Chapter 501 Two Days

Chapter 501 Two Days
(Arkael Ashborne) 

Then, exactly as he had known she would, she asked, "Did Aurelia do this?" 
His chest tightened almost imperceptibly. 
"She accepted the same responsibility." 
Again... Not a lie. Never a lie. Simply the safest truth. 
She seemed satisfied by the answer, her attention returning to the throne itself. 
Arkael studied her in silence. She was asking the right questions. She was seeing the throne for what it was always meant to be. Not power. Responsibility. Everything was unfolding exactly as prophecy had promised, exactly as he had spent a thousand years preparing for. 
In two days... She would understand the rest. 
Adelaide remained standing before the throne for several moments, her eyes wandering slowly across the pale volcanic stone before travelling upward to the great crystal wall rising behind it. The amber light shifting through its depths reflected softly across her face as she quietly absorbed everything he had told her. 
"So..." she said at last, almost reluctantly breaking the silence. "When does the Binding happen?" 
"In two days." 
Her eyes left the throne immediately. 
"So soon?" 
"There is little purpose delaying what prophecy has already decided." He smiled gently, beginning to stroll unhurriedly around the broad dais, knowing she would follow. "Preparations have already begun throughout the palace." 
"They have?" Genuine surprise coloured her voice. "Already?" 
"Of course." He rested his fingertips lightly against the smooth volcanic stone as they walked. "The return of a Sovereign is not an ordinary celebration. Some of those preparations began centuries ago. Others..." A quiet smile touched his lips. "...simply waited for someone worthy to complete them." 
She walked beside him in thoughtful silence, occasionally glancing back towards the throne as though trying to imagine the ceremony taking place there. It reminded him very much of Aurelia the first time she had stood in this chamber. The same curiosity. The same habit of trying to understand every answer before asking the next question. 
"So it has always been done this way?" she asked eventually. 
"For as long as our oldest records remember." 
"And... if someone refused?" 
It was the first question that morning which genuinely surprised him. 
He looked at her. She wasn't being defiant. She wasn't challenging him. She just wanted to understand. 
"They never have," he answered honestly. 
She frowned. "Never?" 
He shook his head slowly. 
"The Sovereigns who came before you understood what the rite represented." 
"And what does it represent?" 
"The acceptance of responsibility." 
He watched the answer settle over her. She looked back towards the throne again, her brow drawing together ever so slightly. 
"I suppose..." she began after a long pause, "...I hadn't imagined making a decision like that quite so quickly." 
Arkael smiled. "You misunderstand." 
She looked back at him. 
"You are not deciding whether to become Queen." His gaze drifted briefly towards the crown resting amongst the growing crimson in her hair before returning to her eyes. "The prophecy made that decision long before either of us drew our first breath." 
He spoke gently, wanting her to understand rather than simply accepting it. 
"The Binding does not make you Queen, Adelaide. It simply completes what destiny has already begun." 
She seemed to consider that for several more moments before giving the smallest nod. It was not complete understanding. Nor had he expected it to be. The weight of an entire civilisation could not be placed upon one young woman's shoulders in the space of a single morning. 
It would come. Slowly. As it always had. 
Together they descended from the dais, continuing towards one of the broad arched openings overlooking the palace below. As they crossed the chamber, movement at its far edge drew Arkael's attention. Dravenor emerged from a side passage with the effortless silence that had always seemed to follow his eldest son. The moment he noticed them, he stopped, placed one fist over his chest and bowed deeply. 
"Father." 
"My Queen." 
Adelaide returned the greeting with an uncertain but genuine smile. 
Dravenor smiled back. Perfectly courteous. Perfectly measured. Then, without another word, he continued on his way, disappearing through another archway almost as quietly as he had appeared. 
Adelaide watched him leave before looking back towards Arkael. 
"Your eldest son has a remarkable habit of appearing without making a sound." 
A faint smile touched Arkael's lips. 
"Dravenor has always preferred to observe a room before announcing his presence." 
It was one of the many qualities that had made him such an exceptional commander. And one of the many that had made him so difficult to read. 
Silence settled comfortably between them once more. Arkael watched Adelaide's attention drift back towards the archway through which Dravenor had disappeared. She remained looking there longer than he expected. Her expression had become thoughtful again, though there was something else now. A faint uncertainty that had not been there when they first entered the throne room. She wasn't frightened. If she had been, he doubted she would have hidden it particularly well. But something about the encounter with his eldest son had lingered in her thoughts. 
He found himself wondering what she had seen. 
"Is something troubling you?" he asked gently. 
Adelaide looked back towards him, as though only just realising where her attention had wandered. 
She smiled, though it came a little more slowly than before. 
"No..." She hesitated before giving the smallest shake of her head. "I don't think so." 
Arkael accepted the answer without pressing her. Dravenor had always unsettled those who met him for the first time. His eldest carried himself with a stillness that many mistook for severity, when in truth it was simply the discipline of a commander who had spent centuries measuring every room before speaking. 
Time would ease that uncertainty. It always did. 
Adelaide folded her hands loosely before her. 
"...Would you mind if I returned to my chambers?" 
There was no reluctance in her voice, just bone-deep exhaustion. 
"I think..." A small, apologetic smile touched her lips. "I have rather a lot to think about." 
Arkael found himself smiling in return. 
"So you do." 
He had expected nothing less. 
The morning had asked much of her. A young woman who, scarcely a few months earlier, had believed herself to be an ordinary villager now stood upon the threshold of inheriting an ancient kingdom. It would have been far more concerning had she accepted it all without reflection. 
"Take all the time you need." His voice remained warm. "The palace has waited a thousand years." 
His smile softened. "It can wait another afternoon." 
Relief flickered briefly across her face before she inclined her head in gratitude. 
"Thank you." 
He escorted her from the throne room himself, the great doors closing quietly behind them as they stepped back into the broad corridor beyond. Neither spoke for a time. Their footsteps echoed gently through the polished halls while servants and guards respectfully stepped aside at their approach. 
When they reached the junction leading towards the royal apartments, Adelaide slowed. 
"I'll see you this evening?" 
"You will." 
"And... the Binding?" 
"In two days." 
She nodded quietly. 
"I'll be ready." 
Arkael believed she meant it. Whether she understood what she had agreed to yet mattered little. Understanding would come. It always did. 
He watched until she disappeared beyond the carved archway leading towards her chambers, the crimson woven through her hair catching the warm crystal light before vanishing from sight. 
Only then did the smile leave his face. 
Two days. 
After a thousand years... The waiting was almost over.