The Goddesses Throne

by A. Kingsley

  Cisily stood up from the bed and went into her walk-in closet. She shut the door and changed into a long sleeve black dress that stopped at her ankles. After angrily brushing out her hair, she exited the closet and got out a large bag. She stuffed some of her favorite clothes, her childhood stuffed animals, some pictures and her toiletries inside. Afterwards, she piled up her pillows on top and shoved in her sketchbook.

  “Since when did you start drawing?” he questioned as he handed her the two pillows and grabbed her bag.

  “Clare might have inspired that,” she admitted. She refused to glance at herself in the mirror as she walked with her cousin down the stairs of the castle.

  Erebus was by the front doors, his eyebrows raised. “I am so lucky that your parents are guarding the island across the sea and can not see you now. I could take it away from your mother, but it would seem suspicious on my part and I wouldn’t want her to question me. I’m so glad that she doesn’t have to see her children suffer. Have fun informing her of the news,” he pouted, before waving to the two of them. “I suppose I won’t see you again, I’ll just hear of your deaths once I win the war. You’ll regret leaving.”

  “I’m sure we’d both rather die than spend another hour with you,” Cassius said, hurriedly dragging Cisily out of the door and into the courtyard.

  The funeral was private and was only held for the royal family and staff that lived inside of the castle. Erebus was afraid that if he had a public funeral, the citizens might sniff out his lie and rebel against him. This was the only safe option. Though Adria was lying in the casket, it was closed. Cassius was sure that wherever she was now, she felt more at ease than she did living with Erebus. After everyone got a chance to say their respects, Cassius went up. He felt sick when his brain reminded him of the night that she died. “I’m glad you’re finally able to rest,” he whispered to her. “I love you,” he said it three times before he went back to the mourning crowd. He watched with angry and teary eyes as they placed her casket in the ground for burial. ‘Why must she be buried here?’ he thought. If he had a say, he would have taken her far from this wicked place, but he had no voice here. This was no longer his home.

  After the funeral, the two cousins called for a carriage in order to head back to Pax et Lux. “You have to be so glad to finally escape that place,” Cassius said dully.

  “I am, I’ve never liked it, but I never had to go through what you did, not until now, I’m sorry that was your childhood.”

  “Spare me the pity, it’s alright.” He placed her bag and pillows on the floor of the carriage and helped her in so they were sitting across from one another. “You should consider moving across the sea, with your parents. I’m sure they’d be glad to have you back. You would be treated like a real princess there. I doubt you’d even face much of the war on the island,” he suggested as the carriage took off.

  “You know, it’s a good idea Cassius, but it’s been so long, that we’ve lost our relationship, so I’d have to rebuild it first. I couldn’t send her a lot of letters because of Erebus, but I suppose I could start now. I don’t understand Erebus, his logic is so flawed. He abused me and locked me up, just to free me as soon as you showed up. He never even gave Theo the proper funeral that he deserved. I have his ashes in my bag, the woman who works at the lowest level of the hospital was kind enough to give them to me as we were leaving. I just don’t know what to do with him, I don’t want to keep him forever, that is just odd. I want him to be free, but I can’t necessarily remember a place that he loved.” She wiped off the flakes of makeup that had smudged on her face. “Do you have any ideas, Cass?”

  He thought about it for a moment, “he loved books, but I wouldn’t want him at our library, I don’t want him anywhere near my father. Maybe try another library or an outside scenery. You could always bring him back home to your parents. I’m not sure … I mean, I can ask Clare if she knows anything.”

  “What would she know?” Cisily asked curiously.

  “Oh right. Ugh. I’m still comprehending it myself, but I guess Clare can see spirits, spirits that she is close to. She didn’t really know Theo, but maybe since she knows of him, she can see him and ask him what he wants. But don’t get your hopes up Cis, maybe she can’t see him, she couldn’t see Adria.”

