Chapter 7

It had been three weeks since her mother left. Despite knowing that the journey to Harmonia was long, Valda couldn't help but feel anxious. She knew her mother was guarded, Valda trusted Kayden with her life, but always felt uneasy when she wasn't the one taking care of her mother.

She had sent a letter to Harmonia, asking either Kayden or Leida to let her know they had made it safe and sound, but of course it would take days before she received a response. In the meantime, she would have to wait. But Valda had never been good at waiting.Even as a little girl, she detested being told to wait, to have patience. Even when the Oracle told her she would meet her mate on her twenty-fifth birthday, Valda hated the fact that she needed to wait nine years to see her…

In her mother's absence, Arwin was in charge, which she thought was completely preposterous. Valda wasn't able to see, but she was able to make good decisions for the wellbeing of her kingdom. Right?

Arwin always made the important decisions, but Valda has seen how hot headed he was. He would rather kill first and ask questions later.

Every time she called for him, he was never in the castle. To her surprise, he was gone, off to train or off on a mission that she knew nothing about.

For being the high commander of the army and ranking above him, she sure was unaware of her army's movements and operation.

She didn't like being left out, as if she was useless, no longer fit to rule. She couldn't even do the basic things, her mother needed to appoint a nanny for her. But not just any nanny, a Sealian.

Valda wanted to believe this was her mother's way of showing her that she didn't hate Sealians and wished to include them in the castle. At the same time, Maris was a young Sealian who Valda met the same day the Oracle claimed she would meet her mate. Or was it the day after?

It was all a blur in Valda's mind, and it drove her mad!

She thought that maybe in a week, she wouldn't need Maris around, but she did, and that infuriated her. The first week she was trying to get used to her new reality. Of getting used to walking in Oberon Castle's long stone halls with her hand touching the wall while the other held onto Maris's shoulder. A week of hitting her knee against unknown objects. Of snarls, growls, and angered screams of frustration. Of throwing things across the room in annoyance. A week of yelling at Maris for not helping her the way she thought was the right way.

And when she screamed and yelled at Maris, she felt sorry for mistreating her right away. Though she did ask for forgiveness, and promised herself to take control of her emotions, rage ravaged through her.

Valda was growing tired of clumsily burning her hand with the coffee, of trying to get dressed without help. Of relearning, reimagining.

Of waking up in the middle of the night only to find the same darkness consuming her, day in and day out. She silently cried as non-Asclepius worshipers brought from outside the castle told her they didn't know what happened, how they could help, or how to treat her blindness. This healing was beyond them, they repeated what she already knew. She needed an Asclepius Worshipper; a blessed one.

She felt utterly useless.

She was tired of going to bed, crying herself to sleep thinking she was alone, but Valda knew damn well she wasn't. She knew Maris was somewhere in her room, watching her. She could only imagine the look of pity. Valda, Princess of the Sky Kingdom, crying herself to sleep.

Pathetic…

Valda had heard Maris whispering with the other one, Melvian, the one who brought them food.

She isn't well. She is weak. She needs time. She will be fine.

Valda tried to ignore it, but she just couldn't accept that she had fallen so low as to need around-the-clock help.

She would wake up, and Maris would be there to help her look her sharpest. She would be there to help her with her breakfast. The quiet conversations of the day would spill out of them like a river into the ocean. It felt natural, like old souls. Like they had done this before.

But before the conversation could get deeper, either Maris or Valda would cut it off, stand, move about, and get angry at her own clumsiness.

Valda never opened her eyes. What for? The ability to look into Maris's eyes, to see if she was the mate the Oracle spoke for was taken away from her.

All of this felt like a curse.

The second day after the accident, Valda tried to find some resemblance of a vision within her. But all she heard within the darkness were surprised and terrified gasps followed by whispers of disgust from people inside the castle.

What happened to her eyes? What happened to her gorgeous honey-colored eyes? She doesn't have the king's eyes anymore.

Valda tried to ignore it and not let it get to her, but she wasn't getting any better as the days passed, and she was sure that Maris noticed.

