Sweet Waters Throne

The sound of movements lasted the whole night, they didn’t sleep not even once. All of them knew what was going on and they did see Aryan getting inside Rush’s chambers, and gossips do travel faster than raven. By the next day, all the servants inside Rush’s manse knew of the discreet relationship between the Queen and Rush. It was no shock that Aryan only slept with women, but what shocked them was Aryan cheating on Olivia who seemed to be so devoted to her.

In Whitebridge things were heating up inside Aprophil’s Manor, every single day more powerful men came to swear their loyalty to Amabel Taelin as the true heir to the Silver throne and gave out their men to him. Hence this meant Prince Ambrose and Princess Thelma lost some of their promised partners and they didn’t know why.

At first Thelma thought it was because of her brother’s uncanny behavior and frequent visits to brothels. Or his inability to speak kindly to these aristocratic people who may help them gain access to the men they need to win the war, to which she blamed Ambrose for it and demanded that he start acting like a King if he needs to be one.

This was until they learned that Amabel was recruiting an army so that to attack Prophis soon and take the throne. Prince Ambrose was fueled with rage, “My dear nephew thinks he’s clever than me” he screamed.

“It’s not your nephew I’m afraid my Prince” said the Lord who brought them the news. “It’s Aprophil who is leading this whole thing, the Lord of Free Hall and Master of the Sea”

“Aprophil?” Princess Thelma quipped, she didn’t know who this Lord was.

“Yes my Princess. He is Luca Arteides’s bastard son, his mother was a slave in the Mines”

.....

Prince Ambrose’s eyes widened with amazement “A bastard?” he asked.

The Lord who brought this news to the Taelins was caught up in a hot seat and forced to answer one question after another. And these questions never seemed to stop.

“How come a bastard is willing to help my nephew? What is he getting from this?” Prince Ambrose’s rage seemed to know no bounds.

“He claims Amabel is the true heir to the Silver throne and he has managed to persuade a great number of Lords who are willing to help him climb the throne. He calls you a Usurper”

The rage was now fueled even more inside Prince Ambrose’s body “Me? A Usurper?”

“Let’s calm down now brother...” Princess Thelma quipped and allowed everyone to breath. Then when she saw that her brother was calm, she turned her attention to the Lord who visited them with this news. “How do we overturn this situation my Lord?” She asked softly.

If there was something that Princess Thelma was so good at, was being political. She learned this from her late husband Lord Lothar Taelin who ruled Loni for quite sometime because of being very political and his willingness to listen and learn.

The Lord replied, “Whitebridge is no longer on your side my Princess. The winds have shifted towards your nephew, we must seek another City” he said.

As expected this was met with an opposition from Prince Ambrose, “You mean shift to more lesser cities with no aristocratic people nor powerful Lords. Whitebridge is the biggest city amongst the three, this is where we should be” he claimed.

“Even if in this city we’ve lost?” asked Princess Thelma.

“We haven’t lost anything sister, look around... Five Lords and various nobles are supporting our cause. You told me so”

“I did brother, but you never asked me how many men were they willing to give. And you would have known this if you weren’t spending quality time in brothels sticking your cock to whatever moves while I’ve been here everyday planning, begging and pleading just to put you on the throne” this time Thelma stood up and faced her brother. “Maybe I should just give up and let our nephew take it, Prophis doesn’t need a drunkard man for a King” she finished and then walked away.

This small meeting was far from over yet Thelma left and she never came back to listen to more of what she thought was unnecessary. A King she rooted for was lost, a King who she killed for acted more of a cunt than a King and that pissed her off.

Even the Lord who brought the news could see the disappointment in Thelma’s face. Hence he stood up too and moved closer to Prince Ambrose, “Your sister is working so hard to put you on the Silver throne. The least you could do is act like you need it” he advised him and then he also walked away.

These words created an impact inside Prince Ambrose’s head, and this was when he realized he’s been lost for quite a while and if he continued to be like that, then he will lose the kingdom and Amabel will rule on his stead. Hence the next day when they received the letter from Lord Leoric, Prince Ambrose made a decision to visit the Mines with his sister to finally meet up with Lord Leoric who seemed to be a potential partner if they were to win.

Princess Thelma thought this was a good idea, but she wouldn’t go to the Mines instead Ambrose should be the one meeting with this Lord while she travels to Arkala and Penrith to seek out more potential partners. In three days Prince Ambrose boarded a ship to the Mines, without even knowing that one of the sailors inside the ship was Lord Balrus’s rodent sent to oversee what was really going on.

In Prince Amabel’s side, he didn’t need to be given a lecture so that he can act right. At just fourteen he was more mature and political unlike his uncle, even the Lords who once swore loyalty to Prince Ambrose turned their heads back and supported Prince Amabel. They called him “The Promising King” and that’s because he showed the future of Prophis to be brighter if he sits on the throne.

By this time Jordy had already learned of who was inside her son’s castle, and she didn’t like it. One day she summoned Aprophil in his own council chamber and expressed what she thought was irresponsible and not necessary for Aprophil to do.

“You are creating unnecessary attention my son. Why even involving yourself in matters which are not of your concern?” said Jordy, her tone was calm yet fueled with rage.

“Amabel is the true heir to the Silver throne, and a Usurper sits his throne as we speak”

“We do not mingle with Prophisians business” Jordy screamed at Aprophil. “Even your father when he was alive he used to say that too, leave Prophisians business to Prophisians themselves”

“Yet he is not here mother. Amabel reminds me of myself, I am the true heir to Sweet Waters throne and if you had told me early on then maybe I would —” suddenly he paused when he met with his mother’s eyes.

Jordy was struck with wonderment, she hadn’t known that all these years Aprophil was still dweling on the throne which he was never given nor had he even seen it.

With a somber tone, Jordy replied “You would have what? Ride to Blackmount and murder your half brother? You would start a war which your father forbade it? The throne was never yours Aprophil, the moment Artemis was born the throne belonged to him. You and I were nothing but just slaves in the Mines, do not forget that ever” she ended it with a note.

Then there was an awkward silence between them. And few exhales and inhales, Aprophil was angry but his mother was angrier. Jordy just wanted her son to live his life and never mingle with matters of successions and wars because she knew better — the purpose of wars are to fill graves and nothing else.

Aprophil took his time and when he had the courage to speak back, he turned to his mother “You say we were nothing but slaves yet we were never slaves mother. We lived a luxurious life in the Mines, I never worked a day in my life as a slave. That’s because my father wanted me to be raised as a Prince, and maybe he also wanted me to take my place as his first legitimate son on the throne, but you never gave him a chance... and neither did you give me one, to choose for myself what I truly wanted”