Chapter 63: Chapter Sixty-three: Damien’s Story III: A petal in a cup of wine.
"Catch me if you can!"
"Na-uh! We have to hurry home to mama!" Damien reached forward and grabbed his older brother who was just about to sprint again by the arm.
"Come on. It’s only dusk. We can get home sooner if we double our speed. Let’s explore the forest some more!" Cassian whined to Damien, trying to pull him after him. But Damien wasn’t having that.
"No brother. Mama will get really worried and upset with us and so will father. We have to go now."
Cassian squeezed his face hard. He yanked his hand from his brother’s and gave him a small, harmless push then proceeded towards home. Damien followed quietly behind him. He knew he wasn’t happy with it, but he had no choice. He didn’t want to make her worried or scared again like they had.
Once they reached home, Jene who had been outside the whole time, literally flipped when she saw them.
"Oh there you are your highness! What happened to your clothes?! Why are you so dirty!"
"Dirty?!" Cassian yelled at her. He wasn’t going to take it.
"How dare you! I shall have my mother fire you, you hear me?"
Jene just smiled cheekily at him. "And I’ll tell her you just returned home now,hmm."
Cassian looked at her astonished. He was about to say retort when Damien clasped a hand over his mouth.
"We’re sorry for the trouble we caused you. We’ll go prepare and get down for breakfast before mother finds out."
With that, he grabbed his brother again and made for their room which was at the far end of the massive building.
Jene, a non-royal blood, followed them. Non-royal bloods didn’t have the ability of the royals. Jumping, sprinting, hopping were traits all vampires carried but the royals had a more profound degree of it.
The only sharp difference between the two species is that one requires a massive amount of blood to survive yearly while the other can go days even years without it as long as they had a stable food supply. If that were to happen to a royal blood, he stands the chance to have his blood corrupted or lose a huge chunk of his abilities especially if it had been over a decade since they’d had blood.
"And where are you two rascals coming from?" Mirenelle said chuckling as she walked into their rooms. They had just gotten out of the bath and were about to be dressed when she walked in.
"Mother!" the two boys cried out happily, rushing the her and flinging themselves into her arms. Mira cuddled them and planted a kiss on their heads both which made them giggle. They always liked it when she gave them kisses and would sometimes argue for who got the more.
"Did you have fun stressing the servants again?" she asked amusedly, flashing them a knowing look. Cassian, unable to think of anything to say, jumped on her again and kissed her cheeks.
"I love you mama!" he squealed boyishly. Mira laughed so hard she sat down from her kneeling position on the floor. She took him in her arms and walked towards one of the beds.
"Oh you cheeky, little rat! You always drag your brother with you into trouble!"
"I do not mother!" he squealed from her laps in his defense. He got up and ran towards Damien who was still in his small towel where they had left him.
Cassian took his arm and walked towards their mother who just sat there with her arms folded over her chest. Sometimes, she wondered what her life would be if she hadn’t had them. Seeing them everyday was enough blessing already.
"Tell her brother. We had fun today didn’t we?"
"Yes mama, we did."
"See!" Cassian cried.
"Oh! Alright, alright then I believe you." she said, not wanting to argue with them anymore. Once it was with Cassian, she was never going to win. She walked towards their shared closet and the two immediately got the message. They followed her with a small stool to help her stand on to get their clothes.
More often than not, she would walk in on them when they were about to be bathed or dressed by the maids. She loved doing it so much and would have loved to make it her full time job but then again, she was the Queen and had her own responsibilities.
"I want the green one mother. Brother, you’d like green too right?" Cassian asked Damien who was trying to keep his towel from falling off his waist.
"Sure. Let’s wear the same clothes today."
"But darling, you wear the same clothes on any other day. Why not choose something different?" Mira said lovingly.
But Damien shook his head. "I’ll wear what my brother wears."
Cassian, overjoyed, linked his arm with Damien and started tickling him. The two leapt to the bed, rolling over each other to dominate the ’tickle halftime’ as they called it. Mira took the clothes, closed the closet and walked to the bed.
"Why don’t we get dressed first, hmm?"
"Ok mama." they answered, coming to stand before her for oil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time they got downstairs, the King was already seated. Normally, any king who experienced that would punish both the queen and the children for disrespecting him. But Alexandria saw differently.
Instead of getting angry, he got up and opened his arms wide. Damien and Cassian ran towards him and he carried them up. The two loved it whenever their father swung them sideways and would giggle, asking for more even after a while of doing it.
