As the days carried on, Isis and Julius planned for their wedding that’s date was fast approaching. Flowers, decorations, dresses, suits, rings, food, anything you could think of. Of course, they hadn’t needed to decide on a venue, as it was customary for royals to get married in the sun temple, which was nestled snugly in the mountains surrounding Prockland. It was a difficult journey to actually get up there, but it was meant to test the love for the two. If they were successful in overcoming the trials to get up to the temple, then their love was destined to be eternal. Every time Isis heard of these stories her heart fluttered like a teenager who fell in love for the first time. Though over the past few weeks, Isis wasn’t feeling up to par, always coughing, stomach aches all the time, and her back hurt so bad all she could do was sit. She had no idea why she was constantly in pain, but she pinned it all on her upcoming period. As Isis sat back in her chair while sifting through another financial document, feeling like the walking dead. Julius popped his head in to surprise her.
“Hello my dear!” Julius said cheerily, walking in, holding something behind his back. Isis cocked her head in confusion, trying to get a good look at the object behind Julius. But he covered the object well by shifting his center of gravity to block her from getting a good view.
“What have you got there?” Isis asked curiously. Julius shrugged.
“I don’t know, kiss me and find out!” He replied with a sly grin. Isis rolled her eyes and started to get up, groaning a bit at her sore back. Not that it was Julius’ fault she was in pain, but the wild nights they’ve had before surely played a part in her discomfort. As she walked towards him and stood on her tiptoes, Julius didn’t bend down so she could reach him. She tried again and again, but Julius wouldn’t bend down so she could kiss him. This time, Isis started to get frustrated. Did he want a kiss or not?! She started pouting and strained her legs to try and stretch herself up to his height.
“Hey! Stop playing dirty and just bend down!” Isis said angrily, still trying to get up to Julius’ cheek to kiss it.
“Aww, I don’t know what you mean Isis.” Julius cooed, teasing her. He took a small strand of her coiled black hair and stretched it out to its full length. Surprisingly, her hair was actually quite long, at least eighteen inches long in length. Isis was still pouting and started to get upset. Julius finally caved but when he bent down, Isis gave him a good pull on his ear. He winced and then Isis gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
“Ouch! What was that for?” Julius yelped, clutching his cheek and flashing her those signature hurt puppy eyes of his.
“That was for being an arse.” Isis replied, flicking him in the nose.
“And that was for pissing me off.” She added. Julius whined at Isis’ violence against his poor face.
“But I was only teasing!” He whined, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his nose into her neck. Isis wiggled around a little bit before giving up. Julius was much stronger than she was, she didn’t want to acknowledge that he was bigger and stronger than she was, but she had to admit he was pretty well built for a sheltered prince. He held her there for a few minutes, just enjoying her being in his arms.
“My back hurts.” Stated Isis. Julius looked up slightly.
“Your back hurts? Why? We haven’t uhm, you know… For a while.”
“Yeah, and since there's no logical cause for it, it’s making me mad.” Isis replied with a sigh. Julius frowned and hugged her tighter.
“I’m sorry your back hurts honey!” Said Julius. He peppered a few kisses up and down her cheek, some landing on her nose, others on her lips, and a few on her eyelids. Isis giggled at the tickling feeling of it. Julius, encouraged by her laughter, started to tickle her, making her wriggle around even more, her eyes dampened with tears of laughter.
As Isis came down from her tickle attack, Julius kept giving her kisses all over. On her hands, her knuckles, her cheeks, her neck, her lips. Everywhere that wasn’t covered by a garment got smothered in kisses. Isis felt very flattered by Julius’ actions, feeling her heart flutter wildly in her chest. Though her back still ached from whatever she had done to it, she was happy Julius was here with her. Almost as if his presence was helping her ease her pain like a puff of opium. Isis had never really liked the feeling of being on opium, but it did a good job of numbing the pain. Isis gave Julius a few chaste kisses back before he set her down on solid ground again. The two held hands for a brief moment before Gladis walked in, leading what seemed to be a new maid around the palace. The young maiden looked wide eyed in awe at her surroundings, she flinched when she saw the couple in the room. She frantically curtsied before them.
