Prologue
She walked up to thecrumbling stone walls, a black iron gate with large sharp spirals upon the top,sat in front of her. Behind her, nothing but snow crusted fields. No vegetationin sight, only cold, lonely, hard ice surrounded her. The ice crunched underher leather boots, which were so much more comforting than the slippers thatusually accessorized her feet, with every step her heart hammered in her chest,her breath warm in the chilling air. Small snowflakes brushed her eyelids asshe pushed the gate inwards, her frostbitten hands shaking and raw. Harder shepushed, after a few moments of shoving and attempting to squeeze through, herfeet finally slipped onto the packed ice on the other side.
She wobbled forward,hoping for some kind shelter to bunk down into, somewhere warm and comfortable.I won't get much more than a barn with hay at thisrate. She thought. Her mind has been spinning in spirals all day, with thevoices, with all she's leaving behind, running from, attempting to protect thefuture.
Her cape billowed inthe air, drops of ice clung to her cape. In the distance, small lights twinkledin her eyes. She touched the edge of her belly,where the truth still slept, unknowing. It felt as if she was moving closerto heaven. This propelled her faster through the snow, a promise of heaven, apromise of hope and light.
She was almost there...
* * * * * *
Through the stonecastle, hefty footsteps sounded through the halls, moving at lightning speed.His robes swished around him as he rounded corners, followed by themetal-covered guards. His heart throbbed in his chest, a letter clinched in hishands, his palms sweating so profusely that the ink is beginning to smudge. Hisfootsteps raced faster until he gripped ahold of the door and slammed it opento where she was supposed to be, but she was not. Her soft feminine bedroom ispainted soft pink with gold trim on the walls, a bed specially made for her,feathers in the pillows imported from the finest a King could obtain. Herphotos still framed in dainty golden frames, the rose-colored robe she lastwore thrown over her white vanity chair, makeup still open as if waiting forher hands to reach out.
He fell to his knees,silence crashing like a wave before his scream of uttershock, disbelief, and heartbreak tore through the stone corridors... The wind whistled in the ears of those who heard the brokenpiercing screams of a king, betrayed and broken.
Guards piled around,sheathing their swords and bowing their heads, eyes downcast. The Queen, gone.Their sorrow for their King showed as they lifted him upon their shoulders andcarried him into his chambers. As the men laid the King down on his blue duvet,the kings hand reached up towards his chest and he mumbled,
“Shattered I lie, yet once I danced,
A gift of grace, now circumstance.
Seven shards glint where truth is spun,
Seek the soul, the hidden one.
Blood of stars and silent cries,
Crown-less still, but royal ties.
She who walks with fractured past,
Must mend the glass, and rise at last.
For when the pieces find their place,
She'll stand to guard this dying race.
But fail—and shadow claims the throne,
The beast shall feast; the light begone."
After a rasping breath, his heart ceased tobeat.
