by Ivy Clyde
“Capture them all!” I shouted, my voice rising over the sound of the clash.
Two men rushed at me with raised swords. Throwing a cutting gaze at them, I set them on fire too. Their screams of pain and shock, made the other men halt. Guards as well as the assassins, watched in horror as the two men burned before their eyes.
“Anyone else wants to try attacking me?” I asked in a cold voice that was audible over the screams of the burning men.
The men in black garb let their weapons drop to the floor. Next, their knees hit the ground.
“Arrest them,” I said, gesturing at the open-mouthed soldiers.
They rushed to capture the men cowering on the floor. The stench of burning flesh hung in the air.
“There are three men inside my chambers as well,” I said, nodding that way. “Arrest them too.” I looked around for the leader of the guards. Once I’d caught on the sight of an older man in more sophisticated armor, I beckoned him to me.
“Yes, Your Highness?” he asked, reaching me.
“Where is Prince Ren?”
A worried look came over him. “He is injured, Your Highness. The assassins attacked him and you at the same time. We were fending off the attackers in his wing of the palace when we heard the shouts and screams coming from this way.”
Cold washed over me. “Where is he right now?”
“He is in his chambers, Your Highness. I had a few men call for the healers.” His gaze went to the far side of the corridor. “But I don’t know how soon they can get someone in this weather.”
My fists balled together at my side. “I’ll go to him. In the meantime, round up every one of these mercenaries and get them to confess the names of their benefactors. Threaten them, torture them. I don’t care. I just need the names as soon as possible.”
The man’s face hardened. “Yes, Your Highness. We’ll find those who don’t want your reign to flourish. They’d rather trap the rest of us in the dark ages despite the emperor being dead.”
I gave a tight nod. “Get them to confess. I’ll be in Prince Ren’s quarters. Find me as soon as you have the information.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” The man tilted his head in a respectful stance and strode inside my chambers. Leaving them to deal with the assassins, I hurried to find Ren.
My heart pounded in my chest as I ran down the hallways to find Ren. He neither had any magic nor was he a dragonborn. Most of the time, he was easygoing and cheerful. I doubted he even had the ability to defend himself with a weapon that could save his life against an assault.
Anger slithered in through the thick fog of anxiety that clouded my emotions.
I would punish every single noble who’d plotted against him. Ren was my strongest ally. They must’ve thought to break me by killing him.
The nobles knew of my powers. If I could defeat Ivan, it was more than obvious I was more powerful than their dead emperor. Their desperation grew so great, they threw all caution to wind and attacked me.
The storm outside lashed on the palace walls.
Reaching Ren’s quarters, I found several soldiers standing guard at the entrance of his chambers. The sight gave me a slight notion of calm.
The men moved away as I approached the door and pushed on it.
Chairs and torn cushions lay scattered on the floor. Broken vases, shards of glass and porcelain, and patches of the curtain littered the path as I walked towards the bed in the corner.
Blood drenched the blanket and bed sheets where Ren lay. His eyes were closed but his breathing was dangerously erratic. Without my intervention, he would be dead before the night was over.
“I am here, Ren,” I said in a soft, choked voice. Sitting down at the edge of the bed, I removed the blankets that covered him.
A gasp escaped me at the sight of blood dripping from slashes to his torso. The soldiers had merely laid him on the bed and covered him with the sheets. No one had done a thing to bind the wounds.
I pulled away the blanket completely, revealing his entire body to me.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. Do you hear me?” I demanded despite the angry tears that pricked my eyes. “I’ve been far too soft with everyone around me. That’s the reason they had the courage to plot against us. No more. It’s really isn’t just Ivan who bled the realm. It was every person who supported his reign.”
Placing a hand on his cold forehead, I closed my eyes in an attempt to study the flow of life energy in his body. To my panic, the pulse of his life force was fatally weak.
“No, no, no,” I moaned, preparing to channel my own magic to heal his wounds.
My goal was to close the three deep slashes that were dripping blood. Taking a deep breath, I forced my magic, willing it to heal the wounds.
My head swam with exhaustion but I kept sending him my magic. After what felt like a long time, I opened my eyes. The three slashes had new skin over the cuts. They looked raw and red against the pale skin of his torso but at least he’d stopped bleeding. His breathing sounded regular as well.
Getting to my feet, I tottered to a fallen chair nearby. A little rest would help restore some of my strength. Even though I was tired, I wouldn’t be falling asleep that night. Setting the chair straight, I sank down on it and closed my eyes, letting my mind get into a pattern of meditation that would calm and energize me from within.
A few hours passed away without any interruption.
However, my eyes opened up at the sound of approaching footsteps combined with the clamor of metal armors. Sitting up straighter, I glanced at the door.
“Your Highness.” A familiar voice called from outside.
“Enter.”
The leader of the palace guards marched inside. Stopping a few feet from me, he bowed low.
“I have carried out your commands, Your Highness,” he said in a tight voice.