At night, when Valda had no other resolve but to sleep, Maris would step in with that cheerful tone of hers and tell her that a new day was upon them, that she would feel better, and that she would regain her sight. As much as Valda wanted to believe her, the answer to those confidence boosts was always a mediocre smile and silence. Yet, Valda couldn't deny, the woman's company, other than Cerberus's, had become the most comforting thing in the entire ordeal. Not only was she always gentle with her, but she also never made Valda feel as if she was being pitied.

She was the one that pitied herself.

If she fell, Maris would pick her up as if nothing had happened. If she spilled anything, she would help clean it up in silence. If Valda asked to be left alone, she never left. She would stand in silence until called upon.

And then, there were her hands. The softness of Maris's skin was always welcome. As much as Valda wanted to hide it, whenever the young woman helped her change, and ran her fingers through her hair, Valda would lean into her touch, smell her scent.

Maris smelled like sand and ocean. Like the shores of one of the many islands of Agenor back in the Sea Kingdom. Valda hadn't been there a lot when she was younger, but she could remember how the burning sun felt different on her skin.

She had imagined many times what she looked like. All she knew was that she had blue hair, small, soft hands, and a sweet yet firm voice.

And as much as she didn't want to admit it, she liked having her near. Even if she was throwing a fit, she liked knowing that all she had to do was call Maris and she would come, and calm the raging storm, and for that, Valda was more than grateful.

She would be lying if she didn't say she wanted to explore Maris, to touch her and feel her, make a picture in her head of what she looked like. But if she did, she would just validate what Maris already knew, that she enjoyed taking the help to bed. She did want to take Maris to bed. Having sex with her would definitely make her think of something other than her blindness, but rolling around in the sheets with Maris, using her as she would use any other chambermaid sounded… wrong.

Her little seashell didn't deserve to be used and tossed away. For her patience alone, she deserved better. She enjoyed their talks. Maris made her want to get up in the morning, literally obligating her to get up and go about her day.

If it weren't for Maris, Valda would probably stay in bed all day.

That would've been an excellent idea for today, Valda thought as she fell to the ground, ignoring the guards' snickering and laughing around her. To Maris's displeasure, Valda had asked the men to train with her. Now, as she lay on the floor, maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

Maris stood far away, watching the "training" unfold.

The only reason she agreed to go out to the training grounds was to see if she managed to come across Arwin. The man was nowhere to be seen since Valda's incident. Granted, Maris had only had contact with the outside word through Melvian and the guards by Valda's door, she thought she would find him in the castle's corridors and halls. Trying to keep her eyes away from Valda proved to be difficult, especially when she was petrified the princess would get hurt…again.

Luckily Cerberus accompanied them when they left the room. Her quiet presence was somehow comforting, as if Maris wasn't the only one suffering at what was unraveling before her. At first, she told the princess to reconsider, the training was out of the question, but of course she simply got an earful of how she was getting in the way of her wellbeing, and that "she needed to train to get back on her feet". Whatever that meant. Maris thought she was already on her feet. Tartarus, she was already standing up and getting ready to make a fool of herself.

Maris sighed, rubbed her temples, and closed her eyes. "How can you stand her? Really? She is so hardheaded!"

Cerberus licked her whiskers, then her front paw, and cleaned her ear.

"Used to seeing her act like this?" Maris asked, sitting next to Cerberus and petting her behind the ear. The cat closed her eyes and purred. "Can you go and bite her?"

Another heavy grunt made Maris turn just in time to watch Valda fall on her back. Clouds of dust formed around her while the guard "training" with her laughed and wiped his brow. Maris eyed him sternly. She could so easily grab a rock and smash his head open, but she shouldn't. Valda was training and she was the audience.

The princess scrambled to her feet again and ran her fingers through her hair. She patted her clothing, as more sandy dust flowed out of her. "I need a weapon!"

Maris sighed again, her head falling. "Your Highness…" Before Maris could voice her discomfort, a male guard grabbed a wooden baton and pressed it to Valda's open palm.

