The silence between us should have been notable, heavy even, but balanced with the sun, warm and competing with the gentle breeze... It felt as though there was no expectation to talk or even notice each other.

The trees, towards the edge of the palace started to appear, they had not been uprooted just yet and reached out over us, stretching their branches and showing off their leaves and blossoms. When they moved they moved in unison and the sound of the foliage brushing against each other blended in with the unseen birds, singing and hopping from branch to branch.

On the ground was the occasional pine cone, a little odd as there weren't many conifers in the surrounding area, and no pine trees. In the distance I thought I saw a dense collection towering somewhere on slightly flatter ground.

I wondered if they were considered unruly to have come so far out of their boundaries. The party of beautiful hard wood trees like oak and birch in on the palace grounds felt planted for their usefulness and natural beauty. Those conifers would look strange in a place like this.

It felt like it took longer to walk to the edge of the palace grounds than it did walk. The who map of the place felt like some strange haunted labyrinth to me, the kind where you can't see that you're walking no where no matter how far you go.

Walking beside the man gave me a strange feeling. It made me realise I hadn't actually ever walked along side him. He was taller than me. I felt sure this was because he was taller than most men and not only me as I was (as far as I knew) maybe even above average height. I had a slight slouch around people that made me seem just that small bit shorter and I had a narrow figure but I had never truly felt so much smaller than a man before.

I constantly fell behind him because the way he walked was akin to a man about to charge an enemy camp, only without the fear, without the anxiety.

I knew that if this man charged into a situation, be that situation one with blood and flesh and fear as thick as honey he would not run, he would not take the slow road, he would calmly walk into the fire. Calm but swift.

The man walked wherever he wanted and the world saw and moved out of the way for him. Like the parting of the sea. One felt he would destroy all in his path if given the opportunity. His very presence felt like a threat.

A threat that I was drawn to.

Because he was the king? Was it the power? The strangeness of the situation, placing me beside him without me feeling like I belonged there?

When I looked at those strange dark eyes I felt a bit of my soul becoming twisted up in them, I had to force myself to look away quickly lest he notice, lest my soul truly fall into that trap.

I barely registered the path we took.

Long hallways, thick expensive carpet and twinkling crystal chandeliers glittering like hovering broken glass in the sun that streamed in perfect rays into those gloomy hallways, hiding the magnificent paintings of people that may or may not have once walked through those halls before under the reflection of white, the light that revealed and hid the world.

By the time we reached his room I was too absorbed in all the insignificant details I could see in the light of day in comparison to the gloomy evening in which I normally came to entertain him that I almost walked into him when he slowed down.

I backed away for extra measure, my body's overreaction to make sure I didn't collide with him, and those sharp eyes switched on me and observed me for about a second, almost as though he was considering what I was doing.

I looked up at him, my eyes wide.

I felt a flurry of anxiety, could the man see the rim of darkness around my eyes? The dark smoke around the eyes of an outsider. Could he see from my eyes that my skin was slightly tanner? I felt even the possibility that he would notice was too great a risk and lowered my eyes quickly.

It was easier to look at the carpet anyway.

[A/N] Random authors note here. I've noticed that I haven't really explained what sets outsiders apart from the folk inside the kingdom walls and I thought to address that. They are tanner and they have a darkness around their eyes (as mentioned) hence the white paint. Not mentioned, however, is that they are all Asian (more like a mixture of Asian and Caucasian) so in my head he looks something like a mixture between white, Filipino and Indian? It looks great in my imagination anyway!

However, I could feel his eyes on me and filled me with a sense of trepidation, the ghost of nervous energy hovering over me.

He turned and walked inside and the door remained open for me to step inside after him.

When I was inside I turned and saw the door close and didn't realise that a servant must have been waiting inside the room to open the door and quickly stepped outside to close it without me seeing or hearing a thing.

I couldn't imagine Natham being so quiet and invisible, was it only the King's personal servants that behaved as such or was it that way throughout the entire palace?

The room was the same as before. That shouldn't have been weird but it was.

Although the light transformed it and there was a sort of holistic warmth from the sun rather than a collective warmth from coal pans the oddity of seeing every hairbrush, paper and quill in its perfect position, unruffled and seemingly unmoved stood out to me.

I couldn't stop for long, however, because he didn't stop himself. He continued into another room connected to the lounge, writing room which was almost just as big and even more lavishly adorned.

In the centre of the room was a four poster bed.

I remembered my punishment and my eyes went wide, I backed up a few steps without thinking and those eyes caught onto mine as before.

I felt my heart rate go up, it was beginning to resemble a humming bird.

Did he lie? Would he punish me?

No, there was something reassuring in the way he looked at me, unintentionally reassuring that made me think he could not considering it.

I had to be sure.

"W-Why... Why am I here Your Majesty?"

I had to ask at some point, the man hardly volunteered any information on his own.

The mans attention on me made me squirm, made me want to hide behind him where he couldn't see me.

He moved toward the bed and lay on his side. His body reclining and his head propped up on an arm, the many cushions positioning him upright.

"I am tired." He said finally. "I enjoyed the last of the song you played. Play me another."

I looked at the flute in my hands.

"On my flute? I don't know if I could dance playing my flute, I have never tried... and... I haven't got my costume on..."

He waved his hands like nothing mattered.

"You don't have to dance. Come sit by me and play. Some times I just like the sound of music playing."

Just liked the sound of music playing.

He reminded me of Dolphin, my sweet little sister would often beg me to play her a tune. It never usually mattered what on, could be my flute or a recorder or a blade of grass. She just liked the sound of music playing.

Some days I would wake her up with my recorder, my flute was more expensive and I worried about not cleaning it when I was done so I used my wooden recorder most of the time, or a lyre back when I had my brothers to use. The notes that came out were nice, low and soft and left me with the taste of oak in my mouth. She liked it a lot, it would wake her up very slowly.

Those massive sleepy eyes, I couldn't ever forget them. It was just a nicer way to wake up the younger children than the shouting my mother opted for. Love went to her, but the shouting could make a mans ear bleed.

I shook the nostalgia from my mind and walked towards him. I felt like I was crossing some unwritten line but didn't look up to see if he was irritated. The only chair I could sit on that would be anywhere near him was right beside the bed, close to him.

The image of a deer inching closer to a lion, lying in wait, crossed my mind.

[A/N] There is a Chapter 32.5 posted on my patreon page. I'd love for y'all to join me on there but please be aware the tier rewards are changing on the 27th. If you're interested the updated rewards will be posted tomorrow morning, all my authors notes are available to the public. XOX