Chapter 32 - The King Is Dead

Francis paid a visit to his mother and sister. He was happy to see them again after so long, his mother's health was improving quite nicely. He had brought with him a lot of gifts from the palace.

"So what is it like to be married to the dragon prince?" his sister asked him curious about his life in the palace.

"It's nice."

"What do you mean it's nice, surely there is more information you can add to that," she said not satisfied with the answer he gave her.

"It's better than I expected it to be. Life is a little different in the palace," he told.

"What of Princess Olivia is she as nice as the rumors?"

"Yes, everyone in the palace is nice and kind," she said thinking back to the conversation he had with Alexander.

He helped his mother with the household work while his sister questioned him. He did his best to answer her questions making sure not to spill anything irrelevant that might cause them to worry.

Spending time with his mother and sister was nice and calming, he didn't have to worry about how to eat and what to eat because here he had freedom. Unlike the palace where he had to be careful of everything that he did because he had eyes on him the whole time from morning to evening.

He wore his leisure clothes and read a book peacefully in his room. He read the first few chapters and his mind wandered back to the dragon prince. He thought about the outrageous request that he made to the prince.

He feared that the prince might push him away now that he had become selfish that too not even a month had passed since they got married and he was already trying to change so many things in the palace.

He kept the book aside and left the room, he met his sister with a bucket at hand. "Are you going to fetch water?" he asked her.

"Yes brother, there is a lot of clothes that need washing," she replied opening the front door.

"I will join you," he said and grabbed his bucket.

"No," his sister screamed in refusal. "You are the prince of this kingdom. How could you fetch water, it won't look good and it might be a punishable offense," she stated.

"This is my home and I am fetching water for my mother and sister, there is nothing wrong with caring for my family," he replied to her and walked out the door with his bucket.

Together they walked down the streets to get to the spot where they fetch water. The well was full as there was a long line of people trying to get water. As the people saw Francis coming they moved out of the way and let him pass. All the people got out of the line and moved a distance to allow him and his sister to draw water first.

Francis and Willow didn't refuse the kind gesture and fetched the water. They filled all their buckets and decided to return home. As he walked Francis noticed an old man coughing in the distance, he set his buckets to the ground and went over to him. He took a cup of water to hand to him but a young girl beat him to it. The old man drank the water from the cup, he felt fine for a while but then started coughing again.

This time he was coughing blood, Francis held him and helped his seat, and rubbed on his back to calm him down. Just then most of the people by the well started coughing blood, they dropped their buckets and fell to the ground and most of them died instantly.

"Francis, what is happening?" Willow cried out scared. The bodies of dead people kept increasing. Francis watched the situation in front of his eyes, he tried to see what was going on. At that moment the old man he was holding dropped dead in his arms. He set the old man down and watched their surrounding.

The others drank water to calm down from the situation around them but they started coughing blood and within no minutes dropped to the ground and passed away.

"Stop drinking the water," he shouted to the people that were still alive. "Whatever is killing people is in the water," he said.

A man in royal guard uniform appeared with an army behind them. They took Francis and his sister and left the village immediately.

They boarded the carriage and they headed back to the palace with his mother also made to come along. A bird was sent to the palace with the message of the prince's emergency return and the deaths of people in the village.

Their carriage passed by many villages and dead bodies lay everywhere they passed. The thing that was killing people had spread all across the kingdom and the people were dying from drinking the water.

Marcel and Alexander who were outside the kingdom at that time if the night robe back as fast as they could. They rode towards the direction of Francis's carriage. Alexander's heart was racing in his heart, he was restless at the thought of any harm coming to Francis. His dragon soul was also uneasy.

He jumped off the horse and transformed into a dragon and flew to the skies, his wings propelled to go faster. He flew to the route that Francis would be arriving from. Francis felt some tingling on his dragon mark. The mark was getting warmer and warmer as the dragon got closer.

"Francis," his sister called out. "Your neck is glowing," she informed.

"I can see that," he said and tried to cover his neck with a scarf but the glow was still visible.

Alexander followed the light from his mark to track him down. He calmed down a little when he saw the carriages that were transporting them back to the palace. He stopped about the carriage and slowed down.

The carriages continued on their way without disruption. The people of Arimelari watched with awe the beautiful dragon that flew above the carriages. Some who feared the dragon went into hiding but secretly stole glances of it. Alexander kept his eyes on Francis to ensure his safety.

The carriages reached the palace grounds safely and stopped to let Francis and his family down. It was then that the soldiers noticed the prince flying above them. Francis and his sister got down. They noticed everyone's eyes looking up, gazing at the skies the two of them went wide-eyed in seeing the huge dragon hovering over them.

'So that we the mark was reacting today,' Francis thought.

The guard led them all inside the palace and escorted them straight to the special palace. Francis was sent to his room while his mother and sister were offered separate rooms in the palace.

Alexander changed back into his human self and rushed into the palace."Summon the royal physician," he said making his way to Francis's room.

"Alexander waits," Olivia said holding him back. "Everyone is affected by this thing. Many in the palace have succumbed to death from drinking water and their others panicking about this matter. As the prince should you take care of them," she said to him.

"I need to check on Francis first," he said yanking her hand away from him.

"The king," she said and he stopped in his tracks. His heart fell and he knew that something was wrong. "Your father has fallen to this thing. He is dead Alex," she added.

Alexander felt dizzy, his head was heavy and he held on to the wall to keep himself on the ground.

"But if Francis is your main concern then go to him," she said and walked away.

Alexander thought for a minute before changing direction and went towards the king's chamber. He heard mourning sounds coming from inside the room, he reached the door and froze. His hand trembled as he tried to open the door, he could only imagine his mother's state and how much she must hurt from losing his father.

He thought of the man who had guided him all his life and had shielded him from the cruelty of the world. The love and care he showed in him made it so hard for him to believe that he was gone. He opened the door and took slow steps into the room.

His mother was seated by the bed with her head on the bed right next to his father. He watched his father's lifeless body lying there on the bed, his tears flowed down his eyes, his legs gave out and he dropped to the floor. The council members in the room saw him and picked him up and helped him to a seat.

Alexander looked at his father with disbelief, he couldn't believe that he was gone.. He wanted to close his eyes and open them and see his father alive again but no matter how many times he closed and opened his eyes the king remained dead.