Hamelot's Throne

The day was long for everyone in the palace. They had watched the crown prince come home and had hope that they would finally get to see the day prince Leo would not leave. King Hamelot had even come out of Emery's room to hold a meeting with the elders in the throne room. Things were never that simple, however, because they had to watch as the young prince had left yet again as always. Many of the people among the palace were startled and confused upon the fact that Leo had not stayed for the ceremony for prince Emery's passing into the afterlife, but no one had the heart to speak up to the king about his first born son.

King Hamelot had not spread a single word among the palace to anyone that it was his own mindset that had sent his eldest son out the palace door this time. With the assassination of his youngest son from inside his own palace walls there was no guarantee who he could entrust with information at the time in his mind. The thought over how vast the palace was had only left him with a deep mistrust for everyone around him until he was sure of who all was involved in Emery's death.

As the long morning passed by the king held the ceremony and had Emery's body sent to rest among the royal family's tomb.

Afterwards he found himself collapses from emotional exhaustion in the seat of his throne. There was many elders in the room who had attempted to console the king with kind words, but with everything going on he could only taste sweet bitterness off everything spoken to him.

You all speak kindly right now, but for all I know your kind words could simply be that of someone involved in my son's death! He thought to himself as he grumbled in frustration.

The thought of not knowing how many people among the staff could be against him and his family was something that made his body ache to the bone. If one was willing to kill his own child it only meant that there could be even more among them. That was one of the reasons he did not entrust the idea of his first born being home in the palace. If something happened to him and his son Curtis then he wanted to at least have hope that someone among their family would live on for hope of the kingdom and for home of their bloodline not waning from the world.

"Father, why did Leo not stay for Emery? I thought you said he would surely come to the palace for our brother..." Curtis spoke as he approached his father.

There was a deepness in the look of curiosity that shown in Curtis's eyes that was obvious to the king. Hamelot was sure that his son was simply worried about his brother and it caused him to sigh heavily. He found himself waving his hand at his second born son to push the question away without a response.

"This is just like him! He surely came to find out which one of us was injured and simply ran off again as usual." Curtis shook his head as he closed his eyes. The look on his face seemed almost blank and empty of emotion for a moment before a look of despair appeared.

"Do not speak of your brother like that, Curtis." Hamelot glared at his son with a flicker of rage.

"But, father, is it not true? He always runs off from the palace at every chance he gets! This time it was just the same thing as usual... The moment he came home and found out it was Emery who had fallen to assassination he simply did not stay, but instead he ran off again with that beast of his."

The king opened his mouth to respond, but to no success. He could not figure out the words to speak to his son about Leo. If he told Curtis that he had sent his brother away on purpose would that not cause him to feel rage that his father looked like he was favoring one child above the other? King Hamelot knew that his son Curtis was highly jealous of his brothers, especially of Leo. It was something that everyone in the palace was aware of because he had been showing signs of it since he was a mere child.

"Father, I have to say I do agree with everyone that Leo should just give up his right to the throne." Curtis took a glance at his father to carefully study his reaction to his words. He was aware that the king was sensitive with it came to talk about Leo not deserving the throne of Cadirade.

"What?" The king glared at his son with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Leo has never spent much time in the palace ever since he started sneaking out to do that whole adventuring thing among the kingdom. He simply can not handle the throne. If you just allowed me I could easily-" Curtis was cut off from speaking by his father's rage.

"Curtis!" King Hamelot screamed his son's name so loud that it echoed among the walls of the throne room.

All the elders and guards in the room were shaken from their dazed expressions and work as they shuddered at the sound of their king's rage.

"Do not speak that way about your brother to me! You do not understand his mindset at the moment as well as I do and I will not hear you're mislead words against him!"

"But father!" Curtis's face was turning red with rage at his father's defense for his brother Leo. He felt practically humiliated for being yelled at in front of all the elders and guards in the room. Their gazes were surely filled with pity for him!

"No more of this talk!" The king raised his hand towards his son to force him into silence.

Everyone in the palace knew how defensive the king could be of crown prince, Leo. It was surprising to them that the king would even yell at his other son over the matter of who would take the crown, but then again after they thought about it for a while they would come to the conclusion that they weren't honestly as surprised as they felt they should be. They had never seen one of the princes confront the king personally about the matter before, but they knew how the king was when an elder would attempt to do so, therefore their surprise was not something that would last long.

The feeling of humiliation flooded over Curtis as he turned to leave the room. Those he passed all removed themselves from his path to avoid the rage of the young prince. They could tell by the look on his face that his mood was beyond help. There was a heavy darkness in his eyes that cast a shadow over his expression and caused his exact temperament to be shrouded in mystery for anyone who even attempted to make a guess at what he was thinking or feeling.