Valda held the weapon firmly, with her eyes closed, she took a more defensive stance. Slowly, she waved the baton around, as if she was holding a sword and getting the feel of its weight. Within seconds, the expertise Maris had only heard about surfaced as Valda twirled the baton with subtle swiftness of her wrist. The baton spun rapidly, forming circles as Valda rotated her body with remarkable proficiency. Valda was made to hold a sword, she was made for battle, she was made to kill and destroy, and as she turned and spun the baton, she smacked the wooden weapon across an unsuspected guard's face.

Maris gasped and jumped back in shock. She wasn't expecting that. She wasn't expecting Valda to hit anything at all. The guard writhed in pain, holding his face as droplets of blood trickled from between his hands. Another guard pulled him aside and when he moved his hands away, Maris winced at the sight of his broken nose oozing more blood.

Smirking, she rested the baton on her right shoulder. Valda taunted the other guards, with a wave of her hand.

A third guard charged at her, yelling at the top of his lungs. Valda turned her face in his direction, dodging his attack and thrusting her baton into his ribcage. The sound of bone cracking did not affect Valda, but Maris's hands went to her own chest grimacing.

The guard moved back as a fourth one tiptoed towards Valda. The princess's defensive stance didn't falter as she focused on what was happening around her. Maris stared unapologetically. She watched the tall woman's labored breathing, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Glistening droplets of sweat ran down her temples, neck, the straining muscles of her thighs and arms. Maris was so enthralled that she didn't notice the fourth guard about to attack the princess.

Four versus one wasn't fair, and even less so when Valda wasn't able to see. As the guard lifted his baton to hit Valda, Maris yelled, "Behind you!"

Valda grunted, pushing the baton back and hitting the guard's crotch with the blunt and round end. Maris chuckled as the man grabbed between his leg, dropped his weapon and fell back. Valda squared her shoulders before throwing the baton to the ground and fixing her hair.

"Don't get cocky," Valda said, turning her chin high.

Cerberus meowed, pulled away from Maris to rub herself against Valda's pants.

"Are we done?" Maris asked, standing up and walking to Valda, ignoring the groaning men surrounding them.

Valda nodded at Maris's question and smirked. "Yes. I think that was a good start, don't you think?"

"I think you shouldn't be straining yourself. You need to rest."

"I've rested enough," Valda muttered.

Maris shrugged. In part, it was true, Valda hadn't left her chamber for weeks, and although she clearly regained her strength and energy, she was still getting used to not seeing.

"I can feel you are tense."

"Are your guards always so enthusiastic about training you and beating you up?"

"It is an honor to train with the High Commander of the Skylian army."

"They were ecstatic about hurting you."

"I can't see their body language. You can. I think they were just happy to be participating in such training," Valda said, squeezing Maris's shoulder. "I can take care of myself, Maris."

Sighing, Maris patted Valda's hand to get her attention while Cerberus ran in front of them, waving her puffy tail from side to side. "What now? Do you want to get something to eat? Sit down and relax?" She hoped the princess would say yes. She needed to keep her out of trouble.

"I want to go out. To Ophelia Plaza."

"Now?" Maris tensed again, and Valda chuckled.

"Yes, but I understand it wouldn't be prudent."

That was an understatement. There were so many things she didn't like about the idea. The first one being that the princess was blind, and if her own guards wanted to make a joke out of her, Maris didn't want to imagine what would happen when ordinary citizens knew about Valda. The second one being Maris hated being outside and surrounded by people. The constant antisocial behavior from her parents had rubbed off on her. She would rather stay indoors than go out.

"I don't think you should just yet." Valda's hand on her shoulder tightened. She knew Valda itched to do more, to go back to normal, but she needed to be patient and wait to heal.

"I wish to be among my people."

"Is that wise?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, would it be wise for you to be out and about the castle, with no protection and mingling?"

"I serve and protect my people. They protect me too."

Maris tutted and shook her head. "You trust too much…"

"And you trust too little. I haven't been given a reason not to trust them. They loved my father, adore my mother, and they love me too." Valda nodded.

