The White Dove

Yin and Yang

For someone who also writes historical fiction, thanks for adding MA to your reading list!

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"GET IN THERE WENCH!"

A prison guard shoved her in there and left abruptly as soon as his job was done.

"LET ME OUT!", she yelled, banging on the metal bars, leaving bloody scratches on her hands as she tried desperately to be let out.

Currently, all the soldiers ignored her pleas. They were under new management now.

Which meant the Princess Consort would receive no help from them.

Lying with her back to the bars, she paused momentarily as she had exhausted her voice to the point of cracking.

Placing her hands on her forehead, she moaned. It could be seen clearly that rats scurried every which way across the muddy ground of the palace dungeons.

Still hearing the cackles of her enemies reverberating through her ears, she pondered over how everything had gotten to this point.

Was it when...No, that wasn't it. Could it have been? No, that would have happened either way.

Maybe this all started when she agreed to the alliance...or well technically she initiated it in the first place.

Had that been what laid the groundwork for this messy predicament?

Coming to the Oriental Masked King's kingdom?

It felt like it was so long ago now...Was it really only several years ago?

Several years ago...

Her royal carriage came to an abrupt halt once the rider reached their destination.

Opening the curtain, she titled her head to get a closer view of her new home.

Up ahead loomed an immense fortress lodged in the mountains; ample men scurried back-and-forth from the palace as they went on their way like it was any other day.

It would have been for her too, but it just happened to be her wedding day.

Wed to a man who had ridden ahead of her the entire way from the inner palace of the Conqueror's kingdom. Her brother, the Conqueror, had been ultimately cajoled by her to offer his own cherished sister as a means of procuring an alliance with the Oriental Masked King. All in the name of defeating pirates!

She could just imagine the grimace on his face now, knowing that his sister was in the hands of a unknown stranger who had never met her before, especially someone of his beastly reputation.

However, if she was to honor her nation, then she must put duty above all else and make this work.

Secretly, she wished the rumors circling about her betrothed were not true, especially as all his prior concubines lay buried in the ground, but if they were...well then she would do everything in her power to survive.

"We've arrived, your Highness," uttered a servant dressed in blue and white linen outside the coach, pulling aside a stool for her to step on as she descended.

With a curt nod, she continued ogling the sights right in front of her. Sunset made the orange rays highlight the shadows of the ancient stone castle, giving it a more prominent look to the Oriental Masked King's lair. Ahead, a steep incline led to a winding stone staircase where one would climb towards the castle high in the sky.

Being as the palace was set high on a cliff, she watched her step, careful not to fall into the gorge below where she might meet a rocky watery grave. Porters carried her little luggage up the steps quickly, passing her with a quick bow on the way up. Coming from a sedentary life hidden away in the inner palace, climbing these stairs was quite a workout for this soon-to-be princess consort.