A Queen's Fate Read online

  The tonic, Annie had been told, was designed to enhance her fertility. The Queen Mother, Amealiana had gently warned Annie that shortly after being crowned Heir, it was expected she would marry and soon afterwards produce future potential Heirs to ensure the family bloodline carried on. The thought of becoming a mother at such a young age horrified Annie, and therefore she had actively been avoiding taking the viscous, nauseating, nightly tonic as prescribed by the castle’s head healer.

  ‘When I feel ready, I will bear a child and not a moment before. It’s times like these that I wonder if Anastasia should have been crowned Heir. My twin dearly wishes to be a mother and she would have no concerns about marrying a stranger and beginning a family of her own. Surely the King and Queen will permit me to at least choose my future husband. I will not be shackled to someone all my life if I do not love them,’ Annie thought forlornly.

  Annie knew it was only a matter of time before the Queen broached the subject again. With Annie’s coronation a mere eleven months away, she was sure that the search for her future husband would inevitably begin sooner rather than later.

  Lady Ruth walked gracefully from the bathing chamber, the room now exuding the strong scent of lavender oil, reminding Annie strongly of her dear former mentor. Lady Lilliana, an incredibly gifted healer, had courageously given her own life to bring Annie back from near death.

  ‘I miss you, Lily. There isn’t a day that goes by where I do not wish you were here with me once more. My only wish is that the Goddess had granted us more time together,’ Annie thought to herself as a tear silently fell down her cheek.

  Annie felt the tears rise in her more easily these days. The emotional highs and lows of learning to rule an unfamiliar Kingdom, and the lack of sleep compounded by the grief she endured from the loss of her mentor, left the young Princess in a constant emotional state. After taking a deep consoling breath, Annie slid herself out of bed and picked up the vial of tonic from the bedside table. Removing the glass stopper from the vial, the scent of lavender was quickly overcome by the strong smell of liquorice root. In one quick swig, Annie drank the oily, unpleasant concoction before discarding the vial and making her way to the bathing chamber.

  It was customary for a Lady’s maid to assist with a Princess’s every need. However, Annie still enjoyed her own independence and solitude, and gestured for her Lady’s maid to leave the bathing chamber before shutting the door and locking it securely. Annie liked Lady Ruth — she just didn’t agree with a Lady’s maid being forced upon her just because she was crowned Heir and it was suddenly considered improper for her not to have one. Annie released a sigh of relief at once again being alone, and without hesitation, threw off her night clothes and enjoyed the blissfully hot lavender-scented bath.

  *

  Without warning, the door to the bathing chamber started to groan as an unknown identity began hacking at the wooden door. Splintered wood fell to the ground on the inside of the chamber as the intruder made quick work of destroying the door’s lock and surrounding wood, prying open the door.

  Annalyse released a horrified scream as she jumped out of the bath, wrapping her night gown around herself, water pooling on the floor around her. The intruder, dressed in black training leathers and a cape, stalked menacingly through the doorway carrying a hatchet. No doubt a cache of other weapons hidden beneath his cloak. Bloody boot prints followed the stranger along the polished wooden floor, as he slowly stalked towards Annie. Beyond the doorway, Annie caught a glimpse of her Lady’s maid sprawled out on the floor in her bedroom, blood pooling around her from what appeared to be a stab wound to her abdomen. All life and color had drained from her face.

  Annie stood shivering in shock in the corner of the bathing chamber as the assailant approached her. Before Annie could react, the intruder slammed the blunt end of the hatchet into the side of her head and she crumpled to the ground.

  ~◊~

  2

  Agnes

  Agnes paced impatiently around the confined sitting room of a farmer’s cottage on the outskirts of the Alearian city proper. ‘Curse this decrepit hole of a place. I am sick to death of living in filth whilst my family live in their luxurious castle. I caught a lucky break when my naive sisters came to my rescue. Of course, I had no intention of walking to my death. I would have found a way out of the dungeon myself. Gullible Anastasia and Alecia just made my job of escaping easier.

