The Hidden City

Introduction

The air filled with a thick tension as we all stood in the court room and awaited our father's next words. I was surrounded by my sister's, brothers, and mother. Our father, King Arod, inhaled sharply as his face turned red at our words. We had told him about the uprising that had recently happened and how it was hard for us to control it.

"You need to work together and control the uprisings!" he yelled, making me flinch. Our mother, Queen Cora, tried to soothe him with gentle words. He would not have this. "Back away, Cora. I am not in the mood for you to be near me."

She however ignored this and knelt down on her knees in front of him and talked to him gently, nurturing his anger. I sighed in relief as I watched it begin to ebb away.

"I need you to work harder. I have been stressed that the uprisings have started again. It has driven me to a momentary madness and suspicion that not all in this kingdom are in leauge with me."
I remembered the short reign of the last king. King Stephen. His name made my entire body shudder. He was not a part of the family, therefore he could not be king. He became angry at this, using his popular title as an excuse for a chance at the throne. He had taken it from the father when he had let his guard down. He had stabbed him, expecting him to die. But father was soon found by mother and she had taken him away to heal him. In the months that they were gone, Stephen used his popularity to gain adoration from the public and turned large groups against father. Stephen had been banished to an unknown realm to rot and die slowly, and since then father had tried to regain control of the kingdom through us.

So far, we were okay until yesterday. Father being stabbed had taken it's on all of us. The stress on us had been evident underneath our eyes. Although we aged very slowly, mother had begun to wrinkle around her eyes. Father still loved her, though. That had never been a secret. It was quite a story to hear.

I returned back to the present to see that everybody had left the room. I blushed and returned to my room.