Two

Gwenn

I have an issue with snakes.

 

The first person I ever love loved and wanted to be owned by saved me from a snake. 

The person who got to own me was nothing but a snake. 

Rushing back to Northshore to save his pathetic excuse of a life should show how much of a great person I am, not only was I trying to keep him alive but I was also trying to make things between us work. 

I guess I shouldn’t lie and say that those were the only reasons I was rushing back to Northshore. It was about time that I hold Arius, the snake who supposedly owned me and also popularly known as the acting king of Northshore, to his word. 

He said that getting married to a noble foreigner would be enough to give the help Dar needed from Northshore. The only noble available then was me and I fit all the criteria that was how my arranged marriage occur, an alliance was formed between the empires of Dar and Northshore. An alliance that is practically of no use to Dar after this war. 

I might be queen of Northshore but it was not because I wanted to be. My loyalty will always be with Dar. 

On crossing the border. The voices started. 

“Why has you trespassed?” They hissed. The warriors from Dar who were with me shifted back nervously but I rolled my eyes, Northshore scaring tactics which they used to keep other kingdoms away was top notch but being treated like a stranger when I was the queen was seriously getting old. 

“I never knew that a queen can trespass in her own country.” I responded and just as I suspected the voices got divided to show that the empire has still not decided on who should be the current king between the two senior princes, my husband and his half-brother. 

“Liar, she wants to kill the King.” 

“You should be with your husband not your former people…” 

“You don’t have the right to judge me. Now will one of you show yourself and guide me to the capital? My husband has a temper when I am delayed and need I remind you that he is the acting King for now.” I threatened. 

When no answer came forth after my threat, I smiled. Obstacle one was taken care of. When a Northerner showed himself, I let my smile turn smug even though my tension reduced a little. I was half bluffing my way through everything but they did not need to know that. 

We were silent until we reached the Palace, they didn’t build to the skies like the people of Brookston did, oh no, they saw that beneath them, nothing should ruin their air of mystery which they have surrounding them. Instead they built on the ground over a large space with interconnecting hallways and maybe secret passageways too, if their aim was to confuse others then hands down they had already achieved that. 

“I can call a Nisse to take you to a room so you can rest up.” The guide offered. 

“Nisse?” I asked. 

“Servant.” He responded. 

“Thank you, call one to take me to where my husband is, I will not go anywhere else.” 

“The acting King is in a chamber meeting with the Council of The Twelve.” He said as I smiled. 

Perfect opportunity for me to act like the spoilt princess which my husband expects to see, after all I hate to disappoint. 

“I would not prefer a better way to announce my arrival.” I replied and the warrior shook his head, mostly to wonder what kind of queen I would make but he started walking instead to take me to the council chamber by himself, I hoped that was where we were going. 

“Commander.” One of the Warriors with me from Dar started in a hush tone. “Are you sure that you want to do this? It will greatly annoy your husband.” He added in what I am sure in his mind should serve as enough warning but I just rolled my eyes. 

“Yes I am completely sure that I want to do this.” I answered. 

Everybody would just see me acting out but what they don’t know is that by acting this way, I was saving Arius life. The only people who can kill a king are those close to him, his family, his trusted servants and his council. When they see the havoc and crazy mess that I can be, they wouldn’t want me to be in Northshore as a widow without buffer between me and them. The only person who can be that buffer is Arius so his life is safe with my actions, of course he would not believe this but I was not seeking his approval. 

When I tell him that I am doing it to save his life, will he believe that from me? 

Since he knows about Themis, he ought to but one can never be too sure.

“We are here.” The warrior said standing before a door. He looked reluctant about his involvement. 

“If you want to say something, say it. Don’t stop on my account. I promise you that I will not be angry.” I told him.

“The council do not tolerate disrespect. Don’t try and get on their bad side, they will make your stay here to be unpleasant. They can oppress you, no matter how special you think you are.” The warrior gave me a chin nod and then left. 

I took his advice with a grain of salt, putting it at the back of my mind as soon as he left. 

“Commander, I think it would be wise to listen to him.” One of my escort said as I corked an eyebrow at him, he swallowed the rest of his words then I opened the door without knocking. 

Stepping through the threshold, I felt a cold shiver down my spine as eleven eyes focus on me. I am used to being in the center of attraction, what I was not used to was, eyes looking unnaturally bright and completely eerie with a weird light shining from their depths. I don’t think that if they had the eyes of snakes, it would have been any less creepy. Another shocking factor was that Arius had that same gaze too which is weird because the last time I saw him, he was completely human not this weird creature thing that was staring directly into my face. 

I heard a whimper behind me certainly from one of my escorts but I couldn’t stop staring at the inhumane beings in front of me. 

“Gwenn?” Arius asked in surprise at seeing me. 

I swerved my head to look at him again but this time, his eyes were normal like they didn’t seem to have lit lamps beneath the surface a second ago. 

“But… your eyes… they shone.” I stuttered out not understanding what was happening. 

“They did?” He asked as he stood up from his chair. 

His tone state without words that I had gone to the deep end and he was humoring me. I glared at him in response and didn’t bother to provide his arrogant ass with any answer that would make me seem crazy, I mean I did want to act crazy but not this way. 

When I didn’t reply him, he glanced round, I followed him to see the council staring at me with normal eyes. “You disrupted a meeting.” 

I shrugged. “I couldn’t wait to see you.” 

His eyes seemed to burn again but this time in anger. “You should not have done that? Nobody has that power to disrupt a meeting between the council and the king.” 

“It is a good thing that I am not just anybody, I am your wife. Did you forget that fact too?” I asked him in return. 

“This is our queen, I expected more.” A stuffy looking man said, his hair was a complete shock of white but unlike Themis hair, this one did not look good on him at all.

“And I expected more from a council but I guess we all don’t get what we expect right?” I returned only for the room to go extremely cold. 

“She insults us.” A woman hissed at me as I felt a heavy weight settle on my chest, it became hard for me to breathe and my knees nearly crumbled suddenly under a heavy weight pressing on me, I kept standing with only the sheer strength of my will. I didn’t know how it was done but I knew it was the woman who was doing this. I refuse to bow to her. 

“A thousand apologies.” Arius jumps in quickly. “She is still an outsider, not used to our world. I will teach her the errors of her way. She does not mean her words.” 

When the woman nodded, the weight disappeared as sudden as it had appeared. “Do teach her that, this is what you get when you get an outsider to be one of us. She is certainly not worth the understanding that should come from us knowing that foreigners need time to adjust to us.” 

I was still trying to recover when Arius took a hold of my hand and dragged me out of the room. As if he knew that I was gearing up to say something worst, something that would have made the woman do double of what she had just done. 

Arius marched me through the hallways and when he noticed my escort running to keep up with me, he growl in anger. 

He grabbed a hold of one of the passing women. “Take them to a room and stash them there.” 

“He means treat them like guests.” I quipped at the woman and Arius drew me away with his grip tighter this time and when we got another hallway, this one more spacious and beautiful than the rest, he shoved a door open and pushed me inside. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He roared at me as he raised his hand.