The smell of roses wafted into my chambers, immediately crushing me under the weight of not having Kathera by my side.
I froze and breathed in slowly, steadying myself against the pain in my chest, the weight I carried, the weight of being without my Soulfated.
I could still feel the moment she took her last breath as if it never ended.
How can I keep living when my chest is caving in?
"My highness, we are talking about the future of this empire. Do you not have the time to focus?" Gylrin's shrill voice, a councilman who could not think for himself, hit my ears harshly.
"Have we not continued to hunt as I instructed?" I asked sharply. "I grow tired of repeating myself."
"Sire, we hear you, but how are we to maintain survival with more and more people waking from the Freeze?"
They had taken to calling our years in stagnancy, in grief, the Freeze. I thought it should be called the Hollowing, because all I had felt was hollow since she died.
I chuckled, dark and deep. "You think I do not understand where we stand. I understand that my people go hungry. I know the number of those awakening grows daily. You speak of survival, yet you fail to help provide it for yourselves. All you want is someone else to solve the problem. Though I wear the only crown, I am not the only one with a mind."
My words were met with low nods.
"We will keep rationing and hunting," Gylrin responded. "Sire, I did not mean to upset you."
"Upset me? UPSET ME?" My voice broke through the chamber like a crack of thunder. "Can you not see this whole realm is upset? This whole realm is grieving, starving, stagnant, unmoving. The only thing that has upset me is that I am unable to solve all of these problems instantly for my people." I slammed my fist down on the table. "The only thing that can help this world is to bring back Kathera."
"Do you say that just because of the hole left in your chest?" Gylrin asked.
I finally looked him in the eye. He was clothed in a gray suit, one Kathera used to mock for being bland and lifeless, his black hair long over his shoulders and blue eyes set in an empty expression.
"The hole in my chest is none of your concern, Gylrin. Keep testing my patience, and you will be met with an arrow in the head." My voice was strong and carried the weight of a promise.
"My apologies, sire. I only meant—"
"I know what you meant, and I am growing tired of hearing it. Go hunt something and bother me after you kill it."