Ethan wiped the tears away from his small face, sniffing softly as Lilioth sat at his side, unfazed, her red eyes empty, her manicured hands elegantly wrapping a bandage around his wrist.
It was by no means something the newly appointed Regent Queen should do yet she dismissed her servants without a second thought to tend to her nephew's injuries despite being unused of doing such a task.
It has been two weeks since Ethan's tragic birthday and everything happened fast afterwards. Azin was immediately confined and judged by the Crowns who requested for him to be executed.
However, the night Elyon gave His blessing for the prince's execution, the young boy managed to ran away. How exactly is still unknown, but Elyon's reaction caught everyone off guards. He simply dismissed their worries about a demon living on Earth with a mere wave of the hand before locking Himself in His Tower.
In the midst of all this, Izok and Lilioth were crowned Regent King and Queen, and their daughter, Lylra, previously engaged to Azin, now found herself engaged to Ethan. She as well had to see the day of her coronation pushed back a few years.
As for Ethan, among all the confusion, trials, and whatnot, no one had sympathy to spare for him. As such, he was forced to grief on his own and for a young child who was confronted with death and grieving for the first time this lead to an onslaught of nightmares.
Nightmares he was forced to live with as he had nobody to tell them to.
So to escape them, he started wandering the palace's hallways at night to avoid going to sleep. Yes, he was always tired the next day, but since neither his family nor the servants appeared to care, he thought it was fine.
Until tonight.
For the first time in his life, his uncle got extremely mad at him and punished him, leading to Lilioth tending to his injured wrist.
The aunt and nephew sat in silence under the moonlight filtering through the window, both trying to ignore the wrenching smell of decomposing flesh. Lilioth finished wrapping the bandage, her fingers now gently brushing against the child wrist.
"How cruel." She whispered slowly, her tone distant. "To treat you like this, when you're just a little child."
"It's... For my own good."
Lilioth paused, her jaw clenching as her eyes darkened slightly.
"Of course. He always knows what is good, doesn't he ?"
"Auntie ?"
"Good for the Clan, good for him, good for me..."
There was no warmth in her voice, just a cold disdain and resignation. Ethan looked at her. After a few seconds of silence, she shook her head as if to chase the complicated thoughts clouding her mind. She took a deep breath and let go of her nephew's wrist.
"Why don't you want to go to sleep ? Is it because of the corpses ? Are they too uncomfortable to sleep with ?"
Ethan glanced at the bed without answering. The two masses laying on it twisted his stomach, provoking cold beads of sweat to run down his palms and spine. He knew the situation didn't pleased his uncle either, that if he could have, he would have made another choice. This is what he said after all.
Yet, having to share a bed with his parents' corpses was still a little too hard for this young child. The stench, as well as the coldness and rigidness of the bodies only worsened his nightmares, pushing him to quiver in horror every time his eyes landed on them.
Every night, his back turned to them, his body facing the wall in an attempt to deny the reality until sunrise, while he desperately tried to sleep he could heard whispers in the dark. The voices of his parents murmuring in his ears what everyone has been repeating for days now. So to avoid them, he avoided his bed, out of fear and grief.
Lilioth shook her head in disapprobation towards her nephew's reaction.
"Ethan. You are the future king. You cannot let your emotions and fears weaken you."
"But I... I don't want to be king..."
Upon hearing these words, Lilioth immediately raised her hand in the air, causing Ethan to cover in fear and anticipation. His eyes closed almost instinctively but the slap never came. He held his breath for three more seconds before hesitantly reopening his eyes to see his aunt as stiff as a statue, her usually composed face stuck in an complicated expression.
Her hand was still hanging in the air, her eyes out of focus. She seemed to be prey to another internal turmoil. Finally, she lowered her hand, putting both of them on the shoulder of the child, holding him tight.
"You will become king."
Ethan flinched under the intensity of Lilioth's gaze. Her words sounded like an order, her voice filled with firmness and despair.
"I will mold you into the perfect king. One that will be admired, feared, that no one would dare defy."
Ethan couldn't decipher what Lilioth was thinking about and could only wince in pain as her nails dug deeper in his skin. Her lips twitched upwards, moving into an insane smile. Her eyes shook, staring at him almost obsessively.
"And in return, when the time comes, you will kill for me."
*****
The next day, Carilysh awoke at the break of dawn, the weak and warm sunlight shining upon her face as her eyes flutter open. She blinked one, two, three times until her vision adjust to the faint luminosity, balanced her legs to the right, the mattress creaking under the movement, and slowly got up. In the middle of the bedroom stood a wooden mannequin made of oak wood and around it, littering the floor, sketches of gala dresses as well as fabrics made out of the finest materials such as linen, cotton, and wool.
Her sewing equipment was laying nearby, reminding her of the dreadful lack of motivation that had been plaguing her for weeks, ever since King Izok called her into his private office and assigned her what she considers to be the most insulting task of all : crafting a dress for the newly appointed Human Ambassador.
According to the King's words, the request originated from Elyon, and was meant to be handled by one of the many tailors in the Angel Clan, however, after hearing for who the dress is, they all suddenly appeared to be overbook, giving the impression that the entire Clan out of nowhere had the desire to acquire new clothes, and that all clothing shops were out of materials.
As a result, Queen Ephemera relegated the burden to Regent King Izok and his Clan. Izok, instead of turning to one of the few professionals in the Clan, instead dropped the chore onto Carilysh's lap, and went on about his day, completely ignoring the turmoil caused by his decision.
Granted, she could have refused, as he "requested" her to made the dress after the Succubus gained independence. However, the way he presented it as an opportunity for her to open a door of possibilities for her Clan definitely influenced her final choice to say yes. Having said that, the deep seated hatred and bias she had towards humans made it extremely hard to actually come up with a satisfactory design.
