Into the Azure: A Fantasy Bad Boy Romance

by Kylie Silverstone

  Before I changed.

  Before the Azure changed, forever.

  Chapter 4

  I awoke to the sound of Eva’s feet hitting the stone ground of our house. My eyes opened immediately, I could see the golden streams of dawn casting through the window. I heard her cross the floor and open the swinging window slightly. I heard her breath in heavily through her nose, taking in the scent of the daybreak of the Azure. I squeezed my pillow and clenched my eyes shut. I tried not to stir, afraid that I would alarm her that I were awake. “Hello,” She said to some guard passing through the courtyard. Her voice sounded effortless and kind, I wondered how she had been able to maintain her innocence in this new world, Perhaps the King had been treating her better than I had initially thought. She walked across the stone floor, her bare feet slapping gently against the ground. She pulled the iron picker from the basket and raked the coals, sending the smell of burning wood throughout the room. She placed the iron back in the basket, I heard her bed crack as she sat back down. I sat there, as still as I could, hoping that she would just fall back asleep. Yet, I knew her all too well to even think that that could be a possibility. I looked out of the corner of my eye at the breaking sun, I knew from the way it was rising that it was time for me to get up and prepare breakfast. I took one final draw of breath, holding it for a moment, before lifting my arms up over my head, stretching and letting out a large yawn. Izzy’s head perked up as she turned to me. I tried to look as drowsy as I could, as if I hadn’t heard her moving throughout the room. I looked up at the stone ceiling, trying to seem as if I was in a morning haze as I blinked. “Eva,” Izzy whispered in her lowest voice, “Eva, are you awake?”I inhaled deeply while I tuned to my side to face her, trying to keep my lids heavy as she looked at me. “Mornin’ sunshine,” She whispered. God, she really hadn’t changed. Her voice was still full of sweetness. ‘Mornin’” I yawned back at her as I pulled myself to my feet. “Sleep well?” She asked, I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. She had always had this way about her. She could look graceful at any time. While my eyes were still puffy and bagged, she looked like she had literally taken a beauty nap. “I guess you were out late, I didn’t hear you come back, I must have been out cold. ” She said casually in her happy tone, the one that sounded nice when really underneath she was judging you all the while.

  I turned my back to her and grabbed my dress off of the frame of my bed, slipping it over my shoulders and down my back. I smoothed the rough linen, trying to appear as if I had not heard her question. I sat down on the edge of my bed and grabbed for my shoes, slipping the socks out of them and slipping them over my feet. Eva sat on the edge of her bed, watching my every move. I tried to make it look natural, like I wasn’t about to drop right there in fear of what I was about to do. My hands trembled as I put on my shoes, I knew I was giving myself away. I saw Izzy tilt her head as she noticed the shaking of my hands. I forced a shiver and ran my hands over my shoulders, acting as if I were cold. “Man, gets cold here at night, doesn’t it?” I said, trying to make my voice sound positive, when it just came out sounding fake. “Sure does, I could even see my breath last night,” Izzy said, half laughing, “and to think we were going to go someplace to get out of the cold. ”I giggled the best I could and nodded in agreement while lacing my boots, tying them tightly around my ankles, I couldn’t afford to let anything go wrong today. “Hey, Iz’” I asked, she perked up and turned to me, almost begging to help me.

