The halls were empty.
It was late, after all. Everyone else had gone to sleep. Even the servants were long gone, leaving her to walk the halls alone, but a whisper in the warm summer wind.
Aidan had said they would be all right, held her for hours, but she wasn’t… she wasn’t sure. She had a feeling. Extra guards were posted outside their wing, extra patrols around the island.
Yet inside, all was quiet. Even the waves were distant.
It was disconcerting.
Queen Marilyn tried to run there are quickly and quietly as she could, out of fear that something sat in the hallways. An assassin or a great lumbering beast, she wasn’t sure. The summer home was built with many windows and skylights, allowing the moon to touch every corner, but that didn’t account for the areas shrouded in curtain.
She knew when she was having a vision, knew when she was seeing into the future, but her abilities as a seer did next to nothing when it came to calming her anxiety.
When Marilyn slipped into the nursery, the beach was only a bit more audible. It soothed her, if only a little, but that calm was instantly dashed away (dashed on the rocks like the prince's head would have been dashed) the second she saw how open the window was, how the curtains billowed in the open and how her son’s bed was empty.
The blind king blind king lead by his mother the second born son-
She fainted.
She saw a girl young too young her brains dashed on the ground a tower falling a sun covered by the moon a man executed a boy, Greg, staring on as brother was dragged away, a great beast with bright eyes and strong arms tearing away pillars like the castle was made of not marble but sand, they live in a sand castle bound to topple at any second a small girl a navy a crest of silver--
“Mari… Mari. You’re alright, it’s okay.” A hand brushed some hair away from her eyes. Aidan.
It was still night, still dark, but this time a guard stood by the door holding a glowstone lamp (commodity commodity commodity). Her husband (King Aidan the Ocean King King of thousands doomed fromthestart) was cradling her in his arms like one would a doll.
Marilyn focused on him-- his golden eyes, his lumpy nose, the little scar on his cheek. The whispers faded, if gradually.
“...Hi.” She rasped. Aidan’s shoulders visibly sank with relief.
“You scared me there, for a second.” he admitted, just as softly.
“I’m sorry.” She tried to smile.
“Mom.” The voice was small, scared. Out in the hallway, the crown prince hid behind another guard. He’d wrapped his chubby hands in the guard’s golden cape, afraid to step forward. The guard himself was kneeling, trying to comfort the two year old the best he could.
“Ronan.” Marilyn breathed. He was alright. He was--
Her throat caught at the memory of what she’d seen in the vision.
“Come here, honey.”
Slowly, Aidan helped her sit up a little more so she could hug their son.
The King knew enough to recognize that his wife was shaken by whatever had happened. Marilyn hugged Ronan with what strength she had left, burying her face in his curly head of hair, breathing in his smell. The child likewise melted at her touch, holding her tight.
For now, she was conforted.
It was Aidan who saw the thing standing in the corner of the room, empty eyes bright enough to sear into his memory forever.
Then he blinked, and it was gone.
I wrote this like… two weeks ago
