A tall male took the stage and motioned for Elu to do the same, everyone in the room turned to stare at her with cold eyes. The rebellious Princess Elu. That's what everyone in the empire referred to her as.
"The Fourth Prince Kaene will now come forward and reveal the princess's wrongs against the late Second Prince Cove." whispers and gossip floated through the chamber as the people sitting before her conversed.
She clicked her tongue when she learned the reason for her being detained, she could not believe her ears. Kaene and everyone in the palace knew Cove's death was accidental almost natural; Cove's body couldn't handle magic so even just a spark of magic would have killed him eventually.
With a heavy sigh, she wondered if he would ever let his grudge against her go. What happened to the second prince was not her fault. Nor her people's fault. It was no one's fault. Her eye twitched at the memory, something she wished she could forget.
When loud footsteps approached she looked up to meet the gaze of her prosecutor. Dark pink eyes stared straight into her soul. He raised a hand to run it through his short messy white hair. A sneer was plastered on his face, his eyes watched her like a snake ready to strike at its trapped prey.
Elu's heart sunk and her eyes watered slightly, she knew how this was going to end. She could feel the imaginary wind blowing so strong she could hardly breathe. The waves were crashing and her boat was sinking but she had no plans of going down without a fight.
She clicked her tongue at him as a force of habit, before she responded, "don't you ever get bored of this dance, dearest brother?" She waited for him to say 'half brother,' Like he always did but those were not the words that left his mouth.
"Do you have any last words? Cheeky devil." The ghost of a chuckle escaped but disappeared as fast as It appeared. He tried to keep his tone as bored as possible, but Elu could see a hint of a smile on his lips. His dark pink almost red eyes glew as he used his magic to tighten her restraints.
Elu frowned a ghastly glow dimmed around her pink eyes while her brown hair seemed to become weightless as it slightly floated around her face, "you're taking this too far. Don't you think?" she knew pleading wasn't going to work. Not against him, but she had to try something, she couldn't just not do anything.
For a spilt moment, Kaene hesitated when he saw her eyes glowing. But a smile that followed wiped away any hint of hesitation.
"You can't use magic. You are not like us."
Elu didn't respond, although magic coursed through her veins it was not her own. She could not call upon it to help her. One of the very reasons why she was ignored in the palace.
She was not a born royal. She is a fake. An imposter. She lied and cheated to get here. She would be damned if this is how she lost everything she worked for.
She raised her sails and spun the wheel as hard as she could to the left she would prepare for the worst. There were only so many ways this could end and if she was smart and rode out the waves she could make it out of this alive. Or she could sacrifice one of her siblings and keep sailing in a whirlpool-infested ocean waiting to get sucked in.
She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see if she could spot Daliar but he was no longer on the second floor or anywhere in sight for that matter. She turned her head a little more to see if she could catch sight of him but her attempts were met with no avail. Instead, she noticed the burning glare of Saylor's narrowed eyes, her eyes had a faint glow around them and her forehead furrowed deeply.
Elu looked down in shame, no matter how hard she tried they would never look at her like a member of their family. She knew they shouldn't but that didn't make it hurt any less.
Kaene ignored her silence and roughly grabbed her shoulder, he practically threw her to the floor in front of the gathered audience.
"The reason I have called forth this gathering is to make an example. An example of Princess Elu for committing treason. The death of the second Prince Cove was not an accident." Kaene stopped for a moment, the crowd before him burst into loud gasps of shock and gossiped as they talked amongst themselves.
"Bring them out."
Elu felt her heart drop when she saw the familiar silhouette of a blue-haired lady. Sapphire Cerulean, the first and only female duke of their century. Her face was littered with bruises and cuts, but her expression steeled and she held her head high. She seemed to mock the prince in front of her with her unbothered stance. Prideful, neutral, and unbothered by the world; Elu could never imagine her looking any other way.
The small figure next to the duke she realized in further horror was the duke's son Lionel Cerulean. Battered and beaten as he was she couldn't believe he also mirrored his mother with an iron expression. Despite being in far worse shape than his mother his head was held just as high if not higher than his mother's.
The crashing waves seemed to grow tenfold and continued to rage down on the small boat without any mercy. One Sail flew off in the process, and with only two remaining sails she wasn't sure how much further she could keep going.
"Kaene, stop this!" Elu snarled her eyes dimmed with a faint glow as she tried to convey how serious she was. When he said nothing she continued, "Right now!" again he ignored her causing her to scream out loud and beg for their release.
"Quiet." Sapphire's stern voice shut Elu up immediately. Without another word, she turned her nose up and continued letting her pride blind her.
Elu whimpered and tried to stand up but Kaene knocked her back down. The power difference was one thing but Kaene also had height on his side. He stood tall at 176 cm at only 15 years old while Elu was only 13 and meek at 140 cm.
He continued to ignore her screams and spoke once more, "The duke and her son have committed treason as well. They aided the Second princess and helped her murder, Prince Cove. Not only for his position but for the families backing and supporting him. That is why the house of Ares now sits on Elu's side in the fight for succession. She killed her own half-brother to get closer to taking the crown."
The winds picked and blew away a second sail, the boat stopped no longer moving forward and the steering wheel locked in place.
Elu watched as Kaene turned to meet the piercing red eyes of the emperor. He sat on the second floor of the audience hall and watched the entire situation play out. His posture was now straight not slouched like he normally sat. The Empress sitting next to him didn't even bat an eye and held a stern expression.