"I cannot tell you what to do, Princess. If you wish to roam about, we could. I do wish I could take a guard with us, though."

"No guards."

Maris frowned and raised an eyebrow at Valda. "No guards?"

"Did I stutter?"

Maris opened her mouth before being interrupted by one of the many castle maids. Kayden was in the castle and had requested to see Valda.

Maris tensed. Kayden was back in the castle but the queen wasn't? Did something happen? Turning her gaze to Valda, the princess's facial expression dim with worry. She wouldn't say it out loud, but Maris had grown to detect the subtle changes in Valda's demeanor, and knew when something was wrong.

Tightening her hold, Valda quietly asked to take her back to her room, while Maris did as she was told.

As they arrived inside the room, Kayden acknowledged them with a warm and open smile. He was sitting on the large sofa in the living area. The red-headed nodded his head as Maris walked in with Valda. She moved to give Valda space to sit down, but Kayden grabbed hold of Valda's wrist and eyed Maris cautiously.

"I got her. Thank you," Kayden said, with no room to argue or for Maris to say otherwise.

Maris gave Valda a quick look before silently stepping away to stand close to the sleeping section of the chamber, giving them enough space to speak without feeling like she was eavesdropping.Next to her, Cerberus sat on her hind legs, her ears back, her yellow eyes wide. It seemed the animal was as restless as she was.

Kayden turned his clear blue eyes to meet hers, his face void of his usual happy grin. Instead, dark circles cut deep into his handsome face. His upper lip twitched as he moved to grab hold of Valda's hand. He slipped from his chair, kneeling before Valda, cradling the back of her head with his other hand and pressing their foreheads intimately close.

A rush of jealousy broke through Maris. She couldn't explain why she wanted to push Kayden off Valda. Something inside of her stirred with anger. Her hands curled into fists as she watched their interaction.

"Kayden…" Valda whispered, grabbing hold of his face and pulling him off her. "What happened, where is my mother?"

The man's lip quivered. He inhaled deeply but before he could exhale Valda pushed him away. "Don't. Don't use your powers on me!"

Maris pondered if she should intervene. It seemed they were about to fight, but Kayden didn't waiver. He leaned back, grabbed Valda's hands and cleared his throat.

"I received your letter and I found it… odd."

Valda frowned. "Why?"

"As we were leaving for Harmonia. I waited for your mother on my ship. Instead, I received a message from her, saying that I should go on without her since she needed to leave some things set here in the Sky Kingdom before she could join me. I made it to Harmonia, but I found it curious that your mother never arrived…"

Maris's eyes widened.

"What do you mean she never arrived?" Valda asked.

"My dear friend, my sister…" Kayden whispered. "I need you to be as strong as you are...and more," Kayden said, swallowing an upcoming sob that Valda was not able to see, but Maris noticed from far away as she was.

Everyone in the room except Kayden jumped at the sudden hard knocks upon the chamber door. Maris didn't waste a second to open it, only to see one of the many guards of the castle, red-faced and holding in his emotions to no avail. He bowed low before walking inside the room.

Maris could see that he was holding back, that he was the bearer of news that he didn't want to hold possession of. Before she could ask him to spit it out, the guard's cry slipped free.

"Princess Valda, we need you at the throne room immediately."

Maris's heart dropped.

"Something happened to the queen."

Pure ice ran down Valda's back. Her entire world was muffled with an amalgamation of words, sensations. She couldn't breathe. A ringing in her ears drowned out by the pounding beating of her heart. Stumbling on Cerberus, hearing her yowl didn't stop her. She opened the door and ran outside, pressing her palm to the wall as she ran to the throne room.

Kayden's steps closed behind her, and even when he asked her to slow down, she didn't. Her breathing was labored, tears brimmed in the corners of her eyes as she stumbled to the ground. Kayden moved behind her, and as her emotions fluctuated, she knew well he was trying to ease her worries. But she wouldn't have that.

Something happened to the queen. The words dawned on her like an ancient memory that was repeating itself. This time she wasn't a child, she was grown, and she understood everything just fine. She didn't need anyone to sugarcoat what might happen.

