Chains That Bind

Chapter 3

"King Tom", greeted a certain king of Mewni.

Tom bowed slightly, "King River."

"Oh stop that, King Tom just call me River."

"Then please, call me Tom."

The two were at the Butterfly royal garden. Or what's left of it. Majority of the plants were crushed to the point of almost resembling dust, however, some survived. But just barely. A shame too. It was almost the season when the roses would bloom in Mewni.

"So, have you made the decision?"

Tom tossed the paper at the smaller king's hands. "Yeah. I thought about it. And I agree with the late Queen Moon. I'm sorry for your loss."

River held back his tears once more, "thank you. And I'm sorry for yours. Your parents were one of our great friends."

Not totally true, but Tom didn't bother on telling him that.

The paper on River's hand was a marriage proposal between King Tom of the Underworld and Princess Star Butterfly of Mewni. King River and Queen Moon would have preferred to give gold or jewelries, or even recourses, but mostly all of them were given to aid in the battle. With all that gone, they had no other choice but to surrender their most precious gem- their daughter.

Tom looked around the castle. A tower or two were destroyed but aside from that, noting else seemed to broken. From across one of the broken towers was a view of the royal graveyard.

"Have you informed her about Queen Moon?"

"No, the High Council and I agreed that Star would become emotionally unstable. With half the wand with her, it would end in a disaster!" River cried.

Tom inwardly agreed. Knowing Star, she would probably and most likely storm out of the castle without a plan and randomly blast every monster that she finds. It would be idiotic and suicide, especially with Toffee on the loose.

But still. Star has the right to know what happened to her mother. It would hurt her more that they kept this from her. The longer she finds out, the harder the impact. Tom looked at the sky.

In a matter of days, Star would be called back to Mewni, crowned Queen, marry him and aid in defense while he would aid in offense. Tom would have preferred if Star didn't fight at all, but he knew that she would have none of it.

"Still, she deserves to know the truth."

"I'm well aware. Just, in the right time."

Silence surrounded them for a while. But both Kings didn't mind. They wanted to take a moment to breath. In just a short span of weeks, their lives had changed drastically. And being rulers means that they had no time to take a moment to get use to the change. A whole kingdom is on their shoulders and thousands, millions! Lives of people are depending on them.

"Why don't we go inside? It's almost time for lunch after all. Today, we'll be serving cornacue !" River said with false enthusiasm. Changing the subject was never easy on him. That's why Moon was always the one doing the talking. But sadly, she wasn't there to help him.

Tom pondered over the invite. Cornacue was Queen Moon's favorite if he recalled. The Queen was always seen eating that particular food with delight that could have resembled a child. And they way River was acting, it was a no brainer.

"Cornacue? That sounds delightful. But I have to get back, there's an event going on in the Underworld for the newbie demons and I have to be there to supervise. You know how young demons get when they aren't watched out for."