Annora storms the castle, and heads straight to the throne room. There, she finds her husband, and her mother.
"Where did you go?" Aegnor asks his wife, walking up to her.
"To see the woman Princess Freya wants to replace me with," she seethes, as she glares at her mother.
The man bends to her height whispering, "Annora you need to calm down-"
"I need to calm down?" she asks back to him, as if he has gone crazy. Does he not understand what is going on?
Before he can utter another word, Princess Freya beats him to it.
"Your father is dead, and your grandfather passed peacefully in his sleep."
"W-what are y-you t-talking?" Annora trips over words, suddenly feeling like the air in the room is not enough for all of them.
"It is unfortunate but you should know that Kharis-"
"Annora!"
Before Freya can finish, her daughter falls to the floor immediately. Her heart skips as she calls the guards to bring the castle doctor, while escorting her daughter out of the throne room without missing a beat.
***
The gates of General Silas are heavily guarded when Advisor Nedial arrives with a few of the king's men.
"The king has sent me to deliver an urgent message to the General," Nedial announces.
The wearh nods, opening the gates and allowing him to pass.
Hastily, he follows the guard through the manor until they arrive at a door.
Once he is announced, the door is opened allowing him through.
Nedial clears his throat, seeming uncomfortable when he sees General Silas at the head of the table, and General Cassiel to his right.
"Advisor Nedial, I was not expecting you," Silas says, closing the book that is sitting on the table in front of him.
"I have brought word from His Majesty. He has requested you send the infantry to guard Bethillore as we are under attack by the humans and elves."
Silas stares at the Advisor for a few seconds before he says,
"Let His Majesty know that I am unable to release any troops to guard Bethillore."
Nedial frowns and shakes his head, "You dare defy the king?"
"When I was given charge of the Infantry, I swore I would only use it to protect its people."
"OUR KINGDOM IS UNDER ATTACK!"
"Our kingdom is being occupied. I received word that civilians are not being harmed, only those that wish to follow the orders of the king and attack elves and humans will face death."
"They will take our kingdom General! You want our kingdom to fall?"
"Tell King Oleander to step down from the throne, if he doesn't want any casualties."
Nedial takes a step back scoffing, "General Silas, you are out of your mind. What blasphemy did you just utter?"
The general pushes the book he was going through towards him. Nedial furrows his eyebrows, picking it up.
"Your King decided to send our troops to war with Nyland because Princess Lola rejected his advances. Your king does not care about Bethillore falling. If he did, he would not have started an unnecessary war which diminished our numbers. Your King only cares about himself."
Silas watches closely as Nedial goes through the pages, a sigh escaping his lips as his frown deepens.
Cassiel too, watches Nedial's countenance, suddenly realizing something.
"You knew," he says, standing up from the table as he stalks towards Nedial.
"You knew that Princess Lola was not a murder."
Cassiel grabs Nedial by his throat, slamming him against the door.
"Commander enough!" Silas says, causing him to immediately let go of the bald wearh, allowing him to fall to the floor.
"The lengths you all will go to stay in power disgusts me," he says, before taking the book and walking out of the room.
Silas stands up, his eyes on Nedial who is trying to gather himself after he was almost choked to death.
"Go back to the castle and tell your king that the only way to stop this is for him to step down."
Without waiting for a response, he exits the room.
***
Oleander barges into his chambers only to find Eugene gone. The wearh is already on the verge of madness, and Eugene's absence is not helping matters at all.
"WHERE IS SHE?!"
The guards come rushing in upon hearing the king's roar.
"Your Majesty!"
"Where is Eugene?"
The two wearhs look at each other as if urging the other to speak up first. They had no idea Eugene left the chambers.
"Y-Your M-majesty we've been guarding this room since you left and she never walked -ah!"
Oleander punches his hand through the armor and into his chest, ripping out his heart, and dropping it to the floor.
The wearh's eyes are wide as he looks down at his chest, coughing up blood and falling to the floor.
The second weah kneels to the floor immediately, "S-spare me, Y-Your Majesty. I will find her."
Oleander marches out of his chambers, his voice bellowing and alerting the wearhs stationed in the castle.
"I NEED ALL OF YOU LOOKING FOR EUGENE IMMEDIATELY, BRING HER TO ME ALIVE, OR DIE!"
The wearhs move immediately, as Oleander makes his way back down the stairs.
Advisor Nedial had come back earlier from General Silas' residence only to bring bad news to him. That general dares to side with the wearh he branded as a traitor? He dares to refuse Bethillore of protection? Once all this is over, he will certainly have his head.
That is even if he will make it out of this situation. It seems everything is crumbling. No plan thus far has worked, and he is all out of options, The elves and humans are occupying his kingdom, and he has no idea what to do. This feeling of helplessness has triggered something in him. Something he tried to suppress for a long period of time.
It seems Oleander is going mad.
"Your Majesty, we've found her!" Oleander snaps his head towards the wearhs who are dragging in a struggling Eugene.
"Unhand me! Unhand me you idiots!" she screams.
"Take her up to my chambers"
"No! No! I'd rather die!" she shrieks as they drag her up to his chambers.
"Your Majesty, she was found in the forest at the back of the castle. It seems she climbed out your window."
Oleander smirks, walking up to his chambers to see Eugene on the floor, with wearhs occupying the room.
"Leave us," he says as he walks up to her, the wearhs doing as instructed.
"No!" Eugene stands attempting to follow them but he grabs her arms pulling her back, the door slamming behind them.
"Unhand me you crazy man!"
"You're right, I am going crazy and it's all your fault."
The wearh pulls her against him, smashing his lips against hers, taking her by surprise. She pushes him off her, slapping his cheek hard.
The woman shocks herself with this action. Is she crazy? She dared lay her hands on the King of Bethillore?
Eugene takes a step back, as she watches Oleander process what just happened. The king looks up at her, a smirk on his lips.
"You're a mad man," she says, panting.
"You drove me mad," he replies walking to her, the woman taking steps back until her back touches the wall.
She's trapped...
"No, you drove yourself mad. This is all happening because of what you did to Princess Lola-"
"Shut up," he growls but Eugene doesn't comply
"And Lady Selene."
"I said shut up!" he slams his hand on the wall, punching a hole in it. The woman's heart skips, as it begins slamming itself against her chest. She looks down at his hand, only to see it's bloodied.
"You killed someone."
"A guard for letting you slip through his hands. It was in this room...they cleaned up fast."
Eugene is horrified, "Then kill me! You were able to easily kill other women in your life, and quickly took the life of a guard when it was not his fault. So kill me! They didn't want to die, but I do! I was the one who tried to escape!"
Oleander watches her closely. Her plump figure and short hair caught his attention first, then her eyes and full lips. Now those gorgeous eyes, filled with tears, are begging him to take her life. He places his hands around her waist, pressing her soft body against his. His eyes widen in shock as he takes a step back to look at her, crying.
She...
"You..."
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT!
SEE YOU OCTOBER 6TH!