  ‘I can be merciful… When I exact my revenge upon my ungrateful, backstabbing family, I may spare them both my wrath… As for that condescending long lost sister of mine, she will pay the highest. That piece of Quillencian trash stole my crown, my title, and my life. If I can’t be Queen, then neither can she.

  ‘I’m not a mind conqueror or fire-wielder anymore, but I don’t need a gifting to destroy their lives. I am a weapon both physically and mentally. Once Annie is delivered to me, I will make her pay for ruining my life. My family don’t stand a chance against me. I will eliminate them all, starting with their precious Annie. I will take over the Kingdom and rule as is my Goddess deigned destiny.’

  ~◊~

  3

  Princess Anastasia

  In the early hours of the morning, Princess Anastasia casually strolled down the empty castle corridors towards her twin’s bedroom. Every morning since the Crowning Ceremony, Anastasia had made a habit of escorting her sister down to family breakfast in a show of support for her younger sister’s new position. Anastasia knew the adjustment to her new title as Heir was hard for Annie. Anastasia was therefore determined to support her in any way she could.

  Anastasia felt light as a feather as time revealed that no one suspected her or Alecia of releasing Agnes from the dungeon. As far as Anastasia knew, no one had seen or heard of her eldest sibling since her escape, though the city guards were actively on the hunt for her. For the first time in a long time, Anastasia felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She no longer felt under pressure to compete for the crown and had escaped conviction for her crime of freeing her sister.

  Rounding the final corner of the royal family’s private wing, dressed in her favorite lavender day dress, Anastasia approached the door to Annalyse’s suite. She knocked gently on the carved oak door, awaiting her invitation to enter. Before the Crowning Ceremony had taken place, Annie had refused to have a Lady’s maid and had always answered the door herself, which Anastasia had found both amusing and refreshing. Since Lady Ruth had been appointed to serve Annie, Anastasia felt less welcome when knocking on her twin’s door. If she was quite honest, Lady Ruth intimidated her, though Annie reassured her sister that the Lady’s maid had a sweet disposition hidden beneath her Matron-like demeanor. Anastasia, however, was less than convinced. She had a strong inkling that the Lady’s maid intimidated most people with her direct, no-nonsense, authoritative manner. After waiting an unusually long time for the Lady’s maid to answer the door, Anastasia gave up on protocol and opened the door herself to her sibling’s suite.

  Upon entering the royal suite, Anastasia felt her intuition kick into action as she noted the eerie silence of the usually bustling suite at this time of the morning. Anastasia, a well-trained warrior and fire wielder, became acutely aware of her surroundings and shrunk to the shadows of the room. She noted the broken furniture and tousled bed linen on the floor of the usually pristine suite.

  “Holy Goddess!” Anastasia swore under her breath, fully absorbing the picture in front of her and laying eyes upon the Lady’s maid sprawled across the floor in front of the bathing chamber. Abandoning all precaution, Anastasia ran to Lady Ruth, searching for any signs of life, but sadly found none. The Matron had lost too much blood and her skin felt ice cold; her eyes staring vacantly into the distance. Anastasia gently closed Lady Ruth’s eyes before adrenaline kicked in and she sounded the castle alarm by ringing the emergency bell in the room, alerting the palace guards of danger. Running into the bathing chamber, she continued searching for Annie and noticed the bloody b
oot prints all over the floor, and what appeared to be a blood splatter trailing down the far wall.

  The fire-wielding Princess took a moment to examine the situation, searching for clues as to where the intruder may have taken Annie. Anastasia prayed that wherever she was, Annie was still alive.

  ‘Best case scenario, Annie has been taken hostage, and the King and Queen of Alearia will pay a handsome ransom for the safe return of their Heir. Worst case scenario, something more sinister is afoot… Where could they have taken her? How did they escape without raising an alarm?’