"For that, they will be stripped of their positions and executed. With the permission of the emperor."
Kaene licked his lips nervously as he awaited his father's orders, the balance of life and death awaited his decision.
The Emperor slouched in his chair no longer interested in the trial. Without so much as a word he raised his hand in a quick motion of his wrist, and he commanded his son to continue.
With one swift blow of a wave, the last sail was knocked off and the boat began to flood as leaks formed from all the hits the boat had taken previously.
Elu felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes, she couldn't let the only people that cared about her die like this.
"Kaene your fight is with me. Leave them out of this." Elu roared as she picked herself up and stood tall in front of him.
She refused to drown, she grabbed the steering wheel and ripped it off the boat, and with the loose ropes, she tied them together to make a makeshift raft.
Kaene smirked at her, "If you want to go first then be my guest."
Without a second of hesitation, he lunged forward and grabbed her face with his hand. His fingers tightened hastily against her cheeks and poked the sides of her eyes. With glowing dark pink eyes, he mumbled a chant under his breath.
Elu felt a wave of pain wash over her, she let out a painful scream. Elu tried to grab and pull his hand away but it was no use he was much stronger than her.
She screamed as tried to claw at her eyes, the feeling of acid being poured into her eyes was all she could feel. She cried even harder as Kaene drained her magic out of her body. The very same way it was forced into her body when she was younger, it was taken. By force. She fell to the ground and cried the same way she did when she was younger.
The water around her moved away to the point she was touching land, the sea collected together to make a huge wave and it sat looming over her.
"Princess Elu was never of royal descent. She used magic to deceive the royal family and pretend to be one of us. She committed high treason and will die for it. The girl standing in front of you today is nothing more than a commoner that wormed her way into the royal family."
Elu opened her eyes to look up at her brother with tears filling the brim.
"Brother?" Elu choked back her sob and tried to plead with him. Her fingers nails dug into her palm and drew blood, she tried to pick herself up but she was too weak. She collapsed back to the ground her head turned towards the audience, and her gold eyes began to glow in pain.
"Gold eyes." He shouted towards the crowd.
with a single drop of water, the wave crashed and took the girl and her raft down, the sea now claiming her as another victim.
Gasps are emitted from a group of people. Things began flying and hitting the floor where she lay sprawled on the floor. "Liar!" "Deceiver!" "Faker!" "Imposter!" People began to scream and shout hateful things.
Elu looked down in shame, now that the truth had been revealed there was only one thing she could do. She owed far too much to the Dukedom of Ares to not do anything.
Without thinking she blurted, "It's true. I'm a witch."
Without another concern for herself, she turned towards Kaene. Her eyes began to glow a nuclear bright gold. With her magic, her own magic, magic that would heed her call. She broke her restraints. "The duke and the little lord were my pawns that I controlled. The third prince broke the spell when he took my magic. So let them go."
"Guards. Detain her." Kaene backed up and immediately called for the imperial guards.
Guards swarmed the audience hall and moved quickly to restrain her once again. Elu didn't bother to put up a fight, she couldn't even find it in her to turn and look at the duke or her son.
"For committing high treason. The former Princess Elu will be burned at the stake." Kaene screamed.
One soldier moved forward and held a wooden cross in his arms. With his magic, he drove the stake into the ground and motioned for the guards to bring the hostage forward.
Elu felt herself being picked up and lazily tied to the wooden cross. She watched without so much as a twitch as another soldier brought a torch of fire. He threw it down at her feet and watched as the flames jumped and began to take to the stake before taking a giant step back. Elu closed her eyes and felt the flames begin to lick at her feet. Her toes wiggle anxiously in anticipation, she tried to move her feet as far away from the growing fire as possible.
'Is this how I'll die?' She thought to herself. The fire at her feet flickered and offered a warm bittersweet end.
"ELU!" a piercing scream reached her and made a small smile form on her chapped lips, Daliar was here now. She knew he would give her a proper burial and he would cry for her that was more than enough for her to accept the end that was nearing.
One final regret started bubbling up in her and she desperately gazed at the spot her father once sat in during the trial, but he was long gone. He had left with her siblings before the fire had started. Only Daliar remained he was fighting the guards in front of him desperately trying to reach her to save her in time. which only made more tears spill over.
"I'm sorry Dal." her voice was barely louder than a whisper, the sound dying on her lips.
The flames grew higher and started to grab onto her dress skirt. Her eyes tightened painfully when she felt her feet burn, and the stench and the stinging sensation erupted around her body. But she refused to cry out in pain and bit her tongue to keep her cries at bay.
When her senses started to fade and the world began to turn dark she heard a new voice screaming out to her.
"ELU! I'll save you, don't worry!"
All the emotions she tried to keep under control faltered when she heard his voice. She let out another loud sob, she wished with everything in her she had never taken the hand of Lionel.
If she had never gotten involved with him maybe he and his mother would be safe, just watching from the crowd. They wouldn't be beaten and bruised, or have to possibly face the same ending as her.
With newfound strength, she forced herself to stop crying enough to voice her thoughts.
"If there's a god please save the Duke and her son." Her voice cracked, she wasn't sure if her voice could even be heard over the roaring of the fire. The stench of burning overwhelmed her senses enough to make her head spin.
She heaved a loud cough, her lungs were starting to give out, "In the next life Lionel," her vision blurred but that didn't stop her from whispering her next words, "I'll ignore you. I'll never search for you. I will let you live happily."
That is how the first life of Elu ended. Burned at the stake.