Once Upon A Royal Matrimony

16. brown, like dark chocolate

Adalina Salvatore

" I don't know. " I lied straight into his face. He didn't even look a bit convinced and by the unamused looks on his face I could tell he was getting irritated. Good.

Placing a new cloth on my wound, he took his gloves off and stood up. " Alright. Just don't be offended if I don't come to your royal funeral next week. "

" I'll haunt you I swear to fucking god. " I glared.

" So, start talking. " he put his equipment away and flopped on the bed, a few feet away from me. I glared at him.

" Please. " he begged in a bored tone.

I huffed. " Fine. "

" Go on. "

" Okay. "

" Go ahead. "

" Alright. "

" Don't make me join hands with your enemy. Because right now you're irritating and I just want to shut you up forever. " he deadpanned.

I let out a breath. I knew he wanted to protect me, to end this because they were coming back. But, those were the memories I didn't want to talk about or even acknowledge. He stared at me urging me to go on. He was determined and I could tell he was going to find out one way or another.

So, I told him. Not about the gang who called themselves the skulls, no one knew who they were or where they were. I told him about my knowledge of their existence, the beginning of the royal destruction cult who was dead set on killing us all.

I killed for the first and last time at the age of nine. It was a massacre, a bloodbath on the floor of my childhood bedroom. I murdered them all without thinking twice, all twelve men thrice my size. I didn't want to but I needed to, I had to. At least I thought so.

I was recently announced as the crowned princess then. Father's words rang inside my head each time I pulled the trigger. He spoke in clear demanding tone with a hinge of concerns hidden through the lines as he told me to protect myself but our people would always come first and so I did.

People before the crown, always.

Whoever after us was set to ruin the whole kingdom starting with the poor helpless citizens. Father was right. The men weren't there to kill me, they were there to torment me and threatened the throne. They wanted to give us a warning that they were coming. They brought bloodied corpses of the royal guards and placed them on my balcony under the stormy night. I watched as their blood flowed into my room through the rain water. I remembered feeling like I was suddenly sucked into a horror movie.

It was like the sky was going to war with itself. The rain was pouring down angrily like the dark night was finally letting its frustration out. I thought the sky was about to tear in half when thunderous lightning struck across the night. I covered my ears, frightened but the sound of their voices echoed past the storm like a bell ringing inside my eardrums.

I heard their laughters almost too clearly when they cut through the flesh of those dead people with their shiny silver blades. The looks of joy on their faces as they smeared innocent blood on my glass windows and wall traumatized me.

How could people be so inhumanly cruel.

Those people, my people didn't deserve to die in such vain. Those guards protected my family with their own lives and I needed to do the same for some sort of justice that my father taught me so I silently cried and shot them all with the pistol my father hidden for me, from the darkness of my closet.