Unknown territory

When the woman joined us at the table I noticed that she was talking to the queen about what happen at the other nights ball and other things she needed to address.

I caught the womans name, Anraiya, and as she was about to address me a plate was put down in front of each of us. There was rice with boneless chicken sitting on top of it, there was a ton of shrimp off to the side with a couple slices of lemon along with parsley for the presentational overall look. They also set down a bowl of soup that had shrimp in it along with broccoli, which was surrounded by pieces of thick cut bread on the plate that was underneath it. As I looked over my meal I knew I wasn\'t gonna be able to eat all this, but I seemed to be the only one to be worrying about it. I honestly didn\'t like wasting food.

The thought slipped my mind as I tasted the chicken. The first onslaught of tastes hit my tongue full on. I could taste each individual spice that was marinated into the chicken.

Before I could take a third bite Anraiya asked me about two nights ago, "Did you happen to see who was at this ball when you arrived the other night Jaspen?"

I felt a little nervous talking to the woman, "I uhm, I saw the two men who are sitting next to the king of the vampires and the other young man who is sitting next to the king of the wolves."

"So the wolves have come out to play again," she laughed cutting off a piece of her chicken.

"May I ask who they are?"

"They\'re the princes of the vampire and wolf king... They usually dont work together, but I guess it works in our favor we\'ll be killing two birds with one stone. But the only bad thing is we cant start a duel because of their places in their line of succesion to the throne. But we may be able to place them in confinement for a couple years, or even until they rise to the throne... And if they were to raise a duel that would be mighty stupid on their part..."

She smiled and asked my mom a question, "So is that why your son is here tonight? And thats why you chose to make him drink out of the goddesses cup?"

"Yes, Yeiri made the right decision bringing him to me, and now because he\'s a Fae and his place in the line of succession to the throne he can\'t be touched.. And he\'s 45 years old so I didn\'t break my contract."

"Has he met his father?"

"No, but he sent over a couple drinks for-"

"Wait, my father... Is here?" I interrupted her my eyes bulging and my heart sped up, and I even felt a little infuriated because my mom told me he was dead...

"You didn\'t know that your father was king of Unseelie?"

I didn\'t answer her but I heard her loud and clear. I put my fork down placing my knife down on my plate. I scooted my chair back and my mom tried to get me to sit back down but I didn\'t want to listen to her at this moment.

I felt the rage build up and I felt afloat for a second and I was outside the building sitting on the steps. I pulled a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket and as I put one in my mouth. I fished through my pockets for my lighter, but now that I think about it I never took my lighter out of my other jacket.

"Fuck me!" I yelled and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a man walking up to me.

"Need a light?" He asked in an elegant voice that was tender.

"Thank you," he passed me a zippo and I lit the cigarette taking a long drag and exhaled as he lit a cigarette of his own.

"Your a Fae right?"

"Yeah, so what\'s it to you?"

"Just trying to make conversation. Im Keylos by the way, what\'s your name?"

I flicked my ashes on the ground taking a drag off the cigarette, "Jaspen charles."

"Oh, wow your the son of the seelie queen..."

"And the son of the Unseelie king."

"There had been rumors going around that you had come back to Seelie courts, but-"

"What do you mean come back to Seelie courts?"

"I mean when you were a child... You were here until you were one."

I flicked the ashes on the ground taking a drag off my cigarette, "oh," I said as I exhaled the smoke.

"Are you alright?"

"Nah, I\'m just fine. I just found out that my real father is not actually dead and he\'s king of the opposite court from my mother. I\'m just having a ball."

I took another drag and threw the cigarette on the ground not caring that I only took a couple drags. I exhaled the smoke and walked up the steps. As I opened the doors I pushed my hair back and my mom stared at me and I met her eyes and then looked at my father. I walked back to the table sitting down next to my mom.

Anraiya stood wiping her mouth with a napkin. She stood up scooting her chair back grabbing her glass of wine she walked to the middle of the room sitting back down in her chair. The other council members took their seats as well. Everyone quieted down and Anraiya was the first to speak.

"I\'m going to cut to the chase tonight... Due to the fact that the two sons of two rival clans have banded together to try and kill the son of the two rival courts... The son of the vampire king, and the son of the wolf king attempted to kill the son of the seelie and unseelie courts-"

An uproar of yelling cut her off from all sides of the room.

"How do you know it was those two who wanted to kill him?!" Someone shouted over the yelling.

"Does that sound so wrong that you would be stupid enough to ask that question of me?" Anraiya yelled at the young man.

The king of the vampires and the king of the wolves did not speak a word. Their faces devoid of emotion. The two boys stepped forward in front of their council members. Their council members asked them in unison, "do you deny such acquisitions?"

"I do not," they said in unison.

"You know the punishment for trying to kill a human?" The vampires council men asked.

"I do," the prince of vampires said.

"State it!" The council men yelled furious at the prince.

"I am to be drained of half my blood and starved for nine days... If I am to receive blood my sentence shall be extended, and if it happens a second time I am to be beheaded..."

"Tell them why," The king yelled at his son.

"No one is above the law not even myself..." Hatred was threaded through those words as he directed it towards his father.

The guards of the vampire king pulled their prince along as I heard the king whisper to one of them very faintly, "use the whip." It was barely audible so faint that I might not have heard it if I was human. The guards disappeared along with the prince.

The wolves council woman addressed the prince of the wolves, "You know the law, state it! This is the fourth time you\'ve done this not only to three humans, but to your own brother which you killed in a duel knowing he couldn\'t defend himself. Theres no law saying that you couldn\'t have done that, but you killed him in cold blood ripping his head from his body after he surrendered to you... Your punishment for that was imprisonment for twenty years, but this time its death... Obviously you\'ll never learn so why should we keep you alive... You would go around killing people just for the hell of it-" the prince shapeshifted growling at the young woman as he charged forward in wolf form. Chains appeared around his body and feet as he was chained to the floor. Not able to move the king of the wolves pulled out a sword yelling, "you have clearly lost your fucking mind! You are to never raise yourself against a council member." A tear slipped out of the kings eye as he raised the sword above his head. Before he cut off his sons head he whispered, "you are no longer fit to rule."

The prince roared as the sound was cut off abruptly...

Blood splattered the tile as the king sheathed his sword. Blood gushed onto the floor leaking from the princes neck as he had turned back into a human mere moments later. The king performed a gesture that seemed like it meant it was a sign of respect...

The king of the wolves bowed to the council as he took his leave walking out the front door of the building. Moments later the body disappeared along with the blood like it never happened...

A couple people left as well along with the king. They didn\'t seem mad their faces full of the thoughts that what just happened was the right thing to do.

Somehow after the execution I couldn\'t concentrate on what was being said, nor what was going on. I never intended for someone to be killed, nor did I ever intend for someone to be tortured, or punished on my behalf...