All Things Must End

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟐 • ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕀𝕞𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤

You are weak.
.
.
.
        I jolt awake with a gasp and immediately curse my dream. I knew it was too good to be true. Good dreams have been an unfamiliar concept to me for a very long time.

        I shake my head to clear the wooziness of sleep and focus on the terrain outside the carriage. It looks quite different from that of before I fell asleep. It is also midday based on the sun's high position in the sky.

        "We're nearly there," one of the soldier's gruff voices says, making my eyes dart to him.

        "Nearly there? How?" I ask. "Amarat Jen is a three days journey." Even though I am under stress and more exhausted than I care to admit, three days is much too long to be asleep, naturally that is. That's when I see the white thread cloth in the third man's fist.

They glance at each other nervously. "We thought it would be best if you were. . . incapacitated for the trip. To eliminate possible interferences."

Oh," I mumble. I suppose I do not blame them for being cautious. To their knowledge, they have captured me unwillingly to take to their queen. Little do they know, my plan has finally come into place. Not that I wanted it to, I don't want to leave Aleksander and Amelia, but I cannot be the cause of another war.

        The middle soldier's eyes scan me from head to toe. Then he says something in Shu. The third, more timid soldier translates for him. "He says you do not look as troubled as you should be to be the prisoner of Her Majesty, Queen Leyti."

        I respond, "I am too weary to be troubled." It is partially true. I recall Aleksander's advice: use half-truths to disguise a lie. He was talking in the political sense even though he has used his own advice many times outside of politics. This I do not condone deception, it is rather useful at certain times. At least that is what I try to convince myself of.

        The soldiers glance at each other at my response, again making me feel like they know something I do not. The third man leans in close to me across the coach and whispers, "Do not give up hope."

        The first man slaps him on the back of the head as a not-so-subtle demand to be silent.

        We all stare at each other in tense silence for what felt like an hour but was most likely only a few minutes. "We're here," the first man announces, his voice slicing harshly through the stillness and making me flinch.

        To the left, through the small square window, I spot tall, golden-peaked turrets and sparkling white walls. It is nothing like I imagined. Ravkan propaganda does nothing to shed light on how beautiful Shu Han really is. Though I never knew her, I always wanted to see where my mother came from, and this is it. Too bad it is under grim circumstances.

        I am pulled from my thoughts when the largest of the three soldiers grabs my arms, folding them behind my back, and pushes me forward out of the cab. Though he is not nearly as rough with me as he could be or as I expected he would be. The four of us begin treading up the stone path leading to the vast golden Palace of Amarat Jen. Unfortunately, what awaits within is not going to be as pretty as the outside.

        The guards at the immensely sized Palace doors stiffen as we arrive. When we get closer, their eyes grow wide at the sight of me. They open the doors hastily, allowing us through. We walk straight through the vast entryway to a long throne room, and at the end sits Queen Leyti. I catch her eyebrows raise slightly in surprise before she composes herself. I am taken to stand before her by the strongest soldier while the other two bow and depart.

        "Well, well," Leyti says laconically as she leans back in her throne. Her cold eyes examine me closely, not unlike Aleksander.

        "You may go." She waves her hand at the remaining soldier.