“M-my apologies you Majesties!” The young girl stuttered, it was as if her tongue was caught in her throat. Isis chuckled a little and Julius joined in moments later.
“Marabelle, don’t worry, they’re bark is far worse than their bite.” Gladis reassured the maid. Isis didn’t know whether to be insulted or to laugh. But she decided the latter was the better option. She giggled a bit again before opening her mouth.
“Marabelle was it? It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Isis said, a confident and bright smile plastered across her face.
“Ye-yes your Majesties!” The girl stuttered again frantically. Isis stuck her hand out for the maiden to shake. As the girl sheepishly took the hand and shook it gently, Isis made the point to befriend the maid. She knew that she needed more allies while in the palace. She trusted Julius but her trust in other nobles was thinner than a strand of hair. Gladis coughed to get their attention.
“I did come in here for a reason.” She stated, her face the same expressionless and calm that Isis had grown up with.
“Oh yes of course!” Isis exclaimed, letting go of the maiden’s hand. Julius too turned to meet Gladis’ gaze, unsure of what the purpose of her visit was. Gladis handed the two a sealed letter with a battle crest on the seal. Isis shivered, not even wanting to know what the contents of the letter could be. A declaration of war? A revolution? No, no! Stop thinking about schuh morbid things! Julius opened the letter and began to read the parchment. Isis didn’t dare look at it, too fearful of what it could mean. Julius sighed and put the letter securely in the front pocket of his overcoat. Isis, though she was insanely curious, kept to herself, not wanting to cause more nightmares to emerge from reading it.
Every night after she had her first nightmare, she was constantly dreaming of terrible things. Death, destruction, famine, war, anything you could possibly think about, she was dreaming it. Though she was doing a good job keeping her thoughts to herself, it was getting increasingly difficult to not worry about it due to how disgustingly detailed the nightmares were. Isis involuntarily shivered, thinking about her nightmares made her feel sick to her stomach. She had no idea why she was having so many nightmares. Was it stress, fear, guilt? Isis couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She hated not knowing what was going on with her. Being plagued by nightmares wasn’t a common occurrence in adults, and it was beginning to make Isis feel alone in her inner turmoil, feeling like she was the only one to ever experience this phenomena. She knew that there was nothing to be scared of, and even if there was, Julius would be there to protect her.
Later that night, Julius was sitting across from her at the dinner table, he was quiet and almost motionless. Like a statue of sorts. Isis was now worried about him. She didn’t quite understand what he was going through, but nonetheless, she wanted to help. She was not only his best friend, but was supposed to be his wife too in a few months. As the two ate in silence, the tension was as heavy as a large whale. A few attending maids and butlers were being suffocated by it. Isis knew that she had to break the silence and strike up a conversation with the now stone-like Julius. Not only to save the servants from suffocating, but to save her from the uncomfortable silence too.
“So uhm… How was work today?” She asked dryly, trying to get him to at least speak. When he didn’t respond, Isis tried again.
“Anything interesting happen?” She knew that these mundane questions would lead to awkward small talk, but it was better than the deafening silence between them.
“Not in particular, no.” He replied. His response was just as dry as the question. The air around them was stiff and it felt like being strangled by an invisible force. Isis knew the servants felt it too. She wanted to dismiss them, but she couldn’t speak up. Like her throat had closed up and was no longer able to produce sound, let alone words. She felt like her voice bubbled up and popped before she got to say anything.
As they ate in silence, feeling suffocated by the deafening quiet, no one dared make a sound, no one dared move in fear they might drown. Isis knew this silence very well, her family was notorious for their incredible, deadly silence. If her father didn’t speak, then her mother didn’t speak, and if her mother didn’t speak, then her sister and her brother wouldn’t speak, and in turn, Isis wouldn’t speak either. Though now she no longer had to be in those insufferable meals with her family, she was free from that torment, but now; she had been silent during meals for so long, she had no clue what to say to break it. The only noise the two made with their light breathing, the occasional slurp of their drinks and the scraping of knives on their plates.
