Chapter 236

236 Summer Games: Duties

After a lovely evening spent in her husband’s arms, Skye was surprised to still be in them when she awoke the following morning. Usually he was up at the crack of dawn, and with it being the middle of June, that meant a bit after five in the morning. Which was unfathomable to his sleep-loving wife.

When she’d tried to sit up, Tidas’ arms tensed to keep her in place. He so rarely got to sleep next to his wife, so he was enjoying her warmth and smell as long as he could before their hectic day started. Skye’s schedule was as bad as his today. He would only get to see her for a few hours on his break around lunchtime.

Tidas was in charge of the magic competitions, organizing security, and he had to make sure to put in an appearance at the start of each round of competitions too. It was going to be a stressful day, even with his wife taking over giving groups of diplomats tours around the fairgrounds.

Both Karena and Skye were asked by Magnus personally to do it, even though he’d secretly wished he could get away with just Skye doing it. She looked like she wanted to refuse, but simply twisted her hands together tighter and agreed. After Karena left; she’d told her father-in-law that she’d be requesting time off for Tidas in secret for his birthday soon, and that she: “Would not accept no for an answer.”

The king had laughed hard at her mock-impudent attitude before agreeing to her condition to help him. Skye never asked for anything herself, just things for her husband and dragon. He was happy to help, but often wished he could figure out something Skye would like for herself.. Other than food.

Her birthday wasn’t for a few more months, but since she brought up Tidas’, it made him think of hers. His youngest son’s standing present each year was a ridiculous donation to his Public Works Projects. He was like his wife; never wanted anything for himself. As far as Magnus could tell, the only thing either of them ever wanted for themselves was time with the other.

Time is the most precious gift, and also the hardest to give. Tidas’ position and titles obviously took up a lot of his time, and there were many things that only he could really handle. The only other ones who could handle some of his jobs were Zas and Shasta, but they were busy as well.

Zas was at the arena from dusk to dawn getting all of the fresh recruits ready for the Mage Trials in about four months. Shasta was serving as Lawrence’s personal guide and guard, at his request. Magnus thought it strange for a split second, but shrugged it off. He was the Ruscovic King, and she was a Pillar. He saw no reason to believe that she couldn’t handle it.

It had made Magnus smile to see the looks on his grandchildren’s faces last night as they nearly ran into him in the hallway. He hadn’t seen them quite so excited in a long time. They were always happy children, but had seemed down the last time they’d visited.

.....

They had asked their grandfather if he could find them a new mother because ‘their father wasn’t serious enough to be trusted with such an important task’. After wiping away his tears from laughing so hard, he had spoken seriously to his cheeky grandchildren:

“It’s very important that your father be the one to pick his next wife. He has to live with her even after you two are married off someday.. So, I think you should give him a chance to find his own wife first.”

They’d been frustrated, but agreed and took their grandfather’s advice. He had never steered them wrong before, and he knew how serious the issue was to them. The entire incident had randomly given him laughing fits every time he thought of them for a month. Magnus loved his grandchildren, and wished he could see them all more often.

Even though they were only about two day’s ride from the capital, Magnus never got to see his other grandchildren. Marco’s son and daughter had been out in the country most of their lives. The few times they’d come to court, they were overwhelmed by the amount of people and noises.

After both of their parents had publicly ridiculed them over it, Magnus put his foot down about forcing them to court. He told the children that they didn’t have to come back until They were ready. Marco had protested about his son since he was the next in line after him, but Magnus used his authority to overrule him.

The king made it a point to travel twice a year for their birthdays, but other than that, he never saw them. They were perfectly happy out in the countryside, within a branch of the family’s care.

There were few bastard lines, thanks to his father. Magnus couldn’t officially recognize them as family, but he could still make sure that they were taken care of. One of his half-sisters couldn’t have children, so the children were staying with them. It was a nurturing and loving environment. Had they stayed with their parents, Magnus had now doubts that they would’ve been miserable.

After Skye’s usual morning routine, she quickly made her way back to the palace to change. It was faster to do her Shaman rounds with pants on, but not the best presentation to diplomats. Once she changed and fixed her hair, Skye took off to the fair grounds with Klaus and Ronnie trailing behind her.

As the carriage pulled up, before Skye even stepped out, she was frowning. The ground was muddy from the night’s rain. Large and small puddles dotted the ground everywhere that didn’t have grass. As she stared at the giant puddle that sat directly below were she was supposed to step out at, a familiar shrill voice broke her thought.

“Why has no one done anything about all of this mud?! Where are all the mages?! Do you see my dress?! My Dress is getting Dirty! I swear if you don’t find someone to fix this, I’ll make you crawl on the ground ALL DAY while I stand on you!”

