There’s nothing more than I ever wanted than this moment. I remember dreaming of this, hoping for this. My sword at hand, poised to make the sickening blow. To see the misery and defeat in her face or maybe an open defiance and disgust, to not bring us the satisfying end that we wanted in her own way. My family has hoped for this for a long time ever since our mother died, at least. We just wanted peace, yet we weren’t given that.
I’m here. Standing near to see the event unfold in front of me, ready to feel that satisfaction of a dream long that I hoped for. There is satisfaction, but it’s empty too. The dowager queen has won. She has taken too much from us whether she knows it or not.
Of course she knows. Somehow, she just knows.
Arius stands so different from the one I knew a decade a
