Sweet Waters Throne

235 Chapter 23Aprophil remained silent as Amabel talked, that’s when he realized the young boy he helped win the war, wasn’t a boy. Amabel was now a man, two months’ shy away from his sixteenth name day and he was showing ultimate growth unlike anyone he’s ever met before. They walked back inside since it was freezing outside, and there they had a hot tea and kept on talking about wars, and other matters of the state.

“She wants me to wed, I don’t know if I’m ready yet to be with a woman” said Amabel shying away while holding a cup of tea.

“You have never been with a woman?”

Amabel shook his head, then he whispered to Aprophil. “I… I don’t know how to…” then he paused and found himself laughing from his own fear of copulating.

“How to stick your cock inside a woman’s cunt?” Aprophil chuckled softly.

“A woman is an image of a mother my lord, and her… parts must be spoken with nice words” Amabel found himself embarrassed by the word Aprophil said.

“A cunt is a nice word Your Grace, or would you rather I preferred it as a twat” he kept on laughing. His laugh wasn’t helping Amabel who was clearly shying away because of all the talks about sex.

Aprophil patted Amabel’s shoulder, “Raven is known for its magnificent gardens which contain some of the best tasteful girls in the realm. Gandalf whored himself in this very city, I am not telling you to do the same ─ but if you were to wed, you don’t want to embarrass your wife, do you?”

Amabel shook his head.

.....

“Good, then it’s time you start visiting these gardens, discreetly. It’s time to get it inside” Aprophil finished with a smile.

“Do you miss her, your wife?”

“Everyday”

“Your mother wrote to me you know. She said I should inform her if you were to pass through my kingdom, I owe her that at least”

Aprophil nodded, he wasn’t against his mother being informed of his whereabouts. For all he knew, that poor woman would be worried sick now and the best he could do is to tell her where he was. Hence he gave Amabel green light in telling her where he was going.

The next day Aprophil left Raven for the Freezing Sea. Amabel granted him two hundred men, most of these men were sailors and they knew their way around the Freezing Sea, they had even crossed it once. “Once you cross the sea, what comes next is just warm lands in endless summers, so beautiful” one of them said.

This at least gave Aprophil hope of what to expect and it didn’t seem so bad. Katarina said her goodbyes, so did Sir Thomas Bueken and other members of king’s council who thought maybe Aprophil came to Raven to ask for help in fighting Artemis. But he surprised all of them with a completely different request which had nothing to do with wars and bloodshed.

Life in Prophis returned to normal under Amabel’s rule. Prophisians tasted what it was like being ruled by a just king, a kind king, a listening king and a king for the people. Amabel made sure to make tours to all the big cities ─ King’s City, Bellward and Claydall so he can speak to masses of people.

Then he would do the same to countless small towns and villages, he listened to the poorest of his people suffering in deep snows and made sure to provide them with food and clean water. The snow may never end in Prophis, but what he could do was provide a sense of relief to his people. Those who froze in small towns were moved close to Raven where at least the winter wasn’t harsh.

So you see Amabel turned to be a total different king from his father, while his father was cruel and he couldn’t care about his people, Amabel showed that he cared and he wanted Prophisians to love him.

With easiness and time, his people grew fond of him. He once walked inside a house where it’s people raised banners of House Squire, lion sigils but he didn’t pressure them to take the sigils down. He actually told them, “I also have my favorite king in my head, no matter what happens he will always be my favorite. I respect it that you have yours too” and he even smiled. That’s how good of a king he was.

Henceforth, when the Queen mother announced that her son was looking for a wife, the whole realm was delighted by that.

Katarina made sure to insist, “A good Prophisian woman coming from a good family will strengthen your claim” she told Amabel.

“Mother, you know you can’t force me to marry whoever you want” he said.

“I know my sweet child, but think about it… the people love you now. They will love you more if you wed within the realm and not a stranger to our lands”

“What if I fall in love with a southern girl? Let’s say she is a Maldonian, would you still force me to wed a Prophisian, clearly a woman I don’t love”

Katarina sighed, she had forgotten how her son was so stubborn, just like his father.

“When your father and I were introduced, he had a woman already. A girl from Penrith and he loved her, but the moment he laid his eyes on me, he knew he only wanted me. Sometimes it’s better to let your parents choose what’s best for you, we know better son” said Katarina in an attempt to convince her son to let her choose the next Queen of Prophis.

Amabel seemed to be in a hurry although it was approaching Midnight. He wore a brown silk robe with black trousers, his finest robe which he usually wore it on rare occasions. He looked at himself in the mirror, turning from side to side. When he was pleased with his looks, he went on to take a small bottle which contained oil perfume and sprayed it all over his body and onto his robe too.

“Fine mother, you can go ahead and find a bride for me” he said.

“Where are you going?”

“What ─?” Amabel was caught off-guard with that question. He felt shy standing before his mother and admit that he was going to visit a brothel for the first time. “I… I have a meeting with my lords, a small council business”

“Right now?” Katarina’s eyes widened with amazement. “You do know it’s close to midnight, don’t you?”

“Is it?” he pretended not to know.

Katarina sighed softly, “Are you going to a brothel Amabel?” she asked him with a straight face.

“No, no mother, why would I ─ I am the king and I must…” Amabel’s own voice betrayed him when he struggled to speak. “No” he finalized his sentence.

“Alright, I’m going to bed”

“Goodnight mother…” Amabel placed his eyes down, he felt shy looking at his mother after what just happened, and also embarrassed.

Katarina was well aware of her son’s growth, he wasn’t twelve anymore and he had grown tremendously fast within these few years. He was no longer a boy, but a man and she knew he may have his own needs and if he wants to visit brothels to learn, then she won’t stand on his way. After all, he was a man, it’s not like his virtue will be damaged or something.

So let me take you to the day that Amabel tasted what it felt like making love to a woman for the first time. Too sad his virginity was taken by a whore, the good folks who chronicled this tale differ in their explanation of how it really happened.

Some say the whore who took Amabel’s virginity was Rush, Aryan’s paramour who was left heartbroken after Aryan left the kingdom with Olivia. Rush resigned as Mistress of Spies and went back to her business as Madame of her brothel, anxiously waiting for a day she will be reunited with Aryan again. Most of her days were spent in silence and she barely ate, so this one was a lie. Rush just run the brothel but she wasn’t for sale herself.

But Amabel did visit Rush’s brothel on his first night out, and that’s because it was more classic and discreet comparing to other brothels. The building was huge with stairs, most of rich men preferred the expensive rooms upstairs for privacy and so did Amabel. Rush herself welcomed him in and made sure no one saw him when she swept him upstairs.

“The young king is here, he came for pleasure and I want him to be very pleased” Rush said this to her girls, the chronicles say there were three girls. One had red – brown skin and she was from Arkala, the next one from Lydia, her skin was pale and finally another one with brown pale skin, she was neither white nor black, and this one was from Doha ─ the most beautiful of the three.

Dohans were always praised for their beauty, these people from the desert knew how to stand out in crowds because of how different they were. Amabel himself was stunned at the beauty of this Dohan courtesan the moment he laid eyes on her, he only chose her for his first night.