FEATURED BY @Retold
A fight for a kingdom that belongs to neither.
Aneira Guinevere was the fairest in the land - with her flowing dark tresses reminiscent of the midnight sky, and her delicate skin as pure as snow. Though the weight of her past l...
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Three years ago, a witch and a royal walked into a bar.
"Really, Aaryan? A bar? Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke," the black-haired woman, Zara, said as she spoke to the hooded man next to her. She poured herself another glass of rum. "Rum?" she offered.
The hooded man next to her chuckled, taking the bottle from her hand. "That makes us the punchline, my dear."
"Glad you think so highly of your obscure sense of humor, Your Grace," she mocked.
"Is that how you speak to a royal?" he asked incredulously, earning a sharp glare from her. "Someone needs to tell you it's godawful, Aaryan... instead of feeding your giant ego with fake laughs." The emperor just laughed as she took another (giant) sip of her drink.
There was a moment of awkward silence between the two. "Aaryan, why did you call me here? I told you not to approach me unless you can get me what I want," Zara finally asked, addressing the elephant in the incredibly noisy room.
"Relax, my dear sorceress. There has, in fact, been a development in something you want," Aaryan said. He filled his glass once again.
"Unless this development involves me on the Netherdanes throne, I don't want to hear it."
"Zara, we spoke of this. You can't take on the throne because you aren't royal. But you can guide a little someone and mold them into your little disciple of a leader."
Zara glared at him, and even though Aaryan commanded a huge presence and an army, he still feared her. Her presence seemed to bring up all the doubt and guilt of his life into mind. Her presence made his heart feel heavy.
"And why is that, Aaryan? Because I was an orphan? Because I'm a woman? Because queens don't exist independently?"
Aaryan's pulse rose. No matter how much he sugarcoated it, he knew it would anger her. There was a light, happy music in the background. But he pushed it aside.
"I don't doubt your skills, Lady Pyrecrest. It's the others I worry about. I fear they won't accept an... an independent queen, especially one that isn't royal."
"So your worry is my inability to command respect?"
"I feel this is where I'm supposed to tread lightly."
"I'm glad you know your place, my king."
For someone who demanded respect, he didn't feel the lack of it with Zara.
There was another moment of awkward silence between the two.
"You got my intentions all wrong, Aaryan. I don't want the throne. I just want to make the king pay. My intentions are what I call rightly wrong," she said, under her breath.
That piqued Aaryan's interest. "Oh? But you do know, if you kill the king..."
"Yes, Perigwyn, I know what that means. I'll figure something out then... in fact, I'd be willing to even hand over the kingdom to you, of all emperors."
