Royal Affliction (The Anti-Princess Saga) (9 page)

“Ah yes, Kafkus, what about him?  He was looking forward to seeing you most of all.  That was why he volunteered to fetch you.  I am sure that he was none too happy to see you with another man, especially a mixed-blood.”

My brother and I typically got along great, but the real that reason he was acting this way was becoming very clear.  Gader and Kafkus were best friends as they’d been for many years.  I guess that since I had left to avoid marring him, Gader had now turned against me.

“Look Gader, I would understand if I had agreed to marry Kafkus then changed my mind and left instead.  But that is not what happened.  Kafkus was forced on me, and I didn’t want to be stuck in a loveless marriage.”

“I would not say that it would be loveless.”

“I
don’t
love him.”

He stared at me with complete exasperation, as if I should already know what he was about to say.  “Kafkus has always loved you.  When we were ten, he told me that he was going to marry you someday.  I never took him seriously; that is, until I started to notice the way that he looks at you.  It is the same way that father looks at mother and Gwinny looks at me.”

I felt my face grow hot with a mixture of anger and embarrassment and I sprung to my feet.  “That is very different.  You and father both chose your wives.  My life was being planned for me.  You could never know the feeling, Gader.  You have never had to endure the pain that I have.  Though we grew up together, we have had two different lives.  You could never relate to what I have been through.  And even if Kafkus feels the way you say he does, that does not change the fact that I do not love him, nor will I ever love him.  And you trying to force him down my throat doesn’t help!”

“I was only trying to explain.  I know that father has been hard on you, but it is only because he wants what is best for you.  Can you not see that?”  He was trying to make me understand, but I couldn’t.  I saw no reason in his words.

“You defend him?  You defend the man who has single-handedly pushed his only remaining daughter out of his life?  I was hoping that we could be like old times, but I can see that that will never happen.  Why don’t you go back to your perfect wife and stay the hell out of my life!”

He bowed his head.  “My perfect wife and I had a fight.  That is why I am out here so late.”

Though I was still angry with him, he was my brother and I wanted to be there for him.  I pushed aside the annoyance that he had caused me and sat back down.  “What did you fight about?”

“She has been pressuring me for children.”

“Let me guess, you don’t want kids?”

“It is not that I do not want them.  I just do not want them now.  I enjoy it being just the two of us.  Besides, it is not like we do not have many childbearing years left ahead of us.”

“Well, I guess that it’s lucky for you that our species can only produce children when we truly want them.”

“Yeah,” he sighed.

“Did you tell her how you feel?”

“She will not listen to me about the subject.”  He lifted his head.  “I
am
sorry for trying to stir guilt for what happened with Kafkus.  He is my best friend after all.”

“I know, but I’m your sister.  I would have hoped that you would consider the fact that I am happy with Clifton, happier than I have been in a long time.”

He smiled at me.  “I am happy to hear that.  I hope for your sake that father changes his mind about him.  And I
am
sorry for how your life panned out here, Quartessa.  I would never say that I could understand how you feel, but I can empathize with your pain.”

“Thank you, Gader.  That means a lot.”

He stood up.  “It is good to have you home, Quartessa.  You have been missed around here.  Mother has gone crazy in your absence.”

“I noticed.  Where did she get all the new furniture and decorations?”

“She has a connection in the human world, some guy named Magellan.  She seems to have adapted a taste for human things.”

“I must admit, I like her new style.”

He cast a dismissive hand.  “You have been living amongst the humans for too long.”

“It’s a pretty cool place.  You should visit.”

He thought for a moment.  “No.  My place is here.  I do not know what mother would do if both of us were to leave.  Well, I guess I should get back to the wife.  She has probably calmed down by now.  Maybe I can even get some makeup-loving out of this fight.”

“Ewwww!” I shrieked while shoving him in a very sisteresque way.  “I don’t want to hear about that!”

He grinned before heading back.

I sat on the driftwood for a while, trying hard to get the nauseating image of my brother and Gwinny out of my head.  Feeling like I could get some rest, I hiked back up to my tower bedroom, climbed under the sheets next to Clifton and drifted off to sleep.

********************

“Good morning, my beautiful Princess,” Clifton whispered, causing me to stir.

I opened my eyes just a little.  It was morning, but I didn’t feel quite like waking up just yet.  I still felt exhausted, as though I hadn’t slept at all.  I closed my eyes tight and pulled the covers over my head with a grunt.

“Come on, Tessa, wake up!” he said while plopping up and down on the bed over and over, making me slosh around with the ripples.  It was hard to ignore.

“Why do you want me to get up so bad?”

“I want you to show me around.”

“Damn tourists.”

He laughed.  “Besides, we should see if the guards are back with the answer to your little problem.”

“Fine.”  I threw the covers off of me.

Clifton was already dressed and ready to go.

I got out of bed and pulled on my clothes from the previous day.  I could have done with a cup of coffee, but coffee didn’t exist here.  I stumbled my way down the stairs with Clifton almost skipping behind me.  As I entered the kitchen I hoped that someone had invented coffee in my absence.

The kitchen was large with modern stainless steel appliances lining the walls.  They didn’t use electricity; they ran purely on magic.  A few cooks were darting around the room, busy making breakfast for the castle.

“Did you need something, Princess?” one of them stopped to ask me.

“I don’t suppose that you have any coffee?”

He gave me a bewildered look.  “Kofey?”

“Never mind,” I said with a yawn.  “Do you have a drink that helps a person to wake up?”

