The Hathway Kingdom (Book 2)

Twenty-Four.

~Twenty-Four. ~

Isidore looked at the servant as he delivered the most recent report on what was happening in the Hathway Kingdom. He was angry that he had now lost his position as the Crown Prince and heir to his father's throne. Even angrier still that he had now lost whatever power he had still held and that a lot of the men that had been still loyal to him all over the world, now thought that he was an evil man, barely worth speaking to. They had all jumped ship the second that they had found out what he had done and who he had done it to.

He slammed the report down on his desk. He hadn't realised just how beloved Julian had been. Even outside of his kingdom. He knew that the people of Hathway all loved Julian, he had been a just and fair king, and that they all loved his niece as well. But now they loved her even more now with everything that she was doing to right the damage that he had left behind when he had been evicted from her kingdom. Even the men that he had thought were loyal to him, loved King Julian and had made him aware of their intentions the second that they had learnt the truth. Now, he only had the men that Verginius had paid for, and he didn't know how much longer that was going to be for. Muttering a curse under his breath, Isidore picked up the report again as he sat down and began to read it once more. His eyes widened as he read it before he stood up suddenly from his chair and called for the servant.

"Get me one of the guards. I have a job for him," he said, and the servant bowed before leaving the room quickly. As the servant left, Isidore sat back down, gently rubbing his chin as he thought about what he was about to do. Sure, it was underhanded, dirty, and cruel but it was what needed to be done to get his revenge on her for what she had done to him. She needed to pay for humiliating him the way that she had and for nearly killing him.

His hand clenched into a fist as the place where she had cut him twinged painfully at the memory of their dual. His wounds had taken longer to heal than they should have as he hadn't been able to get access to his family's healer. He'd had to use the crack of a healer from the village he had retreated to, to lick his wounds, and the healer had been less than the best. His wounds looked like they had been put back together by a child and they still hurt every time he went to do something of late. Unclenching his hand, he gave it a slight shake before he looked at the guard that came into the room and bowed to him.

"I have a job for you..."

* * *

"Your Majesty! There is a letter for you from your aunt, Lady Ohamura," Elissa said as she walked over to where Larissa was sitting on the edge of the fountain, her feet dangling into the water. The fountain had become her favourite place in the Wade Kingdom, and she felt at peace sitting there. She didn't think that she could feel at peace anywhere within the kingdom, but she had managed to find a spot where it was almost like being back at home.

"Aunt Mariah wrote to me? How did she know I was here?" she asked as she accepted the letter from Elissa, who raised an eyebrow at her and gave her and look, and Larissa stuck her tongue out at her maid like a child.

"You know your aunt, Your Majesty. Lady Ohamura has her ways of getting what she wants," Elissa said before she scowled as she caught sight of the state of Larissa's dress from her dance in the fountain earlier.

"Oh, don't give me that look, Elissa. Let me have this at least," she said to her, and Elissa huffed as Larissa turned her attention back to the letter as she opened it and began reading.

My dearest niece,

I am so sorry that I was not there for you when you needed me the most. I am afraid to say that my husband, Lord Ohamura, did not think it would be safe for me to travel to be with you despite my best efforts to tell him that I am perfectly able to protect myself. I feel so horrible that I couldn't even be there for you when my brother passed, and I hate myself that you had to go through that on your own. He wouldn't even let me come and be with you for my brother's funeral! He believed that it was still not safe.