Chương 46: Side Story: Niathe And Nolan

Tale as old as time. Niathe gritted her teeth. Meanwhile in the Palace.

"I've had enough of his tantrums. Enough moth—your majesty." Niathe dropped into a slight curtsy ever the picture of royal etiquette.

"You shall cease this talk immediately. He is your brother!" Illyria stalked back and forth.

"And I am your daughter! Rain is your daughter! Ria is your granddaughter! Do you know what happened today?! She awoke. She reached enlightenment. She was bestowed a gift from our great mother and instead of supporting her through one of the most important events of her life. I am here wasting my time on a sick dog that needs to be put down!" A slap rang throughout the office and the guards outside held their breath. It was silent for a pregnant moment before hurried heavy footsteps made their way towards the door.

A heeled foot kicked open the doors etiquette be damned and the guards scattered to get out of her way. The Princess was on a warpath again. Illyria's remorseful and pained shout echoed off the Palace walls.

"Nia wait. I didn't–You can't say that about your brother!" The Queen called out from inside but Niathe was long gone and marching towards the imperial stain himself. Her eyes were bloodshot but she refused to shed a single tear on that waste. Blood collected towards her cheek and she ignored it. Instead, she raised her chin and held it all in her chest. The breath she refused to release. The despair and disappointment. She was a bonafide Princess of a kingdom that had been in existence since the dawn of fae.

A slap was not enough to deprive her of her arrogance. Arrogance she had earned on the battlefield, as a foreign emissary, as a hostage for other nations to exploit. I've earned everything I have gained and lost almost everything I deserved. Just for her to tell me off and order me around while her snake sneers at me from his perch. An entire life spent in service to this damn crown. Niathe fumed and tore off the metal wreath encased in jewels from her head. In this life, I have endured so much for you.

But the way she just looked at me. Miseria's face came to mind. Teary frightful eyes that were just begging for just a bit of affection… trust … The very impossible notion that for once I would choose her over this crown. And I disappointed her. I did it to her. The same way she had done it to me all those years ago when she was fresh and naive. All of that inner turmoil borne of yearning cooled to freezing temperatures and was hidden in the depths of her pools of crimson and violet.

All that was left was indifference. Hurt that I had given her of my own free will. For you. Her frenzied pace came to a halt as she stood in front of his chaotic quarters. The bastard had thrown all of his servants into a tizzy with his latest attempt. Niathe picked up her gown and calmly stepped into the courtyard. Her heels clicked purposefully to inform them of her presence. Shouts came from inside his bedroom and a cruel smile emerged on her face. The last time. This will be the last time she promised herself.

Azrian was already inside once she had shoved aside a few trembling servants. Shouting at the manchild to forget his relentless pursuit of damnation.

"Mad. You are absolutely mad! Why? Just tell us why brother?! This is ludicrous and childish! If you've lost it—Do it! I dare you!" Azrian spat out her ugly words and threw a sword at the hastily created noose. It barely nicked it a testament to her prowess and embedded itself in the wall behind him. Hanging from the ceiling was cardinal red fabric imported from Eammon as a tribute. Expensive fucking fabric worth more than a house. And it's being used to create a noose.

An expensive noose for an expensive royal neck.

"Who put a chandelier in here?" Niathe's menacing voice broke the tension swirling in the room like a glass hurricane into pieces. The room went deathly quiet. Both of their heads snapped towards the door. Hiding in the shadows. When her question went unanswered by both of her siblings she stepped into the room fully. Clad in a gown meant only for a Sovereign Princess. A honor bestowed on her and her alone. Dark flowing black cloth embroidered with her military feats glowed even in the darkness of the room.

Her uneven breaths betrayed her rigid posture and deceptively kind smile. Niathe was burning with the burden of it. This entire family is my burden. Weighing on her like rocks and dragging her below the water to drown in its depravity. What sin did I commit in a past life to deserve this? The mysterious Prince—never before seen by the public slowly loosened his tight grip on the makeshift noose. His gaze darted between his sisters in an impish manner completely undeserving of his crown. Laughable.

"A disgrace." He grew smaller at my words and stepped off the chair he had placed underneath of his own volition. I might just let him swing a bit for causing this much trouble. More than a century old and still... You never change. None of them will do. Not in a century and certainly not now.

"Throwing a tantrum and disgracing yourself. Trampling the Royal Family's dignity beneath your feet. Initiating a hunger strike. Attempting to harm yourself…" She laughs because it is so funny. How easily he'll get away with it again. With being flawed. Troubled. Sickly. Had she ever been afforded such a luxury? Excuses.

"You seem quite hearty to me." Niathe kicks over an empty goblet sending it rolling along the carpet. He flinches and I allow myself to examine him. He really is starving himself. It looks like a murder occurred here but that must just be wasted blood. A hunger strike? A fucking joke if you ask me. Incompetent. Every single one of the people I just passed is fucking fired. If he doesn't want to eat shove it down his throat it's not that hard. Especially when he's weak like this.

