It had only been a few weeks since the death of my father, but already I was comfortable in my life as king. I had always expected to be king and looked forward to it, but not once in my life did I believe that I would actually enjoy it.

Doing what needed to be done. That is what I was good at. Ever since I was a child, I had been groomed to lead. My father had tried to teach me what needed to be done, but Father was too sadistic, and too impatient. Father would sit down and show me how to manage the finances of the kingdom, how to manage rebellions, how to choose which cities would rise and which would fall.

But it didn't take me long to question his advice. When he would tell me to focus on the rich and the nobles because those were the ones that would make a difference, I wondered why we would treat them differently just because of their birth. When he told me to never accept a man as a knight who would be better as a scholar, I wondered why it would be wrong for a knight to be intelligent as well as a warrior. When he explained to me that you must bring severe amounts of pain to those whom wronged you in public, I wondered how father could not see that people feared death far more than pain, as pain was forgettable. When he told me to never trust a woman, I thought of the maid-servant that raised me more than father had and wondered why he would trust his own child with a woman but would not trust her advice.

"The poor are weak, disgusting creatures," he'd said.

How could they be weak when they have it the hardest? I thought.

"No need to learn to fight when you have the power of the Grey Stone in you, son," he'd reasoned.

But what would happen if your magic would tire you? I wondered.

"Have advisors that will listen to you, not yap about all day."

Why then, I reasoned, would they be called 'advisors'?

It didn't take me long to figure out that my father thought too little. By the time I could ride a dragon, I began leaving the kingdom entirely, visiting new cities where most did not even know of the name Nahdiera, never mind where it was. I studied the people and the cultures, learning through the actions of other leaders on how to control a kingdom. Slaver cities worked well and made a great amount of money, but after speaking to many of them, I understood that most would rather die than fight for their king. What would happen if someone tried to take the kingdom? Would the slaves set to fight simply allow themselves to be slaughtered, or would they turn on the kingdom that had led them into chains? The country far North were well off and were run by twelve people whom had equal say and voted. Though I would never allow myself to be lessened like that, it was interesting to see how well it worked.

Until I realized that most of them were being bought out by others, so their votes were not their own. Immediately after that I decided it was a terrible way of ruling a kingdom, and far too much work.

Other places had lower taxes, some had higher. I heard the complaints and realized that it didn't matter how high or low they were, people would always, always complain and struggle with taxes, so why not raise them anyway? Raise them high, deal with the slow crumbling of the kingdoms, then just before a war broke out, lower them drastically and gift the people things. Their loyalty was quick and ever-changing this way, but reliable.

I learned many things over the years, and each time I returned home and aided my father, I understood more and more that my father may be keeping the kingdom going, but he was not flourishing. In fact, he was going to end up destroying the kingdom with his cruelties. I tried to convince him otherwise, but he was stuck in his ways and that was that. He wasn't even interested in gaining more land, only dealing with the miniscule amount of land called Nahdiera.

The day he died was the best day of my life.

But no, not once did I ever believe that I would actually enjoy being king. That it would become comfortable to me. Not after traveling so far and living on the road as I did for most of my life. Before, I had felt as if the rich clothing was confining and annoying, but now, I couldn't imagine having it any other way.

However, there were some days that made me remember the reasons why I did not believe I would enjoy being king.

There was a gathering to celebrate the end of winter. Though snow still fell on the ground, the posts on top of the mountains in the northern area claimed to see grass on the other side, which meant an early summer. There would be a grand party that went through the entire kingdom on the day the dandelions began to bloom, but for now, I chose a small gathering of the nobles. The reason of this was so that I could get a feel of who they were. Most nobles were useless as they were too used to growing up in wealth and therefore were spoiled. This made them something of an annoyance. I would see which noble families did not deserve to be called noble this way,

So I conversed the entire evening. Baion had proved to be useful in charming them, having them calm enough to think they could be less formal and more frank with me, so he stood at my side as my closest advisor. Some were intelligent, while others were downright dull and clearly a hindrance. I made notes to execute or imprison them at a later date, the ones that would serve me would move into the castle keep instead, though their families could keep their houses; I would need them close by for the coming war.

It was expected of me to take a wife soon, so I was sure to flirt with the women, paying close attention to one in particular. She was a bit young for my taste, but beautiful and – more importantly – interesting in conversation.

She was also a terrible dancer.

"Apologies again, You Grace." She said with a wince. "I- I must be nervous."

I chuckled at her excuse. "Yet you have no problems loudly cursing your dress when you nearly trip over it, Lady Nata? An odd sort of nervousness, I say."

Her face blushed a pretty red, bringing attention to her incredibly clear skin. Her chin lifted though, feigning bravery. "Every woman curses in their minds, Your Grace, I am simply honest enough to do it before you."

"Not by accident at all, of course."

"Of course." She grinned, but then went serious. "My brother did not wish for me to be around the Late King Carigus, Your Grace, as he had taken a... liking to me when I was a child. I'm afraid this caused me to be a bit behind in my dancing lessons. I do apologize if I gave you offence."

