Myth Angst Drabble?

Myth angst drabble?

This… became a monster…

And I am not even sure that it counts as Angst. Or is still a drabble. Is something of this size still a drabble?

Despite everyplan made in his mind and prepared in the real world, Myth couldn’t helphimself from searching the princess out after he finally managed to secure aposition inside the palace, barely three months after the rebellion. Even a waybetter position than he had previously hoped to ever achieve, looking at his visiblyyoung age. But then people seemed to have difficulties to really place his ageand he highly doubted that the king would have intentionally put enough trustinto a barely twenty-year-old to name him adviser.

But here hewas, wandering the hallways openly again, the glamour keeping people fromrecognizing him and no (literally) cursed traitor around to educate themotherwise. He would have loved to fell the betrayer, but the onslaught of multipleopponents had been… problematic. Even with the queen being the Bearer, theother side had help by a Bearer as well. At least no one of the opponents hadever learned the value of a good poison or a sneak attack. Well, if they had,he would have more than a few barely healed wounds and still hurting scars.

Well, he wasalive and already working on implementing the return of the queen by being inthe palace and guarding the Crystallum. It wouldn’t do if someone stumbled overit after all. A pity, he couldn’t move it somewhere else.

As it was,gossip around the maids told him quickly where to go. They were pretty keen onavoiding the teen, who was actively sad about the supposed demise of her mother,and exchanged information whenever the princess moved somewhere else.

The gardensweren’t a bad place for introductions. The weather was nice and the royalgardens were beautiful enough that taking a look at them as a newcomer wouldn’tbe too out of place.

She was… surprisinglysmall.

Myth blinkedin surprise at seeing her. Well, she was in her teens and still growing and itwasn’t as if had ever been close to her, so gauging her size had never been onhis mind. But she was looking quite small regarding how scared the servantswere of her, curled up onto herself, looking at a bunch of blooming roses, hiddenby a few hedges.

Knees pulled upto her chin wasn’t quite proper either, especially with her sitting on a bench,but then, who was he to judge? It had taken him a few days to just scratchtogether the will to move through the pain of being wounded and all alone againand he knew the queen was alive, ifnot breathing at the moment.

Maybe he hadmade some kind of noise he wasn’t aware of, but suddenly the girl turned aroundand looked at him, just for a moment a startled expression on her face, beforeit all cut off from her face, promptly jerking into a more proper position.

“Goodafternoon, your Highness. I am Mythros. I just joined your father’s court,” hecalmly introduced himself, bowing and choosing not to comment on what he had justseen.

The princessgave him a cold look. “If father wants something from me, he can tell me sohimself,” she replied coolly.

Well, look atthat. Looked like the king’s ‘disfavour’ for his daughter wasn’t just extravagatedrumours. He kept his smile in place. “Oh, I didn’t speak with him today, yet. Ijust saw you here and thought introductions were in order. I am going to spend most of my time in thepalace after all,” he said, keeping his voice light and body posture untense,to not project any indication of aggression. People could be set off by thestrangest things and there was no reason to agitate her.

There was ashort bout of silence, while she continued to focus him with a cold look fullof scrutiny. Healthy outlook. She didn’t know him after all and he had justintroduced himself as a member of her father’s political court.

“You justintroduced himself. What else do you want?” she finally asked, “No one is stayinglonger than they have to.” Oh really? “Quite rude of them,” he commentedlightly, “Etiquette dedicates to at least bid someone goodbye before leaving.Especially after introductions. Social rules would indicate to wait for beingdischarged, if there is no business to attend to.” And promptly made a point ofnot bidding his goodbyes, still smiling.

The confusionflickering over her face was honest and quickly smothered under self-control. Almostcute how she glared at him. Almost like her mother, but that was like comparinga kitten to a full-grown tiger. And she hadn’t access to her claws yet.

“And you’reoh so nice,” she skewered him with aneven colder look, “Are you really going stand there until I tell you to leave?”Her voice dripped with disbelieve.

Myth decidedon a gamble.

“Your mother wasquite thorough to impress the proper behaviour into me, so I wouldn’t be an embarrassment,if she ever chose to introduce me to court herself.”

The princesshad turned to look at the roses again. At his words, her head whipped aroundback to him.

“You… knewmother?” there was something strange in her voice and it suddenly occurred toMyth that with Waltz gone from the picture, the king distant and the servantsterrified, there would have been no one at all willing to get close to her.

“She was myteacher. When I was a bit younger than you know, she took a look at me anddecided that I was worth some of her time,” he replied, making sure to keep hisvoice calm and even. There was no reason to agitate her. No reason to scare hereither. And if he was the one to tell her, when everyone else was so insistenton keeping her ignorant…

The princessfrowned. “A teacher for what? What was mother teaching you, that she couldn’tjust hand over to others?”

