-Darius- I crumbled the letter in my hand, feeling such rage. I had never before in my life felt this way. I barely felt anything. Only when Katherine came into my life did I truly understand what it meant to feel something. I understood the deeper meaning of it. Of course, I always cared for my brother. I cared deeply. I just didn’t understand how deeply I could feel until I met Katherine. I didn’t think my feelings could ever go so deep or be so powerful that I was almost willing to destroy the world for her. I was willing to kill anyone who got in between us. But I had not taken into account that something like this would happen. I had seen my wife being accused of treason, but this, what she wrote in her letter about Silver’s trap and how Acan had been part of it since he clearly hadn’t spent much effort trying to look for her. It changed something for me. It made me feel the depths of his true darkness. It made me hate him more than I could say, and if he wanted me to fight his
-Darius- As expected, many began complaining and asking what was going on. Why were we retreating if we finally had the Dark Ones where we wanted them? We could crush them. We could stop them forever, but the Dark Ones weren’t the true evil ones. I spoke honestly to them. I told them what had been done to my wife. Some defended Acan, saying he couldn’t have known that would happen, but I explained his wife left with Katherine, knowing exactly what could have happened. I shocked many with the news, and I told them that if the king couldn’t show me his loyalty by protecting my wife, then I wasn't going to fight his battle. Anyone who wanted to come back and finish the war, I couldn’t stop. I had only made the leader the promise of not coming back myself and taking down Acan. I couldn’t stop these other soldiers, but I noticed how hesitant they were, and I knew what was going on inside their heads. "I am the only real traitor here. Anyone else only did as commanded," I yelled. "You can
-Katherine- Calling myself queen was a bit of a stretch. My father and mother were still very much alive and living a good life. I knew it would be a while before I sat on that throne, but I really enjoyed seeing the look on Silver’s face when I called myself queen. It was priceless. She grew red in the face, her eyes sparkling with that fire of hers, but my guards stayed close to me, making sure she knew that if she tried anything, she would only end up hurt. I was not bowing again, and I was done playing games. It would all be pure strength and brute force now. I would now bow to anyone anymore, and if she didn’t like how I did things, then that was simply too bad for her. She would not bully me anymore. She would not try to take my life anymore. I would be her worst nightmare from now on. I would make her life miserable, and when I took her crown, I could watch her roll around in the dirt. I didn’t want her dead. I wanted her to suffer. "You are not queen!" "I didn’t say I was q
-Katherine- Playing with Acan and Silver had become my new favorite thing to do. I loved it! They had done something unforgiveable to me. Not just in my old life but now also in my new one. I could have experienced something so horrific that I would have changed forever. Who knew if they would have let me live? Or if they would have let my child live? Those men were ready to defile me, even though I was clearly pregnant. They didn’t care because they were so angry at the royals for slowly killing them with those taxes. In a way, I didn’t blame them for their anger, but I did blame them for what they chose to do, even to the wrong person. I didn’t feel bad for killing them. I had done it to protect myself, or my child had. They had let me borrow their power so I could get us out of there and into a safe place. I did not realize I was naked and covered in blood when I walked through the streets or into the castle. I had not seen what had happened to me. I was in too much shock. But I h
-Katherine- I was eating by myself in the dining room one night. It didn’t surprise me that neither Acan nor Silver had joined me. Their boys had, though. They were eating with me, not their parents. A servant had come to tell me they were waiting for their parents to bring them to dinner, but no one had. So I did it instead. They smiled at me as we ate dinner together. They at least didn’t hate me or had been turned against me by their parents. Maybe Silver had tried. I was unsure. "How are your studies going?" I asked them. "Boring!" the youngest said, making me chuckle and nod. "Yeah, they can be, but you will need them to grow up and outsmart everyone else." "Like you did with Mother?" the eldest asked. I looked at him, surprised, not sure what to say. So Silver had been trying to turn her boys against me. Making them think I was the evil one who had tried to hurt her. I was not surprised, but I would make the truth clear to them. I would not hold anything back. These young
-Katherine- I screamed my lungs out as the child wanted out. I tried pushing as hard as I could, with the servants around me supporting me and assisting the physician. He kept telling me to push, but I was so tired. This baby was not making it easy for me, and all I wanted was Darius by my side. I couldn’t believe I was actually having this baby without him. He would miss such an important moment, and it made tears spill from my eyes for different reasons. "My Princess, you must push harder!" the physician said. I knew I wasn’t pushing as hard as I could because I hoped that if I waited a little, Darius might burst through the doors and finally get to be here to experience the birth of our child. But I was only making it harder on myself and the child. "No… Darius isn’t here," I breathed. "Your Highness, the child can’t wait," a servant said by my side. "It wants out now." "But he needs to be here!" "He is still fighting. He isn’t coming home yet," the servant reminded me, strok
-Darius- Travelling back with so many men and having to stop at each place to make sure they came home all right again took longer than expected. I wanted to write back to Katherine, but I was so focused on getting home. It was all I could think about. All that was on my mind was to get back to my wife. I needed to hold her again and make sure nothing bad could ever harm her. I needed to make sure she truly came out of the incident all right. I needed to see it with my own eyes, or I wouldn’t believe it. I barely slept. I barely did anything else but think about Katherine and how she was. I was pacing my tent all night and riding hard during the day. I couldn’t leave the army, though, or I would have been home much faster. When she finally appeared, though, it was like a dream come true. It was like I saw her again for the first time when she appeared here at the capitol, ready to marry my brother. Or in this life, me. She ran to me, jumping into my arms and shaking like a leaf in th
-Katherine- I had been so happy when I saw Darius appear. I couldn’t put it into words, but then Darius told me he had not even won the war. He had left! I had never heard of such a thing unless you, of course, decided to desert, but if Darius was the leader of this war, then could he desert his post? I was unsure what to think. He spoke of packing and getting out of here, but my head couldn’t keep up with what he was saying. It was making me so dizzy that I wanted to go lie down. It didn’t get better when all those guards appeared, wanting to bring Darius to Acan. I feared Acan was already suspicious of Darius, finding it weird that he would come home without notifying us, and I could see how it was very confusing. But it also made me scared. Could Acan make a deserter out of Darius? Would he do it? He had chosen Darius to fight his war for a reason. Darius was a Dark One, and Acan believed only Darius could handle the other Dark Ones. So would he kill him? My heart was beating fast