N'kaw cawed as I slipped deeper into her vision, urging her to perch by the window and watch Leopold inside his bedchamber.
He shrugged into his favourite leopard-skin coat, sheathed his sword and daggers to his belt and strode out of the bedchamber. Ordering his guards to stay behind, he left the palace alone and rode his horse toward the northern ridge.
Seeing him standing before thousands of graves, I groaned in sadness, rocking myself by the fading fire. A nagging fear within told me my brother was about to do something that would forever alter our relationship.
I peered closer, feeling my raven shudder, at the small bundle wrapped in royal blue cloth in Leopold's hands. I recognised the embroidered crest from our nursery—it was my old blanket. For a moment, a tiny hope sparked. Was he thinking of me? Did he remember who we had once been?
Then he lifted both hands into the air and the blanket fell away, revealing the tiny skeleton of a child no older than four.
The nagging fear bloomed, spreading into every limb in my body. I knew those bones. They were Dahlia's, our little sister, who died of fever long before either of us dreamed of crowns. Our parents mourned her and never had any child after.
Leopold mumbled a spell and the dead child opened empty eyes as rotted flesh began spreading from her skull to her feet. He grinned. “There,” he whispered. “Our family is whole again. Two against one.”
I howled in anger and bitterness, detaching my sight from N'kaw as she flew away from me into the forest. My guards rushed close while my handmaid held me to her chest.
The nostalgia that had chained me for years vanished in that moment. I reached through the minds of every living scout and the resistance soldiers hidden around the valley, rousing some of them from sleep, until they heard my voice inside their thoughts.
Their fear faded quickly into calm when they realised I wouldn't control them. They had a choice: to march with me as their queen or move against me as my enemy.
“March,” I commanded as the council stood by my side. “Tonight, I choose the kingdom over my brother.”
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "relinquish power".
Thank you for visiting my blog.
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