Stepping abit closer, so the hedges would completely hide him from view of servants passingby, Myth laid a hand onto the stone restricting the water of a fountain. Asmall push and glittering ice started to spread in patterns, stretching awayfrom his hand and reaching the water, creating a glittering sheet of ice.

“Your mother,princess, was teaching me magic.”

Oh, how easyit had been in the end, to gain her trust. And he didn’t need to weave lies either!Just wording the information carefully.

“Oh, yes, therehad been another apprentice, but he ran off, no idea, where he is.”

And it wasall the king’s fault! It would have been so much more difficult, if he couldsee past hair colour and talk withhis daughter.

As it was, hedid not, kept his distance, eyes sad, but also fearful and when he finally gotover himself, worry joined the fear, etching itself into his face with frownsand heavy thoughts, because -oh the surprise- his daughter did not miraculouslyforget him ignoring her very existence for months without end.

On anothermatter, Myth had managed to establish himself in court, starting to slip hisown twist of things into decisions made or not made. It was ridiculous how trustingthe king was towards him. Did the man even remember that a year ago some ofthese people had haggled with the queen and he hadn’t even been here for a fullyear?

Or maybe itsimply never occurred to him that people may have taken advantage of the queen’srule to further their own power. If he was informed right, the late king hadn’tallowed the monarch much involvement before his death. The man had waited witharranging a ball for his son until the back then Crown Prince was twenty! Twoyears after reaching majority!

Well, heshould count himself lucky that the man was more inexperienced than incompetent.But some of the noises in court regarding the princess… Some wanted her in somefar away estate and for the king to remarry for a ‘proper’ heir. Just his luckthat the king was still pinning after his ‘true love’. No risk there then fornow.

Something theprincess asked most for when they were alone (mostly hidden by the hedges ofthe gardens) were displays of magic.

Myth obliged,because a familiarity with magic wasn’t a bad thing for the future Bearer. Itwouldn’t do for her to be scared of her own skills.

Small sculpturesof ice, all sharp edges and pointy ends, glittering in the sun light. Thornyvines grabbing a tree trunk as if choking the live out of it and crumbling toashes, leaving deep gorges in the bark. Mist rolling together into forms foolingthe mind, by looking similar to forms that may trick the eyes…

It was precious how fascinated she was byeverything. How she lit up at the spark of magics, eager to see more. And itwas their secret.

Theirs alone.

There wouldbe no problem resurrecting his queen, it seemed.

Hell knew,what Alcaster was trying to pull by assigning a guard do to the princess.Especially his own son. Not that there was any doubt about the young man’sskills, but a father assigning his own son to spend time around the crownprincess?

Please, whydidn’t the man put up placates proclaiming his intentions of playing matchmaker?

Fritzgeraldwas… friendly. Genuinely so. It was baffling.

He was alsodutiful and just as easy to drive off like holding a bone and trying to driveaway a starved dog.

He was alsopolite and almost impossible to ditch, despite the princess being known for notleaving the palace.

The new presencehad the side effect his familiarity with the princess being ‘discovered’.

Not that theyhad tried to hide it. They just…tended to visit the gardens at the same time and weren’t even hiding that. Whenpeople were too blind to pay attention that wasn’t their fault.

But no oneseemed to know what to make from it, especially the king, who suddenly gotsmacked into his face that -yes- his daughter was willing to spend time with atleast one living person. It had also had the consequence that he was promptlydelegated to be the go between to the man and his daughter.

Oh, how blindthe man was… Myth wondered what his face would be like, when he learned of thefull story behind everything.

There was apainting of the queen in the hallway. It was surprising that no one had takenit down, yet, but maybe the king simply didn’t want to explain to his daughter thereasons for that.

As it was,the cold green eyes looked down at him and he found himself wondering. Whatwould be his reward in the end? She had promised to reward him…

He took inthe way he hair fell into her face and framed it and how her eyes werecuttingly cold.

“It’s apretty painting, isn’t it?” the princess asked next to him and he turned tolook at her, watching her hair move in a breeze trailing through the hallway. Goldeneyes turned to him, looking at him -and only him, wasn’t that strange?- and hesmiled. “Yes. It’s really a good sight,” he told the just sixteen-year-old,taking in how her lips twitched for a moment, as if she was fighting back a smile.

How curious…was that really due to him?

Court wasalways moving. Someone gained money, lost it, gained favour, fortune, influenceand wasted it on lies and pretending to be saints.

Always movingit was not always clear, who was sending which messenger, but the messengers alwaysknew who they needed to talk to and how. And in this case beyond closed doors.