I chuckled. "None at all." And it was the truth, her honesty was quite refreshing. I spun her again, pretending not to notice her foot stepping on mine when she missed a step. "You say guardian. I though Lord Renal was your father?"

She shook her head, her curls bouncing. "My father fought for the Greyov's against your father. King Carigus had my father executed because of it. My mother died shortly after giving birth to my brother. Renal was kind enough to take us in."

The words were well, but the slight hint of anger on Renal's name had me sensing something. I studied her carefully and noticed that the next time she stepped on my foot, she winced as per usual, but also glanced in the corner of her eye briefly. I looked that way and saw Renal himself looking quite displeased. I mentioned this to her.

"He is not happy with my dancing skill, I'm afraid."

I hummed. "Is he cruel to you?"

Lady Nata met my eyes, looking alarmed. "I never said-"

"You king asks you a question. You should answer honestly."

She paused a moment, a hand coming up to get the dark curls out of her face again. "Then yes. He can be quite cruel."

"Violent?" I asked, wondering if moving her hair away was a nervous tick. A show that she was hiding something.

"No," she told me. "Though he does threaten it occasionally, he has never laid a hand on me."

I studied her further, then used the Grey Stone to pull a glass of wine from a tray on the other side of the room. People watched with awe as I carefully took a drink then sent to glass back to its tray. "Would you like me to kill him for you?"

Her eyes moved from the display to flick up to mine and I could see her searching my face, wondering if this is a test. If she would be punished if she said yes. Finally, she raised an eyebrow. "I thank you for the offer, but seeing as we have no relations other than this dance, you need not concern yourself. As king, you have much more to deal with than any distractions I would bring. Besides, I can take care of myself."

Yes, I liked her. Intelligent in the way that by such a statement, any normal man would not be able to tell if that was a yes or no answer, while she also slipped in an opening for me to tell her I wished for there to be relation between us. She was blunt but not rude. Her wording was something to be admired.

But I said nothing more and the song was over shortly afterwards, so I sent her on her way. My silence clearly confused her, but she curtsied respectfully as I excused myself.

And headed toward her guardian.

He was an intelligent man as well, I noticed. Polite and respectful, but stern. I could tell without hesitation that he was a strict man and no doubt got along well with my father. I decided I hated him for this reason alone, but would not act rashly. Instead, I mentioned how swell his daughters' company was. He confirmed he was only her guardian, then apologized for her terrible dancing, vowing to get her a better dance master immediately. I was sure to tell him that I thought it endearing and wished for her not to change at all. I praised her so well that I'm quite sure he expected me to offer a proposal of marriage by the end of the conversation.

I would not have given him one, instead I was planning on warning him that if he did not treat her with the utmost respect, then he would need to find a way out of Nahdiera before my wrath caught up to him.

But the end of our conversation was cut short when I heard a whisper in my mind of the Greyov name.

It was not the first time I had heard whispers from the Stone as people spoke of the Greyov's. In fact, it happened far more than I would like. Keira and Eron especially as they longed for the old days, a woman late in life who seems to have forgotten that the Greyov's were not on the throne often came through my mind all the way from the mudwaters, and there were those who thought of the rumors my father had tried to squash and wondered if the babe had truly escaped that night or not.

But this was different. There was something... wrong with this thought. Something abnormal.

I excused myself abruptly and left the room without a word, Jahmus and Jhorus following behind silently, not questioning why I would leave so strangely. Nor did they question when I leaned against the tapestry on the wall and closed my eyes.

I concentrated – something I hadn't had to do in a long, long time. While most of the time I understood the whispers in my mind clearly, this seemed almost dream-like, leaving me to wonder if I'd heard it in the first place. A few moments later, I heard it again. Perhaps felt it was the wrong word.

Something about... the Greyov young?

The princess?

This was alarming in itself when combined with such confusing communication through the Stone. But by the fact that I was unable to tell exactly where it was coming from made it downright terrifying.

I felt a drop of panic as I realized it was somewhere north-east of Qa'elah. At least twenty arms away, perhaps more. If this were true, that meant either Eastwood or Luqas or somewhere in between.

I opened my eyes and looks straight to Sir Jhorus. "Fetch my cousin." I demanded, only realizing after he left nearly running that I sounded afraid. I cleared my throat and looked as calmly as I could to Jahmus. "I'll need you to fetch Baion. Inform him to send everyone home for the evening."

I nodded. "As you wish." He said, but hesitated. "My King, if I may ask... are you well?"

"The Grey Stone sent me a whisper, but it was an odd one."

"Odd?"

"Yes." I looked to my friend. "I believe I am wrong, but there is a possibility that the Greyov Princess is hiding in Luqas. If this is true, we will find her."

He was quiet a moment as he took this in, then he nodded instead of reminding me (again) that the Greyov princess is surely dead after all these years. "I'll have Baion send everyone home, then inform the council to double their efforts in finding the Black Stone. We've managed to trace the trail about twelve arms, but with the old map, it's been slow going. We'll work faster, just in case."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, my friend. Oh, and be sure that Lady Nata is aware she can call on me at any time if she is ever in need of aid or a favor. And be sure you tell her this in front of her insufferable guardian."

He smiled and left quickly, leaving me alone and letting my fears run wild.