It had been a month since King Alarico offered a truce. A month since Ophelia had cut her once dear friend entirely out of her life. A whole month, and nothing in the war had changed. Kearlye was still winning, thousands of Opalians had died on the battlefield, and Opheil's best engineers had barely figured out how to recreate Kearlye's captured war machines.
"Your Majesty?" A voice came from behind the queen's bedroom door. She look over curiously, what could her ( )other be doing here?
"Solinus?" Ophelia rushed to the door, opening it just as quickly, before hugging her younger ( )other tightly. "Oh Solinus, how I have missed you!"
"And I you, dearest sister." Solinus hugged Ophelia back just as tightly. It had been half a year since they had last seen each other, and unfortunately whenever Solinus left the coast, it was rarely with good news.
Ophelia ( )oke away from the hug, with a bittersweet smile. "What ( )ings you to the Opal Palace, Solinus?"
"A vision, Ophelia, from Aquara. It was... vague, and I was hoping to get your insight on it? Maybe even Tania's, or Adelaide's?" Solinus gave a sheepish smile after mention the royal historian, and Ophelia could help but smirk.
"If you wanted to see your crush, all you had to do was go to the record room."
Solinus' face turned as purple as his tunic.
"Sister!" Solinus pouted and crossed his arms. "I'm being serious! I really did have a vague vision!"
Ophelia couldn't help but chuckle at her baby ( )other. "I know, you'd never lie about a vision. I'm just teasing you, it's just too easy! You're just so adorable when you get embarrassed."
"You're the worst sister ever." Solinus huffed, before looking at what Ophelia was wearing. "Dearest sister, it is almost mid-day and you still haven't changed out of your night dress?"
A glare from Ophelia made Solinus flinch and hold his hands up defensively. Ophelia sighed and looked down at herself. She'd never tell Solinus she'd woken up merely 5 minutes ago thanks to a late night working on documents and nightmares that had plagued her dreams for the past month.
"I... suppose I should change... Help me pick out a dress?"
"I would love to, Ophelia."
An hour later and the royal siblings were on their way to the records room. Solinus smiling fondly as they walked through the halls of the palace, before pausing at one of the courtyards. Ophelia turned back and looked at him concerned. "Is something wrong, Solinus?"
"Just... remembering when we would run around in this courtyard when we were younger. When Mother would come join us, and do tricks with her magic... I haven't been here in so long, I guess I got lonely. How are Mother and Father doing, by the way?"
"They're doing well, Mother is looking for canidates for her successor. Bijou is rather picky about her High Priestesses, according to Mother."
"Is she? Interesting."
The siblings smiled fondly at the courtyard, before continuing their walk to meet with Adelaide. When they did, they found her slumped over in her chair, with her husband's cloak draped over her, causing both siblings to sigh.
"She should really find better places to sleep."
"Haven't you told her about her habit of working late? It's bad for her health, Ophelia."
"It is... But then I'd feel like a hypocrite." Ophelia mumbled the last bit to herself, though she still got a look from Solinus as he walked over to wake Adelaide up.
"Adelaide?" Solinus gently shook Adelaide's shoulder to no avail. He turned back to his sister, shrugging. "Does she sleep like the dead?"
"She does indeed, let me handle it." Ophelia walked over, took the cloak off her friend, before gently tipping the chair over to the side. Solinus watched in concern as Adelaide slowly fell off the chair and to the floor, instantly waking up with a start.
"I WASN'T ASLEEP ON THE JOB I PROMISE!"
The royal siblings couldn't help but stare a moment, before bursting out laughing.
Adelaide huffed before pouting and mumbling, "You two are mean..." |
