Rising from the Ashes
Chapter 32

Nakoa left a week ago. It was Elenora that insisted on it. Bloodmoon needs their Alpha, not the Beta. It is her that seems stuck for the most part. Charlotte is physically healed but mentally she is a mess. Elenora had spoken briefly about starting their trip back but she had a panic attack at the thought of returning to the place she was taken from. She no longer feels safe in Bluemoon and how could she? Elenora had failed to protect her there.

Truthfully the more Elenora thinks on it even traveling back with Charlotte seems dangerous. Whispers of her being the lost princess would have traveled outside of the Kingdom by now. Her enemies or rather the royal families enemies likely know which makes being her daughter the most dangerous thing.

They had settled into a schedule of sorts. Charlotte had started it first. She does everything she can to stay active, to not think. From pulling weeds in the garden to working in the healing quarters to training with the best warriors there are.

Elenora had been pulled into her own training. Not by the warriors. King Stavros insist that the thing they need to focus on is her fire and her ability to control that. "You need to focus Princess Muriel!" Elenora glares at the man who taps her hands with the stick "Focus!"

"I do not understand why this is necessary. I can control my fire perfectly fine." Elenora growls and to prove her point she raises her hands. With her hands five fiery soldiers appear from absolutely nothing and they start to circle her teacher. His name is Jasiel Flint and he becomes increasingly more annoying as the days pass.

"That is a simple magic trick Princess." With a wave of his hand water springs up from the fountain and drowns out her fire "Easily beat. Tell me princess. Why use your energy to create something of nothing when you have perfectly good lanterns right there? A waste! Tell me again, how many times have you gotten overwhelmed only to explode? It makes you dangerous and dangerous is not what you want to be when ruling a pack. Dangerous is not what you want to be when raising a daughter. What happens when you get angry and you burn down your house?"

"I am getting better at that." Elenora growls but her hands light up on their own accord. Frustration. "That was intentional."

Jasiel Flint raises his eyebrows and hums before pulling the water from the fountain once again. He drops it on her. Soaking her and putting out the flames "How about I help then?" He smiles before turning his back on her "Again and focus!"

The first level of training is the heat of the fire. It is something Elenora had thought she did well until he put these tubes in front of her. They turn a certain color when it is as hot as it is supposed to be. Red being the coldest. The hottest will turn white and it becomes incredibly transparent. She has managed to reach all the desired temperatures but not within a moment and nothing without thinking about it longer than he would like. Jasiel wants her to be able to do it with a wave of her hand. They practice until Elenora feels as if she is going to callopse. Only then does Jasiel dismiss her.

Elenora can almost see herself walking into her room and falling face first onto the bed before finally letting sleep win over. Unfortunately it is the middle of the day and she has things to do. There is only one reason she had agreed to train with Jasiel and that was to win the Kings favor. It is what he wanted. It is what King Stavros insisted she needed. Not for long. A couple of weeks and she will be able to return to Bloodmoon. Bloodmoon, not Bluemoon. After her talk with Stavros she will talk to Charlotte about staying in Bloodmoon instead. She is not going to want to return to their cabin but perhaps they can get a new place in the pack over? They had spoken briefly of it months ago and the main concern had been her school.

Elenora stops in front of the large door before sighing. Asking anything of him is not her favorite thing to do. "He is not nearly as monstrous as you seem to think princess." The warrior mutters, voice a low whisper. Elenora probably wouldn't have even looked at him if she didn't recognize his voice. This is the same warrior that had talked to her when the king had her locked away in a tower.

"He is ill-tempered." Elenora tells him but the warrior merely chuckles and shakes his head.

"No. He is a very patient man struggling to talk with his daughter that openly hates him." Elenora could argue with this warrior all day about this but instead she shakes her head in disagreement before knocking on the door.

It is the prince that opens the door. He raises his eyebrows when he sees it is her before dramatically bowing, his arm spreading wide to invite her in "Welcome!" He cries "To the circus. Step right in and-"

"Ardon please." King Stavros interrupts "Giving the issue at hand one might think you would be a little bit more -oh." King Stavros clears his throat when he sees it is her before pushing himself to a stand. His hand ends up hitting a candle in the process and he fumbles to pick it up while saving some of his paperwork from the wax. Prince Ardon snorts in a way that is not quite appropriate "Muriel! Come in, please." It is a stark difference than when they had first met. When they had first met she had insisted she go with to rescue Charlotte and he had not taken it well at all. They had argued and it ended in her being locked away in a tower with the Queen and Princess Lydia.

