Twisted

II

I re-wrote some of this chapter and added way more so I hope it's better now!

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Rushing back to her chambers, Helenia thought about her mission. If she could only run away with the sword, where the king could never find her, but that was impossible when his toughest soldier would be on her heels every second. And where would she go? The forest was too dangerous for her to survive by herself. The dread of her realisation flooded her and most of the hope faded away. But some remained. The everlasting modicum of hope that was sure to be her gateway to her end.

Over the past year, the king had secretly invaded towns around Aestelle, but never its main rival- Cordinia. Aestelle was too weak for an invasion that big. The King was able to put up a good front. As long as Cordinia thought that Aestelle had power, everything would remain calm. The second that they get a whiff of the life people truly live on the streets of a once flourishing city, a swift war would leave Aestelle in ruins. He fooled the crowd by persuading them that it was for their benefit and that Aestelle would rise and together they would rule. Only a fool would believe that and Helenia was no fool. The King had a plan and that sword would give him the ability to carry it out. He was not content with his situation. No King would be. So why would such a large number of people believe that, especially the lords that knew him as personally as they could?

Cordinia was powerful. She had heard of rumours that they were planning to overtake Aestelle and return it to what it once was, a prosperous country ruled by several lords with equal power or to leave in as a crumbled city wiped from history- a ghost town, but she had always dismissed those thoughts. Since the king was asking her to retrieve the most powerful sword, she wondered, maybe they weren't rumours. For whatever reason, Cordinia was right at Aestelle's heels and the King would do anything to stop them. He was a lord himself, the high power of district Aleinwich. His successful campaign masked his hunger for power and when he was proclaimed the newest high lord, he stole all of the power he could get his hands on and built an empire from a base of fear between the lords. Still throughout his rise to power, the town was blindsided to believe he had a good nature. His mind was incredibly sharp, he could sense betrayal before it was carried out. It's what Helenia feared the most.

The king had a wife. Their joint rule had prospered the kingdom, those were the golden days, when his hunger was laid to rest and he became almost happy. Not one person other than the king knew for certain what had happened, but there were stories of how the King got drunk one night, and took his anger out on the Queen. All of the kingdom knew one thing, whatever happened made his wife leave to her parents in Cordinia. Their marriage was always frowned upon in Cordinia, but their King and Queen came to terms with it hoping that it would lead to their daughter taking over Aestelle. Her family was furious when she fled back, all that power just seeped from their fingers. They could be wanting to start a war so the Queen could carry out what her parents planned or King Lasane could be going to Cordinia in hope to restore his family or finish what he started that one drunken night.

*

Closing her bedroom door felt like she just peeled a layer of confidence off and Helenia toppled onto her bed. She should have done a bit of training at least to learn the basics before being sent on the most important quest the king could give her, but her limbs wouldn't cooperate. She was exhausted from the council meetings and the constant running around the castle halls. Even though this quest was risky and might put her in a bad position, Helenia was glad that for once, things would change.

Her wooden door creaked as Moyra, her servant, made her way up to Helenia's bed.

"Cicaro, get washed first. The king ordered you to go to his formal dinner." She whispered. Darling. Helenia stared at Moyra in disbelief.