The Last Petrova

The Arrival

 "A dance, my Queen?" August said with a playful smile on his face. "How could I refuse?" I said, taking his hand.

The musicians began a soft tune that gradually got louder and louder, until they were playing a symphony of rich harmonies. Led by August, I glided across the floors, my golden crown glinting under the chandeliers as we did so.

"Careful," I laughed as we bumped into one of the king's advisors. My crown slipped off my head- but it was caught by one of my ladies before it hit the ground. "Should I hold onto this for a while, Helena?" Hazel asked me. "Yes, please do," I said, with a nod of thanks to her. I saw her place it on her own head with a smirk. I rolled my eyes as she walked over to the mirror and stared at herself wearing the royal crown.

August and I were in the middle of our third dance when it happened. The doors of the dining hall burst open, revealing one of the royal guards, drenched from head to toe in blood. "My King-" he began. His voice was cut off when the tip of a sword burst through his chest. We all screamed as he fell to the floor.

All eyes were now on the man who had murdered the guard. He was staring down at the body with a blank expression on his face.

"Look what you've done, Oscar, you've ruined my clothes!" said a woman's voice said. I stared as a woman with rich blonde hair entered the dining room, gesturing to the spray of blood on her lavish gown.

"Get out of my sight," the woman snapped at the man, who bowed and quickly rushed off without a word.

By this time, the king's guards who had been stationed inside the dining hall had recovered from their shock. They drew their swords and made their way towards the man who had just killed their comrade- or at least, they tried to.

Had I been looking elsewhere for but a moment, I would have missed it- The young blonde woman, who barely looked a year older than myself, killed two of the King's most trusted guards in the blink of an eye.

The jaws of all the nobles and royals in the room dropped. I blinked multiple times- had this young teenaged girl just snapped the necks of the two most well trained guards in all of France?

"Nik! Elijah! I found the dining hall!" the woman called out.

Another one of the King's guards attacked- The King's mistress let out a scream as the blonde woman pulled out the sword imbedded into the first guard's back and impaled her attacker with it.

By now, the remaining four guards had gotten wary. But their self esteems would not allow them to back down to a young girl. The four all charged at the same time. The girl snapped their necks one at a time, performing these murders so easily that it shook me to my very core.

"You've certainly made a mess of things, haven't you, sister?" a new voice said. This voice belonged to a blonde man who was dressed in a style I had seldom seen before. It reminded me of English fashion, yet there was something about the way he wore it that made me positive he wasn't from England.

"I was merely helping out," the girl replied. "These cowards are the king's advisors, I believe," she said, pointing to the row of advisors who were all shaking under their chairs.

"And those would be the Queen's ladies," the girl said, pointing to myself and my ladies, who were all clustered around me.

"What shall we do with them, I wonder?" the girl asked, walking into the dining hall, with her brother at her side. 

"My men have been growing restless... Why not hand these fair ladies over to them as a gift, and kill off everyone else?" her brother said. The sister scoffed. "They are not the only ones with needs, Niklaus. Your men can have those girls, but my ladies will be treating themselves to these delicious looking morsels," the sister said, nodding at the cowering advisors with a strange gleam in her eyes.

"I'm not as stupid as you may think, Rebekah, I know you won't settle for a middle aged advisor who is not of royal blood. Who is it that you have set your eyes upon tonight?" Niklaus asked. Rebekah smiled. "That one," she said, nodding over to the King's bastard son.

"Very well," Niklaus sighed. "But only if this means I am forgiven," he said. Rebekah rolled her eyes. "You kept me in that coffin for two whole weeks, Nik, this one favor isn't going to make me forgive you," she spat. But she began making her way over towards the King's bastard nonetheless.

"Oscar! Bring everyone in here, would you?" Rebekah called out. Within one minute, twelve heavily armed fighters had entered the dining room. Six men, and six women, all clad head to toe in a black leather material of some sort.

"The famous Queen Helena," Niklaus said, walking over towards me and my ladies. I stared up at this man, who had a wide smile on his face despite being drenched in the blood of his enemies. A horrible feeling sunk into my stomach as I realized he was smiling not despite it, but because of it.

"An honor to finally meet you," he said, bowing down, not towards me, but towards Hazel. Hazel stood rigid in fear as Niklaus took her hand in his and kissed it. My heart beat louder and faster as my eyes jumped over to my crown on Hazel's head. This man believed Hazel was me.

Then Niklaus's eyes traveled over to the rest of us- me and my other three ladies. His eyes stopped moving as they met mine. "I know that look, Nik," Rebekah said, appearing from behind me. I gasped as she gripped my shoulders- her skin was ice cold. "You believe this one to be a beauty," Rebekah said, pushing me out of the group and towards Niklaus.