We were somewhere dark, I could feel things around me, soft things,
"Where are we" I whispered, Mali put a finger to his lips
"Stay here, don't move" he opened a door, light flooded in and I realised we were in a wardrobe, the soft things I had felt were clothes, he left the wardrobe, and I heard a gasp
"Mali? What are you doing, you shouldn't be here" a girls voice was saying, but then she went quiet and I heard a moan, I gasped, no way am I listening to that, so I jumped out too, the girl screamed, Mali covered her mouth and he glared at me I just shrugged, I didn't need to explain I'm the queen.
Once she stopped struggling he let go
"Who is this?" She whispered
"I'm Anastasia" I offered my hand but she was furious
"You bought her here? Why is she not dead?" clearly this woman knew who I was
"Just calm down, I'll explain everything" Mali went on to explain what had happened, I also learnt that not only was this woman Mali's lover, but she was also princess Leah, daughter of King Jonah, apparently she disliked her father, she disliked the decisions he made but watching her hearing her I was sure that it was true
"Someone's coming, doesn't pose a danger, but we should hide" I closed my eyes "he seems Indian?" I went into the wardrobe but Mali didn't follow, the door opened and a man walked in, I was in the wardrobe but the door was still open, and the man could see me, he looked around the room,
"Mali, nice to see you again" the man shook Mali's hand, then went over to princess Leah,
"Did you know there is a woman in your closet?" He whisper shouted, smirking towards me I just glared at him, and stepped out of the closet.
"I'm Anastasia, a friend of Mali" I told him
"Shakti, prince of Asia"
"Shakti?" I closed my eyes thinking "That means power" I opened my eyes to see Shakti smiling impressively, "I spent four years in India after high school" I explained, Mali explained to him who I was, turns out, even though Leah loves Mali her dad is forcing, yes, forcing her to marry Shakti, he is against this marriage, just as much as she is
He wants his daughter to marry someone she doesn't love, and Shakti clearly doesn't love her either, all three are plotting, trying to come up with ways to stop this wedding, I was sat here wondering how to put my plan into affect
"What are you supposed to be wearing? For the wedding I mean" I asked all of a sudden, interrupting them, she opened the wardrobe I had been hiding in and pulled out a dress bag, she opened the zipper and beautiful Indian sari came out it was red and embroidered all over "I presume your face will be covered?" I asked, I had seen Indian weddings take place, the bride kept her face covered all the way through the ceremony, the face was uncovered after she entered her new home, by the elder woman of the home either his mother or grandmother, or even an older sister.
"Yes father insists on a full Indian wedding, anything to keep the King happy" her voice squeaked a little she apologised for that,
"I'll wear it, I'll go down there, I'll defeat your father, a wedding shall not take place today" they were all worried for me now, Mali started to argue, about sticking to the plan, I was still sticking to the plan, just tweaked it a little, we went over the whole thing again
I got dressed quickly, Leah helped
"Someones coming" I gasped, each person looked at each other, in fear "he posses danger" I closed my eyes to see him better, "its weird I've never met him before, but he seems familiar"
The door opened just as Mali and I entered the wardrobe and shut the door, we could see through the crack in between the doors. We saw a man enter.he was wearing a silver crown with blue jewels, one big jewel in the middle, then two smaller jewels on either side
"Why aren't you ready yet? The wedding is in less that ten minutes, the priest is nearly ready, quickly, Leah, if you want Mali to live, you will be down there in five minutes" he left as I looked at Mali, he looked down, he was upset
We left the wardrobe at the same time
"Why does your father want this marriage so badly? He knows about Mali, he knows you don't love Shakti, so why?" I had to ask,
"Its quite simple" Leah began "my father has a dream, a dream he's had since he first met you" she was pointing at me, I raised an eyebrow "you barged in, the queen of the seven kingdoms, after he killed you, he decided he was worthy of being king"
"But he's already king" I reminded her
"Yes but his dream was to become king of the seven kingdoms, but he recently changed his dream, killing every monarch would be too much hassle, so he decided to merge the seven kingdoms, instead of seven there would be one"
"WHAT" I was outraged, how was that possible, just one kingdom, his kingdom
"By marrying his only daughter off to the prince, soon to be king, of Asia, he merges America and Asia, he will merge all the kingdoms thereafter, as his army will be the strongest." The princess finished explaining, I had to stop this, but how?