  “Yeah, Hun?” She said happily, glad I was finally speaking to her. She had always known I wasn’t a morning person, so my odd behavior probably came off as completely normal to her. “Could you fill the kettle and put it back over the fire, I just like that it makes the room moister,” Izzy jumped up from the bed, grabbing the towel that sat on the floor next to the fire and reached for the kettle that sat over it, “I just like that it makes the room a bit moister, everything seems so dry here. Izzy nodded in agreement. I pointed towards the small pump in the corner of the room facing the wall. “You can just fill it up there,” I told her, trying to smile. Izzy nodded her head and rushed over to the pump. She lifted the heavy handle up and down, making the rusted iron cry. With her back turned to me I reached underneath my bed and grabbed for my cloak. I grabbed it in my hands and swiftly pulled it out from beneath the bed, wrapping it around my shoulders and feeling for the Orb. I felt the metal ball in the pocket I had placed it in and breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing had happened to it in the night, thank god. I quickened to my feet and headed to the door, I wanted to start their tea as early as possible, hopefully most of the guards would still be resting from their long nights. I wouldn’t have to see mine, as he would be keeping watch in the woods, I would have the Queen all to myself. I walked to the door and grabbed the handle, flinging it open and letting in the brilliant sun. “Leaving so soon, are we?” Izzy said as she pumped the water, barley a steady stream going into the kettle. “Yea, busy day ahead of me,” I said trying to make my voice just sound more hurried and not just obvious. I went to scurry out the door when she grabbed me by my cloak. I almost raised my hand to her, afraid she would feel what was in my pocket. “Wait,” she exclaimed, pulling me back into the house, I lowered my hand, not wanting to startle her, “I was hoping we could talk. ”She stood there, holding the end of my cloak, the way a mother might hold the tails of her child dress, not wanting to let me go. I leaned in and hugged her, squeezing her as tight as I could. I smelled her hair, it had started to lose the scent of roses and had begun to take on the aroma of the chamber. I lingered, holing her, trying not to feel anything. I pulled back from her and looked into her brilliant eyes, they sparked even when the sun was hitting them. “We will,” I croaked, my voice almost trembling, “but I’ve got to get off to breakfast, the Queen will have my head if I don’t. ”Izzy nodded, looking out the window, looking as if she were trying to either not look at more or as if she were trying to fight back tears. I couldn’t wait any longer, I pecked her on the cheek hard and turned, heading out the door and closing it hard behind me. I rushed through a group of guards who were headed off to the bride and into the woods, I examined every one of them and noticed that my guard was absent. I tried to keep my head down, trying to avoid eye contact with every one that I passed, sure that they would see the panic on my face. I walked towards the castle and saw that the mutilated girl was waiting for me at the door; my morning helper. I nearly turned around when I saw here, on this day, of all days, the last servant I could put up with was her. She stood to her feet as I approached, keeping her head to the ground, her one good eye darning around as I breezed past her and pushed open the heady door, almost trying to shut her out. She knew better and pushed her way through. “Go start the water!” I barked at her, making her jump. She scurried off to the kitchen. I stood in the vastness of the castle, I could hear the king talking in the distance, his voice sounding more jovial than the usual mornings. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to build up my strength to walk into the kitchen.

  You can do this Eva, I said to myself. I swayed the bottom of my cloak and felt the Orb on the side of my knee. Through the hall I heard the Queen begin a cackle at something the King had said and in that very moment my blood turned to bile. My eyes shot open as I felt the hatred run through me like a flood. It was time. And I was ready.

  Chapter 5

  I rushed into the kitchen, my cloak trailing behind me. The mutant girl had started a roaring fire and the kettle was already steaming. “Girl!” I shouted. She jumped from the fire and ran to my side. “Get me tea for the kettles,” I snapped to her. She scurried off to the pantry like a church mouse, “and make it strong!” I ordered. I pulled out two kettles from the shelf, they were made of rich, white porcelain and had golden engravings on the side. I turned my back to the pantry and quickly took out the Orb. I placed one kettle to my right and the other to my left. I remembered something I had read in history class, the queen always sat to the right of the king. I opened th
e orb and poured all of it into the kettle on my left. I looked down into the tea pot, I was surprised to see it was not burning a hole through the porcelain. The cleaver Queen, I thought to myself, she had come up with her own special recipe, one that did not react with her fine dishware the way it did with common stone. I had to give her credit. I heard the girl stir from within the pantry as she came out with a wooden bowl of tea. I grabbed it from her hands. “Mind the water!” I yelled, she scampered across the floor to the foot of the fireplace and fixed her eyes on the steaming kettle.

  I turned my back to her and dispensed the thick, aromatic bowl of assorted foliage into each pot, making sure that the Queen took most. I dropped the herbs in the glowing liquid and watched at the blue turned from a bright purple to a dark brown. I breathed a sigh of relief know that I was not going to have to worry about the liquids luminescence. I prepared a platter to bring the kettles in quickly, grabbing a black cloth for one and a white cloth for the other. I placed the Queens kettle on the black cloth, and smiled. I reveled for a moment in my cleverness when I heard a knock at the kitchen door. Both I and the girl jumped and looked up. Eva was standing there, dressed in her fine clothing, her long red hair floating to her waist. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I rushed for her, pushing her through the kitchen and hallway and through the door of the castle closing it behind me. “Izzy,” I said in whisper, when really all I wanted to do was scream, “What are you doing here?”“I was wondering if you might have needed some help in the kitchen,” she explained, her hair like fire in the sun, “I saw you walking towards the castle, there was that girl out there waiting for you, the one with the scar across her face,” She picked up her finger and caressed her face, showing me who she was talking about, “I know you don’t care for her much so I was thinking I could help,” She said smiling, placing her hand on her velvet clad waist. I felt my finger ball up into a fist as she stood before me. She had always been getting in my way, my entire life, and now she was getting in my way in a different realm. I reached my hand up to face, about to scream when the castle doors flew open. The mute girl fell onto the cobblestone, breaking open her knee as she fell. Izzy ran to her side, picking her up. Her mouth fluttered as she stammered her words, her eye was wild, moving around in the sun, tears streaming out of both of them. “I-I-I-I-,” She stuttered. “What’s wrong honey?” Izzy yelled, holding her limp body against hers. “Te-Te-Te- “she cried, trying to make out the words. I rushed to her and pushed Izzy to the ground, grabbing her by the neck, squeezing down on her, trying to get her to stop talking. “WHAT IS IT, YOU MUTE,” I screamed in her face hard enough to make my ears pop and blow the hair out of her face. I clenched my finger tighter around her neck and watched as her eyes turned bloodshot, her face purple. “GET OFF OF HER, YOU’LL KILL HER!” Izzy screamed grabbing at my shoulders, trying to pull me off of her. My fists were tight around her neck.

