At nineteen, Zofia felt old. She had waited out in the rain with a complaining Garison for hours, till after the sun was up. Zofia felt stubborn, reluctant to go inside. It was still pouring, the skies unrelentingly letting as much water fall upon them as it could muster. 

"I want men sent out to go look for them." Zofia decided as she tightened the blanket around herself. It was soaked but she cared little for her own well being in that moment. 

"Certainly, your grace." He agreed, waiting for another order. 

"Where is Serena?" She wanted to know. Draegon had claimed to know Serena for ages. If that was the case, perhaps she knew more than Zofia did. It pained her to think that though, that another woman could know her husband better than she did. She did not want that to be true.

"She left last night, your grace. She took a horse and rode off during the commotion." He informed her. Zofia was glad that she was gone, but where had she gone to? Both her and draegon was gone and it had Zofia fearful that they were together somewhere, that they had left her with the burden of royalty.

"You should go sleep, but make sure that some men stay behind in the kingdom. We cannot risk our own safety." Zofia turned to look at Garison. He gave a stern nod before he shifted uncomfortably. 

"I will get another guard to mind you." He added another point to their agreement. 

"Alright." Zofia agreed. She stood there and waited as Garison left. A part of her wanted to move, to start running and search for Draegon herself. Instead, she stood waiting for another guard. The hollow clank of the armor neared and stopped by her side. Garison was only there in fleeting before he hurried to carry out the queen's orders. The guards in their black and some in their silver filtered through the kingdom before spreading out into the woods. 

"Please, sir. Help me to my feet." Zofia asked her new guard. He helped her to her feet and supported her arm as she steadied her tired body. 

"Juniper. Would you fix me a bath, and something to eat?" Zofia asked the woman after she had jolted awake. She had been sleeping in the love seat closest to the front doors of the castle. She scrambled to her feet. 

"Certainly, love." She nodded. Zofia hated asking for things that she was, under normal circumstances, fully capable of doing herself, but she felt helpless in that moment, incapable of even breathing. Zofia felt torn in half, like her body wanted to stop working and her head was splitting open. That, on top of the sleeplessness and the inability to do anything to help either her husband or father in law, had her feeling utterly useless. Furthermore, the blame couldn't fall on anyone but her. She was most certainly in the reason they were fighting. Even feeling was confusing Zofia. She had been through too many emotions in the past week. Even the sadness and love she felt was confusing. How could she love Draegon? How could she be sad that she was possibly free from him now? 

Juniper combed Zofia's hair as she ate, then put it up in a tight ponytail. She brushed her fingers over her hair lovingly before she sat down on a footstool, continuing to watch her. 

"What happened to your sister, queen Zofia?" Juniper questioned her. "Last night you said it should have been you." 

"My father killed her. Lord Mephis told me. He found my father and asked him about me." She told Juniper. She had fixed her a delicious bowl of hot soup while she herself had soaked in boiling hot water. Zofia felt like all traces of Draegon had been washed off her and it made her heart feel as heavy as a stone. 

Juniper wrung her hands together, a nervous habit. She shook her head. "Whatever happened, you are lucky to be here. I know it hasn't been easy since King Draegon announced that he had chosen you to be his bride, but you cannot ask for a more comfortable life." She raised her thin brows at Zofia to get her point across. Zofia slid from her chair, to the floor and dropped her head in Juniper's lap. 

"I always thought that Niklaus, a noble man in town, was going to ask me to marry him." Zofia admitted aloud. "When I turned eighteen he kissed me under the big willow and promised he would marry me one day." Zofia wiped at her tears. It would have been so much easier. In that life she never would have found out she was a witch and he would have been the dead average human husband. 

"I'm sure he would have, if the king hadn't beaten him to it." Juniper assured the young queen. 

"Do you think that they will find him, Junie?" Zofia asked quickly. She sat back on the floor and looked at Juniper's honest features. 

"I really hope they do, Zofia. I can see that there is something in him that you love. The gods know that no one else sees that in him. He's a hard, cold, strange man." She shook her head, bitterly thinking about the king. 

"I don't know if I love him. I respect him, and I want to do my duty as his wife and as queen." Zofia stuttered, staring at Juniper with a frown. 