  “That’s so cool, I've always admired Clare. I hope she can get in contact with him,” she smiled at the idea and finished wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “How is your love for her coming along?”

  “Complicated. I don’t mean to put it this way, but now that Antoine is gone … we might have a chance at love. Ugh I’m such an ass,” he put his head in his hands. “I just want her to be happy. I never really deserved happiness anyways, but she does.”

  “Don’t say that, you do deserve happiness. And I’m sure that you two will be very happy someday. Wounds just hurt worse when they’re fresh.”

  Though the day was slowly turning into evening, neither of them could take a nap and Cisily couldn’t stand silence, so she filled the quiet with stories of her and Theo as children. Cassius listened attentively, responding with either giggles, tears or frowns. Listening was the least that he could do for her given the fact that she never had a chance to grieve properly at a funeral for her brother. Her stories didn’t fill up enough time and soon she shifted the topic to something he needed to discuss, but dreaded. “How are you processing everything with your mum? Are you coping alright?” She was worried for him, Theo and Adria had died on the same night and he had just been faced with her casket. Though Cisily had found out more recently about Theo, both of their deaths were still new. Cassius took a deep breath and gazed out the window. Part of him wanted to give her the one word answer that he gave to most people, ‘fine,’ but she didn’t deserve that and if anything, she needed someone to grieve with.

  “I don’t know. I’ve been pushing it all down. I’ve just been trying to be there for Clare because of Antoine. It’s hard.” He took a deep breath and decided to continue, it was nice to finally get the words out. “My mum is in my dreams a lot. I have nightmares of killing those men and sometimes I have nightmares about finding her body. I don’t really make much noise, I just get up and leave. If you want to know how to handle it, I don’t know how, I’m not very good at it. I pretend that nothing happened at all and I constantly distract myself so I hardly have a moment with my own thoughts.” He thought back to last night when he woke up startled from a nightmare. Clare was safe and sound, not moving a muscle, so he went down the stairs to get a glass of water and Sage was there. She didn’t glare at him, her eyes softened and she thought about saying something, she opened her mouth, but he fled quickly before she had the chance to do so. He shivered at the close call. “Just do better than I do Cis.”

  Cisily folded her hands neatly in her lap. She wanted to reach out to him and hug him like a big sister would to a little brother, but she restrained herself. Cassius was not in the mood for hugs. She nodded in silent agreement that she would do better. “You know Cass, I have a question. Do you regret um … killing those people?” Her voice was tight and restrained, the question had slipped out and she was mentally cursing herself for asking such a thing.

  “Yes and no. I should’ve taken my anger out on something else. Why do you ask?” His voice was hot and heavy, the question had made him furious, not at her, but at himself.

  “Because when I knew Theo died, there was shock and then a terrible sadness and then I was just so angry. I thought I could slaughter everyone in sight, it was such a scary feeling, you know I’m not like that Cass. I thought about murdering uncle, but I knew I would stand no match. I’m sure you saw that he doubled the security after what you did. Instead I sat down and wrote a letter to my parents to inform them of Theo’s death. Sure their duties give them no time to sail across the sea, but they deserve to know what happened to their son. When uncle saw, he snatched the letter and tore it to shreds. That is when he hurt me because I had put the real cause of Theo’s death.
I should’ve lied and said that it was some crazy accident, I know now to lie. I wished in that very moment that I had chosen to live with my parents, that we could have lived on that tiny island, the forgotten part of our kingdom. I told him this and things got worse. There was enough flame and adrenaline inside of me to kill him, but I didn’t. Isn’t that so awful of me?”

  “No,” Cassius’s voice was hard and sure. “I would kill that man in a heartbeat. Sure I’d have to take the throne, it would be complicated, but I hate him so much that I could easily torture him or burn him. He deserves that, the men following him out of fear do not. Don’t compare yourself to me Cis. We are nothing alike. You couldn’t hurt the cruelest soul, nor should you. Leave that twisted man to me. I’d prefer to be the one who kills him.” His voice was monotone, he was slowly beginning to lose himself and he wasn’t sure even the prettiest of roses could save him.

