7 KISS MY ARSE, WILL YOU?

HALE'S POV

This day really wanted to bite me in my arse.

I took out another arrow from my quiver and drew it with the bow. Once the arrow was at my ear's level, I loosened it.

Each second that passed after the arrow left the bow, made me more anxious.

Archery had always been my specialty, but for some reason, today the arrow just wouldn't focus on the target.

Is it the arrow or you that won't focus on the target?

A voice inside me whispered.

I dropped the quiver on the ground, and began to walk back to my chamber. I had had enough training for the day. I had already begun to ignore the cramps on my abdomen and calves when I saw her.

"Not quite on your target, eh?"

I shook my head as she began to walk beside me.

Davina Scott, the Colonel of our army. She, as she calls herself, is my best friend for almost the past seven years.

"Don't worry, Hale. The arrows must be fretting about that new Queen. Give them some time to adjust."

She was trying hard to not laugh but the growing dimples in her cheeks gave it away.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying? I think I just dozed off for a second."

She rolled her eyes and decided to walk in silence. Davina had been the person I had confided in when I felt lost. When I didn't know if being the king was cut out for me. But she never failed to shake me until I realized that the Mortales were my people, and only I could rule them in the best manner.

I had found Davina two years after the war took place. She had been living alone in the forest while fending for herself. I took her into the palace, thinking I could give her a place to stay and a job as a maid.

However, she proved me wrong. She had the skills as of a man who had been serving for over a decade in the army. It took me a lot of convincing and some threats to get her into the army.

But once she was in, she only rose from the lower ranks to one of the highest.

Some days, I was proud to call her my best friend.

But she doesn't need to know that.

I quickly caught up to her and nudged her with my shoulder. I was going to pat her head but remembered how she went all lunatic on me when I did that once.

I had somehow ruined her 'perfectly' combed hair.

Hopefully only Daeg knows what that meant.

"What?"

So she was annoyed at me. What did I even do to piss her off?

"What do you think about that new queen. Rosabella, was it?"

She shrugged her shoulders and blinked twice.

"I don't know. I mean, I haven't really met her, but it is the first queen without a king, you know? I just hope she proves all those who underestimate her, wrong."

Fair enough.

I didn't plan on having that woman fail, but if she did, I won't say I wouldn't enjoy it.

After all, it takes much more than a bizarre magic bowl to make you the ruler.

I looked back at Davina who was now reading a book. Where did that book come from? She looked too invested in it so I let her be. Her bright blonde hair were wrapped around her head in some sort of a braid.

When she gets the time to do all this between her rigid training hours is something only Daeg will know.

"Hale, listen, I just remembered. You were almost eaten by a lion, today weren't you? I knew all the ladies in the castle want to pounce on you, but lions too, good job mister!"

I looked back at her and plastered my practiced smile on.

"Kiss my arse, will you?"

She bellowed in laughter and shook her head.

I wouldn't want to admit it loudly but that laughter helped me calm down. If anyone were to hear that, they wouldn't live to hear anything else.

I wouldn't let them.

"Real mature, your highness."

-* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Lord James, what a surprise!"

That old man stood right outside my chamber with a grim expression on his face. Lord James Harrington was my mother's oldest brother. My uncle but I had rather refer to him as the lord.

Just like my father wanted.

He coughed with a gruff voice and looked back at me.

He resembled my mother.

The same eyes. Light blue in color.

The same hair. Black like coal.

The same smile. Though he rarely smiled, I could see my mother's shadow.

He bowed his head and began to speak.

"I am glad I could catch you here, your Majesty."

I nodded.

It took just one look at him after my coronation for him to start addressing me as his King and not just his nephew.

I had been a lot to a lot of people before the crown was bestowed upon my shoulders. But after that day, I was just a king to them all.

A king that would die to protect them.

A king that would kill to protect them.

And nothing more.

I left my responsibilities as everything else to fill my shoes as a king.

After all, the king is the loneliest of all.

"I wanted to discuss your meeting with the Lormeian Queen. I was informed by your council that you wanted the meeting to take place in two days, is it?"

I nodded.

I couldn't really see where this conversation was going, and honestly, I wasn't interested.

The meeting was nothing but a formality.

"Now are you sure you would want to meet up with Rosabella Agape? What I mean by that, My King, is that she is a mere woman. Just holding the name of the Queen because of that absurd magic bowl or whatever it is that they have. Do you really think that you want to spend your time doing this when you could be doing something better for your Kingdo-"

I put my hand up in front of him.

"Enough. I am doing something better for my Kingdom. This is a tradition that has been carried out for years. And I am not going to be the first King to break it. She may be just a mere woman, but that is not my concern. What falls under my concern, is how I carry out all my responsibilities as the Mortale King. Lord James, listen here, and listen well, will you? I do not appreciate repeating myself, and I certainly don't enjoy explaining my actions to anyone. So be sure, this is the last time you do this, will you?"

The old man looked away, his ears pink, dipped in shame.

"Certainly, Your Majesty. Certainly."

"Well that's better, isn't it?"

With a smirk on my face, I pushed past the man and entered my chamber. I don't really understand who allowed this man to enter my wing.

I closed the door to my chamber on his face and sighed.

It was frustrating enough to meet up with this woman and now i had to deal with people who thought they knew what was better for this kingdom.

I spent years in the basement alone with my father.

Training to be the best King Mortales could ever have.

I didn't do all that for people to just come up to me and throw their so- called helpful suggestions at me.

Today had been a long day.

A lot longer than I expected.

I took my boots off and laid down on my bed.

No matter how much I take off, I can't just take this weight off my shoulders.

I was tired.

What are you tired of?

This day or this life.

I didn't think I had an answer.

I closed my eyes, hoping that sleep would come.

Sleep was a beautiful thing. It let you forget. Even just for a few hours, it felt so peaceful.

Almost like death.

Just a short version of it.

Just a version where you knew you were gonna wake up.

Green eyes.

Those eyes were as green lights could shine.

They were brighter than a leaf but darker than the lights that shone at the Mortale-Lormeian borders.

Those eyes were the hue of the new spring growth, bright and soft all at once. There were flecks of strength, of the kind of green that comes only as summer advances.

Who was this person?

It wasn't the first time I was seeing these eyes. But I couldn't figure out who they belonged to.

Every night I prayed I wouldn't be haunted by whoever these eyes belonged to.

And every night, Daeg turned a deaf ear to my wish.

At first I didn't hear anything.

It was silent.

My mind was robbed of the noise.

But then it came.

A laugh.

It belonged to a woman.

This was the first time I was hearing it. Most days, I woke up due to the ache in my head after seeing the green eyes.

Her laughter was the summer rain and the birdsong too, and with every passing second, no matter the weather in my head, the sun in my mind brightened.

It was as if her sound lifted a veil from our eyes and allowed me to see the world more clearly. It's funny how laughter can do that, those honest rumblings of the soul.

When was the last time I heard a laughter this free?

I couldn't really remember.

The pain was back.

It began from the back of my head and then reached the sides. I immediately blinked my eyes open.

A ting of regret that I couldn't see who this person was.

I took my blue shirt off as it had gotten considerably warm in my chamber. I walked into my balcony and breathed in the fresh air.

Who was she?

The sun had set and the sky had embraced darkness as if it was a part of itself.

Would I ever be able to do that?

Would I ever be able to embrace my darkness?