Crystal Hearts • Book 2 Of The Crystal Trilogy • ⏸

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All those years of hiding her feelings finally paid off for Caroline. Who knew that her father's saying would be the one to bring his downfall?

Well, the truth is that they didn't really bring his downfall, but they did cause some inconveniences against him. He wasn't a good father, but he sure was a good teacher when it came to strategy and Caroline was about to surpass him.

She had convened with Phoebe, Margaret, Andy and, surprisingly, Esmeralda and they had decided that the best way to keep Alastor from hurting more people was to start a rebellion against him. Caroline hadn't forgotten about his plan to besiege his brother and it was common knowledge that this would claim the lives of hundreds of innocents.

“Let's go over the plan again, shall we?”, she told them, crossing her arms. Margaret, Andy and Esme had invited some people they knew were fed up with Alastor's tyranny and were willing to put their lives on the line for it. Faith's murder had been the last straw not only for her parents and adoptive sister, but also for Caroline herself. She was tired of her father's attitude and superiority complex, not to mention his obsession with Cheryl.

“We'll go out on the front yard and meet there. Don't break anything or attack anyone because they'll hit back and that's not what we're going for. We just want a peaceful riot to show him that we're done being bossed around like this.”, Andy explained.

“People are getting wrongly imprisoned, tortured and killed and we are either kept in the dark or told to sit back and do nothing about it. Most of you don't even know that princess Crystal had returned to the palace against her will a week after she left.”, Margaret added. People started murmuring to each other.

“And do you know how your princess was treated? She was locked up in the dungeons and tortured along with a friend of hers.”, Phoebe said.

“How long are we going to keep letting things like this slide? Forget about Crystal, think about your own people! Your friends and family are being treated like inanimate objects whenever my father feels like throwing a tantrum! Someone needs to teach him some manners!”, Caroline yelled. The crowd nodded in agreement. “Who's with me?”, she asked them. They started yelling and clapping.

The princess led them outside along with her friends. Once they were under the throne room, everyone started shouting and cursing at the king. Soon, the army had them surrounded.

When Alastor came outside to see what all the fuss was about, Caroline, Andy and Margaret stepped forward. Phoebe stayed hidden in the crowd in fear of being recognised as Scott's sister, along with Esme, who was still a little too scared to make such an appearance.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?”, the king barked.

“Demanding to have our rights back.”, his daughter told him. “We're tired of being treated like we're nothing just because you think you're better than everyone.”

“Caroline, I swear to god--”

“You'll do what? You'll kill me?”, she raised an eyebrow. She didn't mention Faith, no matter how much she wanted to. She couldn't expose Esmeralda like that. She needed to be sure that Esme would be safe before she used Faith's murder against her father.

“If you don't break off whatever this thing is, I'm locking up every single one of you I'm the dungeons. You included.”, he glared at his daughter.

“Just liked you locked Crystal up?”, she smiled sickly at him. Everyone else gasped. “Or like you locked up Andy?”

Alastor's anger made him turn red. “Caroline, if you don't stop this immediately--”