The King (Vikklan AU)

* 52 *

~*Solace*~

I stare at the contract in my hand with wide eyes before folding it up and returning it to the bag and looking around for if anyone could be watching. Assassinate Lady Zandra... The idea causes my stomach to churn. Yes, I hate that Seto barely even glances in my direction, but he's happy with her. I'd much rather he be happy with her. I take a shaky deep breath before closing my eyes. Wojcik may not want to play games, but life doesn't always want to give you what you want. A smirk grows on my face with the thought. "I accept your contract, Wojcik," I whisper to myself in the Imperial language, "but you didn't pay attention to the fact that I've never valued my life over that of the future."

"Are you alright, Master Solace?" A kitchen servant questions, walking to my side from the end of the hall. Perfect person to see. Illiterate, and good at following orders.

"I want you to burn this," I state, holding the emperor's reward bag out toward her. "Take the money if you wish, I have no need for it, but everything else must be destroyed. Don't tell anyone about what this is, or where you got it from. If I find out that you didn't follow my orders, our next meeting will not end pleasantly for you." Her eyes widen with fear and she nods quickly before taking the bag from my hand. Without any further questions, she races away, leaving me to stand alone with my thoughts once more. An heir to the Minecraftian throne will be born. Notch, when I die, I do not wish to go to the afterlife. I do not belong there with the number of sins I've committed. Instead... I wish to protect Minecraftia's future heir after my death. I'd be able to serve a better purpose then.

~*Ayris*~

Kai is a strange man. His unpredictability and dramatic mood swings would cause any normal person to reconsider his company, but I find it comforting that he isn't stone-faced and stoic like the rest of my guards. He shows his emotions. Maybe all Minecraftians are more open about showing their emotions, and the islands are just behind the times...

Like usual...

"Your highness," Kai's steady voice draws me out of my thoughts. "We should return you to the palace before anyone begins to question where you are." Return me to the palace?

"I don't think I want to be in an area filled with potential spies." The thought of me accidentally revealing Kai's secret to a spy causes me to shiver and hug myself tightly.

"There's always the risk of an enemy being around you wherever you go, Ayris." Kai's voice is gentle as he speaks. "You just need to be careful about what you say and how you act. If you look like you're suspicious of something, they'll grow suspicious that you know you're being spied on." He taps the tip of my nose with his finger before holding his hand out toward me. "But if you truly insist on not returning to the palace tonight, do you have any other safe location that you can go to? I can't leave you here alone, especially after you got your foot caught in those vines."

I feel my face flush with embarrassment at his words before playfully hitting his hand away. "I'm perfectly capable of navigating these jungles by myself, thank you very much," I state with a huff. "My parents' house is located on the northern side of Zion Isle. It's in a fairly small and secluded village that most tourists and non-Island Native people have never heard of." As I talk about my home, I begin to walk in the direction of the Zion bridge; the place I had my first legitimate conversation with Kai.

"If you're from a village like that, how did you meet Queen Sei'eah?" Kai questions, falling into step beside me.

I smile at his question. "The royal family used to spend their vacations there. I met Sei'eah while my brother and I were out playing on the beach my village was next to. Her father asked if we would let her play with us."

"A king asked a small child if his daughter could play with them?"

"Yes," I state, looking over at him curiously. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, no! I just find it cute that he did that." He flashes me a reassuring smile before continuing. "It's not often that a Minecraftian adult, let alone a king, would ask a child for permission to let their child play. I've always found the cultural differences between Minecraftia and the Island Nation fascinating. I would love to just sit here and talk about how different our childhoods were for the rest of my life if I could." I feel my face heat up and my heart race at his comments. The rest of his life?

"What's stopping you?" I mentally kick myself as soon as I ask that question. You don't ask a spy personal questions like that, Ayris...

Kai chuckles softly before flashing me a sad smile. "Laws and contracts, Ayris. Laws and contracts."

"Is that it? Just some stupid Minecraftian laws that don't apply on my lands?" I let out a small laugh. "If that's really the case, I might have to call the Minecraftian kings to change that." Kai's eyes widen before he looks away from me quickly. Good job, Ayris. You just insulted this guy's kingdom.

I open my mouth to apologize to him, but just as I'm about to speak he raises a hand to his ear and speaks quickly in Minecraftian before clicking his tongue and turning back to me. "They don't apply here, right?"

"I'm positive that-"

Before I could finish what I was going to say, Kai pulls me into an unexpected embrace; resting his forehead against mine in the process. It's a guarantee that my face is bright red, and my racing heart is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. He speaks softly in Minecraftian, brushing one of my loose curls behind my ear before resting his hand on my cheek. His foreign speech continues, and, as he finishes, his hands cup my face and his warm brown eyes meet mine. After what seemed like an eternity of gazing into his beautiful eyes, he finally speaks in a language I understand. "Why do you do this to me?" He finally asks, not moving from our current position.

"Why do I do what?" I ask, reaching up and touching one of his hands with my own.

Kai sighs softly before closing his eyes and gently bumping his forehead against mine. "Dork," he murmurs softly, stepping away from me and holding a hand out to me once more. "Shall we head to Zion now?"

"Y-yeah!" I stutter, still confused about what just happened, and take his hand in my own. "That sounds like a good idea." Kai smiles at my words and we continue walking toward my village. My face still burning from our encounter. What was that about?
________________________
Sry I didn't update last week!
I was under a lot of stress...

But in other news:
November starts soon, and that means two things:
NaNoWriMo
And Mickey-Kenzie's birthday

If I'm late to update during the month of November, the reason is bc I'm focusing on the NaNoWriMo challenge (writing 50,000 words to a novel within one month).

Just thought you should be updated about that!
😁