A quite luckycase for him, he noted, taking in the mangled body and how the blood had splattered.His self-control seemed to have loosened. He hadn’t even taken the time for properinterrogations. Myth pondered how to best dispose of the remains, beforedeciding to move the parts closer together and keep the door looked via magicuntil dusk. Some empty bottles of fine a bit too close to the fireplace, justnext to the body and there shouldn’t be too many questions.

And while thecould go and run around trying to identify the man, he would have the time tolook into who may be stupid enough to think he could be pressured or bribed intoharming his precious princess. That wouldn’t do at all.

The palacewas still reeling from the fire and the dead body weeks later, when the kingannounced the newest hair-raising decision.

Myth ponderedwhat to do for a few days. The king knewhe had found the right woman, a widow now herself, with children of her own.

Arranging anaccident now would be… high profile, even with magic.

The girl hadno place in court, open and cheery and way too easily manipulated. The nobleswouldn’t like her, but love her easy to control mindset. Show her one personhurt by a law and she would forget how the laws befitted the wider population.But the peasants would love her…

The boy was almostlaughable easy to deal with. Myth wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. Huntingthe witch down that cursed him gave him somany juicy details he promptly proceeded to share with his princess. Encroachingonto her space permanently, just toimpress one little peasant girl? They would never be friends…

Well, he couldstill arrange for something, if it proved necessary. Too many deaths closetogether would be suspicious…

The weddingwas a grand thing, like any official royal event.

The bride waseven pretty nice to look at.

The CrownPrincess was sixteen, growing into her body and looking just as breath taking,dress carefully tailored to not outshine the bride.

Emelaigne wasnot even looking half as regal, no matter how pretty her dress was. But then,her tutor for etiquette had met a very… unfortunate end by falling down astaircase (not that anyone had told the girl that) and as such there had beenno one to instruct her on proper behaviour. As such, she chattered away with noblegirls her age, not even noticing or knowing how much of an embarrassment shewas.

She didn’t evenhave the self-control to at least pretend to not be trying to look atFritzgerald whenever possible.

Well, it wasn’tas if he had much room to talk there, he could admit that much to himself. Hestill made sure to get a good look at the king’s face when the man saw himdancing with his daughter, twirling her around skilfully to the music among theother couples, revelling in the way how he got to hold her close.

It was a deliciouslook. The man almost stumbled over his own feet. Pity, that the other nobleshad been too dumbfounded by the sight of the ice princess dancing, to catch sightof the scene.

And the kingdidn’t want to make a scene at his own wedding and let it be.

A few moremonths passed and a new routine slowly settled in with the new addition to thepalace life. Myth wasn’t that enthusiastic about it. The new princess was stubbornlytrying to befriend her stepsister and seemed to have decided that he was theperfect person to get information about what she liked.

How to tell achatterbox that a person liked quiet company…

Pity that shewasn’t the mute one. Her brother knew at least some manners.

But then shewas so dense and naive, that the nobles weren’t really keen on her becoming crownprincess at all anymore, no matter how easily influenced she was. Just as well.Kept him from needing to get rid of more people, to keep the coast clear for hisprincess. No need to let rivalries fester after all.

As it was,they would need to live with their meetings getting interrupted by Fritz, whowas still set on the fact that she needed protection inside the palace, Emelaigne,who tried to befriend them and Fritz at the same time, and Rod, who wastrailing after his sister.

Myth reallydidn’t like how they intruded onto his time with his princess. She was his. Even if the queen would never allowit…

Strange, howhe hadn’t thought about her in some time…

His princess becameseventeen and the king, encouraged by his daughter suffering through thecompany of the new family members, tried to involve himself again by throwingher a party.

Myth took noteof the different young male nobles attending, strutting around like peacock,decked out in fancy clothing and made their introductions.

Mentally hestarted making a list, adding a name whenever eyes trailed lower than hisprincess face.

Death… wouldbe too attention grabbing. The list was getting too long for that. But a brush with death? Just a scare and a fewscars? No one died, no attention…

And maybe afew rumours about whores, illegal doings and a few other things… there wasalways some dirt to dig up.

Well, outsideof the guy daring to push himself into her personal space like that, afterhaving the gall to get drunk halfway through.

He rescuedhis princess from the trash and made sure that he was looked up in a room faraway from the festivities.

The kiss shestole from him just before retiring for the night was… surprising. Elating.

…Addicting.

She was his. And his alone!

The screamswhen the maids found a mangled body in the kennels of the hunting dogs was musicto his ears.

The king wasat least not completely blind, going from the looks the man threw him when hethought Myth wasn’t noticing it.

