(13x Featured, Award Winner)
She is ruthless. She is scorned. And her blood? The darkest shade of blue.
***
When Queen Aravena basically life-threatens Gunderson, an evil merchant, to find the best warrior candidate in just a day, she doesn't know h...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Aravena T
he world burned around me. Walls cracked. Screams echoed outside. Sky sobbed in agony and growled in pain as thunder sparked.
And I?
My numb fingers grasped the golden knobs of the pitch-black door.
The only intact wooden object in the entire palace.
But for how long?
I pushed the screeching doors open and dragged my feet inside.
The rain seemed to scream louder in this dark room. Shutters of the big window were slamming against the walls ahead of me. The cold air of Winter seemed colder or was it my bones?
I didn't know.
I didn't care.
Not until my feet hit something in the darkness.
Thunder sparked outside and my breath hitched.
Violin...
It was about to burn!
"N-No..." I shook my head and hastened to raise my trembling hands.
Warm blue glow seeped out of my palms and engulfed the violin.
Brother's gift gleamed for one last time before it vanished.
This place was wasted. Nothing was safe here. No one! Perhaps, that was the reason everyone—
A soft noise of sniffle perked my ears.
My head snapped toward the right and my frantic eyes searched through the darkness.
When nothing graced my vision, I tried heightening my senses. It was then I could spot a vague silhouette of woman lying on the floor.
She was curled up on the floor, facing away from me. Dark red blood bathed her body as she trembled hard, clutching the left side of her stomach.
Oh, Superior Strength!
Without wasting a second, I rushed toward her.
What was she doing in this chamber? That too, in this chaos—
Thunder struck again at that moment and my breathing stopped.
Lady Elene...
I hastened further to reach her and dropped beside her.
"L-Lady Elene..." I whispered, grabbing her head and resting it on my lap, "Oh, Superior Strength, Lady Elene wha- how- who!"
That was when I noticed why she was holding her stomach so tightly.
With trembling fingers, I grasped the black hilt of the bloody knife over her cold, crimson fingers.
I gulped hard and glanced at the squirming lady Elene on my lap.
