Our Will be Done
Love is a means to an end, and All is fair in love and war. The Emperor's fiancé certainly thought so. Arianna would have bet her life upon it.
Until her place was usurped by a commoner who had won his highness' heart. Simply because the commoner was some sort of Saint. As though a god's favour was enough to raise a commoner equal to a daughter of the Rosales.
Now her means stolen from her, and her end changed, she does not lament her fate. She does not pray for a new chance at life. To do better. To be better.
No. No, Arianna's last moments were filled with nothing but the fury and indignation that came with realizing too late who her enemy really was. The mistress had no fault. Who could say no to the person who wields supreme power over you? No. If Arianna had one regret, it was that she would not be able to ruin the Emperor as easily as he ruined her.
Lucia, her sister, agrees it will not be easy to ruin the Emperor. That does not mean she thinks it is not worth doing. Arianna may have been a witch, a tyrant in the making, a woman who had no business being the mother of the empire... Lucia would deny none of it. She would be the first to proclaim it even. That said, too damned bad, that was Lucia's sister and no one else was allowed to treat her poorly.
With a little bit of magic, and a great deal of luck, the two sisters steal their lives back. Now young once more, before the egotistical Crown Prince is old enough to take the throne...
Arianna and Lucia have plans in store.
