Ever After (The Prince and the Pretender)

Meanwhile

Chapter 8: Meanwhile

Southern Turret, Castle of Gilead

Everet's eyes welled with tears as she watched her brother walk towards the rose garden in his lose royal jacket, lunch basket in hand.

His progress was something the Gileadite physicians called a medical miracle. It has been almost five weeks since Georgette came destroying the eastern turret windows and feeding him outrageous food proportions and the Princess never would have thought that she would see her brother walking again. But as she watched the Prince from the southern turret, she noticed the increasing loneliness that has been in Kyron's eyes since the nurse left about three weeks ago.

The Princess's brows diverged in worry. What must have taken Georgette too long? Everet knew personally that it only takes five days to travel to Azura and another five days back. What if she's had trouble along the way? What if the black bandits have gotten her? What if harpies have taken her? Her mind was filled with negativity and she was smart enough to shake them off. Worrying never solves anything.

An idea suddenly popped into her head. All Kyron needs is a friend about his age to keep him company. Now who in the castle is seventeen year sold? She raked her brain for a name but there was none. Now she had a range: sixteen to nineteen. Well Henrik is nineteen, but Kyron hates Henrik's guts. All my friends are older than twenty except for... Finally, she has found her brother a friend.

Though Everet knows everything about her beloved brother, she never knew he had a few friends whom he rarely sees during the days that he was still well. Kyron hating Henrik is a fact but she had never known of their escapades outside the borders with their friends years ago.

Princess Valentine of Viking Valley is known as Princess Runaway. Since she was eight years old, all of Viking Valley would be worried about her disappearance. It started with a few hours of disappearance until it became days. Month by month this would happen that the people in her Castle and even the Vikings in the Valley had already gotten used to this. Now that she's sixteen she would disappear for weeks but because of her father's unstopping roaring rants about her safety, she would bring with her a staff. Complete with a nurse, a butler, two carriage drivers, a knight and her trusty falcon. Once a week, she would write a letter to her family ensuring that she's still alive and telling stories about her quests.

Now that she has been spending already three weeks in Gilead, she thought of places she wanted to go next. She would love to visit the famous Azurian waterfalls again, or bring home some of those flying contraptions from the Korahite villages. She smiled at the thought of her four year old brother. Surely Asher would love them. She stood up with a mind set on her itinerary as always. "To Kora and back home." She declared to her team of six, including Ezbon the Falcon.

"Not saying goodbye as usual, Valentine?" Everet hid a smile, ready for one of Valentine's monologues about where her heart tells her to go.

"Well, this time, I am." Valentine straightened her back to face her dear friend. "As much as I want to stay in your Kingdom Everet, I am in grave need to go back to mine. But of course I still have to visit Kora to buy my brother a flying contraption for his fourth birthday which is the same as mine. And as my bossy of a father would rarely plead, I have to spend my birthdays in the castle so the people of Viking Valley would know I am still the responsible acting crown Princess and future Queen. And that I'm still alive." Her reason wasn't one of the usual, Everet thought.

"When exactly is yours and your brother's birthday?" Everet asked, knowing that there's a tiny lie somewhere in the Viking Princess's theatrical monologue.