"Valda!"

"No!" She snarled, almost like a caged animal. As she felt her way, she finally touched wooden doors, and with the little strength she had left, she pushed them apart. All sense of self flew out of her as she stumbled onto the marbled floor.

Her knees hit the ground hard, and she knew she would be bruised later, but that didn't stop her from crawling to the middle of the room. Halfway there. Kayden managed to pull her up, squeeze his chest to her taut back, holding her firmly. "Valda, please."

"Mom!" Valda cried like a lost child. Her open eyes moved about, searching in the darkness that enveloped her. When she didn't hear anyone answer, she fell to her knees again and sobbed. She knew… She felt it… Her mother was gone.

Yet she stood with Kayden's help. She moved forward until she bent over a stoned table, slamming into her midriff, knocking the air out of her. She stopped herself from falling over, only to feel a body lying before her.

"Momma…" Valda whispered, her hands trailed over the face of a corpse, touching the cold skin and rigid features. She felt shoulders, arms, and hands, which were neatly folded on her lower stomach. "No. No, no, no, no! What happened?" she asked to no response. "What happened!" she screamed, turning to face whoever was beside her, around her, in the room.

"I was contacted by Vulcan Hagan."

The King of the Vulcan Kingdom.Why was Kayden contacted by them? What did her mother have to do with him?

"Your mother was found dead on arrival on the royal ship."

Valda's eyes widened. "What? But? How? That doesn't make any sense! She was going to Harmonia with you!" Valda bellowed, her voice thundering in the throne room.

"It is true, Valda."

Valda winced, as Arwin's voice joined in. She turned to where she thought he was, the sound of his heavy boots echoed inside the throne room before feeling his heavy hands on her shoulders. "I was summoned by Vulcan. I arrived and took her home…"

"But how! Why was she even there?"

"I don't know, Valda. But know this."

His calloused hand cradled her face and wiped away the tears that spilled. "Whoever did this will pay the consequences."

"This is an act of war," Valda snarled, tearing her face away and turning to Kayden. "There will be blood. Friend or foe, I will spill their blood." Valda whispered, her trembling hands cupping her mother's face before she leaned forward and pressed her sweaty forehead with the corpse's cold one. "I will avenge you; I will have the head of whoever did this to you. I swear it, Mother."

A hand clutched her wrist and pulled her away. Strong arms enveloped as a rugged bearded face pressed to hers. "My girl, I am so sorry," Arwin began, cradling Valda's head on his shoulder and squeezing her to him. "But as I said many years ago, I will take care of you. I will not let you do this alone. You must rest. I will start the preparations for your coronation."

Valda tensed. Coronation? Me? Queen of the Sky Kingdom? "No. No, wait. It's too fast. We can't just—"She slipped from the embrace, her hand moving to touch the cold corpse next to her. It was too soon. Too fast. too much all at once. Panic set in her stomach and chest, she could barely breathe as she thought about wearing her mother's crown. It was preposterous! She couldn't rule, not like this! She envisioned herself ruling when she was well in her fifties, maybe forties, never this young!

"The Sky Kingdom must have a Queen," Arwin whispered. "You are the next in line."

"I… I can't do this, Arwin."

"Go, leave everything to me," Arwin said, still touching her forearm. "Kayden, take her to her room."

Kayden's steps sauntered closer, and just as Arwin released her, Kayden touched her waist. "Let's go."

"I can't– I can't leave her here. She needs to—"

"She will be taken care of, Valda. The only thing you must worry about is yourself. You need to rest."

Valda nodded, lost inside her own mind and darkness. She was pulled away, ushered through the long hall until she was in her room again. The smell of the ocean hit her at full force, calming her nerves somewhat. Or was it Kayden? She heard Maris ask what had happened. Kayden answered truthfully. Hearing it made it worse. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. The wind died down around her, tired, quiet, useless.

"Princess?" Maris's voice sounded just as tired as she felt, yet the pang of sweetness was enough for the wind inside of Valda to pick up again. "Let's get you to bed."