it was a very fine spring morning, with you still in her belly, she couldn't control what she felt. she knew you had courage, love and pain. she told me you'll be the one to endure the pain, the lifeless world, the hopeless melancholy. Even before your birth, she told me that you had what the world needed...love and life. How proud would be queen Leila to watch her little princess become a queen today? she always prayed for you, for a daughter.' Maansa narrated while tightening the corset of my golden coronation dress.
reflections show you what you are, I stood there frozen in front of a huge mirror between a gang of pretty faces and maansa getting me ready for my coronation. I was getting ready for the place that my mother once owned. Throne for which people killed their loved ones like my mother was killed.I was about to imprint my power in her place. but how could I? how could I deserve something so sacred? Something so profane. It was not my desire. My desire was blood, and only blood of one who took my mother's life.
"Maansa! Who am I? I don't think it's my right to deserve this throne"
"Right is yours only till you don't consider it, daughter! why do you think so. You are the one among all who was fed with golden blood. You have the power to rule and I can see it in your eyes" maansa cupped my face and tried to console me.
Things flashed, light ignited and it was my golden blood raging and soaring. With my one hand I pulled away from her and started to take my cloak off.
"Maansa I am ready, I don't need the throne"
"Are you out of your mind, princess?" Her voice trembled because she saw that light in my eyes
"Maansa you are wise, tell me what do you see in my eyes now?" I asked her.
"I have been with your family before the birth of your mother and child asks mother what does she think?" She paused briefly and then started " I see kindness and sympathy in them like the queen did"
"You are wrong, they have rage in them, for revenge."
" you know this a conjoint kingdom, means if you step out from the position now the Berseks will take the throne, don't let the sacrifice of your mother go in vain"
"She sacrificed for me? You never told me that?"
"No I meant for all of us" I knew she was lying
"Maansa can you please tell me what happened with my mother, I'll think about it after listening"
"I am not telling. The past must be buried in the past. When you pull out something dead from the grave it stinks, and hurts us with scent and sight. There is no good in that. Past is what we left behind, we must not allow it to conjure curses on us"
"How holy of you! As a princess of this kingdom I command you to tell" my voice cracked which I hated.
Maansa was my nanny she took care of me since my mother left me and that was the day I was born, though I never bragged about being the princess but still I had to do it because I was aware of only one fact that someone killed my mother. Other than that I was not told anything. I wanted to know
"The ancient law proclaimed that in conjoint kingdoms, the daughter of the royal blood will be first in line to rule. Your mother ruled for almost 20 years, when she started to have dreams about your birth, she knew you were a daughter. It was illegal to hide. But she did that for your safety. But eventually the berseks knew, so before your birth the son of king kilont came to fight with your mother and he lost the war. She was weak, with injuries and with you in her. But she had the power till her last breath. You were born the day after the fight. You were born when everything shatttered. You were born to bring peace, harmony, love. You were born to undo the wrong. To reconcile what had been destructed. No one knew about the murder and fight.. not even king kilont but he ( his son) left his sword here and by his sign we knew who he was. The queen never told anyone about him. Never asked for revenge too. She forgave him because she knew it was her time to leave"
"My mother did all that for me? She could forgive him. But maansa I am not my mother"
The loathe boiled my blood.
"How could you give up this throne due to which your mother fought. People need you. They need kindness and love and she knew you'll do it. How could you abandon something that has blood of your mother?"
"Okay, then. I'll take it back but only when I have my revenge. I cannot rule knowing the murderer of my mother is alive and unpunished. But how would I know which one was he. As long as I remember king had three sons?"
" yes... Haoon was poisoned by his wife before the incident and then Lykos and pyze were left. No one knows which one was he but prince lykos is known to be deadliest and most unmerciful. Last year he burnt the villages. He is most cold and harsh Prince this kingdom could ever have. Once you leave this throne and if he becomes the king. He will be handed the lunar powers too and you know what it means. Our kingdom will be doomed. So please stop"
"Maansa tell the people that the princess they were about to see becoming a queen is abandoning her place. Let the news reach bersek. I want my fighting equipment to be ready till noon"
I am coming for you "prince lykos"