea on how to help. There is a river that runs on our side of the mountains, it doesn't affect the other kingdom so if we build a dam there we can harvest the water and have it running in man-made streams to the village. It will help for the harvest but most importantly it will be useful for the village itself as you will no longer have to travel to the closest well for water. In the meantime while it's being built my brother Dalton can influence the weather. I can ask him to send a few rain storms this way for now to help out though I don't think he'll be very happy about that idea." I stood and turned as I addressed everyone who had gathered nearby.

"My lord that would be most grateful if the prince could do that and we will help get the plans for the dam built straight away." Charles smiled and I could see just how much joy was behind it. I gave him a polite smile back.

"I will do everything I can to make sure this village gets everything they need for the dam. I will also have accommodation set up in the kingdom for families to stay in while the dam is being built. You will have better access to water there and to supplies of crops we have kept away for this exact reason. I will have carriages sent to you to help you all move." I announced as I went back to my horse.

"Thank you your highness this certainly means a great deal to us all especially since you are doing it yourself." Charles grinned and I could see all the villagers behind him starting to get ready to leave.

"I will do anything for this kingdom. Its what my wife would have wanted and I know it's what she would have done." I gave them all a sad smile and started back towards the Palace again.

Once again my thoughts drifted back to Mia. I missed her so much.

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"Fine I suppose I could do that." Dalton folded his arms as I told him what I was doing for the West and asked if he'd send over some rain storms to help out with the crops until I could sort something out that was more permanent. To be honest I didn't think it would be that easy to get him to do it especiallyafter what happened this morning with our argument.

"Thank you Dalton. I know you don't see the point in looking after this kingdom but thank you for helping out." I said and I turned to leave the training room.

"I never said I didn't care about the kingdom just that I didn't care to be the leader. After all even if she was here I wouldn't be in a higher place than I am now. Believe it or not I like being a Prince I just don't like doing the responsibility of it. I would much rather be here with you then back on earth." He said and I was surprised a little as that was the most I'd heard him say since the funeral. He shifted on one foot slightly and I could see him debating something in his head.

When he didn't say anything I went to leave again only to be stopped once more. "I never did thank you properly for what you did for us on earth. Saving Mia that is. You took care of her and you loved her I can see that. I'm sorry for what I said this morning and I'm sorry for ruining things on earth. If I'd just stayed inside and did what I was told she'd still be here today." I felt tears prick my eyes and I silenced him by walking over and hugging him.

I felt him hug me back and after a few seconds he slapped my back and pulled away wiping tears quickly but I saw them still. "Now get out of here I have stuff to do with the rain storms and whatnot." He smiled and I chuckled back and left the room.

As I was heading to the library to get started on some reports, I heard thunder overhead and the sound of rain and watched from the window as a huge storm cloud appeared in the sky and drifted over to the west side of the kingdom. I could almost feel Mia standing beside me and it made me smile. I knew exactly what she'd say if she was here. "You need to bond more with Dalton he may be a bit distant at times but he's sweet on the inside"
She always did see the good in everyone and everything. Even in Derrick despite everything he did to her including killing her. I felt the anger boil inside me thinking about it. Derrick used to be my best friend and he sold me out for blood and money then went and killed my wife. Sometimes I wish I kept him alive a bit longer and made him pay for what he did but at the same time I know that if I did keep him around for torture it would upset Mia to see that side of me. Even though he locked both of us up twice and tortured us I knew that she wouldn't want me to sink to his level.

I shook my head clear of these thoughts and continued to the library to do the reports needed for taking care of the west side of the kingdom. Sabrina was already there complaining about my punctuality and shoving files under my nose. This was going to take forever even for me and I'm immortal. I sighed and got to work on the boring parts of being king. I already knew I was gonna be here for hours as I sat down and opened the first file. Time to get cracking.