Love Through War

C h a p t e r T w o

Keefe's POV.

It was hard being the only child of the two leaders of the Neverseen Clan. It was hard to have all that pressure placed on your shoulders.

He had always wanted siblings, preferably a older one, one that wanted to be leader of the clan and would make mom and dad proud.

But no, Keefe was an only child and the only heir to the Neverseen.
Keefe knew he was a disappointment to his parents and the clan, because he didn't want to be a leader or a war hero. He just wanted to have a normal life.
He didn't try to be perfect or try to make his parents proud of him, in fact, he persisted to make their lives terrible.
Because he knew they could never except the real Keefe, they would never want to know the real Keefe.
And that was their loss.

Keefe skipped another flat rock across the lake.
13 skips. That was a new record.
Keefe came to the lake whenever he wanted to be alone. He would draw or skip rocks or swim. It relaxed him.
But if he didn't want to go the lake and needed to loosen up, he would prank his parents or his bodyguard that they'd had assigned to him. Even though he insisted he didn't need protection.

"Still pouting?" Keefe heard a familiar voice say.

Keefe jumped when he heard the voice and the rock he was skipping sunk before it reached two skips.
He turned around to find his best friend Marella Redek.
Marella and Keefe grew up together and Keefe always thought of their relationship as something like two siblings would have.
Marella dreamed of one day becoming a war general against the Blackswan.
Their parents knew each other and Marella's dad, who went by Trix, was one of his parents strongest allies.

"I'm not pouting," Keefe told her.

"Really?" Marella asked and sat down on one of the large boulders next to the lake. "Cause you only come here when you feel like sulking or being crabbing."

Keefe sighed with a smile. She knew him well.
"Fine. Maybe I was feeling a little sulky."

"Because Lord and Lady Snootypants wanted you  attended that war meeting?" She asked.

Keefe laughed at the nicknames she'd made up from his parents and sat on a boulder next to her.
"You know I don't like sitting through those stupid meetings, and this one wasn't even about something important."

"I knew it!" Marella cheered. "Good thing you have me, I have just the thing to cheer you up."

"Oh yeah?" Keefe asked with raised eyebrows. "What's that?"

Marella smiled wickedly and pulled a white envelope out of the pocket of her wrinkled tunic.
"This!" She announced and handed it to him.

For once, Keefe was at a loss for words. "That's a invitation to the Swan Ball! How did you get it?"

"I have my ways," she answered with a shrug. "You've been so weird these past days, sulking around. You haven't pranked your parents in weeks! So I figured you could use a little fun. And what's more fun then laughing at little swans as they dance! You know we're better dancers."

"Wow," Keefe said. "Thanks, Mare. Your sure you don't want it?"

Marella scrunched up her nose at the nickname. "I told you to stop calling me that! And yes, I'm sure. Large social events aren't my thing. Neither is hanging around stuffy Swans."

Keefe smirked. "But 'Mare' suits you so well! Thanks again, now all I have to do is sneak out without my parents noticing. Shouldn't be hard."

Marella smiled and stood from the boulder. "See you later then," she said started walking out of the lake's clearing. "Enjoy your ball!"

When his friend disappeared from view, Keefe opened the envelope to read the letter.

𝑇𝑜 𝑉𝑖𝑘𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑘𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑒𝑘𝑠,
𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑅𝑢𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑆𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑤𝑎𝑛 𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑑'𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑙.
𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒~ 𝐸𝑑𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑅𝑢𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑛.

Also inside the envelope was the invitation, with the date and time.

Keefe folded the letter back up and placed in inside the envelope and set it on the boulder.

Should he go to this ball? Would they be able to tell he wasn't apart of the Blackswan Clan? Would he even enjoy it?
These questions raced through Keefe's mind as he stood from the boulder and walked toward the lakeshore.
This might finally be his chance to see what life is like outside of his clan. And Marella was right, it would be fun to laugh at the Swans's probably sucky dancing skills.

But it more then that. More then just wanting to see outside his clan.
He couldn't explain, but he felt the need to be there, to see those people.

Keefe picked up the envelope and tucked it safely away in his boot.
He started walking toward his house, already make plans to sneak out.

-

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲! 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗿!
𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮'𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝘅, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴!
~𝗧