The Burned down Palace

Dastan's eyes were filled with anger as he looked at the retreating figure of Noori after she pulled away her hand from Azorius's and decided to leave the room with a proud face.

"Father, how is she my wife? I don't remember marrying her. Above all, why would I marry someone like her?" he spat hatefully, pointing his hand in her direction. "She is clearly a— a Nurian," not even wanting to say those words, he felt the bitter taste in his throat bubbling up with bitterness.

Azorius breathed in slowly and held onto his son's shoulders, calming him down. "Son, I did it all for you."

Dastan didn't seem to understand him, and his face crumpled. "For me? You tied me to a stranger from our enemy's kingdom for my own good? Who is she, the Queen of Nuria or something?" Dastan spoke sarcastically, but when he looked at Azorius, he took a long breath before speaking. "The future queen of Nuria," his voice deep as if implying something. Dastan's brows quickly knitted even further.

"Why would the Queen of the Nuria Empire get married to me? What happened in all this time? Did the war end already?" Dastan was baffled.

"Son, for now we also don't know the answer to it. But you should know only she can fix your curse, and that is all you have to know about her. Once you are healed, we will end this so you don't have to be worried about anything else," Azorius's tone was low, as if not wanting anyone else to know about this.

Dastan's gaze shook. He had questions, too many questions, but he knew that his father wouldn't answer them all, and it was useless to make himself disappointed. He pulled away from Azorius and walked out of the room in a fit of anger.

"Dastan! Come back!" Fleur called out as she ran behind her son who had waked out of the room without covering himself with anything and was in his sleep robes still. "You will catch a cold!" She ran after him but Azorius stopped her and let him go. 

"My Queen, He needs a little time TO CATch up on the four years, Dont; stop him and let him figure things out." He said in his deep tone watching Dastan's figure grow smallsed and smaller. 

Fleur's eyes filled up with tears, her hands clenched around Azorius's robes while watching Dastan go.

"Azorius, you promised that you will break off the marriage once Dastan is healed. Please don't break that promise. Please," she said in a whisper, to which Azorius placed his hand around her back and patted her gently. "I won't," he said with determination.

"How outrageous! Who would believe this?" Dastan's chest rose and fell as he walked through the hallways of the palace with frustration. The maids and guards were in awe at the sight of the prince finally awakened, their eyes darting at him as he marched in frustration, annoyed by everyone's looks. "Four years of unconsciousness due to a curse? And I am married?" he hissed. "I won't accept this!" he spoke to himself, continuing to walk out of the palace on foot.

One of the guards who saw this immediately fetched a horse from the stables.

"Your Highness! It is good to see you again. It is like a miracle," he said, smiling ear to ear as he held out the reins of the horse towards him. Dastan's bitterness only increased at this, and he simply nodded before taking the reins from him without another word and mounting the horse before galloping into the snow.

Without paying attention to where he was going, he rode on the horse until the path he was following began to appear very familiar yet different from what he remembered. His face contorted with confusion as he looked around. "Why is everything like this? The trees, they were shorter, and the road," he mumbled, looking ahead to see the tall peak of his palace, Oseria. However, what came into his vision was a mass of black covered with thick snow, the tall red flags of the Nuria Kingdom atop it, making it seem like a place where a battle had been fought and Nuria had taken over. The barracks of the army were set up right at the foot of his once-spectacular palace. His chest tightened with sharp pain, and his grip around the horse's reins tightened.

"How dare they do this to my palace!" His hatred increased drastically with each passing moment. "Hayh!" He roared, and the horse galloped towards the burned palace with speed. The wind grew colder and colder around Dastan, and his body started to freeze up in the cold. He didn't have any warm clothing on his body, and his feet were covered in simple leather socks. But that was not an issue right now; what was infuriating was what lay before his eyes.

At the gates of the barracks, his horse slowed down, and he jumped off before speaking to the guard. "Who did this?" he demanded, making the guards at the gates confused.

"State your purpose. Who are you, and what do you want?" the guards spoke with hostility, causing Dastan's brow to lift with anger.

"You dare ask me who I am?"

"Under the command of the General, anyone unrelated to this palace shall be eliminated. So if you don't state your purpose instantly, we shall dispose of you—"

Dastan's blue eyes shimmered with a hint of light, and suddenly his hand moved with the speed of light, reaching the guard's neck. Sharp icicles protruded out of his fingers, almost puncturing the guard's skin.

"You do not threaten me on my own land. I will eradicate each and every one of you like pests if you don't tell me who did this to my palace, and I am not in the mood to play around, so tell me!" His gaze was so merciless that for a moment the guard felt like he had forgotten how to breathe.

"Fire! Step back," and only when he heard Noori's voice did he continue to breathe and step back as per his general's command. Noori casually walked out of the barracks and patted the guard named Fire on his back. "You did a great job, Fire," she said to him, encouraging him. Fire gave a weak smile and breathed heavily.

"Dear husband, I didn't know you couldn't stay away from me for even a few minutes. If I had known, I wouldn't have left," Noori spoke in a purposefully annoying voice, but Dastan didn't seem to be in the mood to play, his icy fingers reaching out in her direction. "Did you do this?" he asked, referring to the palace. Noori's lip curled up as she crossed her arms before nodding. "Yeah, I didn't like it, so I wanted to make a few changes to it," she said casually, stepping forward, causing the sharp icicles to almost touch her neck. Upon touching, they readily melted into steam, widening Dastan's gaze.

"After all, I am your wife, and I will be living here with you forever," she said, while the ice on his hand melted off as if compelled to touch her skin and melt. Dastan immediately pulled away his hand and looked at Noori, who had closed the distance between them quite a bit. "You are a monster!" he spoke through his clenched teeth. "I will never accept you as my wife. Never," he hissed, turning around and giving his palace one last look before mounting the horse once again.