"Sister—""Shut up." Niathe glares at him and lets him feel her hate. Teetering on the edge of explosion. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"And what about you?" She turns to her older sister. The legitimate heir to the throne. The golden child that will bring about another era of prosperity to this great country. I gesture to the floor and our soft meek gerbil of a brother.

"That is the result of your efforts. That's all? You have been arguing with this nitwit. For the past two days. And this is all that you have accomplished." Azrian lowered her eyes in shame and opened her mouth to say an excuse. One that no one was interested in hearing. Because truly… we all know what we know. And saving his life has never been in her best interests. It's all so fucking tiring now. Niathe laughed quietly to herself. The lies. The circles we've been running in. I feel it now.

I feel myself getting older at my age. I'm dying slowly as we speak. I have too many responsibilities now. People. One little person. A sassy feral child that needs me. No matter how much she refuses to admit it. She grows too quick and I'm still struggling to catch up or ever understand her. The burn of jealousy climbs up her throat. Not like the golden boy.

"Nolan." Nolan raises his head to look at his younger sister. Who wasn't quite so young anymore. Her face had matured plenty enough to show someone wise beyond her fifty-something years easily. Deep soul-stirring eyes showed him a dispirited reflection. A joke of a man teetering on the abyss. For no one reason. Shame and self-loathing rose in him again like an ugly beast. That's all it takes nowadays. One look into someone else's eyes and he's hurtling towards self-destruction.

She snarls without an ounce of patience in her voice." Nolan. Ultimately I have grown tired—Stop it. Look at me when I'm speaking to you." He raises his head again and shifts uncomfortably on his feet. His long black fringe shades his glowing amethyst eyes. Pale opal skin that can barely hide his protruding bones contorts with pain and sadness. He's a shell of himself. Barely hiding the pain that's hiding in him. Pain that he won't share. All of the days in which he laughed.

Sat at the table with his family and threw food at one another like savages. Ran away from the Palace in clothes stolen from a page boy. All of those brief shining moments… feel so far away. Shrouded in the sands of time.

"Look at me." He draws his eyes up to hers. Smoldering with the intensity of someone burning alive. For a sin, he has been ordered not to name.

"I cannot be here anymore. I am a mother now." She pauses and collects herself.

"To a little girl." A single tear runs down her face at the implication and the unspoken passes between them. She had been a mother well before Ria but she had nothing but memories to show for it now. He whimpers like it hurts him too. He had heard of both children. He had also seen the ruin left in the wake of the loss of that boy. And it remains one of his deepest regrets to this day. The girl. Niathe resumes the topic and ignores the tear,"She just awakened today. With a gift."

His eyes widened and he smiled in shock. Azrian flinched but no one pried attention to her. A gift? So young, he thought. It feels like she was just born yesterday.

"Is she teething yet?" His own teeth had grown in early around this age. Early bloomers are often a hereditary trait. And it's usually a sign that they're about to turn. I bet she'll give us all a run for our money when the time comes. She sighs."Yes. Just today. Do you know where she is right now?" Confused he shook his head no. Niathe informed him.

"She's on a carriage. With Erichean—" Azrian made an ugly face and stepped back in horror.

"Nia!" Nolan trembled before his eyes turned completely black. He snarled with poison dripping in his voice.

"Have you lost your mind?! That boy is—" She shouted back.

"I know what he is! I had no choice. Because instead of accompanying her into the belly of the beast. I am here. Playing games with you! And I cannot do it anymore brother! Look at me! This is it. I am going to give you one more chance brother. One! Come with me today or stay here and rot while everyone watches and waits for you to fall!" Her chest heaved with the unsettling prospect. The thought of seeing Nolan like that. Vacant eyes. Sunken in cheeks. But I cannot waver this time, it has to be done.

We can't keep seesawing between the two. Life and the beyond. This has to end. He has to choose. Grow up. Or be left behind. A honeyed voice spoke admonishingly from the doorway.

"Niathe—" She roared without looking."Quiet dog!" Illyria gasped.

"Niathe!" Niathe replied without looking." You too." Choose. Nolan gazed into her eyes and hunched forward. He couldn't say no. He could never truly say no to Nia. For one she was usually right about everything. But he didn't want to say yes either. For so long his only choice had been to hide from it. The shame. One way or another. But now. He knew if he went with his sister he wouldn't be allowed to do so any longer. Everything would be different.

There would be no hiding in his chambers, drinking himself into oblivion, or starving himself in penance. He'd have to live. And that terrified him.

"Well?

"..." Niathe continues changing the subject.