  Cassius and Cisily arrived at the palace as the sun went down. The guests were currently enjoying Antoine’s favorite meal in the dining hall. When the carriages arrived, Clare excused herself from the table and met them outside. With security doubled, no more civilians stood outraged outside the palace gates, in fact they had given up entirely and gone home. The citizens were starting to question what they had really heard. They hadn’t even been at the execution. They had only believed what they had heard from Deus civilians and with a war, they were not sure what they had heard was true anymore. There were no more screams and shouts outside, just the peaceful chirping of birds and the sound of the wind.

  Cisily stepped out of the carriage first. Without hesitation, Clare ran to her as fast as she could and wrapped her arms around the girl. Cisily held her close, her hands running through Clare’s ginger hair.

  “What’s happened to you?” Clare exclaimed. She pulled back to get a better look at her bruised face. Cassius stepped out of the carriage holding his cousin’s bag and pillows.

  “My father happened,” Cassius said in irritation as he observed the two girls embrace.

  Cisily could only nod in confirmation, she did not feel like telling the story, the physical and mental pain was too much to bear. “If it is alright with you Clare, I would like to live here. Only if there is space and I won’t be bothering anyone.”

  “Of course you can live here!” Clare shouted, faster than what was polite. She gave the girl another quick hug before pulling away. “You look like you need something to eat. They’re serving dinner now, but I’m not sure if you want to meet new people like this. I can have Phoebe draw you a bath and I’ll bring you up a plate after they’re gone. How does that sound?” she offered.

  “It sounds great.”

  Though Clare acknowledged Cassius, she didn’t take his hand until Cisily was escorted to her room and safe. “I’m glad you’re back home,” she told him as she gently squeezed his hand on their way back to the dining hall. If Erebus had done this to Cisily, she couldn’t imagine what he had done to Cassius throughout the years.

  ‘Home,’ Cassius thought. It was a strong word, but it was fitting. His home would never be in Excidium, not anymore, at least not until his father was gone. Instead he would feel at home in the kingdom of Pax et Lux or anywhere the Pax’s were near. He squeezed her hand back, afraid that if he spoke, he might start to cry.

  They sat down at the dinner table and his plate was filled. He wasn’t too hungry, but he ate it all out of respect. It felt awful to see Antoine’s parents and siblings, the people that Antoine used to speak so dearly about. He tried to avoid their eyes and focus on Julius instead, but he couldn’t avoid them forever. “Your father had no right to kill a man who wasn’t even his own citizen, no he killed a boy! That should be illegal,” Angelique said as she finally bursted.

  “I know mam,” he tried to think of what else to say, but Gracielle jumped in to save him just like his mother would any day.

  “Don’t take your anger out on the boy. I know you’re upset, but he didn’t have a part in this,” the queen said. “Though what happened was awful, it was technically lawful. He wasn’t in the Demetrias’s kingdom, he was in ours, if he had been in his home kingdom, it would’ve been illegal to seize him, but unfortunately he was with us. So if you want to blame anyone, blame me.”

  Maximus who usually enjoyed drama, didn’t like how heavy this scene was getting so he changed the subject. “Cassius and Clare, I have been meaning to tell you that I’m going to explain Clare’s little outburst of magic to my people soon. I’m going to say that it was a prophecy from the Goddesses and that the heat that they felt had nothing to do with Clare, that she was just in the middle of the storm that they sent down to Earth. I’m going to say that they sent me an image explaining this. They’ll listen to me as kings are known to be able to speak to the Goddesses. We all know that this is not true, but they believe it. In the meantime I think it is best that you two retreat to the royal territory as soon as possible. There are assassination threats looming out there for both of you. I think it’s best that you hide until I clear Clare’s name and people forget about this,” he frowned as he looked at Antoine’s family. “We won’t forget his death, but ordinary civilians will.”

