The Cursed King

The ring was a perfect match for King Alexander's and Queen Catalina's wedding bands. It was an object that her mother, Catalina Leoralei always wore after she married her husband. 

King Alexander loved his wife so much, that despite its simple design and it was not made from the most precious jewels and stones, he fashioned their wedding rings to be how Catalina wanted them to be.

So was the fairy that Loriel was speaking about Elise's mother? 

Elise batted her eyes and stared down at Loriel who had returned back to bed and placed the ring on the bedside shelf. He settled back down into his bed and patted the side.

"Stay with me, Elise."

Elise arrived at Loriel's bed almost by instinct and settled down beside him. She really was confused at first because it didn't make any sense at all.

Her mother, Catalina, died before Loriel was kidnapped. He mentioned that the incident happened when he was fourteen. Catalina had been long dead by then.

Still, if by any crazy coincidence, her mother went out of her way to save Loriel when he was young, how did Catalina's ring end up with Loriel?

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It's impossible because Elise actually kept her mother's ring. In fact, she had it now with her. Elise put it in her little wooden jewelry box and took it out every once in a while to remember her mother.

She massaged her temple and tried to understand what happened. She had checked the ring that Loriel showed her just now.

It was not just a look-alike, it was exactly the same ring, the one her father gave to her on her eighteenth birthday as a memento from her mother.

"Ugh..." Elise rested her head against one of the extra pillows in Loriel's bed and tried to think about it. She stared at the ceiling and tried to think hard.

However, when Loriel's arms snaked against her waist and pulled her closer to him, Elise got distracted.

She could hear Loriel's steady heartbeat and his warm breath tickling her ear. Despite getting drunk, the man still craved Elise's presence and brought her back to him. She also enjoyed being so close to her husband.

The sensation of her back pressed against his solid and broad chest was comforting, and slowly Elise tried to close her eyes…

Eventually, she fell asleep while being nestled in between his arms.

***

The next morning, Loriel didn't remember their conversation when he woke up. Instead, he woke up to a heavy hangover but quickly realized that his wife was sleeping with him in his own chambers.

Did she bring him here and then sleep beside him?

Loriel brushed back some of her hair aside to look at Elise's beautiful sleeping face. How tantalizing and tempting it was to have this woman around him all the time! 

It was going to be a blissful and wonderful marriage if the two of them could stay like this always, he thought to himself.

Unfortunately, for the king of Summeria, his days were not always peaceful and he could not stay at Elise's side for a long time. Another one of Loriel's brother-in-laws started another rebellion and he needed to deal with it.

Elise made sure to grant several protection spells on Loriel in secret before the man left for another war. 

"Please come back safe," she said. 

Loriel chuckled and, despite the fact that there were already several soldiers and knights around them, he kissed her on the forehead. "You do not have to worry about your husband at all."

Elise smiled brightly at him and nodded. "I will be waiting for you."

Once Loriel and his army left Castilse and headed for battle, Elise would go back to her own chamber and start to prepare her own things. She was also leaving now that she discovered what actually happened in the past.

"Your Majesty, are you leaving?" Alina asked in surprise. The queen never left her private residence at all except for important events and the maid doubted that there would be any gatherings now that there was a war for Summeria.

Elise nodded and placed a finger between her lips. "Yes, I'm off to visit a friend of mine to redeem a wish. Please do not worry about me at all, Alina. I will come back soon. I will be back before my husband returns from the frontline."

"We will keep your absence here undetected, Your Majesty." Alina curtsied. The maid and knights from Myreen always prioritized their princess first despite them moving permanently to Summeria.

With a bright smile, Elise thanked her maid and then set off to work. She had a general gist of where this friend of hers would be and he would be the answer to solving all of the mystery involving the ring.

***

Elise's friend, the one she wanted to visit, was a bird.

Well, at least he used to be a bird. That's how she met him for the first time. It was actually quite a funny story.

The memories were fresh in Elise's memory as she borrowed one of her knight's horses and left the royal palace to find the man. It was something that happened around nearly a year before she married Loriel.

When Elise left Myreen to look for a cure to heal her father, she ended up traveling so far away near the border of Jaffa. She took one of her family's ice dragons for easier travel.

She flew with her dragon and would hunt for her food, or she would stop by in villages or towns and purchase bread.

One day, she stopped by a market by one of the villages on the border to buy supply. That's when she saw a bird that looked pitiful in its cage. 

There was something about the bird's nature too that made Elise draw closer to it. His eyes looked sad and kept staring at her with a pitiful gaze. Since she had a kind heart, Elise finally decided to buy the bird.

It was no ordinary bird and looked very beautiful with dark feathers and brilliant blue eyes, and there was something else hidden in the depths of its very nature. 

Elise paid for the bird and took it with her to the black forest where she kept her ice dragon and planned to set it free.

However, the bird suddenly transformed into a man when she tried to release him into the air. He suddenly burst into a flock of feathers and then appeared before her, naked.

Elise coughed and immediately threw the cloak she was wearing at the guy. "Oh, my gods…!"

"Haha, thank you for saving me," the man said in relief as he wore the robe and then bowed. He looked up at Elise with sparkling eyes, "I thought I would be stuck there in the market for a couple of years."

"Um, what happened to you?" Elise asked. "I noticed that there was a strange and powerful magical resonance in you. Were you cursed into a bird?"

"It was very subtle but you managed to see it, you must be a powerful individual." the man remarked in awe. "It's actually a very long story, Miss…?"

"I'm Elise," she smiled and introduced herself. "And you are?"