A Crown Of Blades(ARTK, Book 3)

Chapter 100-101

  Juhna 11th,3330 A.G

  "It is in her blood, yes- but not every Ashhand has been a born ruler. Just as not every one of them have lost their minds." Valter shrugged and shoved another piece of very expensive cheese into his mouth. "But you my lady.... You may not have giants, nor will you ever- yet the way I see it, nothing can quite compare with the force of our army. I train them myself. I have watched.... Twelve year olds go from shitting themselves at the sight of a sword to cutting down a man for disrespecting their mother not a year later. I have seen men so angry in training for one reason or another, some part of their life they didn't wish to share- and I have seen them calm down after getting that energy out. Just As the beginning of Dimia Ashhand's reign were tumultuous, filled with anger and protests and perhaps a little blood if the histories are to be believed- perhaps that is all this is. Perhaps once Nara Ashhand is done with her need to see blood, she will simply..... stop."

It were wishful thinking and a stupid comparison. Dimia and Hugh Ashhand's parents had died when they were very young, so they'd been forced to heed the advice of their councilors until such time as they turned twelve. There were many assassination attempts, many who believed the throne of Kroba would have been better off simply ceasing to exist- and a very young Dimia had often been known to execute people without the leave or advice of her council. As a ruler and enemy to one of her descendants, Tiffan were inclined to ask what in the hells she'd been thinking- but as a mother tiffan's heart would skip every time she thought of it.

She would wonder what else had happened to to the girl to make her that angry- or if it were simply the death of her parents, and then she'd be reminded of the rest of her reign.

As the twins ruled together from the very beginning and were always inseparable, their marriage just a day after their twelfth birthday should not have come as a surprise to anyone- nor should the protests have. A cousin marriage was one thing, but between siblings? A similar debate had been carried out amongst the common people with Lisa And Estevot Otes, though it were becoming more common for nobility to turn a blind eye. There were more important things to worry of- tiffan remembered saying when an old handmaiden told her of how she'd attended Lisa on her wedding night.

When Dimia Ashhand were just fourteen she gave birth to her first, a healthy boy known as Jesper Ashhand- who would later go on to be called the last king. Two years later she birthed a sickly set of triplets, and if the written accounts Tiffan had read were correct- the blood loss she endured after they had to cut the third out of her were deadly. Whether she lived a full day and then died were a matter of dispute, but each and every account agreed on a few things: Her husband fell into hysterics when he heard, but he would not die and leave his children alone on the world. Malian and Jose perished either in the birth or not long after it.

  And five years after this, he and his sickly daughter Isabelle were murdered in their sleep.  Whether the assassins meant to kill every one of the Ashhand's- but were unaware that Jesper was being fostered on Vraemore island, were a matter of debate still.

Tiffan's mind wandered some; and she began to think of how she'd give up each and every one of her limbs before allowing even a little bit of harm to come to her boy- but she supposed that weren't fair. That it were entirely likely Hugh Ashhand had fought for his daughter until his last breathe, that he'd simply given up once he knew she were lost and reminded himself his son were safe- but she supposed that weren't fair either.

No one alive today had been there, so they'd likely never know the exact details of what happened.

Tiffan smiled, looked towards Melmidoc- and had that smile fall in record time as he said his first word.