This is fucking terrible.
"Mom!" I yelled down the hallway.
I hear her rush up the stairs. As she steps into my room, I can't help but think I look nothing like her. My porcelain complexion and unruly platinum curls were nothing like her golden skin and straight, deep chestnut hair. She's not like the rest of the Winter Court, who appear more like me. My mother comes from the Summer Court, but she loved my father so deeply that she moved to his home in the Winter Court. She smiles softly at me, "Sweetie, you've got to learn to manage your hair one day," she says, flicking her wrist, and my hair slowly starts piecing itself together in a braid down the center of my head.
I frowned, looking at myself in the mirror, "I never will. It's terrible." I kind of wanted her to braid it with her fingers like she used to do when I was a kid.
She smiled at me softly, moving her hands onto my shoulders. "You've got your father's hair. I think it's beautiful..." She paused and started rubbing my shoulders in small circles with her thumbs. "Are you ready to start your training at Fafnir College?"
Shit. My eyes flicked towards hers, "I'm sorry?"
It looked like she stopped breathing, "You know it's coming. The Orientation Party is tonight on Sovereign Island."
My tongue darted out to my lips and wet them, with a swallow I turned towards her, "I'd rather not go. You know the dragons will hate me."
"They will not hate you, love. They," she paused, "They just probably won't know what to do with you."
Rolling my eyes I cleared my throat and dryly said, "Dad chopped off his dragon's head." looking into the mirror at her. He knew that what he did was terrible and inconceivable, "You're lucky you didn't die when your dragon left."
My mother's eyes hardened, her narrowed eyes pierced my own, "We don't speak of Mathair. She did what was best for her and her young. I'd do the same for you... to keep you safe."
I stood up and walked towards my closet. "I'm sorry, but she made that decision on her own, knowing that you could die. You were depressed for months afterwards. She almost killed you!" My voice crept up to a shout.
I wish Mathair was still here; she loved me. I might not have been able to hear her but she let me ride her with my mother which is unheard of amongst their kind. My mother softened, stepping towards the door, she exhaled "I know. Get ready, we leave in an hour."
Examining my wardrobe, I surveyed the various gowns, day dresses, blouses, and pants. I grabbed a light, long-sleeved periwinkle blouse with a pair of white trousers. I shrugged on the same color of periwinkle heels and groaned slightly. I hate heels. If I could never wear them, I really would. But this party, also a ceremony, is a way for the dragons to see you before the trials begin. So, looking my best can't hurt, right?
As children, we are not told much about the dragons and their ways. That is saved for our Training at Fafnir College. The ways of the Dragons are sacred, and we must earn the knowledge. What little I know comes from having a connection with my mother's Dragon. It was shared with me that the Dragons of Bahsk Narod are categorized by their different colors and different courts; although some dragons spread and live across all the courts, others stay where their ancestors made their beds. Being from the Winter Court, my choices will be black or the blue dragons. In the Summer Court, they have green dragons; Spring Court is green and yellow; Fall Court is red and black. Each dragon color has their temperament, personality, and each of the colors has their tail that signifies as their own.
Within the hour, we get into the carriage and travel across the Fall Court to a separate land named 'Sovereign Island'. The ride through the Fall Court is peaceful, considering the number of forests that span across the Kingdom. It's always a comforting temperature as well, you could always go with a light jacket and pants, and be comfortable throughout the day, even when the sun is at its highest. The Fall Kingdom is quite lovely, the colors that represent them are reds, browns, oranges, and deep yellows to which they cover their Kingdom in such colors. The roofs of the town are in the various colors mentioned, except red; the castle of the King and Queen is the only roof with red. As soon as the Kingdom came into view, it left, and the forest spanned out once more. The forest was beaming with life from deer, foxes, squirrels, rabbits, and other animals. The carriage comes up to a stone bridge and glides across; thankfully, the bridge isn't the farthest, and it stops. My mother opens the door to climb out of her long, deep purple gown, and glides gracefully across the floor with ease. I could never; I'm about as graceful as a fish out of water.
Stepping out of the carriage, I noticed the stone castle with multiple floors, large open windows, and intricate roof pieces. My best friend, Knox, hurriedly walks up to me with a smirk, "Hello, Moonie," he jests and lends me his arm.
I rolled my eyes with a smile, "Of course you're my escort to the ceremony. And, I've told you to quit calling me 'moonie'." We start walking towards the open entrance.
He moves his elbow to nudge me in the ribs, "First of all, Moonie, it's not my fault you quite literally look like Welun," Welun is our Moon Goddess and she is high in the sky tonight, "And, secondly, I wanted to escort you because you're my best friend, duh."
"Not because you like flirting with the Royal girls that are always attending these royal parties?"
He grins, "Of course not," and adds an exaggerated wink at one of the girls. His gaze then settles back down to me, "I wish I was a Royal instead of a Warrior," his voice was merely a whisper.
