Royally F**cked

XXI: Vīgintī ūnus

Though shrouded in appearance they were no less intimidating. A handful of cloaked men and women positioned in obscure, in sight and yet out of sight positions across the Vespertine Kingdom. Tonight was the summer solstice. A time in which everyone, commoner, royal or anyone in between flooded the streets to celebrate.

It was perfect. They were happy, they were joyous and they were distracted.

Vulnerable. And under orders from someone higher up. The Swans attacked.

--

It was surprisingly fun, milling about and doing a fat load of nothing. Lavinia was a doer, adjusted to the busy life on the farm. The early hours and ever growing tasks that seemed to come from no where was ingrained into her body to the very bone. She had to do something at all times. In a way it was a distraction, from her own thoughts or something worse she wasn't sure.

But right now, watching the colourful performers draped in long scarfs of twinkling silk, dance. It was nice. This whole thing was nice. "Hey," Delvin called out, his voice muffled by something. Lavinia glanced up, eyebrows raised in question. Only to find the Prince stuffing his face with chicken squeers. The man was clearly very hungry today.

He shrugged his shoulders handing over a collection of skewers to her. Gingerly she took them, looking them over before giving him a sceptical glance. "Hmmmph?" Delvin spat out what suspiciously sounded like a 'what?', mouth full of chicken.

He swallowed exaggeratedly, blinking hard when it got caught in his throat. Lavinia snorted in amusement, taking a large bite out of one of her skewers. It took a minute to fully hit her, before her mouth erupted in pain. It was her turn to start choking.

"What the hell is this?" She questioned, blinking back tears. "How are you eating so much?". Watching him swallow another without even so much as flinching. "Where did you even get them?". The Prince shrugged once again as Lavinia passed her own back to him. They were far too spicy for her liking.

It took a few minutes for her mouth to finally settle from the stinging, and not without a few jerring comments from Delvin. From the corners of her eye, Lavinia caught sight of the bright illuminous flowers. Forever Flowers. They were the epitome of romance, in her opinion and the childish part of her had always wanted to be given one. It was a silly hope.

"They're fake, you know." Delvin said, peering over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. Of course the man would ruin her mood. The Prince looked down at her in question, scrunching his face up in consideration. And then, almost imperceptibly his eyes softened. It was a little jarring not seeing his usual crystal blue eyes, yet somehow he managed to pull off his new look.

She much preferred the original though.

"They're just a gimmick, made with magic at the tower. I can show you the real ones sometime. They're far more rare." He boasted, bending down to whisper besides her. Goosebumps rippled across her skin as she felt his breathe skin her cheek. She nudged him jokingly, like his very presence wasn't affecting her. 

It was.

"You're ruining the magic." Lavinia laughed, her smile creasing the corners of her dark brown eyes. His eyebrows raised like he genuinely didn't understand what she was saying.

"How can I ruin the magic? It's literally is just magic." Delvin deadpanned, casually placing a hand on her shoulder. She elbowed him harder this time, causing him to grunt in surprise. Slyly, he reached down to her hip and she felt something russel before she bashed him back off.

Lavinia swivelled round on her feet, hands on her hips in some semblance of annoyance. It was just a part of the game she and Delvin played. He'd tease her and she would act fed up only causing him to tease her more. She secretly liked it this way, she pushed, he pulled. 

Lavinia opened up her mouth to quip something back, but before the words could even leave her throat, her eardrums burst at the sound of multiple explosions. A burning sensation travelled up the back of her spine, and the smell of charcoal and flesh filled her lungs.

The last thing she saw was Delvin, no longer in disguise, arms held out wide and long, magic seeping out of his fingertips like strings. His arms though. His arms were coated with ice. The final thought just as she collapsed on the floor was of him.

'Just run, you stupid Prince.'

-----

Delvins heart raced beyond his control, making a unsteady rhythm in his ears and throat. Magic flooded through his body, in time with every pulse of blood his body made. He was everywhere all at once, and yet no where in time.

Several explosions had been set off in all corners of the city. His magic strung across all areas the minute he heard them go off. He was pulling himself thin, exhausting all and every part of himself in return of trying to control the flames.

His magic smothered the flames, coating them with ice, crackling and hissing as it did so. But it was largely too late. The damage had been done, through his magic he could see all areas across the city where the explosions went off. House's had been levelled, people were coming up from the rubble with their skin melting off their faces like wax.

Children were crying, and parents, friends and family were scrambling to find their loved ones somewhere among the chaos.

But worst off all, he couldn't hear Lavinia. Why couldn't he hear Lavinia?

With his sight in so many places at once, Delvin couldn't see what was in front, behind or anywhere near his body. With his spirit split in so many pieces, and across so many places Delvin could neither see or feel a thing.

Was she okay? Were they okay?

The magic wathered, ice soothing the flames began to waver, in time with his thoughts. His tight control faltered for one moment and it was one moment too late. He couldn't afford to lose it right now. Even he, as the Master of the magic tower, had his limits.

With a returned gusto, he pushed himself to smoother the remaining flames across the city. He couldn't remove the rubble, he couldn't rebuild the fallen buildings or revive the dead, but at least he could make sure that no more of his people would get hurt.

Gently the ice took over the fires, civilians standing in awe of what he'd done. A wave of exhaustion flooded through his soul, settling home in his bones. As the fires died, so did his magic. In bits and pieces his soul returned to his body.

It felt like hours before he could open his eyes again. No longer in seven places all at once, he'd returned to his normal body. A part of him wished he hadn't.

At first all he could feel was the cold cobble touching his cheek. Clearly he'd either fainted with exhaustion or been knocked down. When he squinted his eyes open, he felt more than saw the ice crumbling around his hands. It wasn't unusual for his magic to take form on his body.

But then, when he really started to come to, he saw black hair. And a bloody back. Her clothes had melted into her skin, her chest only moving slightly. Delvin scrambled towards her, slipping on his icy hands as he crawled forward. The Forever Flower he'd secretly slipped into her pocket, lay by her side, charred and broken.

"Lavinia?" 

----

Authors Note :

Hiii guys. I know its been a hell of a long time since the last update, unfortuanetly ive been really busy. And when i mean busy i mean busy af. Also my laptop broke so i havent been able to write. That being said ill be returning to a normal update schedule! Thank you  so much for all your patience. I really do appreciate all of you!

If you liked it let me know! 

Thanks again and lots of love, 

Sam.E