'So now you know, there weren't always dragons in the Verdria,' she finished, closing the books hard cover to the pages. 'Now off to bed. And no arguing that you are almost an adult, you need your sleep.'
She flicked off the light, letting the room fall to a pale orange. And receding out the hall, with the soft close of the doors.
The boy sat up once his mother had left and crept to the balcony that overlooked the river of fire. Watching how it slithered through the garden below, black mermaids swimming in the rushing tides and weaving currents. Green haired sirens lounging on the rocks, their feathered arms letting blistering red, shaking the liquid fire back to the burning current.
The navy sky was smudged with grey as the clouds drifted above, and the black wings of the fire fiends swooped to break them up. The stars were nearly snuffed out by the orange rage of the fire fiends, bursting flames at each other thousands of feet above. The moons were the only white lights that broke through the clouds.
'I thought your mother put you to bed, Lou,' a voice from his bedroom called. The regent was standing with his arms crossed and a questioning look in the room where Lou resided.
'But uncle Lane,' Lou whined resting his head on the rail, he looked out to the thorny fields that guarded him. Leading over to the forest that covered this side of the palace grounds.
'Tomorrow you are headed to boarding school,' Lane reminded, beckoning his nephew over.
'I know, dad's legacy, I need to live up to it,' Lou muttered climbing under the covers.
'You also need to be prepared, for when you become king. If you become king.' He added, 'though remember, there is still the chance your sister will take the crown.'
Then he swept out of the room, but first closing the doors to the balcony and opening a window instead. The clouds were swirling due to the dragons, but that didn't mean a storm was brewing. The regent was slow and quiet as he left, casting a look back to the t
So Lou went to sleep, letting the laughter of the mermaids and sirens that resided outside his room sing him to sleep. The occasional burst of orange lighting his room, but the young prince was relaxed and deep in the depths of darkness while the moons were up.
Five years later, the gates had been swept open and a party of armoured cars came into the castle square. The regent and his sister-in-law waited, as guards and servants piled out the cars, emptying the contents onto the cobble stones. The suns were high, the two yellow luminous bulbs were set close by for the warm summer, while the green sun was lounging lazily by the horizon.
The gates had been sealed again, but the onlooking faces of people from the city, grasping at any sight of the prince were snuggled through the bars. The colourful bannering and bunting were hung over the streets leading down to the collection of buildings. Their huge looming stone faces and white windows, with black rooves could be spotted from anywhere within the palace. Sitting proudly up on a hill as it was.
'How are you Lou?' the regent greeted, as his nephew tumbled from the front seat of a car. The old man winced at the thunderous way the prince had exited the vehicle. The woman beside him evidently having similar thoughts as she smacked a hand to her forehead.
'Average,' Lou muttered pulling on his black cape caught on the seat rails. He had one hand yanking on the fabric and the other holding his hair out of his face. His blond hair was sprouting from the roots, but faded grey was the mass of it making him wear a halo of gold. Also making him look like a yeti from the southern mountains.
'Let me,' Lane offered pushing Lou to the side and kneeling to undo the capes tether.
'I'm a mess,' Lou whined, standing up straight and looking near tears. 'I shouldn't have come back.'
'You're trying your best,' Lane assured taking his nephews arm and pulling him to the princes mother. 'Besides it's more than your sister ever does.' The former queen had remained on the steps overseeing the unpacking and settling in of the prince's arrival. Her constant watch making each servant that had just arrived cower and turn away as they passed her. The ice barrier arching over the royal grounds wad dripping from the three suns still looking down on them.
'Hi mum,' Lou grinned pulling her into a hug from two steps below, making his head fit right on her shoulder.
'You look well, sorry I haven't seen you in three years my dear, but you have grown well. Nineteen now,' she smiled loosely. 'And ready for the throne.'
'Yep nineteen,' Lou said and sidestepped his mother.
'Leave the boy be,' Lou heard his uncle say as he retreated to the room he had left so long ago. He went straight for the balcony, still looking out to the violet fields of brier bells, their thorns menacingly guarding his quarters. The river ran full, with sirens and mermaids stretched along the beaches and rocks. The forest was dipping down the other side of the peak, a small cottage puffing out workers covered in dust. The distant mountains held the reclusive dragons dens, avalanches bedded along the peaks.