"I see you’ve troubled your mother again, haven’t you?" Alexandria asked, setting them down on their chairs and pecking their heads softly. He walked over to Mirenelle, kissed her hand and drew out the chair for her but he gave her a small kiss on the lips instead.
Mira chuckled at his actions. This man was as shameless as anything. The food was immediately brought in by the servants as the family settled into their seats.
"Father, father. Damien and I explored the forest. We’ve gotten very good at jumping lately you know." Cassian said with a full mouth.
Mira took out a napkin, dabbing his mouth with it. "Don’t talk with your mouth full love. You’ll choke." she said softly.
Alexandria frowned a little."You went to the forest?"
Damien pinched Cassian’s knee under the table. "Ouch!" he cried out and pinched him back.
"You just told father where we went!" Damien said harshly.
Cassian’s face fell immediately. He just ratted them out.
The two boys got out of their seats then stood in front of their father. "We’re sorry." they said in unison with their heads bowed.
Alexandria rested his head on his knuckles as he stared at them with a smile. He glanced over to his wife who was trying to contain her laughter and smiled the more.
He then hardened his face at them. He loved his children to no end but still had to issue correction when necessary.
"That was very irresponsible of you two_"
"But father, we were so tired of playing in the same place everyday, so...so we tried a new place..."
The servants standing at the end of the dining hall exchanged looks. That was the first and last person to ever cut in while the king was speaking.
Damien pinched him again and he stopped talking.
Alexandria sighed heavily. He knew his wife wouldn’t like him to punish either of them even if they were wrong. This was hard...
"Alright then." he finally said after a while of thinking. "You’ll both spend the rest of this week with your tutors, learning history and next week with your teachers learning archery and swordsmanship."
Oh no! No way!
"But father! Our history books are a million pages long!" Cassian cried out, unable to accept it.
"And the bows sting our fingers whenever we learn archery!" Damien said in support of his brother’s whining. He was never one to express his emotions but this was too much.
Alexandria looked shocked at both of them but quickly hid it. "That’s what you get for being naughty. Now finish you dinner and go upstairs." he said with an air of finality.
Even with their punishment, the two boys still chatted away during dinner. Mira had to constantly remind them not to speak with their mouth full but they didn’t listen.
Eventually, she gave up.
A month later~~
Mira had just returned from her meeting and was relaxing by the fountain when her sons came running to her. Her face instantly lit up from the gloomy expression that clouded it. Lately, she had been noticing strange things that always scared her.
"Mama, mama see! We got a perfect score in our lessons. See! I got a higher one than Damien this time!"
Mira smiled as she took the thin booklets from their tiny hands.
"This is wonderful Damien! I see you’ve improved greatly in archery too even when you complain about it." Damien’s face brightened at her compliment. A shy blush crept up his face and he quickly buried it in her laps.
Cassian looked up at his mother, expecting her to praise him too. "Mama. I—I also did well...di-didn’t I? he stammered out.
Mira flipped through his own booklet. "Of course you did my love." she said, pinching his cheeks lightly.
The queen stretched out her hands and the boys placed theirs on it. "Come now. Let’s freshen up. We’re attending a royal banquet at another kingdom this evening."
"Oh gee! A royal banquet." Damien exclaimed then a confused expression settled on his face.
"What’s that mama?"
"It’s a huge occasion where fancy, rich people attend."
"That’s right dear. Which means we have to look extra fancier ok?"
"Mm!"
"And that means no playing around..." she drawled.
"...or getting messy. Or else I won’t take you."
"We promise to be well behaved at all times mama!" they echoed excitedly.
"Oh you precious... cotton balls!" she squealed, running her hands through their heads. They were too cute and innocent for their own good. She was always so proud to call them her sons whenever a visiting personnel asked about them.
That evening, the queen was informed by the butler that the King still hadn’t returned from his outing with the other council members.
"Oh...well, did he say when he’ll be back?" Mira asked quietly, closing the door so the kids wouldn’t hear her.
"His majesty requests that your grace and the princes go before him."
Mira looked slightly confused. He always told her whenever he went out. Even if he didn’t, he wasn’t supposed to be away for so long.
"Alright then. Please prepare the carriage."
"As you wish, your grace."
Mira watched as the elderly butler walked away. This was so unlike him.
"Please be alright..."