"She asks about you and everyone else. So curious. So focused on family ties." She throws a beaded bracelet towards Nolan and he catches it with trembling hands. Red and white crystal beads strung with a black thread. An amulet. An intricate one of a butterfly at the very end. Her craft? He examines it with wonder. How did her chubby little fingers and tiny brain come up with this? Certainly through the help of a maester. She continues making her point, "She thought you were lonely. She's right. She always is.

She's so erudite and intuitive that it scares me. Because you were like that once upon a time and look at you now. Could I lose her like I'm losing yo?." Nolan shudders at the prospect as he holds the bracelet in his long thin fingers. Bloodless and thin. He hunched further in an attempt to disappear.

"Stop it. Please." He begged. Don't compare the likes of to your offspring.

"It's not fair." You don't know what I've done. It drives me to the bottom and then some. Is my life not my own? Don't I have more than your choice? Niathe coaxes slowly while stepping over a broken piece of furniture, "No. She is not you… but I have to make sure. You're going to be my little experiment. Time's up. You're coming with me." She swiftly grabs her brother by the shoulder, catching him off-guard, and tries to drag him out of the room.

But is stopped by not by her mother but by her notorious righthand man. The vampire Quivain. AHis heavy eyelids and lazy violet eyes stared down at Niathe without any emotion in them. She hoped to her deity and every star in the sky that this man was not her father too. Because how could one allow this? Standing by and watching while his child burning for a mistake that's not his own. She knew. Perhaps she was the only one who knew about that fateful day.

She could not go against her conscious and say it wasn't his fault. But the past it past. Today is a new day and they are gone. He's a pathetic worm for all of it. But still... If it was Ria I'd be in here every day trying. Just trying. I might try a little harder if just to spite him. The serpent stared down at her and her siblings. From his perpetual high horse that he had sat on ever since he entered the Palace. One that was fed and groomed by her mother.

Niathe promised herself, I'm going to cut that horse down with him on it one day. Niathe implored him." We're leaving. Tell him, Nolan. Tell him." Nolan sweated under the pressure of all their gazes. His sisters, parents, and the gossipy servants whose shadows were cast on the floor. He avoided their gazes and counted in his head. Tiles. There are more than eight hundred tiles on the floor. Quivain got impatient and inquired with a stony face, "Do you have something to tell me, Nolan?"

He froze and couldn't say a word just like that. No. He had to tell Niathe no. That he couldn't leave. That he didn't deserve to—"Urgent Report! Princess!" Parsael ran into the courtyard sweating and crazed with anxiety. She's one of the youngest on the guard. A nameless bad feeling accumulated in Nolan and Niathe's heart.

"The carriage—The carriage was just found. The princess is missing. Along with her escorts. Preliminary investigations say that there—There was an ambush!" Niathe flinches and lets go of my shoulder. All at once she stops breathing. Oh gods. No. Not this child. Not this time. No. Did he do it? DID HE TOUCH EVEN THIS ONE!

"..." Her entire body shakes and becomes alight with a dark flame. The sky outside blackens. Suddenly it all stops. The anxious shakes. The precursors to her getting sickly with the fury. Her eyes are completely white and glowing like a fire. She whispers and it bounces off the walls." Nolan… If I don't have my child… By the morning. You will have your wish… and this kingdom will have one less prince."

Her entire body combusts into motes of darkness and flies out into the endless perpetual night that she had cast upon our world. The ground shook and Nolan's heart dropped into my stomach. I stand there shaken but convinced of the culprit. If there is one." Is that all?" Nolan's nostrils flared.

"Is it within your capabilities to cull your—" Quivain warns, "Mind your tongue."

"Shut your lying mouth." I stand up straight and stare at the man whom I share blood with. My lack of a spine is hurting them. She should've been there. This is all my fault. Again. I have to fix it. I won't let this hurt my family anymore. This won't end even when I'm dead. Quivain curls his lip and orders me.

"Return to your rooms at once, My Prince." I turn on my heel and gaze at them both. I've spent my entire life being a burden with your permission. My darling Nia. She's given me more kindness with a gesture than you have in your life. She has more courage in her pinky than in your entire body. And I won't let my death be her final string. Feeling more certain that ever, I looked him in his face for the first time in what felt like a millennium,"No." It's a whisper but it's there. Gods damn it all.

I bet that boy had something to do with this. He and his parents. They're what's wrong with this world. They all need to be cleansed. But I'm not strong enough. I walk into the courtyard and avoid their judgemental gazes. But it's so hard to ignore what's glaring at you. What am I even doing? I can't help. I'm useless. I should just go back. My hand clenches the bracelet and it digs into my skin.

"..." No one can save me from myself. But I can save you if it's the last thing I do. It probably will be he thought grimly. Whether by my own hand or hers. No one else knows that forest better than me and Nia. Maybe I'll run into something nasty and finally rid the world of one evil.