Folke ♥︎|| Folkelore

♥︎ 24 ♥︎

Ambrose rushes into the room then. "Princess," he huffs. "There you are. Princess Gaia has yet to be found. We believe it was a false alarm."

I sigh, running my hands through my curls. "Thank you, Ambrose. We may need to look at our war plans again."

"If I may ask, Your Highness, why would you believe we would need to go over our war plans again?"

I work through a couple different options before answering. "There were Aeryan soldiers in the Sclian Palace."

He narrows his eyes, glancing between Apollo and me. "How would you know that?"

"We, uh, might have been there?"

"Is that a question or a statement, Your Highness?"

Apollo clears his throat. "Calla followed Octavia, and watched Aeryan soldiers march into the Palace. I brought her back before she could get herself into trouble."

Ambrose groans, pinching his nose. "Your Highness, if things like this continue to happen, I'm going to assign you a security detail."

"I thought that was Bastien's job," I retort.

"Since he seems to be failing at his responsibilities, there will be at least three more soldiers assigned to you."

Rolling my eyes, I brush past my general. "I won't be in need of guards, Ambrose. You trained me well enough to hold my own in a fight."

"I can attest to that," Apollo chuckles. "She's nasty on the battlefield. However, I agree with Ambrose, Calla. You need to be more careful."

Whirling around, I give him a look. "You too?"

"Don't look at me like that, love." He shrugs. "You could be more careful, like perhaps not following after Queen Octavia, especially without backup."

Sighing, I turn back around and keep walking. He has a point. He usually does. I hear Apollo behind me, but I don't acknowledge his presence.

We don't talk as I storm to the dragon stable deep in the Palace woods. I explored these woods all my life, but never managed to find it. I guess you need to keep something so important to the world a secret.

Apollo slips onto Dexter, the CORE dragon given to Loam. With a tense breath, I slip on behind him, and we're off into the air. Again, we're silent, nothing but our breaths as we soar through the sky. Despite my attempts to put some distance between us, my legs still end up pressed against his, and when Nullalata appears, I slide even closer to wrap my arms around him.

My breaths come faster, and my whole face heats. Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to ignore the sensation of being flipped inside-out.

Finally, we're inside CORE and making our way to the Council's hall. Taking our spots at the long table, I glance around at the other Royals.

This isn't our first Council meeting, but I still don't fully know what's expected of me. The rest of the Council is made up of Royals my parent's age, all except for Apollo's older brother Adonis. He's a great guy, but being almost ten years my senior, I'm eternally grateful I wasn't betrothed to him.

High Queen Calypso arrives, and the meeting begins. A young CORE member gives their report, and once finished, Calypso ushers them out of the room to discuss our thoughts and make a plan to use the new information.

It's thrilling to be a part of something so big. I always thought being a Queen was the coolest thing since I get to help so many people, but this is even cooler.

The other Council members may not agree with my ideas, but at least they're heard without judgment. Well, there might be some judgment. But they're heard.

The sky is darkening in Loam by the time Apollo and I return home to the forest. It takes a little while to get Dexter all settled, but then it's just the two of us, alone in a forest.

"I'll race you back to the Palace," Apollo declares with a grin. My own traitorous lips curl into a matching one as I take off towards the Palace. "Hey! That's not fair!"

I laugh, letting the stress of the last couple, well, months slip away.