  Walking out of the bathing chamber, Anastasia noticed blood spots along the floor and followed them like a trail of breadcrumbs. The path led towards the hidden passageway behind her mother’s portrait. Anastasia flung open the concealed door and began to sprint down the passageway, lighting a flame from her hand to guide her way. Reaching the bottom of the stone stairs, Anastasia followed the corridor which she knew led to an emergency underground evacuation passageway. Rounding a corner ahead of her, Anastasia caught a glimpse of an intruder carrying the motionless Heir over their shoulder. Anastasia threw a wall of fire across the ceiling, hoping to stun the intruder into dropping her sister, but onwards he continued to flee. In hot pursuit, Anastasia unsheathed the dagger she kept strapped beneath her dress before throwing the weapon towards her prey, aiming it towards his thigh but missing by a hair’s breadth.

  The assailant stopped in his tracks, threw Annie to the ground, raised the hatchet he had been holding in his other hand and hurtled it towards Anastasia. The warrior Princess quickly deflected the weapon with a fling of her fire, but when he flung a dagger towards her immediately afterwards, it found its mark in her right shoulder. Anastasia bellowed a sharp, painful scream.

  An unfamiliar feeling stirred in her soul and she released a wave of radiating fire straight into the intruder. The assailant counteracted her fire wall with a shield of water, turning Anastasia’s fire to mist. The urge to protect and save her sister built up inside her chest and Anastasia lunged towards the intruder, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. But instead of striking him with her hands, great big claws wrapped around his neck. The intruder was forced to the ground, the weight of Anastasia’s beast-like form pinning him firmly in place; blood pouring out of his neck, all color and life drained from his body.

  Anastasia caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of a puddle; a giant mountain cat with her same blue eyes stared straight back at her. Anastasia froze in shock by the sight of her transformation and failed to hear the approaching guard until it was too late. Struck from behind, a sword ploughed through her chest and the world faded into oblivion. In her final moments, all Anastasia could think of was her twin lying lifelessly, just out of arms reach.

  ~◊~

  4

  Princess Annalyse – Heir of Alearia

  Annie awoke in the castle infirmary, her head pounding. She felt like her body had been hit by a herd of wild animals. Annie slowly opened her bleary eyes; the light from the bedside candles enraging her migraine. Resting her head on the bed beside Annie, Queen Amealiana awoke from a fitful sleep.

  “You’re awake!” Amealiana gasped, pain written across her face, her eyes red and puffy from endless tears. “Oh, my poor precious child, I was afraid I would lose you both.”

  Confusion clouded Annie’s head as she looked around in bewilderment, unable to absorb the words her mother had just spoken. Pulling herself slowly into a sitting position, a wave of nausea overcame her, and she instantly regretted her decision. It was then that she first saw her. Her precious twin lay lifeless on a bed beside her, a bouquet of roses placed upon her chest. Annie leapt from her bed, and ignoring the pain from her head injury, she screamed, hurtling herself on unsteady legs towards her twin. A heartbroken rasp escaped her as Annie crawled into bed beside her twin, tears silently pouring down her face.

  “Don’t leave me Tash, we only just found each other. I can’t go on without you. You need to come back to me,” Annie begged her twin. Her heart and soul’s energy drained away into her twin like the radiating light of a candle flooding the darkness. She felt the bond between her and her loved one regenerating slowly, and that was when she realized what she had done. Trying to picture her spirit radiating towards her twin once more, and focusing on the bond between them, Annie projected her healing thoughts upon her twin and felt her own body’s lifeforce depleting in the process.

  “Stop!” Queen Amealiana screamed, realizing what was occurring. “Stop, Annie! This could kill you as well! You cannot save her Annie, the risk is too great,” Amealiana begged her whilst attempting to wrench her away from her dead twin. But the Heir held on firm and shot out her mind conqueror powers towards Anastasia, as well as her newly awakened healing powers passed on from her old mentor. Annie reignited every brain cell in her twin’s frail mind; her healing powers replenishing her twin’s blood supply and stitching up the gaping wound in Anastasia's back. With a roar of pain, Annie gave all she could to help save her sibling before falling unconscious beside her twin, drained of all energy, her arm still draped across her sister’s body. Annie’s appearance had aged by at least a decade.

