Ethan
I woke up with a gasp. I kept doing that lately, sleeping most of the day away. Well, I had nothing else to do. Rudolph had canceled all my court meetings and there was nothing else I had to do but sleep, eat, talk with Rudolph or Ava anytime they come to my room.
I always waited for them to come and if they didn’t. That was the end of it for me. I was going to be bored for the whole day. I couldn’t walk out of my palace as I used to – the part of me that was me couldn’t – as I was too ashamed to face my people.
The other day that I had decided to take a stroll in the palace, I had overheard some of the maids talking of how I was slowly getting crazy and wondered what was going to happen to the kingdom if I didn’t get better. I had sighed and turned back to my chambers, promising myself that I wasn’t going to ever get out again.
It had been a surprise when I had woken up to find memories that I had no idea of in my brain as usual. I had groaned when I realized that I had gone out that day, overheard the maids talking about the werewolves living in a corner of the palace and had embarrassed myself yet again.
I was done for and I hated that horrible feeling that sinked in my heart as I kept on realizing every dumb thing that I did without realizing it. I imagined how good it would be if I was married to Ava already and had a child with her. The child would have been the king now while I went away in isolation to figure out what was wrong with me. Even if I didn’t have a child with her, she could be in charge of the throne while I was away. That sounded like a refreshing idea but it was a bad one.
I thought of marrying Ava so I could do that but I knew that I couldn’t. I couldn’t marry her for political reasons. I loved her and that was why I wanted to be with her. I wasn’t going to start our marriage with solving political errors and kingdom affairs. We still had a lot of centuries to get that done and I didn’t want to start my marriage with that. I wanted to start our marriage on a blissful note.
The door opened and Mia walked in, walking in with a mug of tea and the royal cup, breaking me out of my reverie.
I narrowed my eyes at her entrance. I didn’t send for her and wondered why she was here. I had been surprised to wake up one day and find out that she was my serving maid. I had to wait to remember when I had given that order and when I did, I was too ashamed of myself that I couldn’t look at her for days.
I couldn’t take back my order as the king and there were witnesses already who knew that she was my maid and thought that I was punishing the werewolves again that way.
I wondered what my people thought of me.
I hoped that she would leave me to myself. She made me uncomfortable. At times, I had this memory of feeling good when she was around me and hated myself more for it. Ava was my mate and that was the only woman I wanted as I was supposed to.
Mia was with the werewolves and I didn’t understand why my heart sometimes leaped when I saw her. I hadn’t just gone crazy, I believed I was down with multiple personality disorder.
I gasped as I came to that conclusion. Finally, that explained all the strange attitude that I had been exhibiting. I smiled in relief at myself. It felt good to know what was wrong with me. I didn’t need a medical doctor, what I needed was psychologist.
Mia looked up at my gasp. “Are you okay, your highness?”
I nodded. “I’m perfectly fine.”
She frowned, narrowing her eyes at me as if she couldn’t believe what she heard. She finally nodded and continued placed the tray in her hands on a nearby stool by my side.
“I don’t remember asking for you.” I said to her.
“I thought you would like some tea.”
“I didn’t ask for it.”
“I know but this is recommended, your highness.”
“By who?”
“Your doctor. Your general knows about this, your highness. This tea is meant to calm your mind and soothe you.”
I sighed. If Rudolph knew about the tea and gave it to her, I guessed I could take it but I wasn’t sure I could trust Rudolph. I couldn’t say what was wrong but I felt like I needed him. That was stupid. I snorted at my fear.
I was being ridiculous. Rudolph was my friend from our childhood days and with all his faults, I knew that he wasn’t going to hurt me. She was right though. I had been sleeping lately and feeling relaxed. I didn’t move around much and realize that I had done what I wasn’t meant to.
“You can pour me a cup.” I told her.
After all, I was just thinking of seeing a psychologist. What I needed to focus on was my mental health and not the healing of my skull and brain. It wasn’t surprising that Rudolph had thought ahead of me and realized that I needed therapy.
I snorted at myself and realized that I was being silly for thinking that I couldn’t trust him.
Ava walked in and walked to my side. She sat beside me on the bed and nodded at Mia when she bowed to her.
“Rudolph got me calming tea.” I said, raising the cup to her.
She didn’t seem surprised. “I know. I heard it’s a powerful calming tea and you will be back in form in no time. He got it from a reputable doctor and asked Mia to brew it.”
“Why didn’t I know of this?”
“We didn’t want to stress you, your highness.”
I smiled and tucked her into the crook of my shoulders. “You all are sweet.”
She giggled. “We want the best for you, Ethan, and we don’t care about the means we go to to help you.”
I smiled. “Thank you.” At that time, I felt like her words had deeper meaning to what she had said but I was too far gone with the bliss of sitting beside her that I didn’t bother to read into it.
I smiled as I lifted the cup to my lips and drank all the content in it. I didn’t think I had anything to worry about if Ava knew about it, not that I didn’t trust Rudolph.
I was about to place the cup on the stool when Ava stopped me. She placed her hand on my hand and looked at me. “Why don’t you take some more, your highness? I heard the tea isn’t effective when it’s cold and I want you better as soon as possible.”
I nodded. I wanted that too. “Pour some more tea into the cup.” I said to Mia as I held the cup to her.
She nodded, took the cup from me, poured tea into it and handed it back to me.
I lifted the cup to my lips and gulped down the tea. If I hadn’t been in such a rush, I would have seen the tears in Ava’s eyes and the smile on Mia’s face.