Her dreams were filled with voices and scenes of another life, another time. Living in the palace as the princess, learning the rules, etiquettes, lessons. The restrictions, the burdens. She knew this was what her entire life would be like, and she had made peace with it. After all, not everyone got everything they wanted.
It likely would have continued the same way, had she not met him...
Guio.
The first time she saw him, she was passing by in her royal carriage. Her eyes had been drawn to the young man on the other side of the road, helping free the wheel of another carriage from the muddy ground.
Only a brief moment, but it had been enough.
She started sneaking out, something she had never done before, just to try and catch a glimpse of him. And he had eventually noticed.
The passionate romance followed by the marriage was no surprise to the couple, and neither was the opposition they faced. They endured though. And they had been happy.
Then came the birth of their son, Shulm. A blissful few years, and then- everything was gone.
/////////////
Tears flowed from Harper's eyes, flowing down on the pillow beneath her, even as Prince Sorien looked over her. The eldest prince came over slowly, and after a moment's hesitation wiped at the tears with his sleeves.
When he had found her in that library, bent over the book and unresponsive, his heart had risen to his throat. He had rushed to her, shaking her, trying to pry her away, but it was all useless.
Of course it was. It was the book- The Memoir of Queen Yilqina and King Guio. It was their life and their rule. And if rumour was to be believed- it was cursed.
Sorien's face were dotted with sweat. The book had been destroyed years ago! How was it still here?! The heat of the fire he had thrown it in was still palpable in his hands, after all this time.
The scorched book had only let go of its unsuspecting victim when he had brought forth his ancestral dagger, about to stab the thing. And then, in front of Sorien's eyes, it had disappeared.
He looked down at the woman lying on the bed, crying in her sleep. He sighed defeated.
"So you have found another one..." His eyebrows twitched, as he sadly raised a hand to remove the hair on her face. "Another innocent life. Have you not done enough? Taken enough?"
His teeth grind in anger, in frustration at his own helplessness as he looked outside to the moon in the sky. The red moon, while abormally coloured was still not at its full strength. But it would be, just another day to go.
He sighed again, looking helplessly at the ground.
"NOO!" Harper's aborted yell as she sat up drew the Prince's attention. He took hold of her hands that were grasping at something only she could see out of air, and after a moment's delay he took her in his arms.
She sobbed as his hand soothed her back. He kept one eye on the open doorway, trepidation shining on his face. This was not a position he wanted someone to see them in.
He sensed the second Harper tensed, jumping back, her hand raising to body protectively.
"...Sorien...I mean, Prince Sorien?!" Harper asked, unsure.
On hearing his name, the face of the normally quiet prince reddened. He cleared his throat, and very much unlike his conduct in the forest, did not meet her gaze for more than a brief glance as he nodded at her.
"Lady Harper."
It was almost amusing, if she still couldn't hear the loud pounding of her heart. It was due to the dream.
That sobered her.
She quieted it down. Sitting up, she asked hoarsely, "Yo-er...Where am I?" She was at the library...
The prince faltered at the question, before turning around abruptly to the bedside table. He filled a glass with water from the jug and handed it to her.
"Here." Her hands quickly grasped the glass as she gulped it down. The coolness was a welcome respite from the heat and sweat. A cough started up in her at her haste.
"Slowly."
She looked up at the man, before complying. Placing the glass back on the engraved table, she rested her hands back on the silk sheets under her. The canopy of the bed, the chandelier, the large decorated windows overlooking the gardens, the sofa!
'This room sure is nice!'
The large bookshelf and training armor in one corner had her hands itching to go to the place.
"You should not touch things that aren't yours." Her eyes darted to the Prince's who was now, once again, as he had been in her mind.
Cold, closed-off.
He raised himself from the bed with another reproaching look at her and stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Especially in places that are restricted to you." He looked down at her from his height, face tilted away.
After the time she had, with the book, the nightmares of death, the spectre...the last thing she needed was this haughty 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 telling her what to and what not to do. It irked something in Harper.
She already had enough of that from her family. But she was not there anymore.
Refusing to think on the small elation that realisation brought her, she stood up, throwing the covers away. Her legs stumbled before she got them under her.
Looking back up at the man as he quickly took back the hand he had extended for assistance, she said with a confidence she did not know she had.
"And you should not be bringing helpess maidens into your rooms." She huffed, walking away as he opened and closed his mouth, comprehending.
"Now just wait here you-" He stomped after her.
She abruptly turned from the doorway.
"By the way, what does, 'Ni Luna Lin' mean?"
He stopped, his face paling.
/////////////
On the other side of the grounds, in a cave so deep and so dark that most would never venture inside stood a man. In front of him was a large table filled with various unsavory items. A jar filled with ears, a long piece of bloody leather spread in the middle, a bowl with a dark red liquid. Bones of a bird placed in the middle of the leather.
The silvery-blonde man looked away from the item in his hand, a small corked glass bottle, with a swirling liquid inside. He curiously swished the liquid around.
Slap!
He instinctually grasped the hand that had slapped his own, before carefully letting go. The old woman looked crossly at the man, giving him a stink eye, before she wobbles to the head of the table.
"It is not a toy." She put her hands in the blood, and taking them spread the blood in her stringy hair.
Prince Elyan looked disgustedly at the woman, before forcing the words out, "Are you sure it will work? The last one was not so..."
She looked up at the Prince, annoyed, "You child! How dare you question me?!!"
"I-"
"If you have incompetent people doing your work, then don't expect my spells to work." She sneered at the man. "That dagger would have worked had it found its mark!"
He hesitated before looking away.
The woman continued with her hair, and then her face as she chanted in an ancient dark language. The wind flowed through the large cavern, whistling as it went. It seemed to flow around the woman, engulfing her.
When the wind cleared, in place of the old lady now stood a beautiful young woman. She smiled triumphantly.
"Now, my Prince. Go away."
He grit his teeth, but with no other words, exited the cave.
The woman went to a water basin in the corner, and touched the still water. Coloured mist flowed through her fingertips creating an image.
The image of another woman, in glasses sitting across Prince Sorien on his bed.
The beautiful witch's eyes glinted.
"Welcome back, Ruby Queen..."