Page 79 of The Book of Kings

For the first time in a long time, I had fallen sound asleep without being disturbed by my nightmares. I only woke up when Bea was giving signs that her own sleep was coming to an end. She was either surprised or panicking. I couldn’t really tell which one of those it was since I had just come back to my senses. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, trying to figure out what was happening.

She didn’t answer on the spot, but soon after I could hear the confused distress in the voice, ‘Ferris...’ She ran towards the balcony. ‘Is this it?’

‘We’re high above the Pit and the smog level, so yes... That would bethe sun.’ We didn’t get to see the sun too often ... not even in the Hills. Still, it was a privilege no one from the Pit could ever take advantage of.

‘I... I never saw it before,’ she whispered gazing at the rays that were warming us.

I already knew that. For me, it was just a regular view. For her, it was magic.

‘The blessing of my royal heritage.’ Or more like the curse.

‘I didn’t know that you are royal,’ she seemed amused like I was telling a joke.

Unfortunately, the joke was on me.

‘Yeah... Blue blood is supposed to run through my veins.

Funny, it was still red the last time that I bled. Though I’m beginning to believe that it may be black by now.’ And I distinctly remembered the last time I bleed.

‘I’m pretty sure it’s as red as mine... But royalty, really!?’

‘My grandfather was the direct descendant of a king, but the monarchy is long gone. It’s only politics. Senators and governors now.’My family had lost the key to the city a long time ago. Echo city used to be the capital but now there wasn’t even a country. Just polluted places fighting for survival.

I guess that was also the story of my life — a fight for survival.

‘So that would have made you king?’ Her question made sense for a commoner, but not for me. I didn’t want to be king. At least not what a king meant these days.

‘A very uncrowned one, but who gives a fuck anyway? Not exactly leadership material as you can see.’ I was more in the mood for something else than discussing my never-coming coronation. Therefore, I pulled her closer to search for her lips.

‘That’s not what I see,’ she ghosted the words.

‘You see the lies your imagination wants you to see. The real me is the fucked-up version that you met last night.’ I was giving her yet another warning. One that I knew she wouldn’t follow.

She never gave me a comeback line, just rushed to get to the Academy since she was already late.

I didn’t let her go before I put transportation at her disposal. I would putthe worldat her disposal if she would be what I was searching for. But let’s just say I started off with an apartment.

That night, I had sent Alfred to help her move from her old room in the Pit to a much more comfortable location in the Hills where I could have her closer to me. And of course, always ready to pay me a visit.

However, it seemed life was playing tricks on meonce again and things didn’t exactly work out the way I planned. Mysurpriseturned out to be much closer to a shock for Bea, and instead of enjoying the moment, she ended up fainting on the floor. Alfred called to announce to me of her being passed out, although initially, I didn’t understand a single word of what he was saying.

As soon as his words started making sense I drove off to recover her. In a way, I regretted that I didn’t go there and help her move in myself. However, leaving my estate wasn’t on my favorite activity list.

I found Alfred nearly ready to pass out himself, desperately asking me to call an ambulance. I refused, deciding to solve things my own way by taking her back to my place. She didn’t wake up all the way there, giving me the feeling that she was as tired as she was shocked.

I had no idea why, but it seemed awkward laying her in my bed. I chose the couch, cocooning her in a soft blanket then taking a place in front of her on the floor, I drew my fingers to dance through the length of her hair, ‘Are you cold?’ I asked, feeling her trying to open her eyes.

With a faded murmur she called out my name as she was slowly coming back to her senses, luring my lips to rest upon her forehead, hoping that I would bring her some peace.

‘I’m here,’ I whispered, hoping to bring her some peace.

‘What...what happened?’ She couldn’t remember much of what went on at the new apartment and I was in order to provide her with some explanations — at least as much as I knew.

As I assumed, her collapse was a combination of astonishment and physical exhaustion which soon proved far from being resolved.

‘Come here,’ I stole her from the couch to meet me on the floor, landing straight on top of me. ‘Tonight, I want you to get some rest.’ Pretty difficult if you ask me, especially judging from our newsleepingposition.

‘I’m not the best company, am I?’ I wasn’t sure why she was asking. Was it because of her physical condition, or because of her state of mind? I wasn’t going to give it any importance anyway. Much more playful thoughts were running through my head.

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