Ch 16. His Family (II)

The walk to the queen's chambers felt torturous to Cyrus. Any small bits of excitement and happiness he felt at first when thinking of seeing her had disappeared, instead a bad premonition took its place.

Impatience. Discontent. Irritability.

He didn't know why he was feeling this way. More than a year had passed since he had last seen his mother yet he wasn't looking forward to this meeting. Since he was small, Cyrus had always had conflicted feelings and thoughts regarding the woman who birthed him, Minerva - the queen of Milikree. It was so complicated that his thoughts of not wanting to fall in love were majorly due to her.

If he did fall in love, may the gods forbid, he wished the love would resemble his father's love with his consort.

Nearing the corridors where his mother's room was in, he saw two guards dragging a body of a blonde servant. There were no signs of injury but he was limp and motionless. Bringing them to a halt, he asked, "What happened?"

Bowing to the prince, one of the guards explained dutifully, "This servant boy had insulted Her Majesty. He has paid for his offense."

Lies. Cyrus swallowed down the fear and bile that had formed in his throat. Looking down at the lifeless body of the blonde boy, he deduced that he was only - no - he had been only a few years older than him. The boy's features looked similar to someone he knew. A disturbing thought formed in his mind, was this Minerva's warning?

"Have His Majesty know of this," he finally ordered, "and make sure that the servant's family doesn't get to find out the real reason for his death."

"Yes, Your Highness," the guards bowed before continuing on their way with the body.

Cyrus continued walking, or more like dragging his heavy feet to the doors of the queen's bedchambers. As soon as he was in sight of the guards stationed in front of her room, they bowed before one of them opened the door to let the queen know of his arrival. Once the guard came out, he bowed in sign that Cyrus could enter.

Entering the room, Cyrus tried his best to force a smile and hide the nervousness he felt. In the center of the room, his mother sat on her bed humming a tune and holding a mirror to examine her face. Standing next to her was her personal servant, Callidius, who was almost always next to her.

Cyrus held his hands together in front of him in attempt to show he had nothing to hide and to also try to hold in himself the negative emotions swirling in his heart. Bowing his head to her, he greeted softly, "I greet Her Majesty, the blessed daughter of the gods."

She didn't acknowledge him, continuing to hum.

After he realized that she had no intentions of speaking to him unless he pushed to speak to her some more, Cyrus gritted his teeth before exhaling a sigh. "Mother, your son is back. I was looking forward to seeing you but I now realize that you are not happy with me at this moment. I shall come back later."

Cyrus had just turned around to leave when he heard her voice.

"Welcome back, my son."

He paused. Cyrus had been relieved to think that he didn't have to stay too long in this room but now he couldn't. He cursed in his mind before adjusting his self to face her.

Minerva gave her servant a quick look to have him leave the room. Once it was just mother and son in the room, she stood up and walked towards Cyrus.

"Did you miss your mother? Or maybe you didn't seeing as you're trying to hide your…fear?" She tilted her head to the side, acting as if she were deep in thought before remarking, "Ah, are you remembering the last words I spoke to you before you left?"

How could he forget? But Cyrus had thrown her words to the back of his mind. Her unsettling words were having too much of an effect on him that he tried his best to forget them. He should've remembered how serious his mother had spoken back then. Just as he recalled the memory, she spoke in her voice that rose goosebumps on his skin,

"Once you return, I expect for you to become crown prince. Even if you don't wish to, I'll put you on the throne myself."

Cyrus felt his body want to run but he forced himself to stay still, although, his fingers began quivering uncontrollably.

Minerva raised her hand to stroke his hair. "It's finally time for you to become crown prince. Was my 'gift' just now not enough to warn you?"

Cyrus couldn't forget the dead servant he had recently seen in the corridors whose features resembled Timaeus'. He asked, "Are you not afraid to face my father's wrath? Timaeus is his favorite son. If you dare harm him, you will not escape the consequences."

And for the first time that he had seen her that day, she cracked a smile. Her eyes crinkling in amusement as she let out a chuckle.

Cyrus didn't know what it was he said that was funny. He knew his mother loved his father, so why was it that it seemed that she wouldn't care if she were to anger him?

Still smiling, Minerva exclaimed happily, "Cyrus, you have just made my day." But her face turned grim as she continued, "It is not a secret that I will make you king. I have warned you time and time again to stay away from that bastard and wench but no - you repeatedly ignored my wishes. I expect for you to start acting as my son and as the future king that I wish you to be. Do you understand?"

This was one of the reasons Cyrus didn't wish to become king. Minerva had instilled decent amounts of feelings of hatred and repulse in him towards the throne, had she not repeatedly brought up her desire to see him king while trying to turn him against his brother and other mother, maybe Cyrus would've welcomed the idea of stepping up to become crown prince and eventually, king.

But that throne… he didn't care for it.

Closing his eyes, he sighed. He wanted to leave and escape this place.

"Mother," he whispered, "you are my mother." Opening his eyes to directly meet her gaze, he pleaded, "Because you are my mother, I do not wish to see you hurt, fall from your position, or worse, dead. Please, abandon all desires you have of seeing me on the throne. And please do not come for Timaeus-"

"Bastard."

"Right… the bastard and his mother. If I were to ever want to become crown prince, I will let you and father know. But I'm tired right now, mother, let's not speak of this any further."

Minerva merely stared at him with an indiscernible look. Stroking his hair, she observed, "Your hair has gotten too long. It looks hideous. Find me tomorrow and I'll fix it up for you. You can go but, Cyrus," she drawled, "I have waited two decades for this so don't expect me to stay still any longer."

Cyrus turned and tried to walk normal while leaving his mother's place. He began heading in direction of the other side of the harem where his other mother, Daphne, and Timaeus were waiting for him while realizing something. How come his mother had acted differently today?

Meanwhile back in Minerva's room, Callidius entered the room once again only to find the queen in an irritated mood.

"I spoke too much to him."

He lowered his head in thought. "It is possibly because his return has overwhelmed you, Your Highness."

Minerva hummed in agreement. Her son's departure and return had caused her to find out many new things about her limits. One of them being that her influences were in fact dependent on how close the mother and son were. She was usually secretive about her plans and desires although it wasn't new news to the people in the palace. Yet, because she had not been accustomed to Cyrus not being near her for a long time, she had lost control of her emotions when he had returned.

Picking up the mirror Callidius had placed down earlier, Minerva saw her reflection in it. Annoyed, she complained, "He's my son but he hasn't inherited anything from me. How irritating." And she threw the mirror at one of the columns in her room. Crash!

"Callidius, fetch me someone that can lift my spirits," she ordered.

Callidius bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness," before leaving the room to find someone, another victim, to try to appease the queen.