The Blood King's Bride

Chapter Two

Elena made her way back to her room. Once she reached her bedroom, inside her closed space, she began pacing. She was strung out and scared thinking of a way to escape her predicament. She didn't want to get married to the Blood King.

No! That will never happen! She thought.

He was popular in all the lands for his tyranny and his love for pain.

Rumors have it that if he doesn't cause himself some sort of bodily harm at a particular time every day, he would not be satisfied or happy, thereby making his tyranny towards those around him even worse.

If she gets married to this kind of person, there is no probability of her surviving. She wondered what she did to her father to make him hate her so because if he didn't, no matter if he acknowledges her or not he would not want to send her to the Blood King.

The only way left for her was to escape the palace.

She continued her pacing while drafting out her plans in her mind. As she finally thought of a way to get herself free from the palace, her room was kicked open fiercely, with no respect whatsoever, and by a palace maid.

"The king wishes to see you." The maid said with a sneer.

"You should be grateful. For the first time in your useless life, you finally have a worthy purpose." She said with a mocking tone, and then she left her room the same way she came.

Elena stood there silent for a while. She was used to this kind of treatment, especially from maids, who support her mother. She took a deep breath and started making her way out, towards the throne room.

As her room was in the quarters reserved for her mother, the distance to the throne room wasn't much. She already knew the King's reason for calling her. She arrived at the throne room and made her way into the hall.

The hall was huge. There were twelve golden pillars in the hall, six on the left and six on the right. They were arranged in a vertical order if facing the throne seat. There was a huge pathway in the middle of both pillars and a red carpet had been placed as some sort of partway towards the throne.

The carpet was where people, Elite and commoners alike, came to make requests or grant tributes to the King. The pillars by the left and right side of the palace hall, was where the different political factions who advised the king stood.

As she had been listening to all their discussions going on in the throne room, she knew there were forty-two political advisors in total; 21 on both sides. The majority of their discussions happen with both factions arguing their heads out. It would have been funny if they didn't have to make a serious decision in the end.

As she walked down the red carpet, she noticed their absence. The people present only were the scribes - who sat very close to the stairs leading to the throne - the king, and her step-mother, the current queen.

When she reached an acceptable position, she knelt on both knees and bowed her head as was their custom for a female. A female could not look at the head on the throne - the king.

"Elena" the King's voice boomed in the hall. That was the first time he had ever addressed her directly.

"You have been given a duty, which you must carry out for the best of this kingdom. You are to be given to the blood king as a Bride, and you must carry yourself properly when representing our kingdom." If they were expecting any kind of response from her, they showed no sign of it.

Having concluded his decree, the king spoke: "Arise -"

"Why must I get married to the Blood king?" Elena interrupted. She never believed that her heart could break more than it already did, but as she knelt there, listening to her father speak, she felt her heart shattering to a million pieces.

The hall was strangely quiet. One could hear the sound of a pin if it were to fall on the hall floors. That was the first time that Elena had talked back to anybody, both maids and royalty. Talking back to the King and Queen was something of an achievement for her.

"Why do I have to get married to the Blood king?" She said again. As she had already made it this far, she might as well continue.

As if waking up from a stupor, the king said frowning. "It is your duty."

"My duty? I'm just a nobody to you. Why do I have to do it? Why can't the princess do it?

"What do you mean? You are also a princess." The king said with a sneer.

"My step-sister, Clara, can get married to the Blood king. She is the favored one in the palace. A union between her and the Blood king will bring tremendous possibilities to our kingdom."

"Clara cannot get married to the Blood king. Her future rests on the future of this kingdom. She is to be the next ruler, and whoever she marries will rule alongside her. If she gets married to the Blood king, our Kingdom will be under his reign. I do not want that. All I need is just his support."

"Since you call me a princess, and also since I'm the legal child of the king, why can't the future of this kingdom rest on my shoulders? I'm your first child, father. Even if the kingdom does not know of it." There was a smashing sound next to her. The King had thrown his glass goblet at her and a piece had slashed her cheek.

"How dare you talk back to me? Who gave you the audacity? I have made a decree and you shall adhere to it!"

