“I’m telling you Sugar, this mission will be quicker than the flap of a fairy’s wings!” yelled Herar, the king of the Kingdom of Clubs.
“If it were that quick, you’d be back already,” The Queen said with her arms crossed. The timer on her phone went off. She took her pear pie out of one of the many ovens that lined the back of the ginormous castle kitchen. She quickly pulled back her sulky bottom lip, which had been poking out.
“Common, Sugar, trust me, I’m just saving a Queen from a dragon. I’m not going to suddenly start a relationship with her.”
“I bet.” The Queen sighed. “You are not a knight anymore, Herar. You are the King of the Kingdom of Clubs, and you have two sons who look up to you. You already have a queen. You don’t need to go around saving others.'' The Queen used one of the stainless steel fridges to check her dark red lipstick and purple eyeshadow.
“Ah, don’t be so high-strung. Trust me! You are the only jewel in this world who could ever catch my eye. We are the perfect pair. Get it, perfect pear ? ” Herar’s eyebrows jumped twice.
The Queen couldn’t help but laugh, and kissed the man’s forehead before he left.
Truthfully, King Herar was worried he had gotten rusty. Before he had married the Princess of the Kingdom of Clubs, he had been a doughty knight who rushed around on horseback trying to save ladies in distress or fight off evil creatures of the kingdom. Then he met the Princess, married her, became King, and his life shifted to making kingdom decisions and taking care of his children. He hadn’t gone on an adventure in years, and he missed hearing the cheers of the kingdom when he saved the day. So when he heard the Queen of the Diamond Kingdom needed saving, he leaped at the chance to be active and fighting. Even if it meant he had to leave his family.
He’d only be gone for a little while, right?
Wrong.
Three days later, Herar was rushing back to the tree-speckled kingdom he called home.
He had to explain to his wife that the kiss between him and the Diamond Queen wasn't real, but fake.
When he got to the castle, he followed the noise of sizzling to the kitchen. There the Queen stood, her glossy black hair covering her face.
“Sugar,” The King began.
“Have a seat,” The Queen said to Herar, turning back to the stove to flip a pancake. She didn’t say anything else, so after a moment Herar sat at the table.
He looked around the kitchen. The royal kitchen was big and made for the chefs that used to work there, but Queen Sugar had paid them all a year's worth to quit so that she could cook for her family herself. She had made all the appliances rose gold, all five of the ovens and both the fridges. Club symbols lined the peach-colored walls. The kitchen was so large that one side was dedicated to cooking, and the other side had a table for six. The room was split by three counter islands. Queen Sugar had her back turned to Herar.
“Sugar, I need to explain-”
“Listen.” the Queen said. “You need to listen.” She lifted her shiny brown spatula up and placed a plate-sized pancake on a dish. As she poured more batter into the pan, she spoke.
“I don’t know much about loyalty, but I do know some things. I know that I chose to marry you, ten years ago. Royals hated me for it. My parents hated me for it. To them, I was supposed to marry the prince of a grand kingdom, not just one of the knights. It was hell for them to call me a lower rank-lover, or say I was doing the wrong thing everyday for three months until we got married. But I got through it because I knew, soon enough you would marry me and I would be in your arms. I would be able to kiss your lips everyday for the rest of my life. I got through it because I loved you.
There were moments you were gone for six months at a time, off fighting some war. I missed you dearly and I hated being alone or worrying that you might die at any moment. It killed me inside to wake up and see your side of the bed empty, but I still waited for you. I still thought about you everyday, because I loved you.
For nine months I carried our eldest in my womb, and that was a challenge all on its own. There were painful days, there were awkward weeks, but for nine months I carried our son because I knew, one faithful day, all the pain and suffering would be over, and I would have a brand new son, one I got to raise with the love of my life. I did the same thing for our next son. I got through it because I loved you.
I don’t know much about loyalty, but I know what you just did was far from it. Everyone I knew had questions. The people wanted to know how I felt about your betrayal. ‘What does the Queen think about the King's affair?’ they said.
‘Why would you marry someone like him?’ ‘What did you ever see in him?’ My parents asked.
‘Why is Daddy kissing that lady?’ asked our children. ‘Why Mommy? Doesn’t Daddy only kiss you?’” the Queen’s voice wavered, her back still to Herar. Her arm slid across her face and she sniffled.
“But I couldn’t answer their questions. Because I couldn’t even answer my own! the ones my head and my heart kept asking!”
Her silver glitter dress shimmered and expanded as the Queen turned to face Herar. Her makeup was smudged and reduced to faded grey streaks.
“Why!? Was the make-up not enough!? Was I not enough? Why doesn’t he love me!?” The Queen wailed as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Sugar, no! I do love you! You don’t understand! I didn’t really kiss the Queen of the Diamond Kingdom, the photos were edited!”
“Enough Herar! I told you not to go on that mission! I knew something like this might happen, but no, I said nothing because I trusted you. Because I loved you. But I guess I was wrong!”
The Queen called for her sons at the stairs. “Say goodbye to your father! He leaves today,” the Queen rolled a suitcase to Herar.
“But Sugar!” Herar walked up to her.
The Queen crossed her arms and turned away from Herar.
“Dad! How could you!?” yelled his eldest son. He ran down the stairs and began to attack his father by swinging his plastic sword. “You only kiss Mommy!” the boy sniffled.
“But… I don’t want Daddy to go,” said his youngest.
Herar was torn. While one of his sons attacked his leg, the other grabbed onto the opposite leg and cried.
“Please Sugar, listen to me…” began Herar.
The Queen’s lip trembled, but she turned away. “I...I wish you would have listened to me.” and with that, the Queen turned and rushed back into the kitchen, her eyes already glazy again.
“Sugar!” Herar reached a hand out, but it was too late.
The former King Herar eventually moved out, and spent his days slumping around the town getting awkward glances from villagers.
He woke up one morning and looked beside him to see an empty space beside him. He sighed, but that’s when he heard chatter from downstairs.
He quickly got up and rushed out of his room. He found he was in the castle again! The halls had huge arch windows with Clubs in between as he ran down the red carpet downstairs into the kitchen, where he found the Queen pulling a pear pie out of the oven.
Herar staired at her a moment.
“Sugar…?”
“...Yes?” the Queen asked, glancing to the right and back at him concerned.
“You let me back into the castle?”
“You’ve always been here, Herar. What’s gotten into you dear?”
“Daddy! You’re awake!” their eldest yelled, and he and their youngest ran down the hall and hugged their father’s legs looking up and smiling at their father’s giant figure.
“You slept for a long time, are you feeling okay?” the Queen walked over to Herar and felt his forehead.
Herar smiled. “I’m fine. I’m just glad to have you all.”
The Queen smiled and joined the hug. “And we’re glad to have you too. Now, who’s hungry?”
The End.
Hey there! I’m Shila Williams, a 16 year-old author. I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon! Imagination by Shila Williams
my Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/restcity
my read.cash: https://read.cash/@restcity