"This cannot happen" I told no one in particular, but the others nodded
I got ready quickly and Shakti left, I was to follow, I waited five minutes after Shakti left, the five minutes went so slowly I felt like it had been at least an hour, but the clock on the wall assured me I was wrong, once the five minutes were up I left the room.
I made my way towards the noise, Leah wanted to come with me to show me where to go but I had told her I didn't need assistance. I was right.
I got to where the wedding was happening, as instructed Mali had taken away my powers, just before I had left the room, so now, at this moment, when I was in the same room as my worst enemy, I had no powers, but funnily I didn't feel powerless, I don't even know if that makes sense, but in this moment it makes sense.
King Jonah walked to me, I took a deep breath and held, he spoke in my ear
"Right now I can snap your neck, I can torture you, I can hurt you in ways that you've never even dreamed of, where is my daughter?" I gasped and released the breath I had been holding, I took a step back.
"Why do you care where your daughter is?" I asked, even though I had whispered everyone in the room turned towards us, powerful hearing, I guess, I crossed my arms and waited for him to answer
"GAURDS, ARREST HER" men started walking towards me, I smirked
"Guards, stop" I commanded, they did, my powers had come back when I had taken a step back, king Jonah looked at his guards, two men, looking like bouncers in a club, he told them again to arrest me but the men announced they couldn't move. Everyone in the room gasped
"Who are you?" He asked as he looked me up and down
"Why don't you take a guess" I asked, enjoying the confusion on his face
"I don't know you, I've never met you" he finally answered
"Well how about this I shall ask you a question and you answer, I want the truth" I commanded he nodded, so I proceeded "five hundred years ago, a newly initiated girl came here, claiming she was queen of the seven kingdoms, but you killed her, claiming she was evil, was she really evil?" I smirked as I could see the rage on his face, the internal battle, trying to stop himself from answering but...
"No" that seemed painful "she wasn't evil, she was the biggest force of good this world had ever seen, she had power beyond measure" I stepped closer to him, everyone gasped, they were in awe
"Then why did you kill me?" I asked in a really low voice, he furrowed his eyebrows, I just smiled, raising an eyebrow
"I didn't want to give up my throne, it was mine, I deserved it" I walked behind him now so that his back was to me
"I never wanted the throne, Jonah, all I wanted was acknowledgement, that I was queen, your queen, you still would've been the king" he scoffed and turned to face me, I turned away, looking out the window, I turned away from everyone in the room, I could feel their eyes on me, but I didn't want my face to be seen.
"A king that answers to you" he shouted I ignored his anger, and his outburst
"Tell me, what should your punishment be?" I was calm, really calm, it was amazing that I could be this calm "death is too good, too final, I want you to suffer, the same way my parents would have suffered, in every life in which you took me, I never got to know them" he said nothing, which was just as well because I already had a punishment in mind, enter Mali, it was all part of the plan, I felt his heartbeat, I knew he was in the room "do it" is all I said, Mali knew I was talking to him, Jonah screamed and fell to the ground, Mali had taken his powers, I turned to face him now, Jonah was on his knees, exactly where he should be.
Once he was done freaking out he looked at me, I sat in front of him on my knees
"I, the queen of the seven kingdoms, permit you to live, but you must live in isolation, you will sow your own seeds, make your own clothes, and you shall spend the rest of your life without any form of power" I stood and paced around the room because this next bit was for everyone to hear "no one will ever help you with anything, anyone who conspires to help you will share your fate, is that understood?" Eveyone nodded in agreement, I looked at Mali and he smiled telling me he would make sure no one helped him
"Your majesty, what of the kingdom, the kingdom still needs a king" a man stepped forward, I smiled crossing my hands behind my back
"You're wrong, this kingdom does not need a king" everyone looked on "this kingdom needs a queen" everyone kneels in front of me I smiled "rise" I spoke loud "I didn't mean me" I laughed "your new queen is princess Leah" everyone gasped, I could see some smiles, some frowns, but mostly surprise, I couldn't understand why
"How can I be queen, I don't know how to be queen" Leah was scared as she came running to me
"Just do the opposite of what your father did, and you'll be fine" I winked Leah laughed then hugged me.
I spent the next hour talking to the people, we watched Jonah walk away to his punishment, I was happy, very happy.