Since Esmera was abandoned on a stranger's doorstep as a baby, the only person who has looked out for her is herself.
Until a lark starts visiting her, leaving behind exotic flowers and iridescent pebbles that the internet doesn't recognise.
Esmera...
Trigger warning: explicit language. Please read with caution if you're sensitive to this kind of content. Thanks for supporting this story! 💜
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ruagu raised his black eyes to the high ceiling, his gloating diminishing even as he still stood over the rightful ruler of the kingdom he had usurped. "It was centuries ago, several branches before yours on your family tree, Tauram. I, like so many young men before and after me, was foolishly in love. My mistake was choosing Crown Princess Chirasmi of all people, a beauty but a woman of duty." His eyes glimmered as he looked back into his past, and Esmera didn't know if it was in sadness or sentimentality or something else entirely.
Like Esmera, Tauram stared up at Ruagu, his every visible muscle clenched, and his eyes narrowed. Maybe he too didn't know exactly where the tyrant king's tale was leading them.
When Ruagu lowered his gaze, it collided with Tauram's. "Did you know that I should've been the prince consort and your ancestor had your great-great-great grandmother married me as she promised to? Instead, she deserted me three days before our wedding, and I never forgot that."
Princess Kerani was the only person who dared to make a sound, gasping softly where she stood. Esmera, Tauram, Belaren and all the servants Ruagu had gathered to observe this spectacle kept their surprise silent.
"I never forgot Chirasmi." Ruagu's eyes turned distant once again, dreamy. "I never forgot her face, her body, or her grace, which is why I coveted it so when I saw it again." He glanced at Princess Kerani who watched him, eyes wide with mesmerisation, with fear, with the realisation that she was always going to mean this much to him even before she knew him.
Tauram cut through the smoke Ruagu's story had filled the room with, his voice sharp as the fangs Lundas bared at the usurper king beside him. "My question is what you did to make Princess Chirasmi abandon you."
Ruagu's eyes cut back to Tauram's. He gave a maniacal laugh. "Nothing. That was the beauty of the whole event! She married some nobleman by command of her father for the sake of an alliance. Clearly love means nothing to the Morghis dynasty, and you dare to call me power-hungry." Again, his eyes found Princess Kerani, and she shifted on her feet.
She had been brave to express her true thoughts to Ruagu. If she had been anyone else, he might've rotted her where she stood, but the ancestor that had doomed her to this life had also saved her from such a death.
Esmera wasn't sure whether she could believe that Ruagu had been an innocent party in the dissolution of his betrothal. After all, he had lied and conned his way to a throne.
Her thoughts drifted to Jammas, who was still perched on her head. All she felt of him was his weight. He didn't make any movement to tell her that Ruagu was lying, so she had to accept that he was speaking the truth.
"Love does mean something to us, Ruagu. It always has and always will." Tauram lowered his eyes to the ground, letting out a breath. "I'm sorry that Princess Chirasmi hurt you, but taking your anger out on her descendants who did nothing to spurn you will accomplish nothing."
