A few days prior.
I was lurking in my father's library. I mean… Books were better than men. Like, the books were ladened with way more words than men's primitive minds.
The books could travel you in millennials back, or the future, in different corners of this world or distinctively different world. You could be queen, dragon, prince, god, or goddess. Or someone with love.
Our library was embellished with white bookshelves with green ornaments dancing across them. The green curtains covered the large windows, ready to let the sun rays surge through them and lighten the vast room filled with numerous stories.
"My lady," A voice shook me out of my daze, and I turned around to face a tall, dark-haired man. I knew him, I could have sworn, but I couldn't remember his name. Um, Karen?
Why did I always forget people's names? I was so awkward dealing with them from a distance, like Hey, Luke? Daniel? Alfredo?... Karen? Hey, you at the bookshelf!
"Um, hello, um," I stuttered and mentally facepalmed myself. Good job, Rebel! Your mother's only friend summoned you for a dire business, and here you were about to call your elder Karen! Slap. Facepalm.
"Penum, my lady. Call me Penum."
An elegant man approached me with a bent neck in respect.
"I remember you, Penum. You were my mother's dear friend."
"I'm glad to hear that, my lady. And because of your mother, I have to look out for you."
Look out for me?
"What do you mean?" I asked as simmering anxiety sluiced through my veins.
Penum shut his eyes before reopening them and scanning the area. See-through power. He studied the library for the rats but found none as he closed the last meters between us, and the rest of the dialogue went with whispers.
"My lady, I witnessed the dragon king's and your encounter. I'm glad you are the one who will marry him."
I quirked my eyebrows in distaste.
"Please, trust me, my lady. I know it's hard, but you have to. I found some additional information about your mother's death."
"She caught the plague."
Penum's rugged breathing increased. He slightly angled his head, and with the dread-filled eyes, he crumbled ground underneath my feet with one word.
"No."
I took a sharp intake of oxygen as I steadied myself on shelves. What was this man saying?
"My lady, I think your mother and our beloved queen was an ill-fated victim of a conspiracy."
W…W…What? What?
My eyebrows knitted together as my lips twitched. I forced myself to muster up an ounce of courage to form a coherent sentence.
"Penum, explain your statement now!"
Penum averted his gaze from mine as he licked his lips and eyed the ground. Then he took a deep breath and faced me.
"You remember your father ordered to burn the queen's corpse, I assume?"
A nod.
He licked his dried lips once again. "Once I heard merry news regarding your older sister, I recalled that your mother ordered me to give her necklace to one of you after her death. Whichever got married first would get it, then that necklace would pass down on the next princess before her wedding."
He breathed in again.
"I saved that necklace in her sacred room. Nobody could get in because of the deadly disease, and then the reason was your father's unquestioned order. I don't know why but I slipped in and found something I shouldn't have."
The air was becoming so thick I had to open my mouth to ease the task of taking it in. Penum reached in his brigandine and revealed the tattered piece of paper. He handed it to me, and I grasped it with shaky hands.
I glanced at Penum, who nodded warily in approval. The room darkened, and gloomy, cold mist started crawling up our legs—my mood. Whenever I was in my mother's presence, I could relish in my unique power. The energy around me portrayed my inner condition. Good thing my mother was controlling my anger.
Penum gasped and stomped on the stone ground as his eyes couldn't believe the scene before him.
I started reading a paper that belonged to my mother, considering her unique calligraphy:
"Dear, lord Penum, it's time for our dreams to come true. Starting with the king, we will behead him and his lackeys. Then princess Alice and I will rule on the whole world alone, with you and Rebel by my side. That's my dream, Penum. Two weeks from now, my friend, and we will regain our dignity. We have to hurry. I can barely form sentences to express my desire."
I snapped my head up at Penum who was shaking his head at the poor choices of the words.
"What does it mean, Penum?" I raised the piece in my hand to emphasize my point. Simmering anger slithered up my spine as my nostrils were flaring.
I knew damn well my mother wasn't a traitor, but this fucking sheet said otherwise. My mind went dizzy as everything spun around me. Flames were leaving my nostrils and hot liquid trailed down my cheeks. I couldn't see anything. Panic engulfed me as I had an idea who could have schemed this terrible betrayal against my mother.
"My lady, your mother was deceived. I… I think-"
"My father made her write that letter to use it against her. Then he and Sophie killed her."
Penum's lips turned downwards, and he gazed down as he sorrowfully shook his head at the king's disclosed secret.
"Penum! We must report it! We must-"
"My lady, the chief judge is the King himself. Who can we turn to find justice? The criminal himself?"
I roared as I smashed the fist into the shelves, and they would collapse with a loud thud if not Penum's powers. With a soft sway of his hand, the fragmented pieces started floating in the air to avoid unnecessary attention from the guards.
"My lady, I know it's hard, but we must restrain ourselves from a desirable but extreme expression of our rage."
My mother was stabbed in the back! My own father had forsaken Eres and left her with no other choice but to murder herself. I didn't know that for sure, but the plague was out of the question. That lousy king wouldn't have wanted to burn my mother's corpse if it wasn't for the fake illness. Otherwise, it would have been proof that she was poisoned, stabbed or-
"My lady."
I wiped off my tears as the anger overshadowed other emotions such as sorrow, sadness, misery.
"Maybe I should stop here, but-"
"Go on, Penum." I blurted as I just noted how swollen my nose and eyes were.
Penum dryly tilted his head to the side but went on.
"Your mother snatched your powers from you."
I furrowed, tongue-tied.
"My lady, you were bound to be a great queen, but if your father found out about your powers, you would be a threat to him. We both know what I'm implying. It's only my assumption of why she did it. Now it all makes sense."
"I want to avenge my mom's death."
"You will, but we are desperate for that powers of yours, my lady."
"How do I restore them?"
"And here comes the third most important thing I want to report to you, my lady."