  “SAY SOMETHING!” I screamed as I felt my fingers digging into her throat, collapsing her windpipe. She lifted her finger with what seemed to be her last strength and pointed inside of the castle. I threw her to the ground and Izzy and up and embraced her. I flung open the heavy doors of the castle, I could hear the mute gasping for air as they slammed behind me. I ran into the kitchen to see what all of the commotion had been about. I pushed the door hard against the wall, almost breaking it as I entered. I looked around the room, trying to find the reason for her outburst, but there was no one there. I looked over every corner of the kitchen, trying to find one sign of error before I leaned my hands on the wooden table and clenched it hard. The little freak had caused a commotion over nothing! She had probably seen a mouse scurrying across the floor and felt it right in her tiny mind to throw a fit over it. I smiled as I thought how badly I was going to punish her for her outburst, thinking of what weapon I would use this time. I started to laugh when suddenly I heard a noise from the dining room; it was the faint sound of moaning then followed by silence. I jerked my head up and looked at the at the kitchen table. There was only one kettle left, and it was the kings. I ran as fast as I could down the hallway and into the dining room. I threw open the door and saw them all laying on the ground, their bodies still slightly convulsing, their eyes turned back in their heads and their skin a dark purple. “NO!” I screamed as I ran to the side of my King. He shook, his body convulsing on the marble floor, foam pouring out of his mouth like a rabid dog. I tried wiping some of it away with the hem of my dress but it just kept on coming out. His eyes fluttered as he tried to fix his cold gaze on me. Beside him laid the Queen, who clutched his hand, her skin had turned a bright violet; she was completely still. I stroked my hand over the Kings face, my mind racing trying to figure out what to do. I looked around the room and saw my guard laying on the floor on the other side of the table, foam pouring out of his mouth, his skin purple; he was still just like the queen. “E-Eva,” The king stammered as mucus streamed down his chin. I tried to wipe it up, but it flowed freely down and onto his black leather suite. I felt the tears begin streaming down my face and I drew him in close. I looked up onto the table and saw it; one kettle with a black cloth beneath it. “How, ho-how Eva?” The King stammered though the foam. “How, c-c-c-co-co-could you?” He whimpered as his eyes began to glaze over. He drew in one last breath as he tried to push me off of him. I held onto him tight, I looked over at his hand and saw that he was clenching the Queens claw. I grabbed at his hand, trying to loosen it from hers, I wanted him to die in my arms. I clawed at his leather glove trying to get him to let go of her. I heard him take one final breath, I realest his hand and grabbed at his head staring into his cold, grey eyes as the rolled away from me forever and into the darkness of his own mind. I tried to cry, but I couldn’t. I tried to scream, but my throat felt too tight. I sat there gasping between tears, trying to hold my limp King as closely to me as possible. I lifted my head towards the sky and screamed into it infinity. The Azure around me had gone dark.

  Chapter 6

  I held the weak girl against my body, she was shaking and confused, her eyes darting around. From the castle I could hear Eva screaming, I wanted with all of my might to run to her side, to see why she was wailing, but I was truly afraid of what I would find. The little girl held me as tightly as I held her, both of us frightened and bewildered. I looked all around us, searching for one of the guards to come to our aid, but there was no one in site. I loosed the girl grip from me, trying to get her off of me so I could get to Eva, the poor thing cried like a child, clinging to me in her helplessness. “It’s ok,” I stoked her hair as I tried to loosen her grip, “I’m going to be alright. ”There was a sudden flash of white light before us, pushing us onto our backs and nearly bling us both. I shielded the young girls eye, trying to save the one that she had left. She cried in my arms as the vortex screamed in a deafening pitch. The white light dissipated all at once and the piercing scream stopped. I held the girls shaking body, almost afraid to look up. I felt a warm hand slide down my face and I winced, scared of what it could be. “Izzy,” the voice whispered, its gloved hand lifting my face to his. I opened my eyes hesitantly and met my eyes to his; it was the prince. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I reached up to grab him. He came down crashing on both of us, holing us tight in his arms. I grabbed at the back of his uniform and began to sob along with the girl, both of our voices sounding hollow and broken. The prince held us tight against him, trying to comfort us. He pulled himself away from us, holding my head in his hand, he was about to speak when the castle door flew open.