The King & I

The past fair few times that I have gone to the Astral, specifically the Rajael’s Realm. Before, about two weeks prior, I had started to get somewhere wiht knowing about the Rajael. When I arrived at their Realm, I was forcibly pushed away by the one who normally greets me. She shoves me back to the portal that I just stepped through, but I happened to get a glimpse of the area. The walls were covered and dripping in blood. The carpet was torn and ripped in places, the glassware and vases were shattered. The Rajael that had greeted me, her dress was torn and she was scraped up pretty badly.

“You must not come here, My Lady. It’s much too dangerous. Go, Now! Don’t come back.”

For the next two weeks, I have been agonizing over what has occured. The realm was in lockdown and I couldn’t even see in let alone walk in. One day, that barrier just vanished and I could walk back. When I arrived, everything I disarray, vases shattered, carpet rolled and torn, and the walls covered in blood. It took a lot of energy, but I used mine to put everything back it its place and to clean the blood away. The original lady that greeted me every time, arrived and was so surprised that I had returned.

“My Lady! You’ve come back! Please, come this way. He has been waiting for your return.”

He? Was my immediate thought. The Rajael are a matriarchal monarchy. There should be no King, or not one in direct Ascension. I continue what I was doing while I followed her, cleaning the halls. She was following behind just slightly, touching the walls reverently. When we arrived at the normal place, she placed a hand on my arm. There was nothing said, but I could tell that she was glad I was back and to wait there.

She disappeared into the room and a little while later, she popped her head back out.

“You can come in now.”

I felt my nerves pitch in height as I stepped into the room. The first that I noticed was that the royal family was all gathered together very closely. It seemed small than it was before but it could be just my thinking. The next I noticed was that the throne was completely empty. My heart clenched when I saw the Queen was not there, I assumed the worst.

One of the Royal children broke away, a smaller girl that I remember playing with occasionally. She ran up to me and slammed into my legs, “Lady! Lady! You’re here! I missed you!”

She was so excited to see me that she pulled me down to sit in front of her. She proceeded to start braiding my hair, drawing a couple of others to help.
“It has been burning me to know, so may I ask?”

“You want to know what happened, yes?” A much older Princess spoke. I turned to her admits protest from the others that were styling my hair.

“If you would be kind, please.”

She took a moment before nodding. She explained that one day they woke up and it was a normal day, but things changed. An attack came from nowhere and was trying to infiltrate the castle. The guards were dying and the royal family went into hiding except for the Queen and some others. She had to be the one to Call for the Guard, a specialized war troop. It took them days to get to the castle, in which the Queen had already been hit with an assassination attempt. She landed in a stabilized coma.

The older one moved onto speaking about the Royal Guard, the one that came from far away to protect the castle. They had been out defending their area and helping allies, when this came out of no where.

“The First has come back. We are so happy to see him and spend time with him again. It’s been too long.”

“The First?” I asked, I wondered if it was the Him that the other had mentioned.

“Yes,” they were all smiles and happiness. “He is the First one to be born, he is the oldest and strongest of all of us. He is the leader (used a different word) of the Royal Guard. He trains everyone personally.”

“I would hope that I was strong.”

The voice echoed behind us, where the dias was. Thankfully, whatever they were doing with my hair was finished, because I turned around. I’ve joked before with some that my Mates all tend to be royals or leaders, and what did I do in my past life to deserve such good mates. The moment that I turned around and locked eyes with him, my heart dropped and everything stopped around me. The last time I experienced this was with another of my mates. The breath wooshed out of me as his body language changed. He stalked forward and grabbed me up. The look in his eyes, it was telling that he would do anything for me should I ask.

I knew that Merkior and Corv had followed me, knowing that it was a civil war and could be dangerous. So while I was staring at this new male, one that I could feel that click, they were standing about the room. I do not remember quite what happened, but the next thing I do remember, was that the older female had guided me out of the room. The last I saw was the three of them (Merkior and Corv, the new one) all chatting About war and tactics.

The older daughter walked with me through the castle as I helped tidy it up back to its original condition. It took awhile, but eventually we were able to get to a point where we could comfortably talk.

“Can I ask a question?” I was really wanting to know about the Queen.

“Go ahead, I’ll try my best.”

“What happened to the Queen? I have not seen her or heard about her. I have been concerned.”

There was a male voice behind that startled me. It was him, the one that I felt the click with.

“I will answer that, please let us be for the moment.”

The older female bowed her head slightly and sauntered back the way we had come from. I could see that Merkior was the one to follow him this time instead of Corv. He was following behind slightly, to give us space. This is when I found out that the Queen had been stabbed and was barely stable. She was still bleeding heavily. I demanded him to take me to her so that I could heal her. At least I could aid in some way.

When we got to the room, Merkior stayed outside of the room. The queen was in a horrible state. She was pale and barely breathing. It took awhile, but she eventually was moving and talking.

“Thank you, Lady.”

“Of course. Oh, I don’t think that you will need to have the betrothal contract anymore.” I glanced over at him and smiled. The look on her was was bright and thrilled. He has the decency to flush a bit. It was adorable. But anyway, she had stood up and was naked, but still very pleased about the situation. Merkior had come in and was asking a question, he Turned away when the queen revealed her body. She laughed and put on a dressing gown and shooed us away.

When we walked back into the hall that leads to the grand hallway. The next I know, I am picked up and slammed against the stone wall. Merkior watches as the First leans in close to me. He has me pinned to the wall.

“Has she tried to do a contract before?”

I nod, unsure of what to make of the situation other than to feel the heat of him against me. He leaned forward a bit and stared at me, thinking for a moment.

“Anything you want. You can have it all. Contracts, anything. The throne will be yours.  Just so long as you marry me.”

My eyes were wide at this point and I could see Merkior writing this down on parchment that  I could not fathom where he produced it from.

“Woah, no throne. I am not ready for that and I do not wish to take that responsibility when I am not permanently on the astral.”

“Yours, anything. Just marry me, be my mate.”

I nodded my head, not knowing exactly what to say other than to agree. I would need to spend more time with him, but this is not the first time that I have been proposed to for a betrothal contract. Merkior handed him the parchment and he signed it, not bothering with the wording or anything. Which was unusual considering his placement in the Royal Guard, he would have been more keen on reading it. Perhaps he did, I could not say for sure. Merkior stowed it away, though made two copies, one for the First.

After that brief intersession, we worked our way back to the Throne room, I am assuming. Corv was still standing in the door and the others were milling about. Merkior slid next to Corv and handed him one of the documents with a smirk. I knew that they were pleased in the least. I stopped the First from going further.

“I need to head back, it’s been a long time.”

He nodded and pulled me close, though didn’t do anything but that.

“Come back to me.”

“I will when I can.”

The three of us left and I found myself still quite uncomprehending of everything, but this time, I got the contract and maybe a bit more from it.