  “Good, we will leave tomorrow,” Cassius said a little too quickly. He wouldn’t be upset, to finally get away from all of this mayhem. In the midst of war at least both of them would be safe. The royal territory was a place for all three kingdoms to send their royalty, for vacation or for safety. Though Erebus had access, there was a very small chance that he would hear about this and show up himself.

  “What about Cisily, she just got here?” Clare frowned.

  “‘I’ll stay with her, make sure she’s got company,” Sage assured. “You two need to go and make sure that you’re safe, even though I’ll miss you,” Sage said as she glanced over at Clare.

  Antoine’s family left shortly after that conversation. They had finished their meal and had to head back to their kingdom. Julius and Maximus would be leaving with them. Julius left with a kiss from Sage, promising that he would see her very soon for their wedding and that after they were married, they could spend as much time as they liked together. Maximus was sent off with a hug from the Pax’s and a firm handshake from Cassius. Clare was the only one to give a final goodbye hug to Antoine’s family, the solemn feeling returning. She offered to give his ashes back to his mother and she simply shook her head, “I can’t have the reminder. If you don’t change your mind, I’m sure you’ll know where he would like to be spread.” She headed off into the night without another word.

  “What was all that about?” Cassius asked furiously when both carriages left and they were standing in the sitting room.

  Sage and Gracielle were on the sofa, listening curiously to the conversation, Sage was ready to insert herself at any moment.

  “His brother and mother, they want me to bring Antoine back to life.”

  Everyone in the room gasped.

  Cassius grabbed her wrist a bit too tightly and when he saw Sage’s glare over Clare’s shoulder, he let go. “I won’t let you do that. Not because I’d be jealous, but because I care about you. Your magic will turn dark if you do that. You should have shoved his ashes back into her hand. Crikey! Where are we going to put them? Doesn’t she realize that we have enough stress,” he shouted, clearly melting.

  Sage stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, “I don’t like his attitude,” she hissed, “but I agree with him, I don’t really want you to revive anyone either.”

  Gracielle stood, “Me neither love, please, don’t do it.”

  Clare felt like lashing out and telling them all that they didn’t have a say in her actions and that she would do what she wanted to, but she didn’t. “I’m not going to,” she gulped. “It wouldn’t be good for anyone. I’ll miss him, but this isn’t the solution. Maybe it was the solution for Julius, but it’s not the solution for Antoine. I wouldn’t want to bring him into a life of war anyways. I’ll give Julius his ashes back after the wedding,
he can spread them at Deus.” She bit her lip and slowly backed away from Cassius. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meal to deliver.”

  Her feet went as fast as they could take her. The chefs were starting to put the leftovers away when she ordered another plate. They made her a plate as fast as they could and then she was on her way to the bedroom where Cisily would be staying. She knocked on the door and Phoebe answered.

  “Hi princess,” she said happily. “Cisily, just finished her bath and is expecting you. May I do anything else?”

  Clare was silent, of course everyone was meant to address her as princess, but hardly anyone she was close to did. Besides Antoine, she felt her heart throb, ready to explode. “No thank you,” she whispered, before moving inside of the room.

  Cisily was sitting on the bed in a long sleeve, forest green night gown covered with lighter green polka dots. Her hair was combed and gelled back and her skin was clean, but the bruises remained.

  Clare handed her the plate of food and sat down beside her. “Was your bath alright?”

  “Yes everything was perfect, thank you for the food,” she immediately began to dig in. “Are you alright? You seem tense,” Cisily questioned through a mouthful of food.

  “I’m fine, life is just stressful, I’m sure that you know this. We have to leave tomorrow. Cassius and I. I’m so sorry, but I promise you that Sage is good company.”

  “I believe you,” Cisily gave the girl a confident smile and then went back to eating. She knew better than to ask if Clare had seen Theo, she’d heard the yelling from downstairs.