I can't breathe. My throat is itchy. My face is tomato red and swelling. What happened?
One word: poison.
I can't think straight. My vision is blurring and the ceiling is spinning. I slam myself into the door
"Guards!" I try to scream, but no sound comes out. The last thing I see, is the gold glint of my chandelier.
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"Is she okay?" A voice asks.
"What happened?" Another voice asked.
"Poison," a third voice states. "Careful now, she's waking up."
I open my eyes to a cool blue ceiling. "Where am I?" I mumble.
"The infirmary. Careful, your majesty. You are not fully healed," the third voice says. Of course. The blue ceiling is supposed to calm patients down. My grandfather had it installed. I close my eyes. Why is it so bright?
"What happened?" I groan. My head pounds. Even through my closed eyelids, the light is too bright. My whole body hurts.
"Someone poisoned you," the first voice says. "We believe it was a rebel, but we aren't positive. With your permission, we can start a formal investigation."
"Yeah, permission granted, whatever," I mumble, fading back to sleep.
Yazmin's POV
"Where is she?" I yell at the guards in front of the infirmary.
"We can't let you through, you are not an Advisor," the stoic guard says.
"But I'm her best friend, and the daughter of her chief advisor!" I shove him. He doesn't budge. His armor doesnt even clink. I should have gone to those extra training sessions. My arms look like twigs.
"But YOU are not an an advisor. Now, go back to your cooking, miss," the guard tells me, shaking me off.
"Excuse me, do you know who I am?" I shout. I put my hands on my hips and try to look intimidating. I'm only 5'2, so I doubt it worked.
"You are Yazmin, Lady of Rothsburn," the guard says.
"And who are you, may I ask?"
"I am Robert Jackson, guard of the royal castle," he declares.
"Well then, Mr. Jackson, I will tell Queen Arabella that you did not let her best friend see her," I turn on my heel and walk briskly back to my quarters.
I fling myself onto my soft pink bed. Why couldn't I see Arabella? I had gone to see her in the infirmary before and they let me in. But that was before she became Queen.
"Ugh," I groaned.
I missed when we were little kids playing together on the castle lawn. The soft grass underneath us, the cool breeze above us. Our mothers would set up a picnic and we would run around while holding our sandwiches. Sometimes Arabella's distant cousin Louis would visit. He was 3 years older than me, and I always had a crush on him. Arabella would either kill me or hug me if she found out. Those were the good days. Both our parents were still alive, and we didn't have to deal with complicated political and royal stuff.
But that time was long gone.
A knock on my door pulls me out of my daydream.
"Hello? Yazmin?" A familiar voice asks.
"Hello, Uncle Horatio," I say. Uncle Horatio is my uncle, but after my parents died of plague, he became Lord of Rothsburn and adopted me. He and his wife Auntie Sylvia are like parents to me.
"Why didn't the guard let me see Arabella?" I inquire.
He sighs. "Well, you see Yazmin, it wasn't a simple injury like a scraped knee," he informs me. His voice seems wary, like he doesn't know how to say what he is saying.
"What was it?"
"She was poisoned" he glances at me timidly.
I gasp. "By who?" I ask.
"We don't know for sure, but we made a list of suspects," he pulls out a piece of paper.
"Let me see it," I insist.
"Well..." he mumbles. I take the paper out of his hand and read it.
"Guards Lockson and Samson, her maid Matilda, and..." I reread the next name. "Uncle Horatio?" I ask.
"You were one of the last people to see her," he stutters, trying to explain.
"So?" There's no way this is what they think.
He pauses and can't look me in the eye.
"You're a suspect"
Arabella's POV
I wake up back in the infirmary. Sunlight streams through the windows. A bird chirps outside. I get a light grey robe and walk to the window.
A little blue bird sits on the oak tree outside the window. I open the window and stick my finger out. "Hello, what is your name?" I ask, even though I won't get a response. "My name is Arabella, but you can call me Ari," I continue.
The bird chirps back, almost like a reply. I lift my finger and release it out to the sky. I wish I was that free.
"Your Majesty, you're awake," a voice behind me says. I turn around to see Doctor Williams. "How do you feel?" He asks.
"Better, thank you doctor. Can you tell me more about what happened?" I inquire.
"You may want to take a seat," he gestures to the bed I slept on. I sit down and listen to him.
"When the Advisors meeting you called started, you were nowhere to be seen. So they walked back to your bed chambers, and saw your guards dead outside your door. When they opened your door, they saw you collapsed on the floor," Doctor Williams informs me.
"How did the guards die?" I ask him. Never before has an attempt on my life gotten past my guards. The rebels are getting smarter.
"Their throats were slit," he says like it's no big deal. I never personally knew those guards, but I knew they had families. I will write them condolence letters as soon as I am well.
"When your advisors found you, they brought you straight to me. I gave you a tonic, and 3 days later you woke up," he continues.
"I was out for three days!" I can't believe it.
"Five. You just woke up from a two day nap. You were lucky. If we had found you a few hours later, it would be too late," Doctor Williams tells me.
I gather myself. "What type of poison was it?"
"I don't know. It started killing you very quickly, but we don't know much else. We were hoping you could help fill in the blanks."
I tell him about what I did that day, from the prisoner to the maid. I tell him about my symptoms. He nods his head slowly.
"Thank you your majesty. You may go about your day, but I'm afraid you will have to sleep in here tonight."
"Who are the suspects?" I ask him. He hands me a list of names. The fourth one shocks me. "Yazmin isn't a suspect. She would never hurt me," I tell him.
"She was one of the last people to see you, she got close to you, and she knows her way around the castle. She's a suspect," he informs me, leaving to go to his office, and I walk into the hall.
I don't know where to go. They will still be searching my room for clues. I definitely can't go to Yazmin's room since she's a suspect. I need to tell the rebels that their attack failed and I am still strong.
I walk to the throne room.
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I really liked writing this chapter because it showed Arabella's and Yazmin's backgrounds, as well as introduced a new character.
Tell me what you think!
Who do you think poisoned Arabella? Do you think Yazmin is guilty?
Make sure to vote and comment, I really appreciate it!
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The Queen of Luania
Fantasia"A weak Queen is a dead Queen" When Arabella became Queen of Luania, she thought it was all ballgowns and dancing. 4 years later, she has learned that it is quite the opposite. As she and her allies play a complicated game of love, hate, peace, chao...
