Chapter 20

Kingdom of Alba…

Ethera's pov:

The night was quite long for me, probably because i am not used to the environment. The space I was provided with is very comfortable though, the bed is squishy and there is enough ventilation from the many windows . There are places in these quarters I have yet to visit and today is the day Hygai will help me with a tour. Today is also the day all consorts are officially presented to the King. Am I nervous? yes a little bit jut because I remember how intimidating he looks even though I know he is kind personality wise.

Not even 5 minutes after I woke up I see what I presume are my helpers/servants enter and they immediately start preparing a bath and outfits for me while Heizel updates them on my daily preferences in terms of hygiene and things I like to eat. After getting dressed , Hygai comes in my chambers to escort me to the King's hall where all the ladies will assemble to pay our respects as his 'newly weds'. Still feels foreign to use that term. We enter the massive hall and I go line up with the rest of the girls in the center , this situation reminds me of yesterday, stress. The king soon arrives and we bow and wish him well as courtesy , he sits down and tells us to rise . "I officially welcome all of you ladies to the royal palace. This will be your new home so feel free to ask for anything you may need. I promise to be fair with all of you as your husband and I expect you to take care of each other like sisters." He slowly scans all of us and when his eyes meet mine he stares for a while and let me tell you my nerves were up there, he then chuckles and smiles at me then goes back to the rest of the ladies in general ,"I think you all saw you were assigned Eunuchs , physicians and servants in general plus the lady you brought who will be in charge of all of them and taking care of you personally. All these people are at your disposal to ensure you are comfortable here since you will be staying here your whole life from now on." that is quite a long time. Can't believe this will be my new home, the palace. Every little girl's dream apart from me. Too bad. But I am doing this for mother, father and grandma. After the meeting session we are dismissed and so Heizel takes me to have lunch in the back yard where the servants prepared a calm setting for me.

Tobias pov;

This morning I went to meet my consorts officially. There are six of them all together, very lovely nothing to complain about. Did a little someone catch my attention, maybe , Mr and Mrs Yurok's daughter Ethera. I have bumped into the young girl many times before and every time was interesting, she seems to have a fiery personality, quite a character. I can't wait to get to know more about her indeed. And I shall have that time anytime from now *chuckle.

*knock knock , "come in" I say from my office chair still looking at the different files I have to look at .

"Tobias , want to have lunch with me? You have been looking at those documents for a while now. I know you want to ensure all is well with the kingdom but as it's ruler you need to take a rest and eat at least" Thelma says and I finally look up at her, Thelma has always been the ethereal type of woman , always elegant and that has not changed one bit.

"I can't join you right now Thelma , I am truly sorry. I will make it up to you soon enough though . I promise" she looks at me and shakes her head just like my mother used to do when she was scolding me but then she agrees .

"Oh I heard you met the ladies who will join me in your harem this morning? How was it?" Oh right , she has to know since she is in charge of the harem and organizing whatever administration work that needs to be done in the palace.

"Yes indeed , it went really well. They all seem like responsible ladies with minimum amount of elegance and mannerism , you will do good managing them don't worry." She nods seriously and so I try teasing her a bit "Just don't be too jealous once I start meeting them a lot and spending time with my other wives" I wink and she rolls her eyes and I laugh, she shakes her head once more and then leaves the office. Once I am done with solving the pending cases of taxes I am told by Helton that Thelma's father the Duke of Persia is going back today so I will be seeing him off. He was to only stay in Alba temporarily for our wedding but because of the untimely death of my parents he decided to extend his visit to a full month but now duty calls and he has to go back to Persia, Thelma is sad about this as she wont go to Persia as often due to her duties as Queen here in Alba but I shall figure something out for her. I am outside the main entrance with Thelma besides me saying good bye to the Duke, "Your majesty , I leave you with my only daughter , take care of her as always, never put her aside for anyone" I nod as I quickly realize he is referencing to my new acquired harem of concubines, "And you my dear, take care of your king and husband and take care of yourself, I will be waiting for the news of my grandson , okay?" Thelma and I agree as we know the major reason we got married was to strengthen Alba with a male heir as soon as possible . The untimely deaths of my parents makes me believe someone might be targeting the royal family maybe even the lineage of the Vos. The Duke enters his carriage and it drives outside the palace gates. Thelma goes back in with her servants while I call for my bestfriend Tobryl to discuss this issue of a potential threat to my lineage.

"Tobias, how have you been brother?'' Tobryl enters my chambers and immediately hugs me . "I am alright , as good as a king can be" I say and he taps my chest jokingly then we take a seat on the chairs set on the balcony. "So how is having six well exactly seven wives now? huh? "Of course he has to ask about that , he usually randomly comes over to get gossip on my life and judge me based on what I tell him , talk about quite the friend I have and don't get me started on the smirk he carries around when he teases me. "I don't know yet actually, they arrived last night and got formally introduced this morning . Overall they seem to be well mannered and wont cause trouble . Well all except the fiery spirited Ethera that I believe will add quite some fun and lively hood in this palace" I genuinely cant wait to see more of her. "Oh interesting , we have a potential love interest in your boring life. We are making progress now ."he wiggles his eyebrows and I shrug him off , that's just how he is , gets excited once I talk about something other than work and my duties. ''Anyways I did not call you here for gossip but rather for information. You have a lot of eyes around the kingdom and in the palace which is why I entrusted you with the discrete investigation of my parent's murder . Do you have any clues?" he nods, "From what I gathered , the person responsible is in this palace. Some even went as far as saying the person is bonded to black magic. That part is still doubtable but yeah, that's all I could gather '' black magic? someone in this palace is an enemy? But who? ''No matter what though, just for precaution be careful and keep an eye on people working under you in this palace'' I nod yes as I take in what he just told me.

Will I be the next target of this vile person?