9.

Elai's POV

“I wonder what got the people to love the king so much.” My voice startles myself. Chay is right next to my, head resting on his hands. We are on his roof. I remember this night. It is the only night I got to find out something about the king.
“He has been a king since he was seventeen. I am pretty sure he has done lots of things to make them love him.” Seventeen. When I was seventeen, I was stuck reading a book for the sixth time. He should be thankful of the life the gods had given him.
“That is quite a young age.” I do not know what to say. I do not care about him.
“He had no other choice.” Chay sounds like he is hiding something, but I decide not to try and pry. He is tired, too. The stars look beautiful enough for the silence to be alright. It is not awkward, or weird. It feels good to lay here.
“I’m sure if he had, he would’ve explored Tverindal, maybe settle down in Kathopial with whomever he might’ve liked.” Kathopial. It was like a dream reading about the capital of Tverindal. There is no war to worry about there, no alliances, no enemies. Everyone there lives in freedom and peace. I once even read that they hate the other kingdoms for wanting to live under leadership, but I do not know if it is true.
“Is he not married yet?”
“Ah.. no. That is.. complicated.” Another secret. Do not pry, Elai.
I close my eyes for a moment.
“You know.. Here, people believe the king to carry the soul of the moon.” The myth. That one single myth I am interested in. I let out a chuckle.
“I like that myth. Hard to believe the moon would give her soul to a king, though.” She would not be that selfish, right?
“I wonder who the sun would give her soul to.” I never expected for a Turian civilian to want to talk about the sun. It startles me a little; I should not act like I know anything.
“Someone with a beautiful life, I hope..”

I do not remember falling asleep in the carriage, but my eyes open up to a beautiful room nonetheless. My dream was kind to me; it made realize I’m going to miss Chay a whole bunch. Sure, he will come visit me, but living with each other is different. Now I have to wake up alone and to the smell of a room I do not know.
The bed is big, I can spread my arms and legs and still have space between me and the floor. There are two big glass doors next to the bed that lead to a balcony made with beautiful white marble. The rest of the room is very different form the royal chambers back in Lyle. It occupies a lot more stuff, and if I would move away the desk and the couch, I would be able to hold a ball in here. If this is what the king provides a prisoner with, I am happy to be one.
The day-moon is out, and the room vaguely smells of bread. It mustn’t be too late. I stretch out, muscles hurting and throat burning. My hand traces from my neck to my chest, a heavy sigh leaving my mouth. I hope staying here won’t be as bad as I thought it would be.
“Knock knock.” The voice says it only twice before the door rushes open, and if I wasn’t still in my clothes from the night before, I would’ve yelled at him.
“Great, you’re up. You’ve missed breakfast already, so don’t tell me you’re hungry.” It is not the king, but someone that looks a lot more.. tough. He has broad shoulders sticking out of a tight, black top that crawls all the way up to his neck. There are too many scars to count on one arm, the other one slowly catching my attention. The artificial arm is black with green-like light beaming through cords. They look like veins. It connects to his upper arm and perfectly does what the man asks it to do. it is.. magnificent. I wish I already knew him so I could ask him about his arm, but his presence is new. I thought he was bald first, but now that he is bowing down to pick up the pile of clothes on the ground, I see that he has short, grey hair. His face, too, wears scars too deep to ever erase. His eyes are different, too; one is blue, while the other is bright green. I want to ask about them. I don’t.
“Well, are you going to rise or do I have to tell the king you’re not coming?” Another one with a big attitude. Maybe it is just a Turian thing.
“It is nice to meet you too, stranger.” I mutter some words about him in Lylenian, and I am glad to find out he has not heard me.
“Connie Hanlon. Now are you going to get up?” He raises his eyebrows as the clothes fall around his artificial arm.
“I have just woken up, at least give me time to-“
“He does not have time for excuses. And neither do I, for that matter.” I wonder how king Arlon chose his staff. “Well, tell him I’m not coming, then. I am still tired.” I fall back onto the bed and cross my arms, eyes looking up at the ceiling.
“Are you serious?” I can hear the annoyance in Connie’s voice and it brings a grin onto my face. Turians are nothing compared to my people, compared to me. I’ll show them how unhappy I am for being dragged here without my permission.
“Can’t believe he has taken such a brat with him..”
I hear the words right before Connie closes the door behind him, a chuckle leaving my mouth. It is fun to see how fast people are to take offense around here.

