Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Forty-Nine: Black Eyes & Black Cats

She had thought that she was going to die. When she had heard the beating of wings from her room in the marble palace, she had been so, so certain that death was upon her.Then the world had gone black and her mother's victory had been plain for all to see. Aaron had run to her room and hugged her tight and they had jumped in the air with all the joy of ones who had narrowly escaped death.

How had Lysandra ever doubted her mother, Empress Medea Crimson, Conqueror of Kallias, Witch-Killer and Shadow-Wielder? Once she had finished drinking to celebrate, she would have her brain examined. Her mother did not walk into a war and then just lose it. What had she been thinking?

She and Aaron got very drunk over the evening, and she'd almost forgotten that she was trapped in the palace. What did that matter, anyway, when her chardonnay was coming and hopefully followed by some champagne and red wine?

Yes, she was scandalously drunk, thank you very much for asking. Her brother, surprisingly, was even worse.

"Shade bless...shade bless Kallia? Kallith? Cry-sith?" he struggled; each word slurred. "Sun upon Myra Lizziedoor?" Lysandra snorted.

"Izziedoor,"she corrected. "Maya Izziedoor."

"I think we're drunk," Aaron said slowly.

"Ya think?"

Lysandra reflected on that night with amusement, and on that morning with pure misery. Her hangover was very impressive, and somehow the glass in her windows had been broken. Sun burn Aaron.

After she had somewhat recovered, she remembered that she was still trapped. Now more than ever her mother's attention would be elsewhere, and she might have a chance of gaining her trust. But how?

Lysandra mused on this as she stared our her very much broken window until she glimpsed General Hadlow. Funny. His eyes definitely were black.

And before they had been hazel, hadn't they? Yes, she remembered now, they had been hazel.

Everyone was so certain that Hadlow was dead. That lord had said his cousin saw his corpse, and her mother had practically flayed him alive. She couldn't remember seeing the cousin or the lord since.

There had been someone else with black eyes, hadn't there? Some duke, with her mother's favour. No, she had to be getting ahead of herself. What was the duke's name?

Wellington. His name had been Wellington. He had gotten the plague. Lysandra scrambled to the book of genealogies, scanning Wellington's family to the warlord who saw allegiance to her mother. She stared at his picture, sketched years ago. It showed brilliant blue eyes. Everyone else in his family had the same eyes. But she remembered...his eyes were black.

Why? Why had Hadlow and Wellington's eyes changed?

He had the plague. A horrible strain, ninety percent fatalities.

My cousin said he saw his body. Wellington and Hadlow had both been presumed dead. Then they showed up again, their eyes black as night.

Don't you know me? A valkyrie sword could pierce through my heart and I would not die. She had dismissed her mother's claim as a boast, but what if it were true?

Do you still think Sabran is simply a cat? Sabran had been away ever since Hadlow was reported dead, and Hadlow kept glancing at her now they'd both returned. And hadn't the cat been quiet and weary around Wellington's illness?

It rains cats and dogs in the Isthmus. Her mother had laughed as though it was some private joke between her and her general. Wellington-Wellington had snickered too.

I'm jumping to conclusions, she berated herself.

But then she remembered. When Aaron was born, her mother had been sick. Lysandra, barely two, had sat by her, crying. Back then she still loved her mother. She had reached for her, feeling her heartbeat slow...and stop.

She had been dragged out of the room, and that burning cat had slipped in. Lysandra had been furious about it. Why did Sabran get to come and she be kicked out?

Her mother had had no heartbeat. Hadlow had been reported dead. Wellington had plague.

They all shared the same black eyes. They all still lived. Lysandra ran to pick up the genealogy of the Crimsons themselves.

Her mother's picture made her freeze.

She was painted with emerald green eyes, just like Lysandra's.

Her mother really had died giving birth to Aaron. Hadlow really had fallen to Myra Isidore's blade. The plague Wellington had caught had truly killed him.

Medea was bringing back the dead and using Sabran to do it.

Her heart seemed to stop. The world seemed to slow.What had her mother said?

There are two reasons why your life is one of the most important things to me. Aaron. My son, as much as I love him, will be ruined by the crown, and is not fit for it anyway. I will not allow him to be my Heir. As for the second reason...as I much as I hate it and as much as you don't deserve it, he loves you. After the loss of his brothers, he cannot stand to lose you.

Your life is one of the most important things to me.

Her mother would bring her back from the dead. She was certain of it.

Before, she had contemplated faking a rebel attempt on her life. She had dismissed it early on. Her mother would see right through that. But what if she actually died in the 'attack'

There would be no room for doubt, and she would come back to life, her loyalties unquestionable.

But how to do it?

The rebels had a taste for daggers. Hadn't Nala given her one?

Smiling slightly, Lysandra prepared her bedroom to look like a murder scene..