A Heart of Stone

The rose garden

His silver fork twirled in the air, Jay stared at it, intently as if expecting something. Despite the catastrophic event, the chefs were able to make the royals food in return for letting them stay in the castle. If they were with their families in the village they would have been hurt and homeless. 

"Jay where were you, me and your father scoured the whole tower! We thought you were dead!" The Queen cried, her stormy eyes glassy as if she was going to cry again.

Jay looked over to his father, who was sitting professionally as always, he nodded gravely. Jay didn't expect his father would look for him yet a crippling feeling still made him feel like his father didn't care about him, he cared about his heir. 

"Where were you?" Jay snapped.

Caitrin winced at his tone. "We hid under the table in the dining room upstairs, the fire had almost gotten us!" She exclaimed, smiling over at the King, who smiled quickly and went back to his dinner. 

Jay witnessed this and frowned he looked down at his plate. His mother and father loved each other, even if his father didn't love him. Jay sometimes wondered if he even cared about him. Jay shook his head, if he didn't feel love maybe he instead felt the disappointment more. Jay glared over at his father, or maybe he wasn't imagining it. 

Maybe,

Jay gulped. 

His father didn't care about him.

The king noticed Jay looking at him and glared. "Mind your manors, Jason." He spat, getting up from his chair and leaving the room.

The Queen sat happily, as if not noticing her husbands hostile tone. 

"Mother..." Jay hesitated. 

Caitrin looked up at him, smiling brightly. 

Jay gulped. "What happened, today?" He asked, looking for an honest answer. 

"An attack, we think from Zhura." She replied, her eyes dimmed at the mention.

An attack? That wasn't possible. Those weren't arrows, it was fire. 

"That can't be, I saw it! Those weren't arrows-"

His mothers eyes narrowed. "Arrows." She put firmly.

Jay blinked, and his mothers glare was gone, replaced my her normal jolly smile. "I am gonna go tend to my roses, Jay, would you like to come with me?" She asked. 

He had never seen his mother like that before, she tended to love the traditional mother personality with a fake smile. 

Jay was reminded by the girl Alys's smug grin, he remembered her indigo hair and black dress in the rose garden, he remembered her kindness, and charm. 

"The rose garden by chance?" He asked. 

Caitrin blinked, he had never showed any interest in her before and always said no when she proposed she go with him. She quickly smiled again. "Why, yes." 

"I think I would like to go." Jay proposed. 

The Queen smiled. "I would like that." 

Caitrin got up from her chair and walked to the door, her white gown trailing behind her, she turned around a looked at Jay. "Aren't you coming?" She asked.  

Jay walked over with her, through the halls into the rose garden, leaving his father alone in the dining room. 

The roses were destroyed, leaving a giant dirt patch. 

Jay looked over at his mother, who was smiling sadly. "I knew it would get destroyed, but I thought, maybe..." She gulped, trying to hold in tears. 

Despite his mothers tears, Jay held no interest in the moment, all he could think about was one thing. He looked around, but there was no Alys. He sighed in disappointed. 

Jay took his mothers hand and hugged her, he wondered if it even mattered to her, what was the point of a hug if the person who is hugging you can't feel it, can't feel love. 

To Jays surprise, his mother hugged him back, embracing him tightly. Reminding him how terrible he was at hugging and comforting people. 

"Your going to be a great king." His mother whispered in his ear. 

As his mother hugged him, his eyes looked way into the woods and saw a figure in the forest, wearing black, and had long hair in two braids. 

Jays eyes widened. 

Alys?

Jay pushed away from his mother, he ran after the figure, who went into the woods. His mother called from behind him. "Jason!" She yelled, reaching her arm out. 

"I will be back!" Jay yelled, looking back to his mother as he ran. 

As he entered the haunting dark woods, he slid in the mud into the grass. He looked up with tall black trees twisting and down at the green blue grass, fire flies flew around everywhere, and the trees roots were so big he would've tripped over them. 

Jay quickly got up, he started running dodging branches and jumping over roots not taking the time to admire the scene. As he turned the corner, the figure was gone. But something shined in the grace, like a piece of silver. He walked up to the point and bent over. 

The figure had forgotten something though, a necklace. 

With the name Morgan carved in it.