Chapter 104 Chapter 104

Chapter 104 Chapter 104
“Open the door.”

“I’m sorry; we are under direct orders from the king.”

“I said, open the door.”

The three of them stole glances at each other, unsure of what to do, before the main guard cleared his throat and stepped aside to open the door.

“… jeopardizing the throne and the kingdom.” My father’s voice boomed. “What you did is treason.”

“What they did,” I started just as loudly, and all heads turned to look at me. “Is protecting and helping me for more than two years.”

On one side of the room sat my mother on her throne-like chair, her face stern and her hands clasped together on the table. 

Behind her, the king paced the room, now standing still with a disapproving look on his face. On the other side were Isaiah, Nate, and Gen, who sat with their heads bowed to the royals out of respect.

“Ahri.” My father spoke, but I held my hand up to stop him. It was completely disrespectful, but I had no time for pleasantries or decorum when the three people who saved my life were on trial. They were accused of treason.

And the punishment for treason was death.

“If it weren’t for Mr. Blackthorn and the Ignises, I wouldn’t be here today. They saved my life and took care of me for two years, both inside and outside of the academy, and as a show of gratitude, you put them on trial?”

“They kept you away from us, from your home.” My father seethed.

“I had no idea who you were dad. I had no idea who I was.” I made my way to where my mentor and adoptive parents sat. “And in case you had forgotten, the traitor who tried to kill me was here, in my home.”

“We could have protected you.” The king insisted.

“From whom?” I questioned. “The four kingdoms had an ongoing investigation for the whole time I was gone, and still no one was able to find out the traitor was my own flesh and blood.”

“Lilith.” Genevieve’s voice was a soothing whisper against the tide of emotions that started to take over me. I took a deep breath and walked closer to where she was sitting.

“Calm down, honey, everything will be fine.” Her soft smile brought tears to my eyes.

“I missed you,” I whispered.

“We missed you, too, dear.”

I let a couple of tears stream down my cheeks as Gen and Nate engulfed me in a hug. I didn’t blame them for keeping the truth from me; they did what they thought was best to protect me, and I owe everything to them.

“If I may, your highness,” Isaiah spoke, his voice firm and as strong as always. “We couldn’t risk the safety of the queen by bringing her back to the castle. She was very hurt and barely alive when I found her, and when she woke up and didn’t remember who she was, we knew it would be foolish to bring her here.”

“You could have told us.” King Alexander said. “We are her parents; we had the right to know.”

“I couldn’t take such a risk, your highness.” Isaiah bowed his head slightly.

“Well, now that this has been cleared.” I started, but my father cut me off.

“We’re not done here.”

“I believe we are.” I tried my best to control my tone. “I mean no disrespect, your highness, but I’m still the queen, and my first order of business will not be taking the lives of the people who gave me back mine.”

“You’re not the queen just yet.” My mother said, her smile indicating she was more proud than disapproving. “You haven’t been crowned yet.”

“Well, let’s get started on that, shall we?” I smiled back. “In the meantime, I will be having lunch with my guests.”

As the four of us made our way out of the meeting hall, my father voiced his displeasure once again:

“We’re not done with this, Ahri.”

“I believe we are dad.” I bowed slightly before reaching the door.

“And my name is Lilith.”

\---

I was beginning to regret asking my mother to start planning the ceremony.

If I had known it would be this hectic, I would have stayed back at the academy. In fact, I went as far as asking to go back and finish my senior year just to escape this torturous process, but Isaiah, who was now staying in Agni as a guest and not a prisoner, told me that there would be no need to go back. 

Apparently, the council, with the blessings of the royals, decided to end the school year early after what happened. The seniors already got their marks on the trials, and they –the ones who made it out alive- will be graduating in the spring.

So for the next week, all I had to look forward to was dress rehearsals, dance lessons, and speech writing.

I missed the trials.

—

“The royal families will be arriving later this evening. Make sure you’re presentable and ready to greet them by then.” Daisy was no less excited than our mother. 

Well, excited would be one way to put it, I suppose. My sister was frantic, running around the castle adjusting the details of the ceremony, calling the caterers to change the menu for the 100th time, portaling to the academy for hours on end to plan the upcoming graduation even though it was 2 months away, and showing up in my room at odd hours to present me with more dress options. I didn’t even want to know where she got her energy from.

“I’ll be ready.” I nodded.

“And let Ivan know too.” She lifted her head from her planner long enough to give me a smirk. “He’s expected to be there as well.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I saluted her.
Turning around to leave her office, I stopped at the door and took a good look at my sister. She was always the studious one; even her twin brother was amazed by her work ethic and determination. He would never admit to it, but I was sure he was the tiniest bit jealous, too.

“You’re going to make a great queen.”

She lifted her head again, a look I couldn’t decipher shot through her eyes before disappearing all too quickly.