Queen on the loose

The King

I wasn't disturbed for a long time after that. I couldn't keep track of time but I estimated a day and a half to have passed. I wished it would be just as peaceful until the execution. Then it will be over. 

'That is, if you stay alive until then.' It was true that I was growing weaker as time went by. I was drenched in blood and I couldn't even do anything about it. I couldn't decide what would kill me. The wound or the rope.

That was when the door opened again. I honestly couldn't care less about who it was so I didn't bother looking up. That was until an old voice spoke up. 

"Princess Alessia." My head jerked up at the mention of my real name and I saw the king gazing down at me. He looked like a wise, old man who had seen enough of life, much unlike his arrogant son.

"I will not ask you why you pretended to be your brother, unless you tell me on your own. You've been wounded enough."

"What was the outcome of the war?" I asked him quietly.

"Your kingdom lost. " He said that, not with a sense of pride, but with sympathy, as if he knew how I felt.

I nodded. I had expected as much. "My family?"

"They were killed. All except Prince Alex, who was presumed to be you."

I shuddered. I tried to steer the conversation away from my brother. "When will my execution take place?"

He gazed at me deeply. "I will not kill you, Alessia."

I looked at him, shocked. "Why?"

"What?"

"Why won't you kill me? I am the daughter of the enemy."

"It's unneccessary. We have won the war. Your death will not result in anything."

"What will you do with me, then?"

I had all possible scenarios in mind. From a slave to a prisoner for life. But what he said was what I hadn't expected.

"We'll have you treated first. That will take some time. Then we'll set you free. You can go anywhere you want to and start a new life."

"Isn't that too kind for a prisoner?"

"You're a human first, Alessia. Remember that." He nodded at me before he left.  I wondered if he was the same king I had heard rumours about. The king who was known to be a bloodthirsty beast.

Within fifteen minutes, my bonds were opened and two soldiers had grabbed my arms. They were hauling me out of the prison, and I let them. I couldn't see inside other cells as it was solid brick. Maybe I was afraid to think what I could find inside. 

They led me through a garden to a building I assumed to be the hospital wing. Half an hour later, I was lying on a hospital bed with a doctor checking my injuries. She said that the wound was really deep and I was lucky to even have survived.

I didn't know how to feel. I was so certain that I would die. One way or the other, But here I was.