King Arye

The door closed behind Pan and Riye, though not before I caught the subtle shoulder bump Pan gave him in passing, like boys squabbling. Riye didn’t retaliate. He didn’t need to, he was a unit. One bump from him would send poor Pan pancaked againts the wall. His words alone did the attacking.

‘I’ll be right outside waiting…’ he looked at me pointedly, ‘for you.’

My cheeks warmed at the implication. My mother noticed; even through her frailty, her eyes twinkled. I didn’t dare look at how my father reacted.

‘Tell me how you feel about them,’ my mother said, her hand soft and thin in mine, squeezing gently. ‘These men who follow you like planets around a star.’

I laughed nervously. ‘Technically, I’ve only known them for a handful of days. There isn’t much to say.’

‘Then tell me just enough.’

So I did. I spoke of Celphi first, how protective he was, how even when he annoyed me with all the secrets, I felt oddly safe with him. That I also felt very protective of him. That he was only doing what he could for me, using Raiona’s words and his full dedication.

‘I wouldn’t want to live in this world without him.’

My remark earned varying reactions from my parents. Mother looked at father with a “Let her have this” glance. I continued before he could say no.

I spoke of Mede, how strong his loyalty felt, his quiet steadiness is something I could trust my life with, so much so that I even obtained a promise bond from him.

Then Pan, how much he cared without hesitation, without conditions, making me laugh all the worries away. How his presence grounds me and makes me feel like I’ll never be alone.

I faltered when it came to Riye. My voice lowered to a whisper. ‘With him… it’s different.’

I better watch what I say…I still have to figure out the circumstances around Raiona’s existence, her earth memories and disappearance.

Also, I wasn’t about to tell the parents I have just met about my real feelings like that so easily.

‘Yes mom and dad, those eyes and abs…’ as if. Though, Raiona would’ve said that shamelessly.

My mother gave me a knowing smile that made me want to sink through the floor. My father looked away, as if pretending not to hear.

Then, softer, almost ashamed, I told them about Marik. About the bond mark that appeared after he saved me. That broke the warmth in the room. Both my parents exchanged a look, a silent, heavy communication between a married couple who’d weathered storms before. Concern shadowed their eyes.

‘I don’t want war,’ I said quickly, heart hammering. ‘But this is the truth of things. I can’t ignore it. His mother is behind it. Queen Ishara…’

My father stiffened at the mention of her name.

‘She wants me destroyed,’ I whispered. ‘Why?’

The silence stretched until my father spoke with an edge of sorrow in his tone. ‘You deserve to know.’

I took a drink from a cup Pan set aside for me and sat beside my mother on her bed.

He told me everything. He once stood where Riye now stands, as guardian of the Scorpion Kingdom’s borders. He freed creatures smuggled in chains, and among them was a young, broken Ishara.

His closest friend, then, Prince Mana, was betrothed to a gifted musician named Tiaret. My mother. But they, Arye and Tiaret, fell in love. Slowly, painfully, undeniably.

‘We tried to deny it,’ my mother whispered, tears welling at the memory. ‘We even prayed the feeling would fade. But it did not. And when we confessed to Mana… he asked us to leave. With his blessing, but also his heartbreak.’

He looked like a good person from Marik’s memories though.

’And we tried to reach out to him years after being banished from the scorpion colony. We understand there is no forgiving everything we had inflicted on him.’ Father added, voice thick. ‘But we also wanted peace with him… if not for old friends, for the kingdom.’

‘But how could he forgive? His fiancée, his best friend, gone. And the realm Arye and I built only grew stronger. To him, we must have seemed both faithless and triumphant.’ Mother said.

‘We believed his pain made him the one who wished us ruin.’ Father shook his head.

‘We thought his bitterness was the danger,’ my mother said softly. ‘That it was Mana who wanted us undone. We never dreamed… it was her. Ishara. The girl your father saved.’

’That is why, for the longest time, we just tried to avoid trouble, keep the security high. If there was a random attack, we tried to solve things internally. We didn’t dare lift a finger against Mana.’ He continued.

Is that why on Raiona’s journal, whenever there was unrest, Father just accepted it without waging war? He just thought he was atoning for stealing his friends love away? What a martyr.

‘But no… all this time, it turns out to be her. It was Ishara who could not forgive the life I chose, not Mana.’

I leaned back, piecing it together.

My parents are both very good looking, plus they’re very openly loving. They didn’t even build this kingdom. The kingdom built itself around them both. Creatures flocked to them. Of course that would breed jealousy. Even I, was envious of their little moment earlier.

He leaned back heavily, lines of old battles and older regrets etching deep into his face.

‘There was a…’ he stopped. I waited patiently.

The chamber went silent. My mother’s hand trembled in mine as she wept quietly, grief and fury mingled.

‘I do not know where to even begin, Ina.’ He said, looking straight at me. ‘Let me hear about your life first.’

Then I will begin.

‘You should know what it’s been like. My life… on the other side.’

Their eyes softened, urging me on. And I told them. More coherently now than I had with my mother alone, because with her rock, my father, beside her. I found the strength to share it all. 

I spoke the orphanage, the kids, Ami, and saw my father’s face stiffen at the name. I filed it away. 

Questions for later.

I continued retelling my life, until I was ready to air out my speculations.

‘When Ishara tried to kill me. Maybe it was meant to be my end. Or maybe she meant to cast me out, erase me from this world. Either way… I only survived because I was thrown into another.’

My mother’s breath hitched. My father’s jaw locked.

‘The dreams came after,’ I went on, softer. ‘Always the same. A child. Always killed by drowning. Or attempted to. I thought it was someone else. Someone I was meant to save. But it wasn’t. It was me. Raiona. The young me, over and over again. Drowned by her hand.’

Mother’s fingers clutched mine until her knuckles whitened, as if she could hold me so tightly I’d never slip from her again.

‘And when I was attacked here, by the Scorpion guard that looked like a high priest,’ I swallowed hard,‘I thought it was just his own weapon and own venom. But now… maybe it wasn’t just that. Maybe it was Ishara’s. Initially he’d thrown a vial into the air which missed me. But later… gaps appeared in my memory. Empty spots. Her venom steals memories.’

My voice cracked. ‘And it worked before. I don’t remember who I was. Not really. Maybe I never will. And it almost worked again when faced with her soldiers. Marik did his darnedest to stop it… Now I have his mark.’

For a long moment, the only sound in the chamber was my mother’s ragged sobs. She clung to me with one hand and to my father with the other, trembling, as if the very thought of me suffering so much could break her apart.

I do not even want to know the evil queen’s reaction to me being bonded to her son.

‘Not your fault,’ Mother wept. ‘None of this was ever your fault. You were only born of love. Nothing else. Only love.’

I want to believe.

Father stood rigid, his face stone, but I could see the storm brewing behind his eyes. His fists clenched at his sides. He was trying with every fiber of his being not to unleash the fury I knew lived inside him. Not to rage. Not to roar.

Pan wasn’t lying. I can imagine father screaming a whole mountain off.

He wanted to tear apart the woman who had stolen my memories, my childhood, my peace. And he was trying very, very hard not to let it show.

This is a father. A real father. Not sure if mine. But I would be honored to call him so.