“Oh yes,” he boasted and went to fetch it.  He came back with two mugs filled with what looked like watery mud and handed one to each of us.

I eyed my cup with apprehension.  “And this will help me to feel awake?” I asked, trying to keep the revulsion out of my voice.

“Yes, Princess.”  He stared at me, eager for me to sample it.

I brought the cup to my face and breathed it in.  It smelt like salty cabbage mixed with something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, some kind of spice.  Either way, it smelled disgusting.  I glanced over at Clifton to see if he was drinking the concoction.

He looked as grossed out as I was and set the cup down on the counter.  “I am feeling awake enough,” he said as polite as he could.  “Thank you though.”

If I didn’t need the boost of energy I would never have drank it, but I did.  It tasted like it smelled, except that it had a consistency that I was not expecting, it was slimy and a little chunky.  I tried not to gag as I drank the whole glass down in a few big gulps.

The cook was still staring at me and I wasn’t sure what he was waiting for.  That is, until I felt it.  Suddenly, I felt like I had just woken up from a long and peaceful rest.  I now felt awake and alert.  This drink was better than coffee though the taste could do with some improvement.

“Wow, thanks!” I said to him and he smiled and bowed.  “Would you please pack some food for us?”

He bowed again and walked away to do as I’d asked.

“I can’t believe you drank that stuff,” Clifton whispered as soon as the cook was out of earshot.

“Yes well, as disgusting as it was, it did help.”

The cook returned with a basket and handed it to Clifton and we both thanked him before leaving.

We passed my mother in the hallway so we stopped to ask her about whether the guards were back or not.  They, of course, were not.  Well, there was no need to let that get me down.  I was going to have a good day here in Kortis with my Clifton.

“So, where are we going first?” Clifton asked with excitement.

“The first stop on our tour is the village.”

“I am
not
a tourist.”

“Well then quit acting like one.  Just let me show you around.”

He held my hand as we walked.  “Fine, take me everywhere.  I want to see everything.”

“Don’t be so demanding.  I will take you where I feel like taking you and you will be damn grateful for it,” I joked and he smiled.

We hiked up a rather steep mound of sand.  Below us, in a valley, stood thousands of brick houses all sitting in neat little rows.  “This is where all of the Zolera live that do not choose to live in the sea or crossover to the human world as I have.”

He looked down in amazement at all of the tiny structures.  “There are that many of us?”

“Did you think us a dying species?”

“No, I just had no idea how many there were.”

“Let’s go down and I can introduce you to a few Zolera.”

“Alright,” he said but didn’t move.

“It’s ok.  No one will hurt you while you are with me,” I said, correctly deciphering his misgivings.

As we made our way down the hill, the homes began to look much larger than they had from above.  It was a beautiful community of neat multicolored brick houses with cute little fences bordering each one.

After we had passed a few homes I spotted a group of children playing in front of one.  “Princess Quartessa!” a little girl shrieked and came running to meet me.

I sunk down to my knees so that I could interact with her better.  “Hey girly.”

“Princess, why have you been gone so long?”

She was cute.  She must have been about seven now.  She was a petite little thing with light blue wavy hair that fell to her lower back.  Her eyes were big and a brilliant light shade of navy blue with just a hint of purple around the edges.  Her skin was almost white.

“Tweeny is that you?  I almost didn’t recognize you.  You have gotten so big since I last saw you.”  She giggled and smiled up at me with glee.  “I am just visiting, Tweeny.  You know that I do not live here anymore.”

“I know.”  She stared down at the ground in disappointment.

“Have you been taking good care of your sister for me while I have been away?”

She lifted her head back up and smiled at me.  “Yes,” she announced in her proudest voice.

I smiled back.  “I am glad to hear it.  Tweeny, I want you to meet a friend of mine.”   I made a gesture to the man at my side.  “This is Clifton.”

He bent down to her level, balancing on his heels.  “Nice to meet you, Tweeny.”

She stared up at him with amazement.  “You are the one that my sister has been talking about.”

“Who is your sister, Tweeny?”

“Violet,” she said with another giggle.

I felt a twinge of jealously that Violet had been talking about my Clifton, but I let it slide.  Clifton was a rarity around here so it wasn’t too surprising.

“Is your sister home?” I asked her.

“Yes, she is helping mother with breakfast.”

“Ok, well you go have fun with your friends, Tweeny.  Try to stay out of trouble.”

“I will.”  She curtsied before running back to rejoin the group.

I watched them as they started up a game that was similar to the human’s game of tag.  They were so cute.

“I would like to have children someday,” Clifton said as he watched them chasing after one another.

“So would I.”  I thought about how nice it would be to have little ones running around, maybe a little boy that was the spitting image of Clifton.  “But not anytime soon,” I added, just in case he’d gotten any ideas.

He pulled me close to him and stared into my eyes.  “No, not now.  I am happy just having you.”

“Me too.”

We walked past a few more houses before I turned down a path and up to a home.  The brick was as yellow as the human sun and mint agolia root lined the stone path.  I knocked on the door and Violet answered.

“Greetings, Quartessa, Clifton.  What are you two doing here?” she asked with surprised delight.

“I am showing Clifton around and I thought that he might enjoy seeing a traditional Zolera home.  If that’s ok with you?”  I didn’t want to be rude.

“Of course, come on in.  Breakfast is almost done if you are hungry.”

Violet’s house was small and cozy.  Her home didn’t have any of the human touches that the castle had.  The living room was small and consisted of a couch, a bookcase, a few extra chairs, and a large fireplace.  There were several paintings hung along the walls, each of them portrayed a different member of her family.