Chapter 273: The Cave Council and the Problem of Getting Back Into the Palace
Chapter 273: The Cave Council and the Problem of Getting Back Into the Palace
The Golemhold Territory had its own particular quiet.
The cave held it well.
The pale minerals on the ceiling cast their usual faint glow across the flat stones arranged in a rough circle at the center. The walls were damp at the edges. The entrance was narrow and far enough from anything else that sound didn’t travel out.
It was, in other words, exactly the right place for a meeting that nobody’s parents were supposed to know about.
Six children sat on the flat stones.
Or five sat and one stood.
Zayrion was standing.
He had his glasses on, adjusted precisely, and his hands clasped behind his back like he was an old man of wisdom at that point and not a child like the others. His red beads caught the mineral light faintly.
He looked at each of them in turn.
Velira with her bunny. Thalira with her hair still slightly damp from a water exercise that had gotten out of hand that morning. Retheris beside her, fingers tapping slowly against the stone. Aziren with his amber eyes and his small steady flames. Brixton with his deep brown hair falling over his forehead, his broad jaw set.
Zayrion cleared his throat.
"So, you guys," he said, gesturing at the others except Brixton, "went to the palace, offended the King. And now he has instructed our parents not to take us there anymore."
Silence followed his words.
"That is the situation, right?" he added, in case anyone needed confirmation.
There was still silence.
Brixton shook his head slowly.
"I’m disappointed," he said.
Everyone looked at him.
"I wanted to ask the Queen something important," he said. "Something I had planned. And now I can’t even get to the palace."
He didn’t elaborate on what the something was.
He looked at the floor instead, his jaw set just like his father’s did when he was thinking.
Aziren’s ears drooped.
"I miss the Queen," he said, in a very small voice.
Velira looked at him.
Then she nodded.
"I miss her too," she said. She turned to Zayrion. "But instead of us sitting here thinking about what happened, can we focus on what we’re going to do about it?" She straightened slightly, her wings adjusting behind her. "I have plans with the Queen. Important ones. And I need to get back to the palace."
"What plans?" Retheris asked.
"Important ones," she repeated, and her tone made it clear that was all she was going to say about that.
Retheris let it go.
Brixton looked up. "And how exactly are we supposed to get back to the palace? The last time we tried going in disguise, the King almost killed us."
"He didn’t almost kill us because of that," Thalira said.
Everyone except her brother looked at her.
She hesitated, then continued. "I overheard my parents talking."
Retheris nodded. "That’s true."
"The King didn’t react the way he did because we snuck into the palace," she said. "He reacted that way because I said I loved the Queen."
The cave was quiet.
Then Velira frowned. "That’s enough for the King to almost kill us? Because you said you loved the Queen?"
Thalira shrugged. "That’s what I heard."
Retheris nodded beside her. "I heard it too. Both of us heard them talking."
Velira considered this.
Then she considered it some more.
"So," she said slowly, "the King almost destroyed the realm because you said you loved the Queen."
"Yes," Thalira said.
"Because of that specific reason."
"That’s what we heard."
Velira looked at her bunny.
Then she looked back, her face scrunched up in a frown.
Aziren’s ears rose immediately.
"Do you think," he said, "that the King likes the Queen?"
Everyone turned to him.
He looked between them excitedly, his eyes sparkling.
Zayrion adjusted his glasses.
"I don’t know about likes," he said carefully. "But my parents said the King treats the Queen differently from every other demon." He paused.
Aziren nodded slowly.
He was quiet after that.
But inside, something was happening.
He was thinking.
Specifically, he was thinking about his parents.
His father and his mother, who had been having marital issues for a while now—long enough that Aziren had noticed. He knew his parents still loved each other, but they always argued when they were together, hence why his mother had decided to return to the Kitsunegawa Territory.
He had been lost on what to do, but now... if the King liked the Queen, perhaps he could help him get his parents back together.
His father worked for the King after all.
The King would have to listen.
Probably.
Aziren filed this away and said nothing about it, because there was a time for plans and this was not yet that time. First, they needed to get back into the palace.
"We need a solution," Velira said, pulling the conversation back. She looked at Zayrion. "You’re the one who plans things. Plan something."
Zayrion was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, "I don’t know what we can do."
Everyone stared at him.
"Zayrion," Thalira said.
"I’m thinking," he said. "The usual approach won’t work. We can’t go in disguise—the King saw through that immediately." He adjusted his glasses. "We can’t simply show up—our parents have been told not to bring us." He tapped one finger against the back of his other hand. "And we can’t ask the Queen to invite us because then she’ll know something is going on, and she’ll look into it, and she’ll find out about the King’s instructions."
They were all quiet.
Then Brixton spoke.
"What if we just apologize?" he said.
Everyone turned to him.
He looked back at them steadily. "To the King. What if we apologize to him directly and ask to be allowed back?"
Zayrion looked at him.
"You think," he said, "that if we apologize, the King will simply let us back into the palace?"
Brixton opened his mouth to speak, then paused.
The King was very scary.
"Perhaps not," he said.
All six children sighed.
It was a synchronized sigh from all directions that filled the cave. Even after their meeting, there was still no solution.