Chapter 21
Raven’s POV
I stood there staring at my suitcase, the clothes that were provided from the royal’s loaded inside. Cassius stood across my room chatting it up with Elijah and I had to admit, this was the happiest I’ve seen him in forever.
“What about our old spot? I wonder if it’s still standing!” Elijah exploded and Cassius carried the conversation on by agreeing and hoping it was.
The door to my room creaked open to an astonishing Queen Fara. Her clothing choice had consisted of a loose golden dress that flowed out around her feet complementing her dirty blonde hair.
“Are you all ready?”
I looked around the room and noticed one person was missing.
Rhyland.
“Uh- the Prince isn’t here yet.”
She smiled over at me and nodded gently.
“He is meeting us at the docks. He had some business to take care of before his leave.” She spoke nonchalantly before clapping her hands together.
“Alright then, let’s get moving.”
Cassius all but skipped to the door in excitement and I followed close behind him. I wasn’t in the mood for talking but he and Elijah seemed to be as they pushed each other playfully back and forth in the hallway. If you didn’t know better you’d think they were children going on a field trip for the first time ever.
We made our way outside and I groggily moved forwards behind everyone, not wanting to look ahead of me to find the ship that would take me to the place I feared to know.
“Where’s the ship?” Cassius asked and I looked up to see that he was right, there wasn’t any ship in sight and the dock was empty besides it’s blue water surrounding it.
“I was just about to ask the same.” A voice I was beginning to grow fond of came from beside us and I turned to find Rhyland looking out onto the dock as well.
A mischievous smirk crossed Elijah’s face as he looked towards his mother. The gesture was a simple one yet it had me worried and paranoid more than one look should have.
“Who said anything about a ship?” She asked as she spun her hand into a circle above her suitcase, a cloudy grey mist emerged from her hands and in a split second the suitcase was gone.
My eyes widened and I looked back up to her.
She was a teleporter..
“So, who’s first?” She asked, lifting her hands up towards us.
“I’ll go.” Elijah said stepping forward and I couldn’t thank him enough because I was for sure not going first.
He stepped up with his bag and she did the same as she had done to the suitcase. Her hands spun above him and the grey mist appeared once more, slowly but steadily he seemed to just seep into the background until he was completely gone.
“Alright, who’s next?”
Cassius looked back at me before stepping forward.
“It won’t kill me right?” He asked hesitantly. She just laughed and shook her head.
“I assure you if it was going to kill you I wouldn’t have sent my son in at all. It’s safe, it’s how we travel places all the time.” She assured him and he slowly nodded.
She repeated the steps just as she had done to Elijah until Cassius disappeared too.
“Okay, next.” She spoke up and I looked around, noticing it was just Rhyland and I now.
My heart starting beating out of my chest and I couldn’t move my feet.
“I-I can’t.” I stuttered as my breathing picked up three paces. I went to turn around but a steady hand was placed gently on my lower back.
“Hey, listen to me. Ill be right behind you okay?” Rhyland’s captivating eyes gleamed down at me and I felt myself calm down ever so slightly.
Looking back towards Queen Fara, I asked the question that was nagging at me.
“What does it feel like? Does it hurt?”
She smiled and stepped towards me. She placed her hand on my shoulder and looked down at me.
“At first you’ll feel coolness rake over your body, then tingles will erupt over your skin spreading throughout you’re entire being and everything will go dark for a split second but as soon as you make it everything will go back to normal.” She coaxed and I slowly nodded my head.
I took a glance back at Rhyland and he gave me a smile before the coolness she spoke about tickled my skin.
“Like I said, I’ll be right behi-,”
His words were cut off almost like static as the tingles raked my body and the darkness overcame my senses.
Not even a second later, light appeared and a stone road game into view. My feet landed on solid ground and as soon as they connected, something flushed through my body, I felt ten times more connected to the elements that ran through my veins.
I lifted up my hands to try something out until Cassius cut my actions off.
“It’s..”
Cassius started but Elijah finished his words.
“Destroyed..”
I felt a cool breeze behind me and whipped around to find a smirking Rhyland and Queen Fara.
“Told you I’d be right... behind... you.” His words stumbled over each other as his eyes took in the new land infront of us.
The beautiful flags they had spoken about dangled loosely from the flagpoles with rips and tears covering them. Buildings were broken down and looked abandoned with green moss covering them like a blanket of art.
But something in the shadows had caught my attention.
Movement beside one of the brick buildings had me squinting my eyes to get a better look and just as I had thought, it was a person.
“Hello?” I spoke out but the person darted the opposite way.
“Wait, wait!” I shouted and moved to run after them but a soft hand pulled me back.
“They have been in hiding since the war, poverty levels have risen to unbelievable rates since stores and family owned businesses have shut down.”
Queen Fara released my arm from her gasp as my eyes fell upon everything before me.
“You knew.. you knew it was like this yet you didn’t say anything. Why?” I felt my teeth grit together as I spoke.
“I needed the two of you to see it for yourselves. After all, your parents put their blood and sweat into these lands only for it to end up like this..” The sadness dropped from her voice and I felt it in my heart.
“Why’d your bring us to a broken kingdom?” Cassius spoke up and a small smile tugged at her lips.
“Not everything is broken, Cassius. The castle your family lived in still stands as if nothing ever occurred.”
Cassius scoffed and walked forward towards the broken walls of the closest building.
“That didn’t answer my question. Why’d you bring us here?”
“To fix it of course.”
Her words sounded simple but had a meaning weighted with a million bricks. Fix it? How could we fix an entire kingdom?
“Do we look like construction workers to you?” Cassius spat and from behind us all, someone cleared their throats.
“I think it’s a great idea.” Rhyland shrugged and Cassius narrowed his eyes at him like daggers.
“Of course you would. You probably came just to be daddy’s little reporter.”
A glistening smile appeared on Rhyland’s face followed with a humorless laugh. His steps echoed against the silence of the land as he neared Cassius, who stood up straighter.
“I was actually acknowledging the kingdom for Raven. If she is to rule this kingdom because, well, let’s be honest you couldn’t take care of a weed if you were asked, I support the idea of it being built to her liking.”
He must’ve heard Queen Fara speaking time is about our parents, otherwise he wouldn’t know we were the son and daughter of a King and Queen.
With another step, he came face to face with Cassius.
“And as for the side comment..” With the blink of an eye Rhyland pulled back and slammed his fist into Cassius’ face. My mouth dropped open in shock as Cassius fell backwards and hit the ground hard.
I expected him to jump up and prepare to fight Rhyland.
I expected him to shout and cuss at him.
I expected everything else but what he actually did.
He stood up slowly with the help of Elijah and smirked over at the Prince.
“So he does have a backbone.” Cassius took his thumb and wiped his bottom lip from the blood that had spilled from his busted lip.
“Boys, stop the child’s play and let’s get a move on. The castle is right up the road here.” Queen Fara spoke up and Cassius nodded towards Rhyland with a look almost like... respect?
“Well let’s see to it, shall we?”