Crowned Desires

Prologue

King Oliver

"Officer Thomas. I trust you know why you're here." 

The young knight was pulled into the courtroom with his hands bound behind his back. His armor was stripped from his body, leaving him with only his underclothes on. His head hung low, body nearly limp, and skin pales as paper from being held in the prison for a couple of days. The two guards that held him on either side jerked him when he didn't respond.

"Answer your King," One of them sneered out.

Finally, Thomas lifted his head slowly to look at me. His eyes were drawn in a murderous glare, pupils nearly red. I was used to this, these guards looking at me with tight glares. It was nearly routine at this point, the look made me bored now. All I could feel was disappointment another guard failed.

"Your whore daughter is why I'm here." Thomas finally spoke up.

"I care little for your anger towards her, I do not even care what you call her either. My daughter is a whore, and she has shown me exactly how weak you are as well, useless to resist her harlot ways. But mark my words, you will not disrespect me in my own palace more than you already have. Address me properly." My words were a sharp threat on my tongue. My knuckles tightened around the large gold staff I held and the crown on my head bore its weight down in the room.

Thomas only narrowed that sneer sharper on me, keeping his lips closed tight. 

"Don't be a fool, Officer," I said and watched his lips quiver with protest, fear finally mingling with his anger. The power I held over him filled me up, It was the most prominent thing in the room, and everyone squirmed under it. My haughty smirk widened.

"She set me up! I know it, your majesty. She sent someone to find us there in the south wing! You can't blame me please sire. You know how she behaves, I-I couldn't- I tried my best!" He was thrashing around now in the knight's hold, face begging, pleading. His desperation was clear in his booming words.

However, I did know. I knew all too well the ways of Celeste. I loosed a quick sigh, "How bothersome. I've had quite enough of this. Lieutenant Archibald, Thomas Wright is to be exiled from Alvera, stripped from his title and wealth. Seize his property, and anyone you find on it immediately." With a measly wave of my hand, I dismissed him.

"Wait- Your majesty! No, please! No, no, no, no!" He yelled somewhere off behind me, his words now soaked in pure fear. The territory outsides of Alvera were not a pretty place. I barely flinched at it, the pure terror in his voice as he was dragged away was nothing compared to the annoyance I was now plagued with.

Finally, the large wooden doors were shut and his whines were silenced. I pinched between my eyebrows and let out an aggravated sigh. The justices filed out of the courtroom when my chancellor walked in, "My king." He bowed before me.

"Chancellor Edmund, do you come with a report?"

A quick nod before he started, "Yes, King Dante wrote this morning about the incident with the Princess. He does not want to call off the engagement, luckily, but he will not move forth with the union until her behavior has changed, drastically."

I groaned inwardly, "This stupid ungrateful child will never learn. She is eating my knights up and spitting them up in front of me. If they don't get caught with their pants down, then they're coming to me begging to be dishonorably expelled from the knighthood. If it weren't for the gossip spreading so quickly and ruining her reputation, she'd already be married off and someone else's problem." I felt the vein on my forehead pulsing with aggravation, "She is doing everything in her power to make this difficult for me. There is no one that I can think to appoint that won't wind up like the rest. Please tell me there is also good news."

The chancellor looked down at the letter in front of him and nodded, "Grand Cross Anderson's platoon successfully tracked a blue anarchist's hideout and took out the whole faction. They have some hostages as well in the prison for questioning."

I perked up in my seat, turning towards the younger man before me. A win against those rebellion bastards was quite the music to my ears, "How large was this faction?"

Edmund smiled, "About a hundred and fifty men, sire."

Now he had my full attention, I turned towards my chancellor with an ever-growing sly grin, "And how many in his unit were killed during the escapade?"

"None, only a few injuries. Everyone in his unit is accounted for. He's the best of Alvera's knights."

"Where is Grand Cross Anderson now?" The cogs in my head were turning, a solution seemed to present itself right in front of me. The best.

"He is with his men at our western training camp. My king... you can't possibly be suggesting-"

"Summon him to the palace immediately," I interjected, a large smile plastered on my face. I remembered hearing his name now, Gray Anderson. The cut-throat soldier from the small village in Alvera.

"Sire, The Grand Cross is needed on the field. I mean you just heard of his large victory, we need more of those against the anarchists." The Chancellor followed after me as I left the courtroom, two knights trailing behind us as we walked down the hall. "They're becoming more active as of recently, burning down villages on the outskirts of Alvera; GC Anderson stopped one of those attacks!"

"I do not care if they burn four hundred inferior villages," My voice was loud in the echoing hallway. I stopped in my tracks to throw a narrowed glare over my shoulder at the man, rage tumbling low in my fists. "and I hate repeating myself, Chancellor."

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