Lantana

Chapter 7: Monarchy

Lantana nervously waited on the throne. It was so dramatic. She didn't understand why she had to sit on a giant throne in the middle of the room. And the room itself was practically a cathedral. There was an expensive carpet shipped from Persia leading to the throne and giant windows on the sides. She was in the courtroom of course. Giant pillars stretched to the ceiling supporting the roof. And there were the doors. Giant oak doors at the end of the hall. But the throne. The throne itself could feed a small village for a year. It had many extravagant designs carved into the gold and giant sparkling gemstones ranging from pretty red rubies all the way to expensive gleaming diamonds. She didn't know what she was waiting for. She was nervous though. The security in the palace had decreased greatly in the past few weeks. The whole system seemed to depend on the king and the general's commands. With the two of them gone, there wasn't much they could do for the people inside the castle. There had already been three murders that week of castle servants. Lantana nervously thrummed her fingers against the throne and looked to her sides. There were tie guards, but they looked untrained. The weapons were lax in their grips and they had a nervous energy about them like Lantana. Then, the grand doors burst open. Lantana stiffened in her seat. The figure casually walked in but as it approached closer to Lantana, she realized it wasn't one figure but two. Their faces were still in shadow though

"Princess. Or should I say your majesty? Alas it's been quite a while since we last met. Things change Lantana," the first said

"It's been too long! We need to catch up!" The second said.

Lantana couldn't place the voices. Then they stepped into the lights. It was Gabriel and Violet. Gabriel had his sword in hand and Violet was next to him, leaning into him.

"I forgot to mention! We're married now!" Violet said and then burst out into a fit of giggles.

"And we're expecting our first child!" Gabriel echoed

It was then Lantana noticed the bump on Violet's midsection.

"No. No, no, no, no, no! Why must this happen to me!" She cried out

"You spend all your time locked up and plotting things. You missed everything going on outside," Violet said. She seemed genuinely concerned.

"We're here to put you out of your misery though," Gabriel said.

Then the two of them morphed again. The skin seemed to melt off their bones and they were left with only bones. Then, the bones rearranged themselves. They merged together, and became the hellhound. Lantana screamed. She had been having nightmares about it ever since she had to kill it. It was the first time she killed a legitimately being that she could actually see the pain in. Of course, there were times where she had squashed bugs, but this was different no matter how evil it was. It jumped at her. Her heart started pounding and she screamed again.

Lantana woke up with a start. She was still calming down before she realized what had happened. She never screamed when experiencing nightmares. This one in particular had come to torment her in different variants every night. She blamed it on the stress of becoming the ruler literally overnight, but there was so much that had happened, Lantana just didn't know. Because her father had been taken, she had been given the crown. She wasn't ready. There was so much to do everyday, and everyone was in panic as both the king and the general were gone. It was still very dark out so Lantana tried to lay her head back down and get some rest but no sleep would come. As she closed her eyes, the images of the hellhound and her nightmares would come to torment her. She couldn't calm herself down so, once again, she suffered an almost sleepless night. When dawn came, Lantana heard a knock on her door as a handmaiden entered.

"Good morning, your highness!" She said cheerfully as she placed her breakfast on the table beside her. "I hope you slept well! There is much to do today!"