by A. J. Medina
“Stop!” I screamed, and she froze in her position. I dropped down at Silas’ side and lay my sword on the floor.
The princess stood in the corner watching us, her dress stained with her mother’s blood.
I pressed my hand to his neck. “Princess a towel,” I commanded her.
She didn’t move.
“Princess, please. A towel.”
I noticed why she wasn’t moving. Ursala blocked the entrance to the washroom.
I stared at the pillows and using my powers, reached out and pulled one to me. I slid off the pillow case and pressing it against his throat, I told the princess to get help. “Fetch the healer or anyone. Help me. Please, Princess.”
The princess nodded.
“Fetch the healer,” I cried as she raced out of the room.
I tossed Ursala an evil look. I wanted to hurt her for her part in this. I wanted to make her suffer, but I knew I might lose control and kill her — which she deserved — but she would have to wait.
I knelt down and hugged his body, crying the whole time. He was leaving me. I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t want to lose him. He had to stay alive. I wanted to be with him forever.
“Silas,” I cried. “Silas don’t leave me. I have your answer. I will marry you and become your queen.”
I imagined his face as we lay in bed the night before. How we had lay in each other’s arms. I tried to heal him, but it wasn’t working. It seemed like fixing bruises and making hair grow back was one thing, but this injury was beyond my ability.
“Silas!” I cried.
Someone burst into the room and I raised my hand ready to light them on fire. When I saw Lucah, I refrained from burning him. Right behind him came Aednat, then Ryanne, and then it seemed like everyone was there.
Neala rested her hand on my back as we all watched Silas suffering. I didn’t know what to do.
“He’s suffering,” Lucah said. “We should show him mercy and end it.”
“Nay!” I shouted as I covered Silas’ body with mine. “No one touch him.”
Neala reached down and picked up my sword.
“Neala don’t,” I warned her.
She twisted off the end of my sword and retrieved my emerald and handed it to me. “It has healing powers, remember? Hold it and heal him. You can do it Alora. Try.”
I took the emerald and held it against Silas’ chest. I thought long and hard of him... of him healing. I shut my eyes and pictured the first time we met in the courtyard. The first time I heard his voice. The first time I felt his strong arms around me.
“It’s working,” Neala said. I felt her hand on my shoulder. “It’s working, Alora. Keep going.”
I thought of our first kiss and the first time we shared a bed—his violet eyes staring into my own and the way they pierced into my soul. I imagined him at my side, the two of us growing old and maybe even having children and grandchildren. I imagined him as my husband—my king, and I his queen.
I felt someone take hold of my wrist, but I was afraid to open my eyes.
“Alora, open your eyes,” Neala said.
I didn’t want to. Not yet.
“It’s alright. Open them.”
When I heard his voice I did.
His eyes stared back at me. He wasn’t bleeding anymore. He could speak. I had healed him.
I hugged him, holding on and promising never to let go.
Neala squatted down beside me. “I knew you could do it. You’re very powerful.”
I looked at her and smiled. I let go of Silas and wrapped my arms around her. After I let go, I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I guess I am very powerful. I’ve healed you too.”
Neala felt her face. Her skin was smooth. There weren’t any cuts or scars. Neala hugged me again, threw us off balance, and sent us crashing to the floor.
Chapter 17
The battle was over and we were victorious. The king and queen had been defeated and Silas was now king of the three kingdoms and very soon I would be his wife and his queen.
But first, I had to deal with Ursala. Ursala had been disguised as Davina the whole time and she had poisoned me. Sure the poison was meant for Silas, but I was the one that fell ill and almost died.
After taking over the castle city in Ly’vera the princess begged me to toss Ursala in the dungeon.
“Please don’t execute her,” the princess said. “If you do, you’re no different than my parents—executing anyone that betrays you.”
“What would you have me do then?”
“Free her. Send her home. Tell the three kingdoms what she has done. Let her live in shame and all alone. I think that is a fate worse than death. She will never know love, she will never know kindness.”
“That seems more cruel than executing her,” I said.
“Then let her choose her own fate,” the princess pleaded.
The princess handed me my training sword. I gazed upon the two figures etched into the wood. Me and my father. My father the brave and loyal knight. I would give Ursala a chance just as the princess asked. I think my father would want me to.
And so everyone in the city was called to the square and the executioner stood at the ready with his battle axe. Ursala’s wrists were bound behind her back as she walked towards the chopping block. When she stood in front of me and Silas, I gave her the choice.
