*Briella*
The colors were everywhere.
They were all my favorite colors, from rich greens to vibrant blues. There were so purple and reds mixed in as well, all in gorgeous, pleasing shades. They seed to dance and swirl among one another like enchanted paint.
I reached out with my hands but found that they didn’t exist. I couldn’t feel them. Maybe I didn’t exist currently either. Maybe I was a color as well, just a swirling mass ant to float along with all the others.
I could go along with that. If I was just ant to simply exist, then that’s what I was going to do. I was just coming to terms with that idea when the colors slowly started to disappear one by one. As soon as I focused on one, it vanished.
Before I knew it, all the colors had left, and there was only darkness behind...
Cold darkness. I couldn’t suppress a shiver that threatened to overco .
I gasped as my eyes opened. I blinked into the dim lighting of my bedroom for a couple of monts before pushing myself up so that I could sit on the edge of the bed. I glanced behind at Kryzen, who was still sound asleep.
I wiped so perspiration off my forehead, concentrating on my breathing as I sat on the bed.
I had been having strange dreams for a few weeks now. They weren’t really bad dreams. They were just odd and usually extrely sensory-heavy. I asked one of the healers about them, and she told that so won experienced odd dreams while pregnant and that it was likely nothing to worry about. My body was changing, and it wasn’t strange that my mind would be affected.
Still, these dreams had another layer to them that made wonder if it was just from my pregnancy. There was a sense of longing in them like I was supposed to be doing sothing.
I stood up from the bed, looking down at the front of my loose-fitting nightgown as the fabric shifted over the defined bump between my hips.
I stroked the small bump lovingly as I crossed the room to stand in front of the window overlooking the palace garden.
The moon was a gorgeous crescent shape, but it still glowed brightly even though it wasn’t full. Seeing its soft, gentle light illuminating the bed of flowers in our garden caused my heart rate to slowly decrease.
I ntally scolded myself for feeling this anxious over so strange dreams. They weren’t even frightening. They were maybe a little bit unsettling but not scary. It was probably a waste of ti to try and interpret them when there hadn’t even been any distinctive shapes, but there were definitely clear emotions associated with the dreams.
I needed to be doing sothing. That much was clear. Sothing was waiting for . I had no idea what, but there was definitely sothing calling to in the dreams. I wasn’t sure how I knew that exactly. There hadn’t been any voice or anything audibly calling, but I felt sothing.
What could it be? Was it truly just my body getting ready to have a baby? Was it simply telling that soon, there was going to be soone in my life who depended on ?
I supposed it was possible.
“Briella?”
I turned at the sound of my husband’s sleepy voice. Kryzen was sitting up in bed, squinting at through the dim light of the room. Even in this state, I could see the concern on his face.
“Sorry for waking you,” I murmured. “I’m okay. I just wanted to sit up for a little bit. Go back to sleep. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Kryzen stared at for another couple of seconds before wiping a hand over his face and standing up from the bed. Guilt imdiately ate at . He’s been so busy lately with all of his various kingly duties. He needed his sleep.
“I’m fine, Kryzen,” I repeated. “Please go back to sleep. You have an early eting in the morning.”
“I’ll be alright,” he said as he crossed the room to stand next to . He looked out the window as if trying to figure out what I was looking at. He then looked down at , his eyes clear and much more awake. “Is sothing wrong?”
I shook my head, but I could feel the uncertainty on my face as I did so. At the look of disbelief he gave , I shrugged. “It was just a strange dream.”
He nodded and then sat in the nearby armchair I liked to use for reading. He reached for , tugging on my arm and guiding so that I was sitting in his lap. He stroked his hand over my little baby bump, almost absentmindedly. “Do you want to talk about the dream? Sotis, that can help.” He lowered his voice. “Was it Tian again?”
I leaned my head against his neck, inhaling his comforting scent. “It wasn’t really a bad dream,” I said slowly, “just unsettling. There were a bunch of colors swirling around, and then the colors started to disappear. Before I knew it, I was just floating around in darkness.”
Kryzen was quiet as he digested this. He wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling against him. His other hand rubbed soothing circles on my back. I nearly moaned it felt so good. “That sounds a little scary,” he said, tightening his hold on . “Either way, you’re safe now. It was just a dream.”
I nodded against Kryzen’s neck, feeling much more comforted now that he was holding . He continued to rub my back and kiss my neck and my hair, all the while murmuring soothingly to . I was asleep within minutes.