"Trust me, you don't want to be. The amount of time that is spent learning combat, and don't get me started on the etiquette..." I say with a mumble under my breath.
I look up to see Knox rolling his eyes. Hard. "You need to know that stupid crap. It's important. Plus, who else is going to rule the Winter Court one day?"
His unruly red hair fell on his ocean blue eyes, I look back down to the marble lined path we are walking "You know I'd rather not. Ruling is not for me," we kept stepping forward, my heels making it a slow process. We make a left turn as we go through the entrance and from there we go into an archway that leads us to our garden that has a stage and about 3 rows of seats with an aisle in between. My seat, dictated by my name on the back, is the last row on the right with the aisle seat. And as I just about reach my seat I stumble on the rocks beneath me. Quick, firm hands grab me and keep me steady just in time. Thank Welun, that would've been embarrassing.
He nudged me slightly once more, "If you married me, I could do it for you."
I gasped, "You know it's unheard of for Royals to marry Warriors or even common folk."
Our time was almost up. His mouth went down to my ear and he whispered, "You are so traditional. Everyone else has done so. It'll be such an easy marriage since we're already best friends."
There were rows of seats ahead of my row, where the others sat and I stepped to my seat and gently put my hand on top of his arm, "I love you, Knox, but I can't do that. Plus, who will all these women swoon over if you are married?"
I patted his arm with a small smile and sat down in my seat, next to Saxon, and his two brothers, Landon and Byron. They are the children of the Fall Court. Saxon looked towards me, "Hey, Blake. How's it going?"
Glancing at him and rubbing my palms on the top of my pants, "I'm fine. Just waiting for this ceremony to begin."
Saxon's body leaned towards mine, his mouth by my ear and with a whisper "C'mon it'll be fun. Sovereign Island has some legendary parties. Plus, this is our Orientation Party. Time to... ya know, orientation-ate?."
I turned my head towards him and scoffed, "Orientation-ate? That's ridiculous. The parties are also ridiculous. It's just a time for everyone to get drunk and act stupid with one another. Of course we all know, as the oldest Royal child of the Fall Court you have the most experience here." I finish by whispering conspiratorially, "Rumor has it, you've been around the block a time or two."
Saxon's eyes twinkled with interest, "So you know my secrets then, do you?"
My eyes battled his, "Of course. You, as well as anyone else, knows that Winter Courts trades in secrets, not money."
"And yet, your kingdom has all the wealth."
I turned my head back towards the stage, "We don't spend it on lavish parties. Our Court is a symbol of rest."
Saxon leaned away from me, "If it helps, Blake, the Fall Court only has one party. The Fall Equinox, which is very fun. But how would you know if you've never been invited?"
"The Fall and Spring Equinox are primal parties. I don't need to be "invited" when I already know what those parties entail and what you are, Saxon," I countered.
He tsked and shook his head, "Watch the stage, Blake."
I smirked knowing I'd won that battle. I watched as the High Fae King and Queen of the Summer Court: Alec and Ashley Samhradh, took the stage. They smiled brightly out towards us. Their deep skin, and black hair was common, but their eyes were something different. Like all Royals of their Court, they have unnaturally dark eyes that vary in deep colors. Alec's are a black close to that of twilight, while Ashley's are the blue of an angry ocean. Their children have the same look to them. My eyes moved across the rows of seats where the Royal children of the Summer court were seated. Quincy and Addison, the young Royals were the spitting image of their parents.
Alec's voice boomed out around us, "Welcome to the Sovereign Island! Now, we know how excited you all are about the proposition of getting your very own dragon. So I will cut to the chase."
I shift in my seat, suddenly uncomfortable. I try to refocus on Alec's words, "To have the honor of a Dragon bond, there are three Trails every Royal must face. The first of these trials is a test of magic. You must master all common magic types which of course are fire, earth, water, and air.
The Summer King continues, "The second trial is a dual. There is only one rule, you cannot kill members from within your own court. The third, is a trial of your own mind. Now, this trial is the most special of them. You must go into your mind, and defeat yourself. If you can't defeat yourself..."
Alec paused, a calming aura settled over us, "How else can you be of any use? Now that we've got the boring part over with, we will introduce you to the dragons that are willing to bond this year. There are ten dragons, one for each of you, but that doesn't mean that a dragon will pick you. There is one blue", undoubtedly for me, "four greens, two reds, one black, and three yellows."
Saxon nudges me with his elbow, "Look, they included a blue dragon just for you."
I laughed, "Of course they did, can't leave me out, can they?"
He shrugged, "I'm not sure, since your Dad killed his black, I'm sure they didn't want to do business with you."
My body got hot with anger, "Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you know, your Dad killed his black, your moms green left her and she almost died. So, I'm not surprised none of the black dragons want anything to do with you."