Anger surged within Skye as she watched the poor reinman from Karena’s carriage cower in fear. As her ire stoked, a large stagecoach was approaching. It was projected to go right past hers because it had palace servants in it; most likely the people that would be running some of the booths.

A mischievous grin spread across her lips as the overgrown stagecoach came closer. A large puddle was mostly in it’s way, so Skye quickly shifted it with her Earth magic to be just a wee bit closer to Karena’s carriage. As the stagecoach passed by, Skye’s view was temporarily blocked, so she turned her head and patiently waiting with strained ears...

*SPLASH!*

“AHHHHH!”

Karena screamed so loud that Skye’s ear’s were ringing from it..but it was worth it. She was sputtering and making strange, broken up shrieking noises in between shaking. The reinman hadn’t gotten a single smudge on him.

Skye was barely able to summon her Earth and Water magic to create a dry path for herself as she held her sides. Tears steamed down her cheeks as she laughed as low as she could. As she went to head towards the meeting point with Tidas, he was suddenly in front of her.

Her laughter died in her throat as Tidas stared disapprovingly at Skye. Upon further inspection of his features, she realized that he was simply better at holding it in. Laughter danced in his eyes, and tugged at the corners of his lips. Making his threatening stare from earlier seem extremely empty.

“Your handy work?” Tidas didn’t even point to Karena, he just nodded in her direction.

Skye had instantly looked contrite, but still said; “I have no idea what yer talkin’ about, husband..”

Tidas smiled; “You know, you’re a terrible liar my love..”

Skye smiled devilishly this time as she replied; “All I did was assist karma a wee bit, that’s all.. Ima not the one that made it rain.”

Tidas barked a sharp laugh; “No, you just strategically placed the natural puddle.”

Skye put her finger up to her lips with a seductive smile and shushed him; “Keep it down and I’ll bribe ye good and proper later husband..”

Tidas’ expression narrowed at his wife’s proposal. As he took the couple steps to close the gap between them, an equally seductive grin cover his fetching features. Stopping directly in front of her, Tidas leaned down slightly to whisper into his wife’s ear; “Maybe you should seal my lips for me?”

‘That tone.. Should be illegal..’

Skye’s brain sputtered out as she joked; “Aye.. Can’t trust you to do it properly, can I?”

Tidas simply smiled in response before meeting her lips with matched passion. Before the two could get too involved in each other, Karena’s frantically shrill voice broke their happy vibe.

After they both sighed, Tidas said; “Are you going to do something about that? Technically you were the cause of it.”

Skye scrunched her face at her husband in displeasure; “No, Technically she would’ve gotten wet either way. I just made sure that she got soaked..”

Tidas snickered before he joked; “I’m happy that I’m never on your bad side.”

With a final chuckle, Skye temporarily walked away from her husband as she said; “Lately!”

Karena was fuming and she didn’t care who saw. ‘What the HELL! Why today of all days?! I showed up early so I could go around and get the lay of the land before that goody-two-shoes bitch showed up! I wanted to show her up, but now.. Arrrrg! I can’t believe this shit! Someone should’ve cleared this up by now! I’m going to have some lazy son of a bitch killed for this!’

“Do ye need any help? I can have ye cleaned up in a jiff if ye let me,” Skye suggested as she approached her sister-in-law.

Karena’s fury had instantly doubled at the sight of Skye. She wanted to blame her sister-in-law, but knew she’d sound ridiculous if she did. Skye didn’t control the rain..

Karena sneered at Skye; “Why would I need Your help? I have plenty of other beautiful dresses I can change into at the palace.”

Through gritted teeth, Skye kept her perfected courtier’s smile on her face; “I didn’t think that ye would want to waste time-”

“Waste Time?!” Karena scoffed; “Looking my best is Not a waste of time! You may be fine having a rat’s nest for hair on your head, and wear the lamest clothes I’ve ever seen, but I Refuse to not look my best At. All. Times! Go back to whatever hole you crawled-”

Karena had finally noticed that Skye’s dress wasn’t dirty at all. ‘That bitch is using her magic! Where was she a few moments ago when I was yelling?! ..That’s right! She has both Earth and Water magic!’

Karena glared at Skye; “Was it your job to clean this place up?”

Skye sighed before shaking her head; “No, now do ye want me help or not? Yer cuttin’ into me lunch break with Tidas.”

Karena’s rage was nearly boiling, but she kept her cool; “No I do Not want your help.. I just want people to do their fucking jobs!”

Skye’d had enough of her sister-in-law’s attitude; “Listen here, Karena. Tis No One’s job to clean the mud! Are ye insane?! Look around ye! The entire fairgrounds is nothin’ but mud! It is EVERY YEAR on the first day! Did ye not know that?”

“Stop actin’ like a spoiled brat and get yer shit together..” Skye had spoken directly to Karena’s face, then turned on her heels to leave.