Things are going well, I have finished the climax of the story, so I just have the aftermath and resolution left to write, which is good because Thanksgiving is coming up, so my time is about to become a lot more limited.
Because the holidays are coming, I wanted to make sure I had time to post my final excerpt, and I fear that if I don’t do it today, I won’t get the opportunity to do so with how busy it’s going to be. If you would like to go back and read any of the previous excerpts, you can do so here:
Once again, like I do every time, I would like to remind you that this is a vomit draft, and may have some grammar mistakes. The only editing I did was just enough to make sure it’s readable for you. Please enjoy!
“What a party, Father,” Rachel said with a smirk “I think you found most of the world’s most boring people and brought them together for a wonderful night of dull entertainment.”
“Yes,” King Kaylon said. “I think I would almost rather be anywhere else. Symon, shall we slip away to the tavern?”
Symon wished it wasn’t a joke. “I’m right behind you, Your Majesty.”
“I’m serious,” Kaylon said. “I’ve talked with who I needed to talk to, I think I can slip away.”
“Kaylon,” the queen said. “You have to be present at dinner.”
He frowned. “Damnation. What’s the point of being king?”
“Your Majesty,” Symon said, “I do have some work related business that I must speak to you about, if you need a break.”
“Perfect! I have something to discuss with you as well.” Kaylon said. “Does Yarrow need to be present?”
“I don’t believe so,” Symon said.
The queen looked appalled. “Kaylon! You can’t leave for work, this is a party.”
“Panella,” Kaylon said, “My love, don’t take this away from me.”
“Can I come with you?” Rachel said. “I noticed Crayah coming this way, and I don’t want her to ask me to introduce her to anyone.”
Kaylon took his daughters hand and pulled her along. “Come, Commander,” he said in a loud voice. “This is an urgent matter. It can’t wait.”
“Of course, Your Majesty!” Symon said, playing along. “If I must leave, I must, the good of the world may rest on this.”
“Goodbye mother,” Rachel said with a wide smile. “You didn’t think of a good excuse fast enough. Good luck and don’t get swallowed up by the powerful!”
The three of them walked swiftly out of the ballroom and ended up in the kitchens sitting at the simple little wooden table where they would be out of the way of the cooks and the servants who were rushing the trays of tiny foods in and out and others were preparing the dining room for the meal.
The head chef put a basket of bread down and some slated butter, which Rachel started to spread on the rolls.
“A clean getaway,” she said. “Just like when I was little.” She looked at Symon. “I used to pretend to bully my father into letting me do all kinds of things, but they were always ploys to get him out of the room.”
The king was smiling like a child as he chewed on his bread. “We had all kinds of preplanned bamboozles ready at a moment’s notice. It worked most of the time. It was fun to use the ‘Craven King’ aspect to our benefit. Honestly, I would rather eat at this small wooden table with you two then with all the important people of the world. You’re more fun, and this bread is fantastic.”
Symon was always amazed at how down to earth his father-in-law could be, for a king. He was often more comfortable just relaxing with the servants and the staff, eating and cheering along with whatever they were cheering. Most of the staff loved the king, Symon had to agree, and he liked him too.
“Remember the time I faked being sick, Father?” Rachel said.
He laughed and took his crown off and hooked it on the peg of the back of the chair. “Yes! You were what? Twelve?”
“I think I was eleven,” Rachel said.
Kaylon chuckled. “We had a state dinner, similar to this one. I was growing bored myself, and I noticed Rachel, who even then hated wearing formal gowns, was shifting and growing tired of talking to the other royal children. She made eye contact with me, and I knew what she wanted to do. She feigned being sick.”
“I pretended to vomit in a potted plant, I poured gravy in there just to make it look more real.”
“She ran up to me telling me she wasn’t feeling good. I could have called her mother, or one of the servant to take her to her chambers and put her to bed, but I’m not that kind of father, and I wanted a rescue too. So despite the fact that we hadn’t eaten that night, I took Rachel’s hand and walked her up to her chambers.”
“I got into my night clothes and Father called for some food and drink. We spent the night by the fire, eating sandwiches and cookies and drinking milk, I listened to my father read me stories from an old book.” She looked at her father. “It’s actually one of my fondest memories.” She reached over and took his hand.
“Mine too. As she grew up, our tricks had to get better, and the older we got, the harder they were to pull off. I don’t think we’ve done something like that in the last four or five years.”
Rachel nodded. “The last time we did it, we used Symon as an excuse, actually, remember?”
The king nodded.
She looked at her husband. “I pretended to have an urgent message from you. Father followed me, making up that he needed to know what it was all about, and we went to my chambers and just talked for hours, which was something we hadn’t done in a long time.”
“You used me?” Symon said pretending to be appalled.
“She thought you were cute,” Kaylon said. “She found ways to slip you into conversations. She secretly wanted to talk about you all the time.”
“That long ago?” Symon said.
Rachel blushed. It wasn’t common to see her do so, as she was always so confident and blunt. But it was always so adorable when she did blush that Symon felt like he fell in love with her all over again every time she did. “I was the last person who thought I would like the knight in shining armor type, I never had in the past, but I had to admit you were cute. You were just too dumb to notice I started flirting with you.”
Symon laughed. “You flirting doesn’t look like flirting.”
This is actually one of my favorite scenes in this year’s story. I love it so much. You get to see a side of both King Kaylon and Princess Rachel that I had never shown before.
Andrew Ronzino
The Paradigm 