I swallowed the lump in my throat, be careful Blake. He's doing this to get a rise out of you. My seat was at the end of the row, I could easily get up and make a beeline for the exit. Unfortunately there was one problem. Okay, maybe two problems. First, my mother would kill me, which could actually be a blessing; considering she needs me to secure a dragon to secure our legacy. The second? The dragons are up on the walls that surround the castle grounds, they'll eat me for the hell of it. Maybe that would be a blessing as well. The King, Alec, looked directly at me and I felt a wave of calm slither its way through my body. Is that him? His specialized magic perhaps? But, of course, Alec never misses a beat and his eyes go back to us.
"First, we will have a feast, to celebrate our young Royals coming to get their very own dragons, and then we will party until morning!" he boasted to the crowd. Thankfully Knox will be here with me tonight.
We all clapped to Alec and Ashley. Knox came up beside me and once more gestured out his arm, which I gleefully took. Walking towards the wall, where the dragons are perched, I saw my blue staring directly at me. I swallowed and stared back at her, I can't show her my fear or else she will eat me. Or burn me alive. She chuffed and blew out smoke, covering me and Knox with the smell. His head turned towards my ear, "Thank goodness that wasn't fire."
I laughed, "I don't think she'll kill me," I looked up at the blacks, "now the black ones? They just might."
In silence, we walked out from the stage seating to go back to the main entrance and if you walk straight ahead there is an open courtyard where there was a long table with lit candles and bundles of green leaves as centerpieces. The dragons were still perched on top of a stone wall that surrounds the castle and they overlooked where we were sitting. So I'm sitting between the Fall and Spring Court and dragons that could reach down and eat me? Great. This is unfortunate for me because the Spring Court are the most outgoing, bubbliest people against the Fall Court, the most aggressive and reserved. Whereas me, my Court is somewhat in the middle. Yes, we are more reserved like the Fall Court but we are like the Spring Court in a way that we'd rather not result to violence in any way possible. We'd much rather choose words or trading secrets rather than brawling it out on the dining table. Knox let me go from his arm and I sat down in my seat, waiting for the rest that lagged behind me.
The Spring Court has four Royal children, Rhiannon, Raleigh, Remington, and Ridoc. They were all the same skin tone, which is a warm medium with black hair. Ridoc's face structure was handsome with a strong jaw, full lips, and deep brown eyes. Fall Court has three, Saxon, Landon, and Byron. They all had the same fair skin and fiery red hair, all of them had green eyes and freckles dotting their skin. And, unfortunately, they are swarming me at this very moment. Ridoc and Raleigh are in a deep argument against Saxon and Landon, why their Courts are the best. Which is odd, considering they are fighting for no good reason. Saxon and Landon, being the hot heads they are, are just stirring up trouble with Ridoc and Raleigh.
"Saxon, you piece of shit, just shut up and stop going around saying your Court is the best when we all know it's not. Every Court has their customs and the reasons why they think they are the best," Raleigh exasperated.
Saxon scoffed, chewing on his piece of bread, "No, you Spring Courts just think you are the best because you are the most..." his hands clasped around each other and went up to his cheeks, his eyes wide, "loving Court," he waved his hand towards Raleigh and blew a raspberry, "You could choke me with the amount of love you guys think you have."
Raleigh gasped and threw down her fork, "Listen here, just because we are a loving Court does not mean we don't have values."
Landon laughed, "Not with your legs open you don't!" he barked out a second laugh.
Raleigh's face reddened and a sudden force of water from her cup came bursting across his face. Churning my lips towards my mouth, I bit back my laugh that threatened to bubble towards the surface.
"Bitch!" Landon's anger rising. I swear I could hear the steam coming out of his ears. Fire starts bursting from his fingertips that are by his side.
Raleigh laughed and pointed at him, "C'mon, fire boy. You want to fuck with me?"
Saxon grabbed his brother's arm and tugged him down to his side, "Landon..." he whispered towards him, "you're causing a scene."
Landon snarled at Saxon, "Fuck that bitch. She soaked me!"
Saxon bit his lip, "I know, but you did call her a whore. Now stop being an ass and sit the fuck back down," he pulled Landon back to his seat. Thank Welun I don't have any brothers or sisters. I don't think I can handle it.
After that, unfortunate disruption, the rest of the meal went down as expected. We jest, talked, and ate until our bellies were full. Finally, we were released from our tables and I merely ran away after that. I won't go very far in these heels, but I'll at least have a head start. Grabbing a cup full of alcohol, I went towards Knox where he was, as usual, chatting up the ladies. Does he not want to find the one? Or is he just passing the time until he's old enough to get out of being a Warrior. His eyes found mine and he smiled; grabbing my hand he pulled me towards him. I tripped on his foot, with a yelp I started falling. I close my eyes and brace for the impact, but it never comes. Knox laughs at me, "I don't know how you aren't dead with how clumsy you are."