I didn’t even wake up when he carried back to bed just a few monts later.
When I woke up the next morning, the sun had risen. The space next to on the bed was empty. I sat up and saw a note on Kryzen’s pillow. I picked it up, easily recognizing Kryzen’s neat script.
“I would have woken you up so that I could kiss you goodbye, but you were sleeping so deeply that I didn’t want to disturb you,” it read. “I’m going into the kingdom today to check on so of the businesses in town, so I won’t be able to have lunch with you. I hope your lessons go well today. I’ll be counting the minutes until I can wrap my arms around you again. Love, Kryzen.”
I smiled softly at the note and carefully folded it up so I could put it in the box where I kept the other letters he’d written to . It had beco a sweet form of communication between the two of us since we’d been so busy.
A soft knock sounded on the door before one of our maids, Millicent, poked her head in, her bright blue eyes warming when she saw I was awake. “Good morning, Your Majesty. I’ve set your breakfast on your nightstand unless you would like to eat in the dining hall this morning.”
I debated that for a mont. Kryzen probably would have preferred that I eat my breakfast in bed and take the day off to rest, but he wasn’t there and that wasn’t what I wanted.
I smiled at Millicent. “Thank you, Millicent. I’ll eat in the dining hall.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” she said, taking the tray and bowing before leaving the room.
I got dressed quickly, wanting to be done by the ti one of the maids returned. They would insist on helping dress, and I still wasn’t used to being waited on so thoroughly. It felt unnecessary to have soone help when I was perfectly capable of doing it myself.
I wondered if I would ever get used to being royalty.
I slipped into one of the many extravagant house dresses that was in my massive walk-in closet. They were called house dresses but were made of a soft, expensive-feeling fabric and had intricate embroidery of flowers on the hem.
As I descended the stairs, I felt a sudden heaviness co onto . I was still exhausted from the lack of sleep. Maybe I could ask for so tea to perk up before my lessons for the day.
Lately, the mornings were dedicated to my lessons, where I learned all sorts of things a queen should know, such as history, politics, economics and trade, and leadership. In the afternoons, I would either join Kryzen on his rounds or make public appearances in the kingdom, aiding the people in anything they needed.
It was strange. Kryzen and I were already king and queen, but we still needed to be guided in so many different areas. I was grateful we had so many ntors willing to help but wondered if we should have waited to be crowned.
I started to get to the bottom of the stairs when my head suddenly whirled.
“Your Majesty!”
A couple of the maids were at the bottom of the stairs and were able to rush up and catch before I fell.
“Are you alright?” they fretted.
I gave them a reassuring smile, straightening. “I’m fine,” I said but my voice ca out weak.
“Maybe you should return to your quarters,” Millicent suggested nervously. “I’ll bring up more breakfast for you.”
I frowned. “But my lessons–”
She actually cut off. “With all due respect, you shouldn’t push yourself in your condition, Your Majesty,” she said. “Resting would be putting your child’s needs before your own.”
I winced but couldn’t argue with that. I allowed the maids to lead back up the stairs, each one holding onto one of my arms, even though I no longer felt lightheaded.
After a light breakfast in bed, Millicent shot a concerned look before wordlessly drawing the curtains. I sighed before leaning back into the pillows. I shut my eyes and was asleep within minutes.
“Briella!”
I giggled and chased after Kryzen, who was running through a field of bright pink flowers. When our hands touched, the world lted away and beca bright. My eyes widened, and I whirled around. The whole field had been turned into a wondrous land made out of candy.
“How is this possible?” I asked Kryzen, who was picking a flower that looked to be made out of so kind of gummy.
He just smiled at and leaned in to kiss . “Anything is possible when we’re together,” he told sweetly.
I was willing to accept that logic and took his hand again as we started to run through the field together. He squeezed my hand and smiled widely at .
It seed like everything was perfect, which was when the sky started to darken.
Kryzen seed oblivious to the change and just kept pulling along behind him. I heard so vicious growling sounds behind and looked over my shoulder, causing a scream to burst from my lips.
The gummy flowers had turned demonic, sprouting blood-red eyes and sharp teeth. They had no limbs but were sohow barreling toward us.
My eyes shot open, and I sat up quickly in bed, breathing hard as I looked around.
I concentrated on my breathing for several monts until it slowed. I rose from the bed and wandered to the window, pushing the drapes open to reveal the early afternoon sun.
My shoulders sagged. I wasn’t going to sleep any more that day.
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