Cloaked Beauty

Cloaked Beauty Epilogue

Epilogue - Francesca

Lorendian was mine, all mine.

I smiled victoriously, my hands clenched on the railings, as I glanced over the land that now belonged to me on the balcony of my new castle. It was quite an achievement actually. Serenia, Radeskian, and Lorendian were now all mine. Me, princess, now of almost all the countries in the four that were landlocked. It had been too easy... well, almost.

Embers blazed in the distance, the towns and houses being burned down, so they could be replaced with the modern Radeskian architect. Stepping back, I stepped away from the railing, and then reentered King Adam's bedroom, which was now mine.

My smile grew even greater. It was all mine.

The grin disappeared when another thought came to mind, and I collapsed onto the dark crimson red silk covers of the grand royal bed. There was no one that I would be sharing my joy with, other than Lucas. But I wanted a friend. Someone like Celeste. I would have been ecstatic to let her stay and rule with me, she could even have been my guardian knight. But she had refused, choosing to belong to the Lorendians instead. So much nationalism for her own country. I was slightly impressed, but wish she had changed her mind. Celeste was the only person I had actually liked in my several weeks in Lorendian. I would have welcomed her with open arms.

But now she would have to die.

It wasn't an easy thought for me to think about, but I knew it had to be done. She knew too much, and if anyone would be able to take down the new empire I intended to create, it would be Celeste. I would have to kill her, since she couldn't kill me. And when she died, she could not blame me. Celeste had had the chance to kill, but she hadn't. Though that was an awfully big mistake on her part.

A sudden knock made me start.

“Yes?” I called, my voice a completely different tone from the emotions playing throughout me. It was a voice filled with power and authority.

“Your royal highness, the preparations are complete.” A satisfied sigh escaped my lips.

“Excellent, I'll be right out. You're dismissed.”

Grabbing my sword from the table by the bed, I sheathed it into the weapon holder, loving the feel of metal on my skin. It was something I had missed dearly when I had been pretending to be such an innocent princess.

As I walked to the door, my thoughts continued to asses themselves. Celeste needed to be killed. It was a task that needed to be completed, no matter what. I didn't want her dead, but it needed to happen. She would die at my own hand, if that helped.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I prayed that I wouldn't have to kill her. If I couldn't find her, I wouldn't be able to kill her.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

I hoped our paths never met.

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Availabe to all readers as of August 15, 2012. Check out the sequel, The Notorious, now in external link.