A part of her was convinced Izok true intentions were simply to set her up for failure and use it as an opportunity to ridicule the Succubus. Either that, or he was putting her to the test to see how competent someone who spent almost half her life working as a servant, scrubbing the floor, bowing and serving tea silently, was outside of what she originally was trained to do : being a mere decoration that only exist when convenient.
In any case, she remained determined to do this. Not only for herself, being a tailor had always been a lifelong dream of hers, but also for all the other young Succubus who had remaining doubts about having the possibility of doing anything else than serve others.
"May our generous God Elyon give me the strength."
Deciding that what she needed was fresh air, she glanced at the mural clock to verify the time and headed to the adjoining bathroom to change out of her nightwear. A few minutes later, she emerged wearing a white linen shirt tucked inside dark grey cotton pants, her hair, dyed a dark mauve, was tied in a high ponytail, the look completed by earrings made of silver.
Usually, servants were not allowed to change anything about their appearances, especially the women, as it might turn off any nobles demons wishing to bed them, and by wishing, they mean demanding, and ruin their changes of going from a servant to a paramour.
But to celebrate the Succubus' independence, and her being nominated as a Pillar, Carilysh only deemed it fair to break that foolish rule and with the help of Lynneth, her older sister and Nyraris, their younger brother, dyed her hair using cheap and natural means as they now had less money than when they were working under the demons.
"And even as a Pillar, I'm not paid." She sighed before opening the door and walking down the hallway.
As she walked, she analyzed the interior design of the manor, the prominent black and red colors adorning the walls, floors and furnitures. The first time she stepped inside the manor, she wondered if it was in His honor that Elyon used those colors. After all, they were consistently associated with Him, therefore it might be a tactic to remind of everyone of His presence, that He is always watching, listening.
She eyed the black frames of the old paintings on the walls, a frown on her face as she genuinely pondered if it was a good stylistic choice nonetheless. She soon dropped the subject, recalling that not only had she never received any kind of education in interior decorations, nor any actual education at all outside of a low-level reading and writing, but also that questioning Elyon in any way was far from a good idea.
So she kept on walking, arrived in front of the main staircase, draped by a deep red carpet, and paused. There, laying on the last steps of the staircase, she saw the figure of who she recognized to be Ethan. Confusion painted her face for a brief moment at the strange display offering itself to her before she schooled her expression back to neutral. She cautiously made her way to him, standing above him.
Ethan was laying on his side, his eyes closed, barely visible behind his glasses and black hair who wasn't styled as neatly as usual. He adorned a dark brown linen shirt and pants. Her eyes trailed down to his chest, surveying his breathing pattern to determine if he was asleep or not.
"What are you doing ?"
At the sound of her voice, Ethan opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. His tired irises and disheveled hair contrasted with the well-put together appearance he usually present to others, although his eye bags were ever present. A tired smile stretched the corners of his lips, his face softening slightly.
"Good morning, Carilysh." He greeted in a strained voice.
"Good morning." She greeted back.
He shifted weakly, letting out a sound of pain mixed with tiredness.
"Was I in your way ? Sorry, I'll move aside."
Before Carilysh could answer, he sat up and move to the side to let her pass. However, she stood still, scrutinizing him. When the Succubus were still considered lesser kind of demons, Carilysh's family was one of the few to closely serve the royal family. In the eyes of a lot of people it was possibly the best scenario to be in as it offered the opportunity to observe the royals more closely than anyone in the confines of the palace and witness the majestic galas held inside.
But for Carilysh, working so close to the Regent King and his family was a nightmare. She was born and raised with the title of servant and during the first years she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Even when Azin assassinated his mother and step-father, it was seen by the other Clans as a simple result of jealousy and impatience to be crowned.
And after Ethan became the new appointed heir, no one spoke of the accident again, except for some cruel children encouraged by even crueler adults to use it to belittle the young prince. But as it was of no importance for the adults around her, it naturally became of no importance for her.
Nonetheless, at the young age of thirteen, she stumbled upon a scene that left her troubled. Yet, when she mustered the courage to talk about it to her mother, she was quickly silenced and instructed to never mention what she saw ever again, as well as being repeated over and over again that it was no big deal and simply the way demons had to educate kids like him.
It never sat right with her, but she complied. As such, her and Ethan only had one real interaction two months after, an interaction that quickly went sour and was put to an halt by her. Afterwards, she kept her distance from him, and he ended up doing the same.
Even after becoming Pillars they never truly talked, Carilysh being too busy trying to find a design idea for the dress and Ethan doing Elyon-knows-what.
"It's five in the morning, why are you awake ?"
Ethan leaned against the rail of the stairs.
"Seven already ? It's quite late."
She didn't argue. Servants had to be up by five in the morning, royals by six. Carilysh cursed under her breath. Even now, she was still thinking of her life as a maid, and had a hard time moving on from that era of her life. She ran an hand through her hair, glancing at the hallway at the left of the staircase.
Unlike the right one where were located the living room, kitchen, and library, the left hallway possessed only one door at the end of it, leading to what is commonly called the Precipice : a place serving as the border between the Lands and Earth, a cliff with no greenery, just dry soil. The overwhelming presence of the wind made it the favored place by the Pillars having wings.
Carilysh's plan originally was to head there to fly for a while to relax. But now, seeing Ethan's tired face combined with his scrawny body stirred the side of her that she denied as much as she could. With a sigh, she turned to him.
"Have you eaten yet ?"
He paused, thought for a minute and shook his head. Carilysh sighed again.
"Get up. Let's go eat together."