  Magic always has a price.

  *

  Queen Amealiana

  Queen Amealiana held her precious daughters, shielding them from the world. Offering the one thing that no one else could — the love of a mother, as her beloved twins lay heartbreakingly lifeless beneath her.

  “Help! We need a healer! Save my daughters, please!” Queen Amealiana begged to the healers now rushing into the royal infirmary suite to offer their assistance.

  The royal infirmary's head healer, accompanied by one of her apprentice healers, gently pried Queen Amealiana away from her daughters before quickly lifting Annie and placing her gently back on her own hospital bed. The head healer quickly assessed the Heir. Satisfied that Annie was still alive and merely in a deep restorative sleep, the healer turned to look back at Anastasia across the room. She was astounded to see signs of life in the formerly pronounced dead Princess. The irregular, slow, shallow rise and fall of her chest and slight color that had returned to her cheeks had the healer running back to the fire-wielder’s side. She placed her hands firmly over the young Princess’s heart and pumped healing energy into her body, electrifying her heart back into a regular, steady rhythm. The healing apprentice, mirroring the senior healer’s actions, held the young Princess’s hand and shared the load of the healing with her mentor, sending her gifting’s energy into the fragile young woman.

  The infirmary was comfortably warm thanks to the blazing fire in the suite’s hearth, however, the Queen’s heart felt frozen, suspended in time as she anxiously waited to find out if one or both of her blessed children would survive the ordeal. Margarette, the Queen’s Lady’s maid, assisted the Queen into a chair between her two daughters’ beds and took her position beside her, holding the Queen’s hand gently in support. Princess Anastasia’s wooden bed groaned as the head healer and apprentice leaned more of their weight on the bed, struggling to maintain the intensity of their healing magic blazing into the fire-wielder.

  Princess Alecia burst into the room and rushed to Anastasia’s side, taking her free hand in her own and demanding to know what happened. Terror filled her eyes as she beheld the lifesaving measures the two healers were taking to save her beloved sister. The bond that Alecia and Anastasia shared was like no-other. Bonded at a young age through their fire-wielding training, the girls had depended on each other all their life. In the last year their family had seen more heartbreak than most would experience in a lifetime. Alecia uncharacteristically began begging the Goddess to save her precious sister. Shocked and bewildered by all that was taking place, she clung to the hope that her precious fire-wielding sister would survive.

  “We have done all we can,” the head healer regretfully revealed as she collapsed after some time, bone-weary, into a chair beside the Queen. Heaving deep breaths, she let her eyes rest for a m
oment, attempting to recover from the energy she had just exhausted while completing Annie’s healing work. The healer apprentice quietly excused herself, and on swaying feet, stumbled out of the room in search of a place to rest. The room felt as though everyone was waiting with bated breath. Queen Amealiana, holding vigil by her daughters’ sides, petitioned the Goddess in prayer, her voice cracking with each heartfelt word.

  “Blessed Goddess bring my daughters back to me. Save Anastasia and revive my precious Annie. I could not live without either of them in my lives. My heart cannot take any more loss. Holy Goddess, please, save my daughters. I already feared that I had lost Anastasia once today, do not let Annie and the healers’ sacrifices go in vain. If it means that they will live, take me instead. If a soul must be taken into the After World as payment for their lives, allow me to pay the debt. They have so much to live for, their lives have just begun. Please Goddess, I beg you, with all my shattered heart and soul, heal my daughters.”

  ~ ◊ ~

  5

  Princess Annalyse – Heir of Alearia

  The air felt thick and muggy, which was unusual for a cold winter’s night. The hearth was burning, the candles were lit and the two wooden beds in the infirmary had been pushed together to allow the twins to heal side by side.

  Annie slowly opened her eyes, allowing her vision to adjust to the low lighting. Turning her head to the side, she felt Anastasia’s hand in her own and released a sigh of relief. Her chest ached from the deep exhalation. ‘Apparently healing others is detrimental to your own health,’ Annie joked internally, softly smiling.