Walking down the hallway of the palace surrounded by guards felt heavy, not because I was held by heavy iron chains but because the airy silk lace felt heavier than any other garment wrapped on my body. My bosom held the heavy, colossal chunk of block I never wanted to be associated with. Betrayal. It made everything worse, even in the soulful palace of luxury, I felt soulless.
The hallway felt silent, only the stamping feet of the guards made a difference in the noiseless state of the area. The place felt hefty and equivalent to my previous residence where breathing felts like a crime. Soon a shade of blackened light fell on the entrance of the hallway which we were approaching already. The light was not lustre, not illuminance but a eerie gloom which eventually hugged us as we walked into the cold court room of the queen.
There stood the queen, like a statue, her eyes were foxed with sharp cheek bones. She had a long face and had her witch black hair up in a bun. Her orbs were greyish-silver, rendered long nails which were atleast 5 inches from her fingertips unlike the nail of her thumb which was visually smaller than the others.
I wanted to plead in front of the queen who was standing on that pedestal. She looked mighty and colossal, as if she was the most powerful person in the whole kingdom. But soon I remembered the words of Caelum, how he accused the queen of being a false and fake demon who wanted both of us(me and Caelum) for her upcoming sacrifice. Her seemingly minister leaned to the queens small ears and murmured, as if helping her to recollect the forgotten information. When she heard his words with light, her foxed eyes turned into rounded orbs.
She looked at me accusingly and claimed, "you are accused of spilling the bloods of the innocents of the southerns of the kingdom, almost 50 were killed by you, people over there now believe that you are a witch. What do you say here to help yourself out of the allegation. "
I looked up at the queens pedestal not looking directly to her and spitted angrily, "What proof do you have to support this allegation and accusation?"
"Well, if you insist let me see the wives of the men killed then...", she ordered the witnesses to be present in the court. Soon came a group of widowed women, who looked at me with fury in their eyes. They jumped at me but I was saved by the guards who surrounded me. I leaped out of their protection and broke my silence.
"I did not kill anyone innocent, it was an act of self defense that I killed the soldiers of your kingdom.", I grudged the guards to let me out and shouted on the queens face. Then I came to find the one who was missing from this court since i came here: Caelum
He looked at me with frowned face and ran to stand beside my broken physique and hugged my shoulders showing a seemingly beautiful support but I jerked his arms off.
The queen said, "Well you have just one choice but with two options, either you choose a slow; public execution of yours which would cleanse this holy land of all your given blood stains, or you sacrifice yourself for the crown. This kingdom requires the future king to be married before his coronation, you have to marry my son Caelum in that case and pay the consort's debt."
I grumbled hearing these options and spat, "For me, my pride is the strongest weapon which is much more sharper than the blade of your kingdom which I used then to kill your killers. I would rather choose the executioner's axe than your son's ring."
As I said that, Caelum stepped up, and the shift in the room's energy was palpable already. He leaned in front of me, with a low voice, seemingly pleaded which later felt like a manipulation. He said, "Choose the axe, and you die a victim," he whispered, his hand ghosting over my trembling wrist. Choose the crown, and you become the blade."
He was somewhat right. What it meant was as a prisoner, I was a corpse but as the consort, I was the queen-in-waiting with access to the very throat of the monarchy I wanted to destroy.
I looked at the queen and say, "I take back my choice and grinned to the same idea."
"I choose to marry your son, it would be a heavenly place to stay as the consort of this kingdom's prince. But I don't know your son!"
"He is just behind you! Caelum... come to your would-be wife.", the queen said with a small smile tugging on her right lips.
I turned back and realized I am supposed to be connected to someone who is my potential enemy and closed my eyes for a while so that I could digest the manipulative action and choice. I said to the queen, "I choose him as my husband to be!"
The queen murmured, "Huh! Just as I thought!"