2. Royal Duty

The queen looked at me with no expression on her beautiful face. I knew she would not order me to stay. She simply could not understand my wish to go.

Her simple but elegant crown glinted in the sunlight, catching my attention. Her family symbol, that of all who claimed Skanicudal as their lineage, stood front and center. She was proud of her position, of her line, but this matter required more than just the research she had ordered. More action had to be taken. It needed me.

“Mother,” I used the honorific as a plea to her maternal nature. In front of all these witnesses, she would not ignore me. I stood straight, clothed in my courtly best rather than my usual uniform for my position in the army. A circlet sat on my head, with the same snowy owl symbol as the queen’s on it as well as my tunic and on the jewelry I wore. This was a performance. A plea in front of my queen, the favorites of her court, and her assembled parliament.

They surrounded us, all of parliament stood watching the proceedings from their balcony, each with a banner in front of them symbolizing their house. It had always amused me that our goddess was represented by different owls and the assembly was called a parliament, the same name given to a host of owls.

Returning my focus to the matter at hand, not the judgmental stares of the elves in the throne room, I got to the heart of my argument. What I was asking for was so very important to me. Vital.

“It is time for me to leave. Our people need proof that I’m willing to do anything to resolve this crisis.”

“Why you? I worry for you so. As my only child…” It discomfited her to admit such a weakness.

I heard all she couldn’t express with so many ears listening. Though I had been on many journeys to the human world, those were as part of healing missions, for my education, to look for answers. This task was more… involved. We had never approached the shifters before. They were… a volatile species of supernatural. Even more unpredictable than humans, while also capable of more harm with their alter forms.

Yet, here we were, a mission from our goddess had set us on the path, and deep in my soul, I felt it was my place to go with a small party to offer our assistance.

“It has to be me. The goddess, she has called to me. Told me I must do this.” Though I had not seen her in my dream, I had heard her voice as clearly as I could hear my mother’s.

My words had more of our people paying attention. What they had initially thought a trifle, a disagreement between my mother and I, was so much more now I had invoked our goddess. There was a ripple of conversation, which our queen muted with a look.

There was a long silence between us. Truthfully, I spent very little time with my mother. I loved her, as I knew she loved me. A necessary distance had grown between us after I had come of age so many years ago and took up my place in the army. As our queen, she had so much to do, especially in this crisis. No children had been born in Abrocaelum for fifty years. Every day, it seemed she had yet another meeting with scientists or advisors in order to find an end to the situation, while I focused on preparing our troops for the inevitable war which would follow if a cure was not found.

How had our people missed the signs for so long?

Immortality had its downsides. We were so long lived we appeared immortal. Truthfully, we could be killed, and those who separated themselves from life, from vitality, other elves, other species, were doomed to fade with the passage of time. Most got to such a long age they returned to our goddess willingly. Either to be reborn, or stay in the afterlife.

Mother, our beloved queen, had many decades, even centuries, ahead of her. Yet, I still had to prepare to ascend the throne. Again, I longed for a female sibling. She would have taken the role over me. Our people preferred a female leader, finding them less prone to wars. As a general in the army, I had been conditioned to war and feared I would not be suitable as a leader.

If I could just fix this problem for our people, perhaps my mother could have another child, leaving me free to live the life I chose, rather than one decided for me. I would happily give up my life in the army to dedicate myself to the protection of the child.

“If you must go, I will give my blessing. Teárlach, please do not wander from your path and return home soon.” I heard the implied instruction, “Fix this and come home quickly.”

“May I ask one other favor of my queen?”

Mother nodded, a smile playing about her lips. We were in front of too many to drop the formality and talk as parent and child.

“I would like to go not as myself, but as a guard, or assistant to someone. For this to go well, I must not be Prince Teárlach, rather someone they can approach and befriend.”

She thought about this. The surrounding whispers grew in volume. “I will permit this.” The level of noise rose until she glared at the room and they fell silent. “Your cousin, ívarr will take the lead on this. He is, after all, our best scientist. I believe a small party should be sufficient to begin with.”

With her decree, I caught ívarr’s jolt of surprise. He may have been related to me, but he did not expect preferential treatment. Even after all our years of friendship, he would not have expected such an honor. He was certainly up to the task, since he had been at the heart of identifying the fertility issue. Without him, we may not have realized there was a problem for much longer.

“Thank you, Mother. By your leave, I would recommend Hakeem join us for his experience of working with shifters. Teagan is also vital to this going well.” If she was going to allow me to have one friend on this mission, she would allow the other two. These elves I could trust to treat me like a regular elf, not royalty.

