Shattered Reflection

Chapter Nineteen

Loki's POV

We had moved the group inside the palace and are currently in a meeting room, trying to draw up our plan. The king can wait.

I turn to the queen, "Where is she now?"

She sighs, "If I were to guess, I would assume his fortress. That is where we had our first meeting. Where we set this whole plan into motion."

"You will bring me there. You will escort me in under the pretext of completing whatever horrible deal you made," I spit out.

"I can't! The kingdom now knows who he is! He cannot assume the thrown!" She yells out.

I slam my fist onto the table, "You promised him the kingdom?!
You sold out your people!"

"IT WAS FOR MY PEOPLE!" She cries, "The kingdom had no heir. Her father and I wouldn't live forever. We tried to have more children, but it was too late. We couldn't let the kingdom fall into the travesty of civil war because we were irresponsible enough to not have a plan."

"Well, you've lost both your children and your kingdom. So well done." I say, my tone ice cold.

"I'm going to make it right," She says, looking me straight in the eye.

"Yes. You are. Now, we need a plan for once we get inside. What are his powers exactly?" I ask.

The queen sighs, "His powers are of the mind. He can control people's memories and feelings, he also dabbles in curses and knows many a sorcerers."

"I need a weakness of some kind. He's obviously clever," I say.

"But he's arrogant," The queen says.

"So. We need to make him think he's has won, and then strike. But what do we strike with?" I say.

"We need magic to trick the mind," The queen says.

"My magic is illusionary, but I don't know how to work that into our plan yet." I say, frustrated.

She sighs, "We need a way to be in two places at once."

I look at her, "That, I am capable of. I think I have an idea."

"How dangerous?" She asks.

I stare her down, "Very. Be ready."

"I'm willing to make any sacrifice for my people," The queen says to me. I nod.

"Alright. We don't want to leave Natalia in his hands any longer than we have to. I say we leave soon." I say.

"Normally, I'd call you a fool. But this man is not patient, nor is he kind," She says.

"And you were going to sell her off to him." I spit.

"Like I said before, I'm willing to make any sacrifice for my people." She shows no hesitation.

A girl bursts into the room and runs to the queen, "Your highness! Your highness! I just heard and got here as quickly as I could. What is going on?"

"Stephanie, my darling. It's all under con-"

"No," I interrupt, "Tell her the truth."

The queen glares, "I can't."

Stephanie looks confused, "What truth? I don't understand."

"Natalia is alive." I say.

"What?" Stephanie breathes out.

"Your queen has concocted quite the plan to make sure her blood stays on the throne," I say.

The young girl turns, "Is this true? Have- Have you been lying to me? All this time!?"

The queen puts her hands on Stephanie's shoulders, "No no, my dear. You don't understand-"

Stephanie smacks away her touch, "Do not touch me. You've been lying to your kingdom for years! Centuries! The King is now dead because of it!"

"Don't say that-"

"No. She had every right to be upset," I say, "Do you also want to explain how you made a deal to rig the suitor's competition with a murderer? How you sold your people to the man that killed their King and stole their princess? How you faked your own daughter's death and disguised her as someone else? How you caused so much suffering?"

The young girl shakes with rage, "I spent YEARS looking after the kingdom and it's people. I helped anytime I could. I saw their suffering and tried to mend it. I watched as Reuka, which isn't even her name, suffered so greatly. I was always so worried and confused. I wondered why she was so upset. Only to find out that it was because she was ripped away from the life she loved and fought for. You are truly disgusting. The people out there deserve so much more than you."

I watch as the Queen is stunned into silence. When Stephanie finishes her rant she takes a breath and looks to me,
"I want to be of help. How should I do that?"

"I need someone to look after the chaos that I'm sure is ensuing right now. We have to leave immediately to go after Natalia. You are the best suited to do so." I explain.

She nods, "I understand. I'll try to contain the people as much as I can."

"Try to refrain from force, it will only make it worse," I say.

Stephanie looks down, "I understand. I would never hurt the people I care about."

I notice the Queen look away and Stephanie glares at her, "You will pay for your crimes upon returning. That,
I promise."

"Thank you Stephanie." I say.

"Of course. Now, you have a princess to save..."

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Guess whose back with the late af update?

Me...

Look. I'm gonna be real. You deserve to know what's going on. I refuse to just disappear on this. The following
IS NOT AN EXCUSE...

But an explanation:

When I put up my last update I was ready to really jam out to the end of this story. This book is about to get a MAJOR overhaul to correct some poor writing mistakes I stated this with. But, not long after I uploaded chapter 18, did I get some bad news.

My grandmother passed away very suddenly.

It broke down my entire family, and I cannot say we have fully recovered. Then school picked up and I fell into a very negative space, I mean, I'm even doing summer school now. All of that KILLED my passion and excitement.

But I'm doing much better and I'm almost done with summer school. It's online and only one more day.

Your comments are so wonderful and bring me so much joy in a time that was really rough for me. I love interacting with all of you.

Even though my story started out with 15 year old me (and you can tell lol), you've stuck with it and have given me nothing but love and support. That is amazing. I hope you'll love the stories I put out after this too. I have stuff I'm really excited to get started on. So, thank you again. You are all so beautiful and kind.

Have an amazing day