"I know love when I see it, dear one." She got up and helped Zofia to her feet. "Let me put you to bed so you can get some sleep." She opened the covers and made sure Zofia got in under them. "I had love once. But it was a long time ago. Get some rest." She justified her knowing what love looked like. Love seemed impossible. It was just one more luxury that money and riches could not buy. Juniper kissed her forehead and barely tucked her in before she was fast asleep. 

In Zofia's dreams she saw dragons, two large red beasts battling for hours on end. They fell from the skies and lay in the mud as men, bleeding out from harm they inflicted on one another. Draegon opened his blue eyes and gasped, grasping on to the tatters of his life. He reached to the skies as if he was reaching for Zofia. He gasped her name before he sunk into unconsciousness.

"Zofia, Zofia, wake up. You have a visitor." Juniper prodded gently. Zofia sat up with a start, looking at Juniper with her green eyes. 

"Is it Draegon?" She asked as she tossed the blankets off herself. She threw her fitted coat on over her dressed and pushed her feet into her slippers. 

"It's Niklaus." Juniper shook her head regretfully. Zofia paled again and nodded. "Of course. Yes. Would you please bring us tea in the sun room?" She requested. Juniper gave her a kind smile.

The tin sound followed Zofia all the way to the foyer where a drenched Nik stood waiting. Zofia contained herself as she carefully glided down the staircase, then stopped before him. Nic bowed, seemingly having gotten his manners back. He righted himself, but immediately threw his arms around Zofia. She clung to him for a moment. If she had not cried herself dry, she would have sobbed into his wet clothes. 

"The guards came around looking for the king. Did he leave?" Nik questioned immediately. Zofia looked away from him. 

"He and his father had a terrible fight. I don't know where either of them are." She explained to him. Zofia took a step back from him, then Juniper appeared with the tea she was asked to bring. Zofia thanked her before she took in a spot on the edge of the room. Nik sat after the queen did. 

"They could not have gone far." Nik offered. Zofia begged to differ. Those dragons were probably capable of crossing the earth in a night. 

"I am confident that the guards will find them both." She said as she sipped her tea. Zofia had to lower her teacup to catch a sneeze with the back of her hand. She cleared her throat. "Pardon." She said to the room. "I waited out in the rain the whole night." She offered a reason for her sneeze. She had hoped that the rain and the clouds provided ample cover for the two beasts that fought in the skies the night before. Nik wasn't telling her about the dragons, so she assumed that Draegon's secret was safe. Not even she had known that they called him the dragon king because he was an actual dragon. She had thought that it was because he had perhaps slain a dragon, or that he had the temper of one. 

"You are worried sick." Nik pointed out, his eyes narrowing. Zofia saw something slip into his gaze. She likened it to the feeling of losing her sister. Her eyes lingered on Nik for a moment, then it turned to her tea.

"I will be alright, as long as my husband returns alive." She gave a hopeful smile, but it was broken. 

"Do you need me to stay, Zozo?" Nik set his tea down and slipped into the love seat next to Zofia. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in. She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed him in. She had almost forgotten that he had been her best friend for the longest time. 

"I will be alright, the castle is full of people who are seeing to my well being." She answered, stifling another sneeze. Nik nodded. 

"Oh, happy birthday, Zofia." He suddenly beamed. He cupped Zofia's cheeks and leaned in to respectfully kiss her forehead. It was as if he had remembered his promise to her one year ago. She had certainly not forgotten but the fact that he failed to kiss her ever again after that had her thinking that he had. 

"Thank you, Nik. I think I need to..." Zofia coughed. "Get back to bed." She finished, her hand still over her mouth. 

"Of course. I will stay a little while, perhaps just to wait for the rain to lighten up for a moment. I'm already very nearly soaked to the bone." He chuckled. Zofia nodded. She blinked and it felt like her world was turning underneath her too fast. Zofia felt a rush of panic sweep through her. She urgently got to her feet, but then she collapsed. Nik caught her before she hit the ground. The room was still spinning, even though she was not moving any more. Junie yelled as she walked in on the sight of the queen on the floor. Her eyes closed, only allowing her to see black. 

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