Dead. They were dead.
It didn't seem real. It couldn't be real.
She would never see her father smile again. Her mother would never hold her hand again. She felt like the floor had been ripped from her feet and she was falling, falling.
She had never felt more alone than she did when the herald came and told her her parents had fallen. Even with Layla at her side, she felt so lost and empty and alone.
Dead, with Talia far away, fighting a losing battle.
She was so, so alone.
Maia wept. It must have been for hours that she locked herself in her room with Layla. They held onto each other, shoulder-to-shoulder and cried. There was no one left, not anymore. She was alone in a world that had never felt vaster and crueller. Desperately, she pushed herself to remember their faces, the way their eyes twinkled when they smiled.
They were gone. Gone, and they had left them so very alone.
"My Lady?" the herald asked, and Maia turned to him, her eyes red with tears.
"I'm not..." she started to say, but then she stopped. Now, Maia was. The Lady of Veron and Celeste, a thirteen-year-old girl leading two city-states in a time of war.
"My Lady and Right Hand, the council wishes to speak with you." The herald winced slightly and put a comforting hand on their shoulder. "The people need you now."
Maia always knew that one day, she would have to embrace her duty. The old choke-hold of her burden threatened to consume. Never had she thought this moment would be so soon.
Shakily, she rose to her feet, trying to dry her tears. Her people needed her. For years, her parents had prepared her for this. For this moment, when two city-states would need her as their Lady. She had to be ready.
Maia and Layla entered the council room alone.
The waiting politicians turned to greet them, and she almost flinched at the sight of them. Envy. It was written so plainly on their faces. They envied her. Envied the thrones they sat upon, as though it somehow made up for her parents' deaths.
Talia. She needed Talia.
"My Lady," one of them asked, and it took a moment for her to realise they meant her sister. "My Lady, what do we do now?"
Maia had no idea. She was thirteen, and she had no idea what to do next. There was only one person who she knew would.
"Bring back the Second Army," she said shakily. "My aunt will return." Her sister gave a swift nod.
Afterwards, she left the room and vomited all over the floor.
A few short chapters recently. What do you think of this length?
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Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)
Fantasy'Medea Crimson took a deep breath, walked into the abyss and died. It wasn't for the first time.' Completed, first in the Lost Continent Series. Three Kingdoms on the brink. A war on the horizon. The peoples of the Lost Continent are forever divided...
