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But I was talking to a worldly man. My position might be higher, but Ari knew women. I did not want to know women. I just wanted to discover more about Luella. It was then that I worried that I might have lost myself to a woman who only wanted a little arrangement so that she could have a child.
“Let us go to the Great Hall for the feast. Father must be waiting for us,” I evaded the rest of the things that were dancing in Ari’s eyes.
We walked towards the hall. The noise grew louder as we got closer. My father had really gone on to invite as many people as he could possibly cram into the palace, it seemed.
As we entered, I saw my father talking to several of his friends from various domains. He was the opposite of me, always talking. If he had a choice, he would have a friend with him at all times. The friendship I had with Ari was shaky at best. We grew up together, both wealthy and titled. Still, I usually sought the companionship of Razuku, Emir, Cora, and the rest. My closest friends shared my identity as half from Rama and half from Prozeus.
“Come, Metheus!” my father shouted, hand beckoning at me.
I shook my head in disbelief. Ari and I exchanged a knowing look. My father sounded half-drunk, and the festivities had not yet started. However, it was his feast after all. I approached him.
“Father, I hope your food and wine tasters did their job well,” I reminded him. It might have been months since the attempt on his life, but we had been guarded throughout.
“I am not that foolish, my boy. Zegarot and Femina had tasted my wine and ate from my food. I worried that Zegarot might have taken too much,” he lamented.
“Better be a little hungry, father, than dead,” I told him.
As he turned to a friend who approached him with a hug, I scanned the hall for Luella. It seemed she already saw me because she was watching me with a smile. The first time I met her, there was always a scowl on her face. She was beautiful then, but she was radiant now.
I walked towards her purposely, forgetting to excuse myself from Ari. Luella was flanked by my sister and Francilia, the three looking like maidens ready for gossip – except one of them was no longer a maiden. I was still shocked that we had become each other’s first lovers, and if I had to do anything about it, also the last.
“Metheus,” she said.
She liked saying my name, not adding any other detail but just focusing on it. It made me feel cherished. Razuku would laugh at the way I was thinking. He would tell me that he always knew I thought like a young maiden.
“Luella,” I replied. Francilia and Rowali exchanged glances, my sister barely stifling a giggle. Then, they left us there, standing in front of each other in the middle of a crowd. It was almost like I had just met her again for the first time, even though we warmed each other’s bodies every night.
Her face turned red as if she could read my mind. I would have taken her in my arms in the middle of the feast if not for one horrible sound. It was like something heavy had fallen, a sickening thud following it. There were screams from across the room, where my father had just been regaling his friends with stories.
“No,” I whispered, even though I had not twisted my head to see what it was.
Luella’s eyes mirrored my horror. My chest and stomach tightened, and my body felt like it could collapse at any time. Still, I knew I had to take that turn to see for myself.
To see for myself that my father had crumpled on the floor, his belly on the ground, but his head tilted to one side. Even from a few feet away, I could see his eyes were unnaturally open and that he was foaming at the mouth.
“Where is the court physician?” I bellowed while finally getting the strength to sprint towards my father. “Zarina!”
Pale-faced and wringing her hands, Zarina rushed to the scene. She slid down to her knees and placed her palms on my father’s back. Then, she gently rolled him onto his back and hovered his hands on his chest. As a spirit witch, she could still get hold of his soul if it had not gone too far away.
Her incantations blended with the sobs and mutterings in the hall, making me dizzy. It seemed like forever, her chants like a litany of sighs and grief. Then, she stopped and wailed as loud as she could. She tore at her dress and crouched on all fours next to my father’s immobile body. Then, she dipped her head until it touched the floor.
When she lifted her head to look at me, I was not surprised by what she said next, “Your Highness, your father is dead.”
Soon after, they took the crown on his head. I knew they were going to sit it on my head after a few days of mourning. I did not want it.
Suddenly, something forceful hit my stomach and embraced me with gangly arms. Oh, Rowali. I caressed her hair as she wet my tunic with her tears.
What would I do with Rowali and Luella? I looked at the two remaining people closest to my heart, and I decided. They would set off for Mogochislenia until I found my father’s assassin.
