Throne of Blood

A LITTLE GAME PLAY TO END ALL GAME PLAY

In the era where I existed, every girl that I had a chance to ever cross paths with harbored a wish to be a princess or a queen. Most desired to be bound in wedlock with a man of a status no less than a prince, only a few highly realistic and practical ones did not harvest such yearnings. Throughout the years of my life I had prided myself on being from the rare latter faction. Despite being a follower and supporter of utterly realistic thoughts and notions, in some moments of intense weakness I had proceeded onto indulging in similar ideologies as every other common girl. Such moments had an increased occurrence in my life since Vincent had made himself a home in my heart. Over the period of multiple months in the past when my world became densely populated by human seeming bodies filled with utterly monstrous deeds and desires; that I realized I could not cause to faze away by screwing shut my eyelids as I did in the days of my childhood when confronted by the monsters under my bed, I found myself often dreaming.

I dreamt about being a princess for Vincent was a prince and I wanted his companionship; not because I desired to live in castles surrounded by riches and be catered to at all times. I harvested the dreams of having a marriage ceremony in the royal castle; not because I wanted something flashy dripping in money, but because the castle had been home to Vincent; a place where the memories of his deceased mother were present as a blessing for us. I let take roots in my mind the ideas of becoming a queen, because that signified Vincent's life, success and love for me. My dreams had revolved around big words like 'castles', 'kings' and 'queens', but all that I had really desired was for love, happiness and safety for my loved ones.

The wise and the old for centuries have said to be very careful about what you wish for; now I knew why. Every single part of my dream was unfolding into reality in front of my very eyes, but I felt nothing even remotely close to happiness and contentment. My dreams had taken the form of reality, but for all the wrong reasons.

Here I stood in front of hundreds of thousands of people, adorned in a white gown that hugged my body in all the right places giving the illusion of beauty close to perfection, hand in hand with Vincent. I stood pronouncing my vows; keeping the whole empire alongside the pope as my witness. My lips reciprocated the movement of pope's lips; repeating word after word the promises I would be bound by in the form of a marriage.

It should have given me intense pleasure and made an undying wave of love to move through my heart seeing Vincent stare into my eyes repeating the vows just as I had done, but not even a dying spark of happiness found its way into my heart. All that I felt was the few remnants of life seep out of my heart, leaving in their wake a mass of thawed ice. I pushed my eyelids shut as Vincent's lips came into contact with mine; I was afraid my eyes would give away all the disgust and shame I felt at that one action, for I knew he was not Vincent, but for the world he was.

The moment my arrow had pierced the life force out of the body of king Cedric, and the information processed by the people witnessing the action, the announcement of Vincent taking the throne of Estercrest Empire was made on immediate basis throughout the empire in order to put an end to further bloodshed to the maximum possible limits. The bloodshed had halted momentarily; replaced by celebrations and happiness, but with the unexpected and horrifying change of events that had taken place not long after the announcement it was highly likely that a new wave of death would take the empire in its firm grasp.

Assassination of a king and the capture of the only living person in line to the throne on accounts of treason were bound to bring chaos as their aftermath. Finding out the throne vacant and the masses devoid of any concrete ruler by anyone was certain to be ensued by chaos. Multiple families and individuals of little to somewhat considerable amount of power and influence would rise with the desire of claiming the throne for themselves. A number of commoners were certain to support every candidate for the throne; which would undoubtedly result in a war amongst the people of the empire; which most likely would produce the result of division of the empire after multitude of unnecessary and brutal deaths. To avoid such bleakness from becoming a part of the future of Estercrest, Edmund Black and his supporters went to great lengths and invested a heavy amount of effort and energy.

Once Enock had gotten me out of the line of harm it proved to be not very difficult for all the highly trained soldiers present in the throne room to disarm the two traitors without ending their lives. The mortally wounded king Vincent was rushed into the humble abode of the finest of the royal healers, but the exercise proved to be futile. Lord Adrian Vergara and Lord Andre Ozera were both arrested upon the charges of treason and thrown into the dungeon while with joint effort father and Enock eliminated every known supporter of the two traitors.

With all immediate threats dealt with, Enock was presented to the world under the pretense of being Vincent. I would be lying if I said that he did not play the part very convincingly. My eyes could be fooled into believing his show like every other person in the empire, but it was the heart that could never be fooled. The treacherous heart; that in the first place was responsible for the pain I lived through every single second.

Seeing the world around me settle into a state of peace that was never existent before I should have been happy, because that was exactly what I had risked my life multiple times fighting to achieve, but I felt nothing. I was an empty shell; an illusion of a person that I once was. The betrayals, the lies, the game plays, and the heart breaks upon losing multiple people worked wonders in hollowing out my being.

One month into restoration of normalcy across the empire the cruelty of life took me in its wraps once again; this time for a long run. Alden turned into the bearer of the bad news this time. I was informed about how I was expected to marry Enock also known as Vincent; the marriage was for mutual benefit. Enock would get to solidify his charade as Vincent where as I will get the label of bastard off my soon to be born child and secure his or her claim to the throne for it rightfully belonged to the child. Accepting the proposal felt like betraying the only man I truly had ever loved, but it was in the best interest of my child; my only reason to push through every day and fight for a better world.

"People of Estercrest, this day you witnessed another king in history finding his queen. This is a big day for each and every one of you present here in the royal castle or anywhere else within the borders of the empire. You all question the significance of this day in your lives. It would have made sense to you if I had said this is a big day for me, but you fail to understand how it might be a big day for you. Today I become a queen, I become one more person who is to fight for you; for everything that you need and deserve. A monarch is never someone special, rather more ordinary than everyone else, because it is millions and millions of ordinary people who make us who we are who. We are made rulers because millions of common people support us, without their support we would never be able to keep any kind of power. As a king and queen we are the ones who sit on the throne, but each and every one of you had a string of us in your hands. The moment we try to pull away from the commands of the strings there is nothing but blood, and this empire knows that very well. This throne is made up of blood, and it demands a lot of dexterity for one to keep seated on it without dissolving into a heap of blood and flesh. On this day I as your queen vow to fight every second I am alive for all that you need and want."

I let my eyes roam over the crowd chanting my name, vowing to myself to do what the father of my unborn child had always envisioned to do. I allowed my mind, heart and soul to be set all for the betterment of my people from this day forth. I let the throne claim the rights over my blood.