Mated To The Wrong Royal

Cornwell

"That's how it has always been done," he says to Amaya, and her heart sinks.

After much effort, the people are finally huddled by the guards. Amaya swallows hard when her eyes meet with one of the men who bled due to how badly he was struck by the guards. He is the most stubborn of all. This causes Amaya to wonder what the royal family has done to this man for him to despise them so much. As she gazes around, she notices how some people have fear in their eyes, while some anger.

"People of Santol" Lucan begins, still seated on his horse. "It has been brought to my attention that some of you aren't happy with the way things are going in this kingdom" he pauses, looks at Amaya with smoldered eyes, then continues. "I, Lucan Whitlock, your king isn't happy with it too. This used to be a happy place, a vibrant place that held the smiles of people, but my father" he pauses and heaves a sigh. "My father changed things and I'm here to fix things...."

He hasn't finished speaking when he is cut short by the same man who was roughly handled by the guards. "Bloody liars!" he yells.

Lucan grits his teeth, but doesn't say anything.

The man continues. "Why don't you bring back my dead wife? Then you can speak of change. We have all lost something to your father's brutality and you speak of change after all these years?'' The moment these words left his lips, the people began to murmur. 

It goes from faint murmurs to loud chants and in a twinkle of an eye, the people are fully agitated, screaming. "Liars, liars!" 

The guards resort to force again, but it only makes the people angrier as they charge toward them. Although the guards try their best to ensure they are safe, it doesn't stop the adrenaline boost the people had.

Fear consumes Amaya's heart when she watches the majority of them tug on her horse. They don't attack Lucan, instead, they all charge for her. Amaya doesn't understand why she is the main target. Probably they despise her for breaking the unwritten code of conduct that forbids women from riding horses.

Amaya tries to back away from them, but as one of them grabs her hand and almost pulls her off the horse, she knows she has to flee. Her legs kick the horse and in a split second, she begins to ride to God knows where. Although her injury sting, it doesn't deter her from riding as fast as she can.

"Amaya!" Lucan's voice is heard. She tries to stop, but she can't. She hits the horse with her legs, but that only makes him faster. The horses here are different. Way different from the ones in Alandon.

She manages to look back. Lucan is right behind her, riding his horse toward her, but her horse is much faster.  "Stop!" She pulls its straps as hard as she can, but that doesn't stop it. Even as they get inside the woods, he doesn't stop. At this point Amaya is scared. Her eyes can barely open due to the wind that gushed inside of them.

As soon as she realizes Lucan isn't behind her anymore, tears well up in her eyes. She thinks of jumping off it, but that will be drastic, due to her injured leg. Seeing there is no other way of getting out, she prepares to shift, but before she can, the horse hurls her off its back and runs away. 

Amaya winces in pain the moment she hits the floor. "Hey!" she yells at the horse as if he can hear her.

"Oh dear" she looks at her legs. It is bleeding again. There is no hope of leaving here. No horse, no nothing. Her leg is injured so even though she tries to shift, she can't get far. She doesn't even know her way around. Maybe talking with the people of the Kingdom was a bad idea, she deduces inwardly.

After gathering the last energy in her, she stands up, resting her weight on the good leg. One, two, three steps and she is back on the floor again. She doesn't give up, she tries to get up again, but before she can get up, someone grasps her hands and helps her up.