The Invitation
The death of the third princess of Elyria was suspicious to Rafael as it was to everyone. But he hadn’t bothered to find out what went wrong and what happened after the princess had delivered her baby.
The prince cocked a brow after Elora’s words. “And what made you think that I can handle such cases?” He asked.
She bit her lower lip for a while before replying. “Yo…you can. Everyone knows.”
He let out a chuckle. “Well, I believe in letting sleeping dogs remain asleep. The princess’s demise is heart-wrenching but I can do nothing.” He had other important things to do and scores to settle than investigating a death and earning more enemies. More important things like catching the leader of the rogue vampires.
Her eyes grew wide at Rafael’s words and she stared at him in disbelief and maybe disappointment. “She’s your sister,” she stated the obvious. “Are you not hurt by her death?”
“I am. Direba and I were never enemies nor friends.”
“Then the least you could do for her is find out what…what truly happened and if her death is truly just circumstances.”
“Elora.”
She shook her head and took a step back, her eyes beginning to be glossy. “You are cruel.”
“Princess, you do not know her. Stay out of this.”
“Do you have a heart of stone? Arielle would be hurt to hear you refuse.”
As if she’d heard her name being mentioned, Arielle’s voice rang from behind.
“Brother Rafael.” Her voice cracked as she called and raced toward her brother, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were swollen and her face was almost too pale, like she hadn't had a wink of sleep. Once she got to him, she buried herself in his arms and sniffled her tears. “Brother…she didn’t deserve to die. Direba was filled with life.”
Having no other choice, he patted her back and her hair slowly to console her. After a while of soaking his shirt with tears, his sister finally pulled away and slowly wiped her eyes. “You will find out what went wrong, right?” She looked up at him like he was her only hope, like he was her savior.
“We should let her soul rest in peace instead.”
She pulled further away. She shook her head left and right in disbelief, like she didn’t want to believe what her ears were hearing.
“What do you mean?”
“Why don’t you go to your chambers and have a proper rest, Ariel?”
“Brother Rafael, you…you won’t investigate this?” Her look changed to one of disappointment, heartbreak, and resentment.
“Draven,” he called. Draven appeared out of the shadows to stand before the prince and behind Arielle. “Take the third princess to her chambers. Make sure she’s safe and don’t let her out until she has had a proper rest.
She cried, glared at her brother, and yelled. “She’s our sister too. How… let go of me.” She screamed when Draven swept her off her feet and slung her onto his chest like a sack of beans. “Didn’t you hear? Let go.” She slammed her hands against his body severally but it was as if his body was made of wood as her hands only came back hurt.
When she saw there was no exit, she stopped trying to escape his arms and burst fully into tears as he carried her away.
“I promise, I’m never going to forgive you for this, Draven.”
“I don’t need you to forgive me.”
She remained silent, tears dripping as she let him carry her into the castle.
Now alone with Rafael again, Elora threw her eyes away and gritted her teeth.
“Don’t make that face.”
“What face?”
He let out a sigh and continued. “Let me take you home and then we can talk, okay?”
She stood in her spot as he took careful slow steps toward her and when she didn’t protest or try to move away, he carried her princess style and leapt into the air.
“Your highnesses.”
“Your highnesses.”
The servants greeted them as they set foot into the mansion. Throughout their journey home, Elora had remained silent, and even now as they passed through the grand foyer, she began to drift toward the corridor that led to their bedchambers.
“Your highness, a message from the Prime Minister’s estate.”
Rafael paused. He glanced from the head maid who had her head lowered and down to the parchment that she held carefully with both hands as if it were fragile and sacred.
Elora also stopped. He took the parchment from the maid and untied the ribbon holding it before unfurling it to see what was written on it.
His eyes darkened as they traced the inked words.
He didn’t notice when Elora snuck behind him. She leaned in, standing on her tiptoes, her eyes skimming through the page. “Oh my.” A sharp gasp escaped her lips and her hands flew to her mouth instantly. “He’s having a birthday celebration? This…this is absurd,” she gasped. They were being invited to the birthday celebration of the prime minister in two days. He was celebrating right after his wife’s death. How ridiculous and shameless of him to do so. Did he not have even the slightest remorse about the princess’s demise?
Rafael fist clenched the paper tightly until they crumpled in his hands and he tossed it to the floor, anger emanating through him.
“You want me to get to the bottom of Direba’s death, don’t you?” He turned to her.
Her eyes lit up and she glanced up at him. “You…you will?”
“Since that is what you want, I'll make it happen. But you’ll have to play a part.”
She frowned. “How?”
“Firstly, you’ll come with me to the Prime Minister’s birthday celebration in two days.”
A/N
Dearest readers, author here. Creating is hard. Readers’ comments are writers’ greatest motivation. Please leave comments and tell me what you think of this story so far. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to let them out. Let’s be interactive.
Xoxo
Suxi