My head feels fuzzy, "Well, I have a strong man to catch me if I fall."
Knox's eyes flit back up to mine, then down to the cup. He takes it from me and sniffs it, his nose turning up, "Really? Alcohol?"
I shrugged, balancing myself back on my own two feet, "It is a party, Knox," I've known him for forever. Knox isn't from my Court, but his dad was stationed with the Winter Court a long time ago. When my dad got married to my mom, they needed their own bodyguards like all the Royals do. Fortunately, Knox's dad became my dad and moms, and his dad so happenly had Knox who was the same age as me. We've been inseparable ever since.
I looked at him, really looked at him for the first time in a long time, and he was beautiful. His tan skin, deep red hair, and ocean blue eyes with high cheekbones and nice jaw makes him quite the sight. I wish I felt the way he feels about me, but I just don't. I love him, I really do, but I can't quite bring that love from friendship to partners. Trust me, I've tried. He's funny, sarcastic, chivalrous and just down right a good man. Maybe he's too good for me?
"Hello? Earth to Blake?" He used my real name. I smiled at him.
"Sorry, Knox, I was just thinking."
"About?" He queried, "Couldn't have been about this handsome man in front of you," he grinned.
"It actually was! I was thinking about the beginning of us," I shook my head gently, as if to shake the thoughts from my head, "I was thinking about how I wouldn't know you if your dad wasn't stationed with us."
His smile faltered, "Well, you know how that goes." He was avoiding the topic of his dad. Why?
"Knox, you okay?"
His smile brightened, "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
"It's just–" my words got cut off. Knox's squadmate, and friend, Vance joins us and whispers in Knox's ear. Knox turns towards me, "I have to go. Something happened at the border and I have to go see. I'll see you around, Moonie."
Moonie. I blinked as he left, and suddenly I was on my own. But not for long, per usual. Addison and Vance pop up next to me. Addison, Summer Court, with her guard, Vance are quite the pair. Addison, with her deep skin, round deer-like eyes, and with Vance, who is more like Knox but with a rounder face.
"Blake! How goes the night," she questioned me gently.
"Fine. Just watching the festivities."
Her eyes searched my face, "More drink? Or are you already done for the night," she jests.
I smiled at her, "Well, if you are inviting me to get more with you, I am happy to do so."
She grabbed ahold of my arm and moves me with her to the refreshments table. She glanced back at Vance, who was following closely behind us, and then turned back towards me, "Did you hear about the border?"
Glancing around, "No. What happened?" Knox just left to go deal with that? That didn't take long...
"Rumor has it, there is a human requesting asylum. Apparently, he is the Prince of Endorskarr," The Human Kingdom. A long time ago Humans and Fae were at war causing a big rift between us, and ever since then we don't affiliate with them. Arriving at the refreshments table I grabbed another cup, swirling around the purple liquid I looked at her, "Do you know if they're going to let him in? It'll be the first one in hundreds of years."
Addison nodded, "Exactly, hence why everyone is gossiping right now..." her eyes followed every group of people around the outside. She's right. Everyone was in a huddle with two or three people, talking about this. Or that's what I assume they're talking about. I wonder what he looks like? How tall is he? Is his voice deep or high? Addison looked back at me and tapped her cup against mine, "He's probably going to your Court."
I choked on my saliva, "Huh? Why mine?"
Addison giggled, "Well, yours is probably the harshest to live in. Rules and all that. And it's only your mother ruling the roost."
I narrowed my eyes at her, "Rules are rules for a reason. Society needs rules in order to thrive properly. Or have you forgotten?"
Summer Court used to be a Court of no rules, except one, to party. Unfortunately, with that came crucial blows to their own economy and system. The crops didn't get farmed, their clothing for trade never got done. Everyone was on their ass drinking and eating the night away, until there wasn't any food or drink left, "Of course I haven't forgotten, but your rules are stricter than most. You guys have traditional standards."
I nodded my head, tipping the glass towards my lips and took a drink. Sweet, but the alcohol lingers in the background, "Well, not everyone wants to party and fuck every person they see."
Addison laughs with her stomach, "Well, how else can we have fun? Like you said, rules are rules." She tapped my cup again, like a salute, and drank hers in one go, "I just wanted to deliver you the news.
Suddenly, Alec cleared his throat and gathered everyone around, "Good evening, Royals, we have a treat for you... an unexpected twist," everyone murmured around, "quiet now, quiet. News quickly travels through the realm, and you have heard of the possible trouble at the border."
We all nodded, hanging on every word he's throwing at us, "And we have decided to let him stay with us..." the crowd bursts.
"Quiet!" he yelled across all of us, "And, to make it even more interesting," his eyes gleamed, "we're letting him take part in the Dragon Rite."
The crowd screams.