Prologue
Ardenia A few hours ago
“She’s getting away, go after her!” the men shout as they chase after the woman in the cloak.
She dodges and twists every arrow that comes flying her way as she runs, deeper and deeper into the woods. After a few minutes, everything starts to look the same. Suddenly, a root appears in front of her foot, and she trips and stumbles sideways into the dry creek on her left. She presses her back to the side of the creek, clutching her ankle, waiting for the Duchess’s guards to pass. Gradually the sound of several sets of footsteps approaching fills her ears, and she scrunches up a little to try make herself less visible.
“Lady Mercedes will be infuriated to hear the Miss escaped the same day as her betrothed,” one of the guards exclaims.
“We have to get Miss Kate before she reaches the castle, we can’t be seen trying to capture one of Queen Merideth’s confidents. She couldn’t have gotten far with her injuries,” another suggests.
Then the footsteps fade away. Kate looks down at the 3-inch-long cut on her left calf made by the Duchess Mercedes’s most loyal guard: Sebastian. That was the worst of them all. When she was escaping, she got hit and cut herself a little over her right eyebrow. She had burns across her arms and legs, and bruises on her stomach, and back. All forms of the Duchess’s torture. Abut she hadn’t given in. She couldn’t. Nothing could make her tell the Queen’s secret. The moon glistens above her, illuminating the tip of the castle that she was supposed to be at right now. With Matthew and Meri. Kate stands up and gazes at her destination, then starts the trek to safety.
“Come on, Kate,” Matthew paces across the room anxiously.
“She’ll make her way here any minute now, Kate would not miss one of our weekly group dinners, would she?” Queen Merideth asks.
Merideth doesn’t know about how Kate and I were abducted 2 days ago and tortured for information. Information that could dethrone her; he thinks. He doesn’t want to worry her any more than she must. Matthew had been pacing for about an hour now, and it was clear he was desperate for a sign that Kate was okay.
“Maybe because she’s busy?” Matthew answers. “I haven’t seen her for a while now, and she’s my fiancé.”
Just then, Kate bursts into the room. Queen Merideth takes a moment to take in Kate’s hollow eyes, blood stained clothes, pale skin, thinning figure, and wounds.
“What happened to you!?” The Queen demands more than she asks.
Kate can’t hold in the avalanche of words that are about to spill out of her mouth. She lets the words flow out of her mouth while she takes quick glances out the window between sentences. With every word, Queen Merideth’s face reddens, until she can’t hold it in any longer.
“Is this some type of joke? I can’t believe my own sister would betray me. I won’t. I appreciate a good laugh, but this is taking the lie too far. You. Are. Dismissed.”
With the words, “Who dismisses their friends?” and a look of disgust, Kate stomps out of the room with speed, clearly heading somewhere.
Matthew parts his lips as if he’s about to say something, but then quickly looks away and chases after Kate. The Queen sits down and fans herself, a look of unbelief and shock on her face. Guilt abruptly replaces the look on her face as she goes down the hallway to her private suite, emerging from behind the door with a box minutes later. She then asks a nearby maid where Kate and Matthew went, and heads to the throne room.
“Your Royal Highness,” Kate kneels before King Joseph III. “The Duchess’s guards ambushed us in search of an information that could dethrone Merideth. It may sound like we’re not being honest here, but it is the truth. Duchess Mercedes knows we’re closest to Merideth, and that Meri would tell us everything.”
King Joseph takes this into consideration. “Your story is quite unbelievable, but to stay on the safe side, we have to do something.”
There’s a knock on the door and Queen Merideth strides in with a carved ornate wooden box, the size of her two palms put together.
“I apologize that I have to do this,” Queen Merideth mumbles under her breath.
“Pardon?” Kate says.
Queen Merideth steps forward and puts the box on the table. She lifts the lid, revealing many 2-inch bottles, all made of blue glass, all filled with a clear liquid. She pulls out two and sets them on the table.
The King’s eyes widen at the sight of the two bottles.
“No...” The King mutters loud enough to be heard, but too quiet to make out the words.
“I can’t quite trust you, but if what you’re saying is true, we can’t let my dear sister know that she is the rightful heir to the throne.” There is a small tap outside the door. The Queen is oblivious and keeps talking, while Kate tenses. She finds Matthew’s eyes. Matthew cocks his head towards the door and Kate nods. “-so, when the times comes, everyone will access that knowledge, but it needs to be confidential for now,” the Queen finishes.
Matthew quietly walks to the door, and Kate loads a nearby bow that she got off a knight’s armor statue. Matthew and Kate quickly exchange a glace, then Matthew throws the door open with such force, the thing outside that made the noise is momentarily confused. Using this to her advantage, Kate swiftly let’s go of the string, letting the arrow fly right through the heart of one of the Duchess’s guards, one who happens to be eavesdropping. There’s a thump as Sebastian falls to the floor on the other side of the threshold. With a smug smile, Kate gently sets down the bow and turns half her attention back to the Queen. He totally deserved that; Kate thinks.
“Well, what do we need to do?” Kate asks nonchalantly as the King motions for someone to remove the corpse.
“This is a forgetting elixir. You will forget the secret.” The Queen hands both bottles to Matthew, and he passes one to Kate.
They pull out the corks and toss them aside. The Queen moves to stand next to the King, one hand on his forearm, an unreadable emotion in their expressions. They watch Matthew and Kate lift their bottles up to their lips, tilt, and drink. Only then is it that Queen Merideth
“This magic liquid makes you forget your whole life on earth. It was invented to be used as a form of punishment, for people to live, missing a piece of themselves, and living without the memory of their loved ones. If you didn’t lose ALL your memories, someone could take your other memories, to connect the missing dots and summon up the missing memory. When you lose all your memories though, everyone living here would know something was going on, and they wouldn’t stop until they put together the puzzle pieces. If they can’t find you, they can’t determine the problem.”
“-And that is why we have to send you to earth,” the King completes.
“Exactly. When we send you to earth, we will give you fake memories, so you think you have lived on earth for your whole lives. I’m afraid you won’t remember each other though. There is a 32% chance your memories will return if you are together with people who were from your previous memories. We just can’t risk it.”
Matthew and Kate stand still, making no visible movements until Kate burst as a realizationdawns on her.
“How could you do this to us? You really care more about your position than your friends? When I first met you, I thought I was so lucky, that I was friends with such a considerate, and kind person, always putting others before her. I thought wrong.”
Queen Merideth looks away. “You have a minute before the effects of the elixir start working. Take a moment to say your goodbyes.”
Queen Merideth exits the room without another word, the King not far behind. As soon as the door closes, Kate grabs Matthew’s hand.
“5 years Matthew, I’ve known you for 5 years. I was looking forward to our future, and now we are going to lose everything. I can’t believe this is happening!”
Matthew cups Kate’s face and tips it up, making Kate look up at him.
“Kate, you are my everything. If you know that and you believe it, we will always find each other, always.”
Kate opens her mouth to say something, but Matthew leans in for a soft, lingering kiss. Kate relents, then gives in.
As the remaining second tick by, Kate and Matthew slowly separate, faces showing panic, confusion, then nothing as the world around them goes dark before their eyes.
