The Game

Chapter Five

Laying here in the late night darkness, the room only lit by a small handful of candles, everything felt like it was really starting to come to a peak. Like we were stood on this precipice of something both magnificent and horrifying at the same time. It was nerve wracking in some sense of the word. And I wasn't one to get nervous. Not normally.

I wanted to be filled with confidence that it was going to run smoothly but I knew there was bound to be issues. It was almost guaranteed that out of the 4 of us in this house right now, at least one of us was going to be injured. I just hope it was going to be me.

A long sigh left my mouth as I climbed from my bed, getting on my knees and dragging my locked chest free from under the bed. Pulling the key from around my neck, burried under the fabric of my night dress. I unlocked it as quietly as I could. I didn't want to wake anyone up. I grabbed what I needed, sitting back on the bed and staring at it in my hands. 

Small and fragile, just like she had been. 

My mother's crown was one of the very few things we had been able to get out that night. She'd handed it to Gwen. I don't remember what was being said about it, I was too busy talking with my father. 

What Gwen had told me though was that this crown had been bought by my father for my mother on their engagement. He was already king when they first began courting. This crown was forever to be a symbol of their love. Melted into silver to be passed through the line so they would forever be remembered. 

And this was the exact one I'd be wearing as I storm that castle. Holding both of them close to me as I reclaim what belongs to me. Everyone important knew this crown. She wore it always. Everyone knew the story behind it. Everyone knew it wasn't just some random piece of jewellery. It was power, a birth right in itself. 

"Wren?" I lifted my head as my door opened ever so slightly, Toby's head poking in. "Sorry, I thought I heard something." 

"Sorry. Can't sleep." I looked back down at it, running my thumb along the design softly. He walked in, slowly sitting down beside me in the silence of the night. 

"I remember her wearing that." I looked at him for a second, turning back and letting out a slow shaky breathe. "You looked like your dad a lot back then. Now you look like her. Except when you're holding a sword. Then you have this look on your face that was exactly what your dad looked like when he taught me how to use a sword." 

"I wish I had as many memories of them as everyone else does. All I remember is them from that night." I quickly wiped my wet cheeks. The silence was deafening between us. Just the sound of the wind from outside ripping through the tiny gaps in the windows. "She wore this, as she was dying. Took it off and handed it to Gwen when my dad was giving me the scar. I still remember what he said before he did. It's just always running in the back of my head, like some annoying bird song." I let out the smallest, weakest laugh ever known to man, shuffling as I sat on the bed, moving a little closer to him for comfort and warmth. 

"Adelina, you need to be strong. Remember that Gwen and Albert will do everything to keep you safe. Trust them and no one else." I repeated his words, my face distorting as I replayed it in my head. "This kingdom is yours Adelina. It will always be yours. You were born with fire in your eyes darling girl. A fire that will reclaim what is yours. On your 18th birthday, you shall sit here again, and you will feel the pride we have always held for you."

I looked up from the crown, staring into the darkness ahead of me as I blinked back tears to stop them falling. 

"I was 5. I didn't have a clue what he was saying or what any of it meant. But I remember the look he had on his face like it was yesterday. I'd never seen him like that. Tears streaming down his face but I was just stood there confused, the heat and the smoke were clinging to me. I can still smell it." I turned and looked at him. "I remember seeing your dad. I think. It must have been. As Albert carried me out. He was still fighting, surrounded on all sides. But we just kept walking." 

"You had to, Albert needed to get you out of there. My dad was fine." 

"Yeah but there is still a lot of people who died for my family. Even now, people are still dying for me and it's only going to get worse as this starts getting bigger." 

"It's for the greater good Adelina." 

"I know." I looked back at the crown. "It just sucks that people have to loose their loved ones and feel like I do on a daily basis without them so that I can be back in my place you know?" Another wave of silence sat washed over us. 

"Put it on." I turned my head. 

"What?" 

"Have you worn it yet? Even to just get used to how it feels?" I shook my head. "So put it on."

"I don't think I should." He reached over, carefully taking it from my hands.

"Your parents ruled with nothing but love Addy. It was evident in everything they did. The kingdom basked in its glow. It touched every single person, inspired them that there was more to life than the hardships and that we would all get through it together." He turned his body, running his fingers over my hair delicately. "I was only 8, I don't remember much, but I remember the peace and the constant safety I felt. I remember you running around with them and laughing. I remember seeing the king and queen doting on their daughter and I remember in even more detail how the public grieved when it came out they had gone. I remember my father moving us up to Thymeside and even there people were all dressed in black. I remember being told you'd died with them and I remember being upset and not really knowing why."

"I didn't know you were alive until I was about 13. My dad sat me down and he started discussing about how I had to learn to fight now, had to learn how to protect you. That was when he started building the whole army through the back of our pub. The people up there still talk about you and your parents. They still say they wish they were there that night, to fight for you all, to protect you specifically. No one is signing up to this without the knowledge of what will happen. But every single one of us would lay our lives on the line if it meant our country was restored to what it was before." He carefully placed the crown on my head. Smiling at me as he did. A soft, sad smile matching the way both of our eyes were glistening in the candlelight. "We would all gladly lay our lives out for our queen, Adelina. For you." 

He stood up, bowing his head in a mark of respect as I sighed then held his hand out, pulling me to my feet and walking me over to the mirror, leaving my side only to bring a candle closer so I could see. 

"It suits you." I looked up at him in the mirror. My heart was pounding in my chest as he moved himself and the candle closer, his chest flush with my back as he brought his head down beside me. His voice was low and hushed, the whisper shaking me to my core. "Long live the queen."