Once the long and dreadful meal was over, the two headed back to their chamber to get ready for bed. But even then; Julius wasn’t making any effort to start a conversation, and Isis had no idea how to start one. All she had was badly developed small talk, that only came in handy when she was uncomfortable with a discussion topic with other nobles. Asking him how work was didn’t work, so she doubted asking him about the weather would work either. She was practically choking on how bad her social skills were. She was supposed to be Julius’ best friend, and she was his fiance, why was this so difficult? Why couldn’t she think of anything to say? It made her angry that she was this bad. A Duke’s daughter with no ability to negotiate, what a sorry excuse for a princess she was.
At last, she had enough. Taking a deep breath, watching Julius pull on his nightshirt and waited for him to button up his trousers.
“Julius. What’s wrong?” She asked, leaving no room for debating what she was implying. It was clear she wanted to know what was in that letter, what contense did it contain to make Julius act this way? Julius looked solem, not wanting to burden her with the information, knowing it would make her worry. But non-the-less, he knew that keeping this a secret would lead to an argument that would likely lead him to be even more stressed than he already was. He leaned over and took her hand in his, squeezing it lightly. His face was a mix of fear, worry and sorrow. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He sighed and blinked for a while before finally handing over the letter. As Isis unfolded the letter and began to read it, her heart dropped. It was from the prime minister of Srima, writing about how disappointed he is to inform us about their declaration of war. The minister even wrote about the recent attack in the heart of Park Lon, admitting that it was a direct attack towards Nedid. Isis covered her mouth in shock as she read it. She looked up at Julius, she knew he hated fighting and war just as much as she did, but now; it was like he was sending the men to their deaths. War takes a toll on everyone, but to the emperor, it’s like willingly sacrificing people for the country; like a ritual in an ancient tribe.
Isis put down the letter, her eyes filled with unshed tears. Usually, Isis would have never acted this way, she was calm, composed, and collected. Isis wiped them away before they could fall. Julius looked at her with sad eyes, and Isis was taken aback, the eyes that had always been filled with joy and excitement were now cloudy with fear of the unknown. Isis didn’t quite know how to react, should she cry? Freak out? Should she try to stay calm? Isis didn’t know. It felt like the world was continuing on without her, as if she were watching a play of her life. All she did was stare at Julius, and then at the letter, and back at Julius again, repeating this function as if she were a ticking clock. Isis was not one to be overwhelmed easily, but she couldn’t even fathom that Srima would want to go to war with them. Why? For what reason were they doing this? Land, money, glory? It just wasn’t adding up for Isis.
She kept staring at the letter for a good twenty minutes, reading it over and over again. But she just couldn’t wrap her brain around the fact that it was real. This was a real declaration of war, and there were going to be real lives lost. Finally, Julius took the letter back from her shaking hands, setting it on his nightstand.
“I know, I know.” He said comfortingly, bringing Isis into a tight hug, trying to squeeze all her fear and uncertainty away.
“We’ll figure it out.” He rubbed gentle circles in the middle of her back just above her nightgown. He kept whispering comforting words to try and soothe Isis’ worries. But it was pretty much all in vain. The more she tried not to worry, the more she did. She shivered while thinking about all the bloodshed that was to occur. Even as Julius guided her back down to a resting position and spooned her, her mind was racing with the ‘whys’ and ‘what ifs’. Isis had never been so scared in her life, even when she was living on the border of Tunivina and Srima. The three kingdoms that lived on the continent were separated by a large river making Isis fairly safe from the conflict.
Isis still felt sick to her stomach as she tried to sleep. But her body just wouldn’t let her. Like an invisible force was compelling her to stay awake to catch a danger that wasn’t there. Even though she knew she had to be up early tomorrow to pack for a debutante ball for the daughter of the Minister of Park Lon, and that she had to travel a long distance tomorrow. No matter how much she tried, how much she begged and prayed, she just could not fall asleep. She was about ready to wake Julius up so he could knock her out, but she knew he would never agree to that, and no other servant would dare to do it if they knew Julius was against it. It irritated Isis how possessive and worry some he was at times. But even so, she remained awake, only accompanied by her thoughts and the gnawing concern that wouldn’t stop boiling over. Making her feel like a balloon that was about to burst.
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