“You have the names of all the traitors?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Good. Divide the soldiers into groups and have the heads of the families arrested. Get it done immediately. Assemble them in the court room and notify me when things are set up. I shall stay here until then.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Despite the air of doom and violence, part of me felt wide awake to the power I was exercising at the moment. The soldiers and their commanders were carrying out my instructions well. Before the night was over, I would have all the traitors destroyed. Tomorrow’s dawn would herald a new beginning for Drakhaven.
Closing my eyes, I fell back into another meditative state.
Perched on the throne in the courtroom, I looked down at the men gathered at my feet.
For the first time since I faced them, they looked fearful. Almost all of them were aged, exceeding at least sixty years of age. They shuffled on their feet and glanced at each other with panicked looks in their eyes. Dressed in nothing but woolen undergarments, the nobles of Drakhaven appeared little better than beggars on the streets of Fuvaros.
Guards lined the entire length of the courtroom, standing in attention.
Ren’s life was no longer in danger. At least fifty men were stationed outside his chambers, protecting him.
The stage to confront the nobles was set up.
Getting to my feet, I took a few steps forward and gestured at myself. “As you can see, your treachery is foiled. Neither I nor Prince Ren is harmed.”
A low murmur rose up from the gathered men. In unison, they fell to their knees before me.
“Mercy, Your Highness,” they cried in wavering voices.
“You never showed any to me,” I said in a cold, emotionless voice. “Why should I extend it to you?
None of them made any coherent replies. Instead, they groveled on the ground, wailing for mercy.
“Your families will be stripped off all wealth and property,” I said in a loud, clear voice. “Henceforth, they will be banished from the capital.” Drawing another breath, I declared, “As for you, you shall all be punished
according to the laws of the kingdom. You plotted against the royal family. You’ll be punished to death.”
Most of the men nodded, accepting their fates. They averted my gaze.
A few, however, still had the gall to shout and plead for mercy.
“In cases of such treachery, the perpetrator’s entire household is punished to death. Be grateful that your wives and children get to retain their lives.”
I motioned for the soldiers to march forward.
They obeyed, binding the traitors with chains and manacles. From here, they would be marched down to the dungeons. It would be a few hours until daybreak and their execution.
I sat back on the throne, watching the proceedings with a keen gaze. Once the courtroom emptied of soldiers and prisoners, I exhaled a long breath.
Early morning sunshine filtered through the fluttering curtains at the windows of Ren’s chambers. Some of it fell on him, making his natural ginger hair light up like strands of flames. He was still unconscious but his face had lost its paleness. A healer had come at dawn and bound his other injuries. From what I could see, his body was recovering well.
The door to the room opened.
One of the guards stationed outside walked in and bowed to me.
“Your Highness, Lord Genry wants to see you.” He hesitated before saying, “He is being quite insistent.”
I wracked my brain for the person the guard spoke of. “Who is he?” I asked after a few seconds.
“He is the master of horses, Your Highness.”
“Was he or one of his family members indicted in last night’s assassination?”
“No, Your Highness. Lord Genry’s family was not indicted. In fact, he’d been barred from stepping into the palace by the late emperor. It is only now that you are ruling us that he can dare to venture in.”
My curiosity rose. Ivan stopped one of the nobles from entering the palace? Intrigued, I got to my feet. “Make sure Prince Ren is guarded at all times,” I said, walking towards the door. “I’ll meet this lord of the horses right away.”
Striding out of the door, I looked around the corridor. Apart from the soldiers stationed there, I found a tall man standing away from them. Even though he was supposed to be a “lord”, his long robes of cheap wool made him look like a commoner.
Getting nearer to him, I found something familiar about the long strands of his fiery ginger hair. He was far older than me but sported a well-built muscular stature. His face was tanned and weather-beaten.
“Are you Lord Genry?” I asked, reaching the man.
The man made an elegant bow despite his appearances. “Your Highness.” Before speaking further, he looked around the guards patrolling the corridor. “May I request for a more private audience?”
I raised an eyebrow but something about the grim expression on the man’s face told me I should listen to him. “This way,” I said, leading the way further down the corridor. Pushing open the door to a spare room, I gestured for him to enter with me.
Once we were inside the room, I fixed my keen gaze on him. “Talk.”
“How is Prince Ren doing, Your Highness?” he asked in a choked, helpless voice. “I heard he was gravely injured in last night’s assassination attempt.”
“He will recover,” I replied. “But why are you concerned about him?”
“Your Highness, what I’m about to say might get me killed for slandering the royal family but I can no longer keep this weight on my chest. If today is the day I join my beloved, so be it.”
I schooled my expression to be impassive. “Say what you have to say. You are already standing on thin ice for requesting this audience with me.”
He took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes. “Prince Ren is my son.”
This was beyond anything I’d have expected the stranger to say. My gaze raked his features from head to toe, trying to match them with Ren’s. And then, it hit me.
