A Throne Amongst the Stars

Libertas

[A/N: Hello my lovely readers! Here is the next chapter for you all! I hope you're enjoying the new story so far and the playlist that goes along with it. I'm very excited to share this chapter with you all! I love you all and hope you enjoy! -K 🖤]

[🌌This chapter is long, contains slight swearing, and angst.🌌]
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"Here you are, Your Majesty." Verum bowed before entering my private chambers, curtsying respectively. She delicately situated a glass teacup next to my cushioned chair as I glanced mindlessly out of the window. From her apron she removed a handkerchief with small candies wrapped safely inside.

Ever since I was a young girl, Verum knew that the quickest and most successful method of calming my anxieties was to introduce sweets, that had been snuck from the kitchen, to distract my from my fears. I was forever grateful to her innate awareness of my obscured feelings that I didn't reveal to most people.

I smiled thankfully, having been brought out of a moment of disassociation. Since my father had revealed to me the rising tensions and perilous events occurring in the farther galaxies the day before, I couldn't help but feel worried and overwhelmed about our involvement with the predicament between the First Order and the Resistance.

"Thank you, Verum." I quietly responded, looking down to my easel that displayed my most recent painting from the evening before. Blues, purples, and distant blues were vibrantly enunciating the multitudinous constellations. The same face invaded my dreams once again, and I found myself once again, subconsciously adding his portrait amongst my shining stars.

These visions, dreams, annoying clips of something I wished not to see, were becoming more pervasive as I neared my 24th birthday. I closed my eyes and sighed, grabbing the edge of the canvas and turning it away from me and opposite of everyone's view.

Seeing those eyes that I had never actually gazed into, stare back at me from my starry night only solidified my fear that my monotonous routine was being interrupted by forces unseen.

"Your Highness," Verum cleared her throat and nervously wrung her hands with her apron, "Is everything alright?" She questioned, seeing how abnormal I was behaving. She was well aware that something was amiss, as I hadn't left my room to join my parents for breakfast.

Normally, I would be cheery and blissful, attempting to brighten the moods of everyone I came into contact with, although they were all the same faces within the castle, every day.

It was a challenge to remain happy on a planet known for its destructive properties.

"Yes, Verum." I nodded, holding my rose-colored dress in order to approach her. "Could you please help me with my hair?" I asked, resting in the cushioned chair she had placed the glass cup beside on a small oval table.

"Of course, Your Majesty. How would you prefer it today?" Verum collected the hair supplies from a trunk small trunk beneath my large and extravagant bed that I had already made. As a matter of fact, it was still made from the day previous, as I dared not to sleep.

An important factor of Interitus' culture was, strangely enough, hair. The people of ages before believed that the longer and more voluptuous the hair, the stronger the connection to one's powerful ancestors.

For the men, long hair was ascribed to the fiercest of warriors. Every successful battle meant one was forbidden to cut their hair, and with every loss, the men had to cut their hair and begin again. It was easy to distinguish the more victorious warriors from those who weren't. Ancient inscriptions still existed where portraits had been drawn of warriors with their hair wrapped several times around their head, signifying they had never lost a battle. They were the most feared and respected generals that ever existed on Interitus.