He watched for any movement in the distance, as he had as a child. Hoping to see the wings of a sky screamer, or the horned tail of a glade sin. The green sun was lounging behind the mountains, casting them with an eerie glow.
Five servants had followed him and had begun removing the black veils over his rooms, letting the windows open with bitter wind from the acid sea below. Lou paced the hall of his quarters that connected his bedroom to his dining and living, watching as his wardrobe was lugged up and organised. His mother fluttering in and out the rooms with things to lecture her own servants with.
On the south wall of the dining room was a black marble cupboard with crystal doors. Inside was the cause of Lous pacing, as when he had approached, the suns light was blocked so he could see the sovereigns three crowns. Last used by his father. The reality of his homecoming had begun to crush him, as he accepted what his true place was to be.
His fathers death was nothing new, dead when he was nine so he had mourned for years before. It was his reality that he would take the throne now he had returned. His uncle could no longer cover for his responsibilities. And the princess had practically tried to disinherit herself after their fathers death.
'When's the coronation?' Lou asked, stopping his walk to face his mother.
'Two weeks, leaving you one to find a partner,' she answered without looking up from the documents one servant had given her.
'To find a partner?' Lou repeated, questioning his mother with raised eyebrows.
'Yes, I heard you didn't go for any of the ones I sent your direction at the academy. You only hung out with that disgraced ogre and the fairy, though at least the fairy had status. So you need to find one among the parties you attend this week.'
'Mum!' Lou yelled, his eyes narrowed on the sleek woman. Each servant had stopped at his voice, all teetering on continuing their work or abandoning the cause.
'Please give us a moment,' the regent called entering the room, from the hall where he had been eavesdropping. The servants hurriedly left, the elves and fairies taking the quick exit and leaping from the balcony.
'I'm not going to find someone in one week mum, why didn't you mention this earlier?' Lou asked exhaling loud.
'I want you married soon after coronation, so someone can rule with you,' she answered, carelessly dropping the documents on his made bed.
'He doesn't need to be married or even have someone in mind to ascend to the throne,' Lane put in. The angered woman turning on him with wrath in her veins, for the regent to step behind his nephew.
'Yeah. He isn't,' Lou added pointing to Lane.
'You will marry young man,' she ordered. 'You cannot rule by yourself, you simply do not know how to and do not have the capabilities of doing what is required.
'Uh uh,' Lou said swiping his finger to emphasise the 'no.'
'Mum you were once the queen, and you lost the throne because you murdered dad. I'm not marrying someone so they can just murder me and dump it back on uncle. Or worse,' Lou reminded.
'I murdered your father for your own good,' she excused. Both Lou and Lane rolling their eyes with the familiar defence. 'But your sister being queen would not make things worse. She would be able to rule with control and content.'
'Hardly she had been gallivanting around doing what she wants to disgrace us. And you made me take the throne earlier than I should have, earlier than she should have. I also don't have a father to guide me. Instead I have an uncle Lane, who may be able to teach me to tap dance. But I highly doubt he will be as useful as dad on the matter,' he groaned, reminding her of the predicament.
'Hey, I having been in power for a decade.'
'You need a spouse,' she argued back ignoring the regent's offence.
'Nope, and unless you want the kingdom to know who hired the assassin to murder my predecessor, you will stay out of it,' he warned and waved the two out his room.
However, true to her word the former queen had locked Lou into two parties a day for the first week he was back. Lane was locked away with the paperwork to overturn the power of the king, while Lou was waltzed around the countryside around the capital. His mother naturally accompanying him and introducing anyone single of the worthy rank.
By the third night, Lou stumbled back to his room waving the elves away when they tried to undress him from the lace and silver webbing. But the open back, while it had half frozen him that night, was helpful to slip easily out of the shirt. The pants were comfortable enough to sleep in he decided and fell to the cushions.
The fire fiends were hovering around the castle landing on its turrets and breathing their flames on the ice shields to rain into the gardens. But his eyes were too tired to watch them play a game of tag between the castles sprawling towers. Instead he rested his eyes and thought about exactly what he sought to be in the kingdom. Only coming up with the idea of, 'Not King.'