While I felt bad about the deception, I knew it was essential my royal lineage not be discovered before we could make a difference to the shifters.

“I give permission for this party. You will leave immediately. Please bring word of a cure as soon as possible. The fate of Abrocaelum depends on it.”

The door to my chamber, which I’d left ajar on purpose, opened further to permit Hakeem, Teagan, and ívarr entry. Like ívarr, I was also related to Teagan and Hakeem, though more distantly in Hakeem’s case. His family had a different name and symbol and were linked through marriage.

“Are you sure you want so few to join you?” Teagan asked as she picked up items and carefully packed them into my bag. She was such a dear friend of mine. We had practically grown up together, each taking separate paths once we had reached adulthood.

I removed some of the more formal items of clothing from the bag with a significant look to my friend. “I am just a guard, remember?”

She just shook her head at me before looking through my jewels. “Here, you must wear a symbol of your house. You would stand out without one, and this is the plainest I could find.” The amulet was spelled with protective charms and held only the image of the owl in silver with two glowing yellow eyes. The citrine gems held the magic perfectly.

Taking it with thanks, I placed it over my head before tucking it under the plain tunic I had changed into. This was far more practical and comfortable than the garb mother expected me to wear for my audience in front of her gathered parliament.

“We only have one pack the council believes will work with us. They are also the worst affected, with all of their betas sick,” I explained, giving them the information I had just received. We had very little time to prepare. No time to research the pack correctly.

“The Sweetwater pack is incredibly vulnerable at present. Going in with more of us would be an error and would likely end with them shutting us out for good.” I caught Hakeem nodding as I talked. “We’ve been arguing with the shifter council for weeks, ever since I was given that vision.”

“But us?” Hakeem’s skepticism was sharp, despite his agreement over the small party. The elf deceived many with his easy-going manner and wide smiles which were so contrary to his intimidating presence. He was tall, dark skinned, and muscular. Hakeem held many scars from his work with shifters, rescuing them from terrible conditions. While he looked self assured, inside, the elf was doubtful of his place on my team.

“Who else would I choose but you three? My closest friends and truly the perfect elves for the task.” I talked while I helped Teagan finish packing my things. “Hakeem, who besides you understands shifter nature better? Teagan, who could charm the birds out of the skies while keeping us to task?” I squeezed her hand.

They both laughed, finally coming around to my way of thinking.

“And me?” ívarr questioned, the barest hint of a frown on his ageless face.

“You, my friend,” I said, laying a hand on his arm, “are vital to this. Without you and your science, we would have nothing to offer the shifters.”

Color rose on his cheeks. “Thank you, my prince—“ Regardless of our familial bond and long friendship, ívarr struggled not to be formal with me. A trait from a difficult upbringing and the scars they had left.

“Tearlach for now, please. You must learn to view me as a guard. I have had enough training to pass as one. Do you need more time to prepare?”

ívarr shook his head. “No, whatever we need we can request the shifter council provide for us. I believe they have already given medical assistance to the pack?”

I nodded. Everything should be in place for our meeting with the pack Alpha.

Within the hour we were outside of the castle, ready to portal to the Sweetwater pack.

My initial impression of the pack was of a large family. They all appeared to care deeply for each other. This sickness had rocked them to their foundation. The pack relied on their Alpha as their tether, their strength came from him, but his absence was felt with his mate’s pregnancy. The babies the omega carried were much too important to risk with such an unknown, so the Alpha’s precautions made sense.

None of them held any suspicion over our arrival, just a sense of relief to have the assistance they so badly needed. I was treated exactly as I hoped, with the pack deferring to ívarr as our leader.

There was much we could do to help the sick, and those who watched over them, I was sure of it.

During our brief meeting, there was a commotion.

A beta woke!

Our new friends were trusting and with good reason, we wanted to solve this for them. Without much prompting we were allowed into the sickroom. In it, there were two beds holding twin wolf shifters.

No matter how much I tried to keep my attention on Chase, the awake twin, my eyes constantly gravitated towards the still sleeping twin. I wanted to see the color of his eyes. Were they the same gray-blue as his twin’s and Alpha brother’s?

Though they were twins, the two shifters were not identical. I found myself comparing them, always looking favorably upon the sleeping one. Though Chase was handsome with his athletic build, easy-going smile, sharp jaw and brown hair. Axel continued to steal my gaze. He had darker hair, a thinner face, more interesting features. In truth, he was beautiful.

Axel.

Even his name did something to me.

Was this fate?

Was he to be mine?