He looks like a completely different man. She had caught him off guard and now it is incredibly hard to see him as some monster. Only a man who has no clue what to do with the situation before him. "How is your training going? I really do think it was a good thing you agreed to-"

"I suspect she wants something in turn father." Prince Ardon grins "I was shocked when she agreed in the first place."

When Elenora does not deny the King merely sighs "Well it is still a good thing nonetheless. What can I do for you Muriel?"

Elenora gestures to the seat in front of his desk and he nods. It gives her enough time to think about how she will say what she needs, how she will explain how important her favor is. Some might think she is being paranoid but those people have not lived her life. Those people have not sat through the last week listening to her daughter scream in her sleep. "I have an enemy King Stavros." Elenora watches him flinch at the name but to his credit he does not interrupt her. Most in the Kingdom refer to him as King Maverick and Elenora is certain he would prefer she call him father. Fat chance of that ever happening. "I do not know the name nor their face but I am certain I have an enemy and I have had this enemy my entire life. I suspect I inherited it." King Stavros looks down at his hands. They're shaking and Elenora has the same instinct she had for the queen when she was in pain.

Not to hug him but to at least grab his hand and offer some level of comfort. She does not wish to cause him pain. Not now. Only to make him understand. "And I suspect my daughter has inherited my enemy as well. We need to go home but I worry that if I were to travel with her it might add to the danger. That said I still want her to be well protected so I was hoping-"

"I will send fifteen of my best warriors to escort her back home and another five to escort a decoy." It is more than Elenora could have dreamed from him. Elenora waits for the 'but' to come. Surely he must want something but he ask for nothing. Elenora stands, feeling oddly light.

Her next thought sounds petty. If he is the best than she will take him except surely there must be better men than him "That man who burned my letter when I first arrived," Elenora pauses and rethinks her question. She had asked more than enough and he had given her more than she could dream. Why push it? "He is not one of your best right?" Because she is a moron. That is why. She should have said thank you and walked out of this office.

"Kent?" Prince Ardon laughs "Do not worry Muriel. Kent is not one of the ones who will be escorting Charlotte. Father had him stripped of his position." The thought of that probably shouldn't make her so happy but...he had made getting Charlotte back that much harder and so she smiles and nods. Elenora had made it to the door when she stopped once again. It is a question she has had for years. Simple. Curiosity. They probably wouldn't even remember him in the first place but... "More questions Muriel. Might as well sit back down. I had no clue you liked talking to us this much."

"Ardon." King Stavros warns. Elenora turns back around and leans against the door. Elenora suspects King Stavros fear one wrong word might scare her off but there are things much worse than the conversation they are having.

"Years ago there was a man in Stonebridge you offered a position to. You invited him to train here and you told him he could bring his grandmother, sister, and his sisters daughter."

Elenora hadn't expected Prince Ardon to go as serious as he does. Gone is the smile, the laughter in his eyes "Anthony Barlowe," and he looks out the window of the office. "Yes I remember him. So much potential in that man. I was certain he would raise in ranks quickly. I offered him the position myself and when he denied me mentioning he had a family to take care of, to protect. I told him he could bring everybody with." Prince Ardon turns to her "Did you know him?" A stupid question. Elenora would not be asking about him if she did not.

Elenora merely nods and the next words slip out without her permission "Did you not find it strange? The time of his death?" Or did you not care all that much? What is one warrior in a kingdom full of them?

The prince does not seem to take offense at the question. He turns towards the window before swallowing and turning back towards her once again "I thought it very strange Muriel. I went to the pack in search for him only to be told there was a rogue attack. They told me he died after trying to save another. I thought-" Another swallow "I had no reason to suspect any foul play Muriel. We cannot randomly search each pack just because of a bad feeling." It is not the answer Elenora had hoped for. Truthfully she does not know what she wanted to hear. Nothing Prince Ardon can say would bring Anthony back. Nothing would make up for the pain she had endured over his loss.

"How did he die?" King Stavros questions, leaning forward on his desk "What really happened to that boy?"

For a moment Elenora can see herself there once again. Screaming for them to let Anthony go. Elenora can almost see Anthony there, trying to smile as they torture him, whispering that he is alright. Behind her she can hear Vermont whispering that she is not allowed to love. "He was killed, tortured in the cells like a criminal." Elenora manages a smile to go with a very sloppy bow. It is rare that Elenora bows to them, mostly from lack of memory and the times she does remember it is sloppy from lack of practice. She is no lady and she is no good pretending to be "I should go. Thank you for your protection regarding Charlotte your highness." With that Elenora rushes out of the room and away from the conversation she had started.

Charlotte can head home now, safely. With luck Elenora will be able to follow close behind.

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