Impeccable (Zayn Malik AU)

xiii. An Empty Throne

♡ Odette's POV ♡

A soft mumbling was heard as Ivy finished her sentence, everyone quietly voicing their thoughts on the matter. We definitely needed a new king, Ivy was right, we were stuck with an empty throne. But who would rule?

"It is imperative that we crown a new ruler before this so-called revolution begins to celebrate." Ivy said, everyone nodding their heads in agreement. Ivy had to clench her fists together tightly before continuing.

"Since the king gave up his hold on the throne to Delia, none of the brothers are allowed to take the throne. Once he gave up the crown, no one in the family of parentage of King Walter and his wife may succeed him. But, the grandchildren of Walter may rule." Ivy explained like she had memorized the royal coronation handbook. She probably had.

"Unfortunately, Sebastian must be declared as unfit to rule since he is hospitalized indefinitely for a long period of time. Which means..." Zayn sucked in a deep breath next to me, his eyes now wide.

"The Malik family of Yaser and Patricia are now the ruling family."

The room fell silent again, Lady Malik and Yaser looking the same as Zayn. They had previously only been members of the ruling family, but now the tables had turned, and now they held all the power.

No one said anything for a few minutes, everyone taking their time to take all this in. I didn't know if it was partially from the shock of everything moving so quickly or if everyone genuinely never thought that Zayn's family would rule one day. I took a glance to Zayn, did that mean he was king now?

However, Zayn's eyes were trained across the room, to his sisters who were crying their eyes out.

"That means Doniya is queen." Zayn muttered in awe, Doniya stopping her sobbing momentarily to stare at everyone in the room. All eyes were on her now, and I could practically feel the nervousness she was.

Doniya looked like a poor deer in headlights, her mouth hung open, her watery eyes looking at everyone. "I-I..." she started before sighing, "I can't."

"What do you mean?" Zayn was standing now, his eyes fixed solely on his elder sister. "You have to!"

"Zayn, I can't. You don't understand." Doniya pleaded, but Zayn was growing angry now. The one person everyone was relying on to lead the Empire didn't want to only out of fear. "Please."

"No!" Zayn was yelling now. "You can't back out now that two of our family were murdered! You don't get to!" Ivy rushed over to him, begging for him to get quiet. Zayn only shrugged her off before storming over to his sister, who was crying once more.

"Why are you suddenly so scared to take what's rightfully yours?!" Zayn yelled, and Doniya's wails became louder.

"I can't, will you shut up and listen to me?!" Doniya screamed, immediately silencing Zayn.

The poor heiress was in hysterics, her ruby red gown stained with tears, her hair a dark mess, and her mascara running and leaving trails down her flushed cheeks. I never, ever, expected to see a girl of such grace and strength become so frail. It was paradoxically tragic, how things turned out for poor Doniya.

"I can't become queen," Doniya spoke, her dark eyes trained on her younger brother. "Because I gave up my claim to the throne a long time ago."

You could hear a pin drop, it became that quiet.

"W-What?" Zayn barely whispered, and Doniya sighed.

"I gave up my claim to the throne, I was to be used for a different purpose for the Empire. Mom and Dad told me so."