Her Kingdom

The Queen of Aura-Ladus

Prologue - Anwyn

Among so much pride and joy, I still remember the day that I became our Queen.

Be the ruler of Aura-ladus wasn't easy, although it was even hard to obtain the crown, it was the prize of a month of competitions and fights, to prove who was the strongest between our kind, the Aurae.

... The six Helias of the previous King were the judges of all the competition that allowed me to sit on the throne for the next eight years...

But back to the day of my coronation... Arabella, my cousin was who stayed with me all day, reminding me that it was real, and not another one of my dreams as she smiled happily beside me.

She had competed with me too until the very end, but no unpleasant feelings remained between us as she wore her black hair braided like a headband, leaving the back loose along with some strands that framed her face. 

Her light blue dress matched her eyes perfectly as she helped me put on my cream color one, made from a lace sent by the Dragon's Lord through his messengers since the sovereign of their kind, child of the heavens, was never seen outside his lands.

My natural locks in a very light pink tone laid loose on my shoulders, the color not being uncommon for the Aurae people, just like the few brains that could be found in between the waves, that ended in my waist, which was also the length that most of the girls of my age used too.

Everything about my clothes was very simple compared to my predecessors, something that was even more noticeable as the only jewelry piece that I wore was an item to remind me that Brion was my lover now for my delight.

... The delicate bracelet was made of Hardim branches intertwined with some blue and purple stones that could only be found in Ladus, and the small silver coin with his name on one side and mine on the other proved that it had been done just for me.  

... As all the boys of our kind did for their other half when they decided to date while having the intention to get married in a soon future...

My lover had asked me to out before the second day of the trials start... He would participate in it too, but an injury eliminated him in his third fight, even if he was an outstanding warrior, proving again how hard it was to win the crown...

On that night, the moons shone brightly in the sky with the stars when he took my hand for the first time in his, gaining my attention as I looked into his beautiful green eyes as the wind ruffled through his brown and red hair.

Confessing his feelings for me, Brion told me that it didn't matter to him if I won the title or not in the end, he would always love me and would always be by my side no matter what happened in the following days... Words very similar to what my cousin said to me before the crown was placed on my head.  

... But all those promises were just lies in the end...

The golden crown that once made us smile... Now was thrown on the floor before me like it was nothing while my own sword was pointed at me by the people that meant more than anything else to me.

Anger and disdain plastered on my cousin's face, who I believed to be like my sister as my blood flowed down to the floor.  

... She had attacked me from behind like only the worst coward could have done...

The simple and silly bracelet which I kept wearing all over the years didn't seem to have the same meaning any longer for my lover when he broke it before joining Arabella, who grinned so happily as she placed her small hands on his shoulder.

... Almost as if she was saying that he was hers without any word...

My eyes got filled with tears, feeling the pain in my chest from their betrayal instead of the serious injury that slowly seemed to take my life away just like they wanted.

They both wanted to see me dead, and I couldn't believe that I had never realized their greediness for the throne as I saw my cousin's eyes shine with it while she took the crown into her hands, breaking down all the good memories I had with her... With him.

... Everything had been only an illusion, lived only by me...

Arabella became the new queen of Aura-ladus, following our rules as no one knew about the dishonesty ways they had used to defeat me and take my throne away.

... Brion's words only reinforced that my cousin had honestly won while incriminating me of trying to hurt her after being defeated...

Now... I was the prisoner of my own kingdom, where no one believed my words anymore while I was trapped in a cage inside a cell, just like a bird that could no longer fly to wherever it wanted to go.

The extra steel bars being used as a reinforcement to protect everyone since the new queen believed I was a threat to our people...

My veins becoming darker and darker with the poisons that she gave to weaken me more and more as each day went by, converting me into an almost like a human being while my wings no longer wanted to open up, and my body became heavier with the days.  

... Death would be my best pleasure after everything that I was living...

The pain of all the tortures and poisons was nothing compared to the knowledge that Ladus had started a war with the Nereids just for a foolish reason.

They were always our rivals, but war was never a solution between us...

And even the hybrid children hadn't been spared in this mess as they were killed, and their parents locked up while anyone who tried to help them had their wings cut off as punishment too.  

... Know about this while I couldn't do anything was almost like they had killed me twice...

My kingdom had turned to hell, under the flames created by my own kind, and there was nothing I could do while I was also dying in my cold cell.

... I wasn't who I believed to be...

I was just a silly girl who once assumed she could be a Queen, who never saw the enemies who were beside her all the time until it was too late... Until they had taken everything from her, breaking her heart, her confidence, breaking everything she was. 

... I wasn't a Queen...

I was just a silly girl who saw everything falling apart before my eyes.