The similarity between the two was uncanny. Genry’s eyes were the same as Ren’s. Even the fiery shade of their ginger hair was similar. The only difference was that Ren was a polished, younger version of Genry. One was a prince and the other seemed to run in the wild with the horses.
“How?” I asked. Ren had already me he wasn’t Ivan’s son. While his mother was Ivan’s wife, his father was an unknown stranger.
“I was Lady Renata’s lover,” said Genry in a low, grim voice. “Back then, I used to be the minister of commerce and was the head of the royal treasury. It wasn’t hard for us to meet. We spent some wonderful years together until Ivan learned of the truth and killed her.”
“Did he know you were the one involved with his wife?”
“He knew but he couldn’t really charge me with any crime. Despite being a dragon, his ego was as fragile as glass. He didn’t want the world to know how his wife had chosen to surrender to one of his ministers. He quietly threatened me and demoted me. I was barred from entering the palace and approaching Prince Ren.”
“Why did you suddenly decide to tell me the truth?”
“Prince Ren was the target of last night’s assassination,” said Genry, matching my gaze. “It’s easy to guess your relationship with him. You have been close to him since you were a child, Your Highness. Even I remember the days when you both played together, using the whole palace as your playground. Ren must have already told you about the truth of his origins. He has been loyal to you instead of Ivan and his sons.”
I nodded. “He is my most loyal aide. Without him, I’d be lost.”
“With your permission, Your Highness, I would like to see my son.”
“Come with me, Lord Genry,” I said, walking across the room to head out of the door. He followed after me, keeping a respectful distance from me as I led the way back to Ren’s chambers.
The guards moved away to clear the doorway for me.
“He is still unconscious but if you can wait in his room,” I said, entering through the door. “I have guards protecting him even though I doubt anyone would dare to breach the palace walls after last night’s attempt.”
“News is spreading,” said Genry. “The people are rejoicing in the fall of the nobles who’ve sucked their blood dry.”
I stepped aside and gestured towards the bed. “You may stay as long as you like. From now onward, you may enter the palace. I am looking for people to fill the government posts. If you’d like to help in that regard, I’d be grateful for your help.”
Genry bowed low to me. “I’d gladly help you, Your Highness. You only need to ask.” He glanced at Ren on the bed. “I hope my son wouldn’t turn me away for abandoning him all these years. It’s just that I feared Ivan would hurt him if I did.”
“He will understand,” I said, giving him a soft smile. “Ren is one of the most considerate people I’ve ever met.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
I walked out of the room, hoping to manage the rest of the activities in the palace while Ren got a few days to rest. With Ivan and the last of his shadow gone from the kingdom, I could finally begin my reign without any obstacles.
19
Daria
Three months later
I mulled the cool water over my slightly protruding belly. Over the past month, I was enjoying the cooling sensation of the fresh spring water that was brought into my bathing chamber through a network of pipes from a nearby hill.
I felt the joyous emotions emanating from my child as I splashed some more water on my belly.
A smile lifted the corners of my lips. The child growing within me was happy with the simplest of things. She loved it when I spent time playing in water or settled down to read or sing to her. She joyously cheered when I ate almond pastries made by Jarina.
“Your fathers will be so happy to meet you today,” I said in a soft voice. “They haven’t seen us for so long, I am aching to see them.”
Over the past three months, we had only corresponded through letters.
All four of us got busy managing
the affairs of our kingdoms. Ivan and his cruel advisors left so much destruction to the people and the land around us, it was taking all our effort to reverse the effects. In a bid to heal the people, we’d stopped levying taxes on our citizens over the next two years. We hoped they could use the time to build back their lives.
All the spots in my government were also filled up now. The selection exams we set up brought us scholars from all over the four kingdoms. They’d already started working diligently, helping to rebuild Drakhaven. Even though I was kept busy from morning to late evening every day, it felt good to see the progress happening in all corners of the kingdom.
It would take years to build roads, local hospitals, and granaries in every village of the kingdom but at least we’d started. By the time, my daughter was old enough to reign the kingdom herself, it would be a different world. I was determined to wipe away the dark memories of Ivan’s rule. Peace and prosperity would be the norm of the four kingdoms.
“Your Highness, it is time,” a tentative voice said from the doorway of the bathing chamber.
“Time to get ready,” I whispered to my belly. Getting to my feet, I climbed out of the marble tub carefully. Donning a linen bathrobe, I walked out into my chambers where a dozen maids waited for me. On most days, I dressed by myself but today was a special occasion.
It was the day of my coronation.
My gaze moved around the room. The maids had set up everything I would need to get ready for the occasion. My royal gown, jewels, and mantle were laid out before me.
“We’ll start with your hair, Your Highness,” said one of the maids.
I gestured for her to continue.
One of the women came forward and gently wrapped a linen towel around the long length of my dark hair. Making me sit on a plush chair, she began drying my wet strands while another aide worked on lighting a fragrant incense.
When a heady smoke wafted from the bronze bowl, they brought it under the length of my hair so that the fragrance could seep into my damp strands.
