Short Stories

Victims of The King (short story)

Trigger warning ⚠️ mention of s/a, mention of abuse mention of murder, mention of death/starvation.

read at your own risk!!! You have been warned.

Flashes of memories ran through my mind as I lay on the cold stone in one of the hundreds of prison cells, hidden beneath the castle that used to be home.

I was numb, there was no escape, soon the bastard king would be here to take what wasn't his. I'd learned long ago not to fight, he liked it when I did, it would last longer. I had yet to birth him a son, my daughters had all been slaughtered, a woman wasn't fit to rule.

If I had one wish, it would be to feel sunlight on my skin one last time... It was almost a prayer, please just let me see it, just once.

I laid still as the sound of boots drew closer.

"Is that how you greet your husband?"

Was it disgust in his voice? I didn't care. I kept my back turned to the door.

"I know you aren't dead, I've decided to take a new wife. One that can bare me an heir."

I couldn't help myself, "so I will have company? I can watch you fuck your whore? Or will she watch you fuck me?"

He huffed almost like a laugh. "My fiancée will never see the likes of you. I told the kingdom that you died after years of illness. You are going to rot away in here."

"Why don't you just do it?" I rolled to my other side to look at my bastard husband. "Are you afraid to kill a mere girl? Rape wasn't as bad as murder?"

"You are my wife." He grabbed the bars scowling. "I cannot rape my wife, your only duty is to bare my heir."

"Fuck you."

He threw himself away from the bars, his scowl deepening. "I don't have time for this, but you can rest assured, no one will ever find you. Your bones will be left in this cell." He turned swiftly making his exit.

I tried to refocus on feeling sunlight one last time, it was the only thing that gave me hope. King Henry has squashed every other hope I'd had. I felt pity for whomever he took as his bride. He'd never had any decency for the women he bedded.

Once I knew no one was guarding me I got to my feet. I was weak and frail, a thin starved thing. My once beautiful dress was stained, and it barely stayed on. If it hadn't been for the long sleeves I wouldn't be able to keep it on, not that it did any good. King Henry had ripped the front to get what I had once refused.

I found the broken piece of stone and made another mark on the stone wall. I'd long since lost count, of the days, but I assumed each visit from the king was a day. The walls were covered in marks, and the floor, no one would notice, no one would care.

After what I assumed where a couple of days the king returned. He was dressed very finely, his cheeks red and the stench of alcohol making me feel sick.

"I have juuust married Princess Becca, daughter oooof K-king Minuss. I... release you from your duty as my... whore."

The man couldn't even walk straight, but somehow managed to leave the dungeon without assistance.

The time between meals became longer, I could feel myself slowly slipping away. My spirit truly had began to break, I would never see the sun. I would die starved and alone and cold in this cell.

•••

I could hear something... it was loud and frantic. There was other sounds, but I couldn't care to comprehend them.

The door of my cell was thrown open and a young dark haired woman was thrown into the cell. She was shrieking. She hadn't noticed me.

I watched the man... the king kick her, watched as she fell to the ground still bawling.

The king was shouting too, but the noice was all too much for me to comprehend. So I just sat still in the corner watching. The king must have thought I was a corpse as I watched. He'd never cared for me, it was exactly what he'd done to me the first time I birthed a girl.

The king left, and the woman continued to cry. She cried herself into quiet. A bit later a guard came with one meal that he slid under the door before leaving.

"Let me out!" The woman cried after him but the guard ignored her. "He killed my baby! Do none of you care?"

"Don't bother..." my voice was cracked and harsh, not used to talking I didn't know if I still could.

The woman jumped and turned to see where the voice had came from.

"Who are you?" She asked with a softness.

"Queen Eloise..."

I watched her eyes widen in horror as she realized.

"He lied? This whole time..."

I shook my head, my throat could not handle talking anymore. I felt the woman's gaze examine me.

"How long have you been down here?"

I glanced to the walls around us and then she did.

"All this time..."

I managed only a shrug.

She came closer, and placed herself beside me on the cold stone and offered me a kindness I hadn't felt in what felt like a whole other lifetime.

Gently she pulled me towards her, wrapping her arms around me as she stroked my hair, or at least what was left of it. I was on deaths doorstep.

"I will hold you and never let you go." She whispered.

I could feel the warmness of her skin, and I closed my eyes trying to remember what the sun felt like. I remembered a time long ago as a kid running through a green field of grass, I was happy and then everything was dark.

~~~~~~

Roughly four thousand years later

"Breaking news, as workers were digging up ground for a new building they discovered buried ruins of what experts are saying is a well preserved dungeon." The news reporter says. "While exploring to ensure they could continue destroying the ruins they discovered two skeletons locked in one of the oldest looking cells. Reporters said that the skeletons were huddled in a corner and have been safely removed to be buried elsewhere. It is highly believed that the two were the very first victims of the infamously violent King Henry who confessed in a journal that he allowed two of his wives to starve to death in a cell when they could not produce a proper heir... construction will be continued once the rest of the cells have been cleared."