4. Lotir, a Friend
Lotir, a Friend
The fire continued to dance and blaze in the hearth of the room. Lotir still stayed by the fire with such presence that it completely confused Sileas how she wasn’t able to overtake the wedding hours earlier. Lotir is an impressive woman. The feats she achieved and the way she talked. You won’t ever forget Lotir, whether in dress or trousers. In her knight’s uniform or in her royal dresses.
She didn’t expect her to be so easy to confide in, and the stories of her adventures in the front lines and battle was immensely impressive. A life different Sileas could only imagine and read from books. But hearing it from Lotir made it feel so close as if she could possibly live it.
Lotir smirked. “There was a time that I had no food or clothes in the middle of the nomadic desert. My father and mother are with the nomadic clans with my uncle and aunt. My companion forgot how to get to them, and we were lost with no provisions by day four.”
Sileas gasped. Hand on her chest with a heart hammering with excitement and barely contained. “Four days? You have been lost for four days!”
“And more! We were there for a week before another nomadic clan stumbled upon us and saved us. I had to get rid of my companion then and there, never trust a mercenary guild for tracking” She tilted her head to the side in contemplation “…or information. Those brutes only know how to use their swords and fight on wars on behalf of someone. Not the smartest of the lot”
Sileas sincerely laughed. Something that she hasn’t done in the longest while. She played the part of a perfect granddaughter, who was adored by her grandparents, for the longest time that even her perfect laughter was too perfect, and that always meant it was foreign to her now.
An out of body experience that she doesn’t fully understand. Her every action and education from under her grandparent’s home was a fever dream where she watches herself perform.
“I have to tell you” Sileas smiled. Light and easy instead of tight and worn whenever it graced her face. “It is an incredible pleasure to talk to you Princess”
“Again, call me Lotir. I am just an Archduchess now, I should outgrow the title, but you’re the Empress. I insist you call me Lotir” She smirked. Her trademark that made her look so approachable and easygoing. A total opposite of her brother, the emperor.
“Lotir then” Sileas tried to hide the blush, but proved to be unsuccessful by Lotir’s face erupting in a humorous smile. “I’m not used to being close with anyone”
“Clearly” She chuckled. Leaning forward towards the assortment of food and drink that she ordered the servants to prepare for them.
The maid wasn’t entirely sure how to approach the bedroom at first. Something Sileas could understand as it wasn’t the Emperor inside the room, which the maid expected and the servant didn’t think she would be serving food, when the banquet just ended a few hours ago.
It was all comical to her, the marriage, this scene, and everything else since leaving that old Mansion, especially her freedom. A part of her still expected her grandmother to shout her name through the halls or her grandfather summoning her to his “Lecture” room for his personal “education”
A lot of people in the banquet was murmuring about the dangers of marrying the notorious prince. The one who could barely control his bloodlust and time and time again went to the frontlines against his parents’ wishes. She heard all of the rumors about him in the banquet, when they thought her hearing is even less than a Draconi, perhaps it was the only sense that is for her. Another pitiable aspect of her life.
They even called him a monster, and that she should be afraid. They whispered and gossiped about her while she ate till her stomach felt bursting in front of them. She greeted them with graciousness and didn’t meet her grandparent’s eyes.
There are far scarier monsters than the prince who left the altar a rule of the whole empire, she thought then.
In the present, the opposite of Eitr sat in front of her, pouring another glass of wine for herself and smiling almost cheekily towards her. The princess who was loved by the people but relinquished the throne to her brother. Why? Nobody knows. If there were any nobles who tried to push for her to rebel, she’s the first to cut their knees down and bend it in front of the throne. “Reluctant Queen” they called her.
“I get the feeling that you’re incredibly relieved that my brother isn’t here.”
The question made her remember her earlier torment the moment she got into the room. She tried to hide the blush, but she could never control her biologic reactions before, a trait that reminded her of her mother. “Yes, I do admit that I was incredibly nervous at the prospect of sharing my bed”
She raised a brow “That’s all?”
“Well, he would be my first.”
“And that’s all?” both her brow rose incredulously. She leaned back with complete disbelief of Sileas’ existence. Rather her words that doesn’t seem to make sense to her. “Not about something else?”
“Like what?” Sileas couldn’t hold her laughter at Lotir’s expression. Even though she’s full she grabs a few finger sandwiches from the coffee table.
“You heard them whispering I noticed that much about you. You heard every word those snakes ever said. Are you not afraid of him?”
“There…” His face flashed on her tea, the glower and broody expression of his handsome face with the actual hate in his eyes. I don’t mind being killed by him “are far more scarier things than him” than death
Lotir noticed something about Sileas, but Sileas returned her usual smile and same glint of joy in her eyes and suddenly she lost sight of her thoughts.
She didn’t want to be pitied. She isn’t someone who deserved it because she is choosing to be happy. She’s going to be happy.
Despite. Despite. Despite.
She made a promise and she intend to keep that promise till her last breath. She’s going to be happy and die happily.
The tall and strong saviour of the empire suddenly took something out of her trouser pocket. Sileas heard the shuffle of cards before she saw the cards itself as Lotir’s hands were fast and quick. The training to hold a sword didn’t seem to make her hand movements rough and brutish, but evasive and concise.
“Are those…?”
“Indeed it is” Lotir smiled. Fanning the cards in a half circle between them.
Sileas couldn’t hide her glee as she watched Lotir play with the cards. She never imagined she could see cards this close and this early. Her grandparents didn’t believe in games or gambling. They had a title to uphold and doing something silly as games and gambling is less than. Along with toys and other childish things.
Her fingers twitched. “Could I touch it?”
She laughed. “Of course you can! Touch away! I’m going to teach you a game”
Her face brightens. “You will?”
“It worries me that this could make you that excited” Lotir shuffles the cards in many and different ways that made Sileas infinitely entertained. Her eyes couldn’t follow as quick, but she was amazed all the same. “I’ll help you with that”
“What?”
“All the new things and good things I would show you” Lotir smiled. Not a smirk, but a smile. a genuine smile that reminded Sileas of her father, beautiful and bright. A beauty that only pure blooded Draconi could ever showcase. A beauty that inspired the mythos of Draconi’s being able to bewitch anyone like a siren when you look into their starry eyes. “and I would be your friend in this palace my highness”
“Sileas” She smiled back. A true one. “If you are Lotir, then I am Sileas”
“Sileas” Lotir’s eyes creased. “Want to learn Octo?”
“That would eb amazing, Lotir”
The sun peaked through the curtains and the open window of the room. It reminded her to close the windows before sleeping, but the diamond palace is hot compared to the mansion, it did reflect the sun and though it’s beautiful it forgot to account that she’s not fully Draconi who is impervious to heat.
She doesn’t even remember falling asleep last night, which confused her when she opened her eyes and she’s suddenly on her bed. Lotir is on the couch near the dying fire. Snoring.
Sileas couldn’t help smiling despite still being exhausted. She lays back down on the bed and smiled at the ceiling. It’s her first day in the palace and she already made a friend.
A friend.
She closed her eyes and tried to remember the last time she had one. The last time she ever laughed and had fun like last night. Compared to her life with her grandparents, this place is filled with so much color and noise (like saws cutting down trees)
She turned and giggled into her pillow.
Despite. Despite. Despite.