I did not mean to fall back asleep, but my body and mind were both too tired to hang on. Now the night moon has suddenly set, and I feel like I’ve arisen from the dead. My tired soul finally got the rest it needed; I am ready to explore whatever cage they had put me in.
But before I do, it is important to clean myself up. I take my time to look through the closet. Arlon has kept his promise; there is lots of royal clothing to choose from. My preference goes to the robe, though. It is night anyways, I do not have to be all dressed up and tidy. I do not care if the king thinks otherwise. It is of a pretty, dark purple color, and it vaguely reminds me of a painting Chay had in his home. The pattern is similar, perhaps.
I’m nervous to step outside of the warmth of this room; I have no idea what awaits me behind this door. My palms are already sweaty as I open the door up and peak my head out. There are guards at both ends of the ginormous hallway, but they don’t seem to be guarding me. No one is guarding me.. at all. It puts a frown on my face; why did Arlon bring me here? He was so confident in calling me a prisoner, should I not be at least guarded? Or could I just walk out of here and go back to Chay? I start walking to the left, the ginormous doors widening my eyes. We don’t have those back home. They’re big, but not like this. They’re almost all the way up to the ceiling, where they end in a triangle. The colors of the castle aren’t very surprising. The floor is made of black marble, the walls a slightly lighter color decorated in purple and blue. The lamps are mostly yellow, to represent the stars, I think.
I expected Arlon to be in the main hall, but clearly I was wrong. The throne is in the same place as the one in Lyle, facing the main doors so that you have no choice but to greet the leader when you walk in.
Arlon isn’t sitting on his throne, unlike my father. He sits in it all day, enjoying his wealth and position. It is black, like the rest of this castle. It matches with the walls; purple and blue vein-like stripes crawling up the material. It is much more complex than the one in Lyle. I’d compliment it if I wasn’t here against my own will.
“I thought you’d be one of those that won’t leave their room out of spite.” It is the grey-haired man again. Connie. He has spoken more words to me than the one that brought me here.
“I got hungry.” I didn’t.
“Well, you haven’t missed dinner yet. I am sure Arlon would appreciate it if you showed up.” What kind of words are those?
“So I’m allowed to walk around? Without supervision or anything?”
“Why do you think you keep walking into me?” I hate the grin he puts on his face. great. Supervised by a man with a gigantic attitude.
“Visit Chay with me, then. After dinner.”
Chay’s name does something to him; it looks like a flinch. Uh oh. Another one with a history I will get curious about. Turian people are a lot more interesting than I thought.
“We’ll ask Arlon.” Connie is serious.
“You eat dinner with him, too?”
“I’m his best friend.” An offended look appears on his face.
My eyebrows raise. “He’s the king.”
“So?” Another offended look.
Life wasn’t like this in Lyle. I didn’t believe it would be any different somewhere else. A ruler only eats with those that have great titles or names. They don’t invite their best friends over for dinner. Who does that?
“We’re practically married.” He sounds serious.
My cheeks are flushed, now. “Oh. I did not know that. I’m so sorry.”
“Woah, hey I was-“ He was about to say something, but decides to swallow it down.
“Never mind.” I did not expect him to put his hand around my wrist. My cheeks are getting hotter, I do not know why. Maybe new people is harder to be around than I had imagined. It wasn’t this difficult with Chay.
“I’m pretty sure he’s already in the dining room. Arlon loves his food.” He talks about him so smoothly, so easily. Easier than Chay used to. They must really be close.
My heart is in my throat when the big door opens up for us, a guard smiling and nodding at Connie.
“Commander.” The guard says.
Of course Connie is a commander. I knew it.