Iᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴜᴍ (Bᴏᴏᴋ 1) (editing)

Chapter 12- Let It Go (Part 2)

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Once she let out the scream, the water moved back in place so quickly, it splashed up everywhere on the shore getting both women wet. They both laughed, as they jumped back from the water.

Rayna smiled genuinely. She felt good for the first time in months. This was helping her.

"Why do you cringe every time someone refers to you as Queen Rayna?"

Those words halted any relief Rayna felt, her breath catching in her throat.

Part 2

She didn't know how to respond, trying to find the words that were the least of what she really felt, but none came to mind. Catherina looked intently at her waiting for her answer. Rayna stuttered out her answer, deciding to just let out the truth. "I... I don't... I don't feel I deserve to be called a queen. I have not earned it."

Catherina shook her head in disbelief at her words, "Rayna, you don't believe that."

Rayna chuckled bitterly in response, her eyes cast down to the mixture of water and sand, shaking her head, "But I do. I am safe and warm every night. I lived over my parents. I do not have any worries in that hidden castle." The anger started rising in her again; the waves getting rough. She turned to Catherina, the anger evident on her face as she continued on. "Everyone says that it is my birthright to be queen. That I am a better person than that sad excuse for a man on the throne now, but really how am I any better than him?" The waves got bigger with each breath she took, the water erratic. "How am I the better choice? I am hiding Aunt Catherina! I am a coward, hiding away from the world. I am letting my people suffer at the hands of pure evil while I go on with my day like nothing is the matter."

Catherina felt the anger of her words, feeling her own rage fill her. "Scream."

Rayna whipped around turning to the waters and let out a scream that echoed throughout the sky. This scream was more intense than the last one. This one was turning heads, and catching attention causing a ruckus.

Rayna's feet slowly started moving back from the force of her scream, lifting her off of the ground ever so slightly. Catherina planted her feet firmly into the sand trying to hold her place as the water reacted to her niece, the wind follow suit.

The waves were big as Rayna fell to her knees, letting the water go. The waves, in turn, moved in their normal direction, the waves began splashing chaotically around her, soaking her to her bones. But she didn't even notice, as she let her emotions finally take over her, tears slipping down her face.

Catherina got down on her knees next to Rayna, not caring as the water rushed up to them soaking their dresses. "Listen to me, Rayna. You want to know why you are nothing like that man?" Rayna did not look up, she did not move, "He is using fear to rule. He is using people's weakness every day to make them grovel at his feet." She pushed Rayna's hair out of her face and turned her chin to look at her. "And you... my dear Rayna, you look for every way that you can help your people. You have given everything you have left to help them and more. You don't need them to know it's you as long as you are helping them. You care. You love. That is what makes you different from Malum Serpentine that is what makes you worthy to have the title Rayna Imperium Queen of Terra. That is what made your parents worthy, you carry their love in you and you share it with the world."

The tears slid down Rayna's face at her words. She didn't know she needed to hear it. It was freeing to hear that she was not the man sitting on the throne. It was something that was weighing on her shoulders for some time now, but ever since her visit into the kingdom, she felt the crushing pressure.