“Princess Evelyn has asked me to show mercy and I will do as she has asked. I give you this choice. You can die here and now at the executioner’s hand or you can go free.”
The crowd booed.
I waved my hands to silence them. “You can go home to your cabin in the woods, exiled by all. You will not know love, you will not know friendship. Loneliness shall be your only companion. What say you Ursala? The choice is yours. Die here and now or live alone and unloved.”
She didn’t even have to think about it. “I choose death.”
The crowd gasped at her answer.
“Are you sure?” the princess asked.
Ursala dropped to her knees in front of the chopping block.
“I am sure.”
I nodded to her and then to the executioner. Ursala leaned her head forward, placing it on the block. As the executioner brought his axe down, Ursala said, “The secret of the wizard suit dies with me,” and then she was gone.
No one cheered and there were no hoorays shouted.
Silas took hold of my hand. “Are you ready?” he asked.
I gripped his hand firmly in mine. “Aye. I am ready to be your wife.”
“You are ready to be my queen.”
I paid one more visit to my workshop before the ceremony. Sliding my hand along the chair, I remembered how soft and welcoming it had been. Next, I rubbed the spines of all the journals that remained on the shelves. I made a mental note to read them all.
Neala called out to me. “Alora, are you down there?”
“Aye. Come down and join me.”
She stayed at the top of the steps. “It’s time for you to marry. Are you ready?”
“Aye. I am.”
I looked around the small chamber. I would send someone to collect it all and take it with us back to Ky’lima.
With the king and queen slain, I wondered what would happen next. Would me and Silas live happily ever after like in one of those bedtime stories? Or were we doomed to make the same mistakes King Remi and Queen Rosaleen had?
I hoped for the happily ever after.
I rushed up the stairs and thought back to how it all began. I wanted to be more than just a farmer. That desire led me to where I was now. In a few moments I would be starting a completely new life. My past life was over. I couldn’t go back to it even if I wanted to. Not after all the things I’d seen, and definitely not after all the things I’d done. I could only move forward.
My life had changed quickly over the last season. I went from being a farmer, to a knight, to a wizard, and finally to a queen—Alora, Queen of the Three Kingdoms.
Becoming a
queen still sounded scary to me.
Epilogue
A warm summer breeze blew from the west as me and Neala strolled barefoot through one of the gardens we had planted just outside of the city walls.
I held the princess in my arms. She was the most beautiful baby in all of the three kingdoms. She had a small tuft of hair on her head the same color as mine and her eyes were violet just like her father’s. I named her Tessa.
Princess Tessa would inherit a great kingdom. Over the last few seasons Silas and me had abolished all slavery and helped farmers double the yield of their crops. We also had our own farmers that tended to the land right here in Ky’lima so that we wouldn’t need to tax or take any food away from the people.
That didn’t stop the people from giving though. Whatever we didn’t have, the kingdom gave willingly. Day after day they would journey to our castle to donate food. The people wanted for nothing and were thrilled.
Tessa cooed as Neala held out her arms to take her from me.
“Good morn’ little princess,” Neala said to her.
Tessa yawned, her mouth opening as wide as it could.
I looked upon both my daughter and her Aunt Neala with love and admiration as we continued walking.
“Three more months and you’ll have another one,” I said.
Neala already had the hang of motherhood, but I was just getting my first taste of it.
She cradled Tessa with one hand and rubbed her own belly with the other. “Hopefully this one won’t have his father’s appetite.”
We laughed at the thought of another one of her children having food shoved in his mouth the way Thomas always did.
“When is he set to return?” I asked her.
“Him and Lucah will return from their exploration of Ry’uet by week’s end.”
“Did they find anything?”
“Nay. Thomas said Ursala’s cabin didn’t have any clues about creating wizard suits.”
“I don’t know why Silas agreed to let them go anyway.”
And I didn’t. There were no more battles. No more wars, and yet Silas still wanted to train new knightlys and he still wanted to find out how to create new wizard suits. It seemed Ursala spoke the truth when she said the secret would die with her. No one knew how to create a wizard suit except for her.
I wiggled my toes and scrunched them into the grass. Everything seemed so perfect. I was happy, Neala was happy, and my little princess was happy. I had hoped, and it seemed, that me and Silas did get the happily ever after, after all.
The End
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