CHAPTER 13 : lover’s connection

"You're traveling to Meria yourself?!"

Prince Adam understood that this alliance meant a lot to their kingdom, but in all his years he'd never heard of his father leaving the throne unattended to. He always preferred sending representatives or knights to do the job.

"Don't you think that's a bit reckless father? There will be chaos of people learn of your absence."

King James Burchard pat his son on the head before taking a seat at the table besides his wife.

"Only a select few people will know of my absence." The king responded.

"But who will overlook the country's affairs?"

"You're always going on about being king one day.." king James took a large chunk of steak into his mouth and swallowed. "This is your chance. Consider it a trail run of some sort."

"But father.."

Now that Adam thought about it, if the wizard Ronald was right about his dreams being prophecy, there might be a connection between his dreams and Meria. And maybe just maybe he would find the girl from his dreams in Meria, he needed to take the chance, no matter how small it was.

Cause clearly the redhead was not Gavaria. Prince Adam had been secretly searching for her via spies and knights throughout the kingdom in hopes of finding her, but to no avail. It was only logical to assume she might be from a different kingdom, even Meria.

"I want to come with you." Adam spoke firmly.

"And who will remain with your mother?" King James spoke as he gulped down his ale. "We both can't leave the kingdom, I need you to stay here until I get back. Meria is a boring kingdom anyway you won't miss out on anything."

~yeah, except the possibility of finding the woman of my dreams, literally~

"Tell you what, after our alliance with Meria is in full effect, I will allow to go and tour the kingdom to your heart's content." King Burchard added on, "in fact, you can tour the whole continent if you want to."

Adam looked up at his father excitedly. "Do I have your word?"

"You have my word son." The king responded.

The man rose from his seat and kissed his wife on the cheek. "Well I best be retiring to bed before we leave, the journey will take about one week on horseback and I need all the rest I can get."

"Sleep well father."

*

Ella walked into the dining hall and sat next to William at the table. She had woken up a bit late so everyone was already eating when she joined them.

"Nice of you to finally join us dear." Her mother spoke sarcastically.

"Forgive me mother, I've been having some troubles sleeping lately." Ella responded

Ever since her talk with prince Nathan Aldos a few days back, Ella's mind had been busy trying to connect the dots. She was getting closer to finding out what this curse was all about after meeting Nathan and hopefully, after many excruciating lifetimes, she may finally be able to break it.

"Too busy thinking about Nathan that you can't sleep sister?" William spoke tauntingly.

"I knew the prince wouldn't resist my beautiful daughter!" Lord Morrell exclaimed in excitement. "Soon you will be queen of all of Meria."

"Oh you and the prince do make a beautiful couple." Lady Morrell added on, "all the girls must be so jealous."

"I just want to make it clear to all of you that the prince and I are just friends." The girl sipped her tea angrily. "So I'd advise you not to get your hopes up."

"That's exactly what I said when I first met your father."

Everyone at the table giggled in unison, much to Ella's dismay.

"Ah the grand wedding will be exquisite, nobles from everywhere will flock to witness my beautiful daughter wed the crown prince." Lord Morrell had long finished his breakfast and was leaning back on the chair picturing a wedding and life that had not even happened yet.

"I'm a little jealous." William spoke with a smirk. "You get to be queen and I only end up a knight."

The chattering about Ella's non existent relationship with Nathan went on and on, seeming unending. And with each mention of Nathan's name, Ella got more and more agitated.

Finally, Ella snapped and slammed her tea cup onto the table, causing it to crack a little and spill some tea onto the furnished oak table.

All the table's occupants looked at the seething girl in shock.

"Will you all stop it!" Ella yelled.

This was the first time any of them had ever seen Ella express emotion of any kind, so it took them a bit off guard. All her life, the girl had been quiet and devoid of any exaggerated emotion, she was an introvert and mostly only spoke when spoken to. So even to her own family this sudden outburst was very surprising.

"Nathan and I will never be together so could you please let it go!"

"But honey.." Lady Morrell stretched her hand out in an attempt to calm her daughter down. "Why not?"

Ella swat her mother's hand away. "Because my heart belongs to Jillian!"

The whole table went silent.

Lord Morrell was the first to speak after the shocking reveal. "Jillian?"

Ella pursed her lips and looked to the floor. In the heat of the moment she'd thrown a fit and mentioned her dead lover. Good lord what had come over her? She thought that maybe after all this time she wouldn't be this attached to him still. But the thought of being with someone else had caused her buried grief to bubble up to the surface, she couldn't bare the thought of loving another, not in this life and not in any other life.

"May I be excused."

Ella stood up leaving her food untouched and walked towards her chambers, every step she took seemed to get heavier and heavier, it felt like the stretch between the family dining hall and her room had elongated somehow. She fought back tears as she walked as gracefully as possible so as not to alarm her family whose eyes she could feel piercing her back.

When Ella stepped into her room, she slammed the door behind her and cried bitterly.

"Oh Jillian."

The girl couldn't hold back the tears, even after all this time her heart still ached. How could she ever move on from Jillian, how could she move on from the only man she'd ever loved.

*

"What's the matter?"

The queen inched closer to her son and placed a hand over his head. She was startled when Adam's face had suddenly gone pale and he had stumbled in his tracks, almost falling.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Prince Adam stabilized his stance and shook his head. "I'm alright mother, I just felt a bit odd just now."

Adam didn't know what had just happened to him, he just felt a deep wave of sadness overtake his body causing him to lose his balance. What was it? Was it some bad omen?

"Mother? What time is father leaving for Meria?"

"In a few hours." His mother responded. "The royal procession is already on standby outside."

"I see."

Prince Adam was now even more curious of the land of Meria, what had happened just now couldn't be a coincidence. There was something about Meria, something that he needed to look into.

"How long will forging the alliance with Meria take? Do you know how long father will be away?"

"You've been quiet interested in Meria of late, is there something I should know?" This was the fifth time prince Adam had spoken of the western kingdom that day, he was his mother's son after all, she knew when something was going on with him.

"I'm just curious is all."

"Really"

Adam looked up at his mother and gave her a warm smile. "I hear it's a beautiful country, I want to visit different places before I settle down as king and end up stuck in Gavaria for the rest of my life."