Thoughtfuland worried at the same time the man seemed to weight something.

Weeks passedwith the man not doing anything at all and truthfully, Myth was not sure, whatto do, if the man proved problematic. It was difficult to dispose of a king,especially of one well liked. Startling his horse during his parades would beeasy enough, but that wouldn’t ensure that he fell and broke his neck.

And the mankept doing nothing! Not even talking to anyone!

The eighteenthbirthday slowly crawled closer and Myth was… not sure what to feel.

The princesshad learned about what her mother been years ago -also about the possibility offreeing her- but they had never really talked about her role in the war. AndMyth really liked the kisses andhaving attention all to himself…

And then onemorning he woke up and his precious princess was gone!

Gone from him,from the palace and no one was remembering her!

He didn’tcount the worried looks he got thrown, tearing through the hallway without talkingto anyone before settling in the garden where they normally met.

Only Fritzand Emelaigne were there.

That wouldn’tdo.

Someone was going to suffer.

Days passed. Weeks passed and he couldn’t find her!

It wasdifficult enough to control himself, when people called Emelaigne crownprincess. The ball was an insult in itself and he made sure, to dispose of thenew tutor as well, just like the second one got caught up in an unfortunateaccident. The third one was left alone, but it had been calming to let some ofthe pressure bleed of.

And thenthere was suddenly a red headed maid with Emelaigne at the garden space and Mythhad been so surprised by it andEmelaigne -sweet, obvious, naive Emelaigne- had been surprised and ecstaticthat the two knew each other.

Myth took inthe wide-eyed look of the prince and knew he couldn’t allow the boy to leavethe palace with this information. Tragic, but accidents happen.

Well… hesurvived the fall from the staircase. Keeping him from waking up then.Everything else would be too obvious.

The drama ofthe accident was -ironically- enough to push the ball closer, people pushing tofurther the line of succession with only Emelaigne left and no other alternatives.

The girl was slowlybreaking under the pressure, but that wasn’t his problem. Emelaigne occupied bythe preparations allowed him more time with his princess, who told him allabout what happened.

The LucisBearer, Delora and the traitor thought, they could lay hand on his princess?

Time to… dealwith them.

With care.

The ballhappened a week before Lucette’s eighteenth birthday and Alcaster proved to bethe person trying to wrench the throne from the rightful bloodline.

Myth slippedaway with Lucette, her father stubbornly trying to do the ‘right thing’ and ‘honour’.

A week of hiding,of being alone with her and all the sinful pleasures he got her to give in to…

He wouldn’tgive that up. Not even for his queen.

And, oh, hissweet princess agreed… and she would be queen one day as well. He should startcalling her by the title.

Time to adjustplans even further.

Mind runninghigh, Myth started ‘leaking’ information.

On the dawningof her eighteenth birthday they sneaked into the secret passage to where theCrystallum was hiding.

Oh, if his princessknew of all the things he had arranged.

He madehimself scarce during the freeing and made sure that every other pawn wouldmeet their timely end.

Hildyr dealt withAlcaster quickly enough, three hours into her resurrection, not even sparing aglance at her late husband beheaded in front of the throne, whose blood wasfresh enough that the beheading was quite recent.

Alcaster musthave thought that would endear him to his queen.

The queenstruck Alcaster down, just in time for Delora, the other Bearer and the traitorto turn up -the later still cursed to his delight- and he made a show ofstepping out of the shadows and taking the glamour of, letting them shout andflail and magic clash- and fail.

He wanted tolaugh at the sight of their faces crumble when they noticed.

The witchdown and fading, the fairy dying as well and the traitor staring at him, redeyes wide and terrified and trying to scramble away from him in fear, when hestepped closer.

When he wasthe only one alive, Myth made his next move.

Hildyr neversaw the icicle killing her.

And Waltzdidn’t get to ask questions about anything either.

Looking atthe mess the throne room was, Myth let out a sight. There was a clean-upnecessary.

But first hewould need to look for his princess.

The coronationto place three weeks after her birthday, her face impassive and stoic.

Myth smiled,standing right next to her, not having bothered to reapply the glamour, throwingpeople in for a loop.

Emelaigne wasclinging to Fritz and her mother, the woman looking pale, eyes empty. No dangerfrom there.

Rod had fadedaway just before the birthday; his curse having caught up with him.

There were afew people coming out of the woodwork already, trying to gain favours. Well, atleast the prince of Brugundia was easy to deal with. One broken curse for animproved political connection was good enough, especially with the recenttumult in the politics.

Well, at leastthe nobles couldn’t haunt his queen about the line of succession.

Not thatanyone had dared to comment, when the first orders for the preparations of a weddinghad gone out.