She didn't know where her boldness was coming from, but she embraced it as she blurted "what did mother ever do to you? Why do you hate her so? Just grant me this request and please answer me, as this might be the last time you will ever see me."

The king laughed at her mockingly.

"You want to know why I hate your mother? I'll tell you why. She disgusts me. I had no use for her. She had done her part in making sure I got the throne. I didn't need her anymore."

"Father, Mother was a princess of another kingdom, but you used and treated her like trash!" She felt her blood boiling below her skin as she was kneeling, squeezing her fingers into her palms hard, her eyes facing the floor.

"She died, and you didn't even care! You replaced her with another who isn't even up to her status, and a bastard at that -" there was a gasp which must have come from the queen, as she heard the king stand up. Even with her head bowed, she could still feel the fury emanating from the king.

"How dare you! Guards! Take her away! Lock her up in her room till the day she is to serve her duty! I regret the day I slept with your mother. You should have never been born!"

There was silence and then the patter of feet coming towards her direction. She felt herself being held on both sides as she was dragged without care out of the hall, all the way to her bedroom. She was thrown harshly on the floor, then her door was banged shut from the outside. She knew that they would stand there making sure that she won't be able to get out of her calamity.

Elena did not get up from the floor but instead laid flat on it. She felt her cheek itching and touched it, only to notice the blood on her fingers. She had been bleeding and she never felt it.

She enjoyed the peace she felt at that point. Laying on the floor, she took a deep breath and then let it out. She felt her eyes mist up, but she would not cry. She had endured all sorts of things in the palace. She would not break because of it. Since she was all by herself she might as well help herself. She was going to leave the palace.

She was going to escape.

Elena stood up and took a look at what has been her haven for a long. The extravagant room that had once been filled with life during the time her mother was alive, was now dull in contrast. The French windows were open yet she never noticed anything outside of it. She took a look at the bed had slept in with her mother. As no one took care of her, she had always been the one to wash the sheets. All valuable things in the room were gone and all they had was a locket with a mini portrait of her mother.

Sighing, she walked to the wall behind the bed. There was a huge painting of a deer in a meadow which was painted on it. She walked towards the picture, bent down, and placed her fingers up on one of the petals of a single - but not obvious - flower that made the wall open. It was here she found the existence of secret passages in the palace. Once she entered it, the wall closed back. She was never coming back here again.

She started her way down the passage making complicated twists and turns around corners. She was almost at the end of the passage leading to the entrance of the palace outer walls when she heard a conversation. It was between two maids. They caught her attention, as something about the way they spoke made her suspicious, so she listened.

"...she was poisoned?" One of them asked.

"Of course she was poisoned! Where were you when all these happened?" Ignoring her, the first maid spoke again.

"Why was she poisoned?"

"In life, you fight for the things you want. The king saw no need for her, so he allowed her to carry it out."

"So you're telling me that the king allowed the current queen to kill the former Queen all because he saw no need for her?"

What? Elena thought. This was her mother they were talking about! Her mother, who was killed by the support of the king!

"I'm surprised you didn't hear of it."

"I was at home then. I had to take a leave of absence. My mother was sick."

"Oh, then you missed a lot! Come, let's go to the garden. I'll narrate the whole story. Everybody in the palace knows about it but obviously, no one cares to say a word!" Their voices grew dimmer as they left, but Elena stood there, squeezing her fingernails into her palms till they bled.

Ha! I knew it! She thought.

She had never had a reason to return, but because of this information, she did. She had endured all the abuse, insults, molestations, and all other things done to her, but finding out about her mother's death was the one thing she won't sit back to endure!

She was going to come back and make them pay! All those who made her and her mother's lives miserable will suffer! Her father and his wife will have a taste of what it feels like to be degraded, insulted, and molested! She will take away their power and their pride. She will strip them of all their wealth and glory!

No! She won't kill them. That will be too easy for them.

She will make them bleed and suffer slowly, till they will lose the memory of even their name! This so-called kingdom that they love too much, she will take it away from them! She will come back and have her revenge!

She will make sure they regret ever being born!