"Cynthia loves learning Vale, not for being something but for the sake of it. But if she wants to be queen, I will support her." He said with determination brimming in his eyes.
"You know that very well, a queen's husband can only be king but not a knight," Valerie stated, furrowing her brows confused.
"Even a kid knows that duh!!" Victor replied, pinching her nose. " It's not like it's that bad!!" Victor said seeing her sister's shocked expression. Man! Would I be that bad as a king!!
"God! Love seriously changed you. You are leaving your dream just like that! I will tell this to my father" my brother is finally losing it. Now I am not the only one who would be jobless. Hmm, that would be something worth watching though Valerie scratching her nose.
" Hey, don't forget being king is also a job.. and I can also punish you whenever I want.." she thinks I will just slack off like her!!
"Who is getting punished for what," asked the king walking with Harold, his minister behind him. He always gets amused by watching these two siblings fight.
"Greetings to the king... May the king live long" they both greeted in unison while bowing up to their knees.
"Rise.. you should start calling me father, Victor. You are family now. And Valerie is always my daughter, Harold just stole her from me." The king replied smilingly " who is getting punishment Victor, is everything fine in the group?"
Oh yes!! Now he will be the one getting punishment though Valerie and smiled mischievously while looking at his brother.
Does she think I will get punishment just like that... God! She is still a kid. She doesn't even remember I can. Read her mind. Amused victor.
"Yes ki.. father, everything is fine. I was asking Valerie to join and learn, and just telling her people to get punished for not learning anything. Nothing important just thinking of giving her some task."
" Oh! We have a very important task for both of you. Come with us we need to talk somewhere privately" replied the king with a grave expression and started walking towards his chamber. "Call Cynthia to come meet me at this moment," he said to the head maid of his chamber.
Both siblings exchanged glances and said nothing in tacit understanding following the king. While Valerie stole a glance or two towards his father to get any clue but his father did not even look at her side. Just what happened that made these two easy-going people that serious!!
Once they reached the study of the king, Cynthia also arrived within a few minutes...
" Since you all are here, I would not waste much time, you all know I had a wife before your mother Cynthia, and a son too. But sadly she died, and I lost my son too. Then I got the information that he also died in the human realm.." he stopped looking for the confused expression on all three faces then continued " but I never believed in that, you know we witches have a strong intuition about things.. and my heart said he is just there somewhere. it's just I can't find him for now.. so I kept on checking the locator spell, but the results were always the same.. but this time I found him, I found my son's location" now their expression has changed from utter confusion to shock. " He is still in the human realm.. and I want you to bring him back.."
To say they were shocked is an understatement. They were looking like they saw a ghost. They could not believe what they heard. The prince who is dead from the past is now alive and most importantly the king wants them to bring him back... Them!!!!!!!
No!!! They all replied in unison...
Realising his mistake Victor coughed and elbowed Valerie to which she looked angrily at him but then as if realising what the signal meant, she also coughed a little and then both apologized together.
" We are sorry king, we replied rudely and disrespected you. But we are not qualified enough for this highly important task. We request you to choose some strong, intelligent and smart people to do this task. We may not be able to bring the required result" said Victor and Valerie bobbed her face up and down as her life depended on it.
His father thought her neck could fall any moment if she continued doing this.
While Cynthia just stood there silently looking at everyone and pondering about it.
While looking at his calm daughter, he felt proud.. he knew she would think properly before taking the final decision " and what is your reason to deny Cynthia??"
" You choose us because you want to keep the matter private and at the same time Vale has knowledge about the human realm. I understand father, but the point is we don't know anything about him. It's like finding a pin in the haystack. I will take a lot of time and we three are short on numbers. And the time of ritual is coming. I want to attend it." She replied calmly.
" I know it's a difficult task Cynthia, that's why I am asking you. You also know that you are the smartest one among all. People think you have the weak power of just controlling fire and being invisible. But I know you are strong. Because you have the power of the brain. You are the wisest person in the whole empire. I trust you with my life, my daughter. And if it's about the ritual, I promise I will wait for you. And if it can't be postponed any further I will bring you back a week before... I know how important it is for you. I am requesting you dearly.. please help your father." The king pleaded. He knows if Cynthia said yes, Victor will definitely follow her dragging Valerie with him. He loves her daughter too much.
"Alright!! I will go.. you don't need to request me, father. I will follow your command" she knew her father would not deny her. But at least she got her side of bargaining. It's already an achievement. Tsk! They think they can deny the king with that petty excuse... Still young. She thought, shaking her head internally while giving a sweet smile to everyone.
" We both will go too then," replied Victor while looking and smiling back at Cynthia.
Valerie snapped her face towards Victor at such a speed she was sure her neck had broken. Traitor!! She fumed and clenched and unclenched her fingers many times to keep her calm.