My breath rushed at a ceaseless pace.
'What are you saying? I have a deal with your father, we will get married, we will have the heir and in return he will restore the magic and release...'.
He didn't let me finish.
He rose from the throne and faced me on his feet. He placed his crown against his hair and watched me from top to bottom.
'None of that is going to happen the way you wanted it to, you see, the plans have changed.'
He ran a hand across my cheek. It was completely filled with gold rings. Why did he have so many jewels? Why did he have the King's crown?
'I hadn't noticed your beauty the first time I saw you. What a pity it's going to waste.'
'I want to see your father.'
I never thought I would wish to see Lucius as I did at that moment. It seems that the monsters overcome each other on different levels of terror.
'My father is indisposed,' he continued to stroke my cheek, now extending to my chin. 'It's just you and me here, we can do whatever we want. Before I kill you, of course.'
Hit him. The voice reappeared inside me.
And almost as if the command was given, I raised my knee and struck him right in the middle of...
Prince Jonah fell back from the pain, shouting obscenities at me.
'I said I want to see your father, and don't you ever touch me like that again,' I said, this time in a cold tone.
'You have passion, I like it, if I didn't have to kill you, I would surely make you my lover. But I repeat, my father is not here.'
'We had a deal, if he doesn't show up right now...'
'What are you going to do?'
A recognizable voice spoke to me from behind.
I turned around alert and found...
Marco.
What was he doing here?
'You were right, she is not a lady at all,' Jonah said to my brother Marco.
Marco smiled at me like he always did when Dad defended him for no reason. He walked towards the Prince and knelt before him. Why was he showing so much respect for Jonah?
'Marco Pleiton, my promise will be fulfilled, fear not. No matter what tricks she resorts to, she will not be saved,' said Prince Jonah.
And now what was I supposed to do?
I tried to understand the scene.
My brother Marco kneeling before the Prince. The Prince saying he would keep his promise. There was not much doubt left in my mind.
'She has to suffer, she deserves to suffer as much as possible.' Marcus would not take his eyes off mine.
I could never understand why he hated me; I understood it even less now. I didn't understand how he could have all this resentment towards his own sister. He did not know that he was not my blood brother.
'You are right,' Jonah replied. 'Bring them in,' he said, and instantly the doors I had entered opened.
Through them, all the men who came with me, including Aaron and Russell, were bound hand and foot, with their mouths covered, prisoners of the guards of Bieno.
'Release them now,' I demanded, realizing my disadvantage.
I saw the panic on each of the prisoners' faces.
Russell had more panic in his eyes, as his was clearly concerned about me.
'I'm sorry sweetie, I won't, they're on my territory, they're my prisoners.' Jonah settled the Crown once more and sat back on the throne.
Marcus stood beside him, with his chest heaving, his hands behind his back.
'You Majesty, you should call them all in,' Marcus said to him as a morbid suggestion.
'What a good idea my right hand man. Let them all in,' he shouted and this time, the side doors opened. My eyes could not accept the image that followed.
In chains, walking one after the other, my sister Mena and Galaga advanced at a slow pace. There was a third person chained to them, although I did not know who it was, Aaron and Russell reacted instantly.
It was a man, of a robust build, prominent beard and long hair. He was in worse shape than the girls, and that was saying something. He was dirty and shabby, with torn clothing.
Mena began to cry when she saw me, while Galaga scolded me with her gaze.
The man was as if paralyzed, as if asleep, as if dead in life.
Putting it all together, I understood who the third person was.
It was Russell's father.
'What is this?' I asked them both and then directed my question directly to my brother. 'How could you do that to Mena? Where's Dad?'
'Don't talk about them, you're nothing to them.' Marco answered angrily.
Did he know the truth? How could he know?
'How could you do this?' I repeated, ignoring his statement.
'If I helped the prince, he offered to kill you. Of course I accepted. Mena refused to take our side. She was still defending you after all the suffering you brought into our lives. But father was smarter, took all the money he could and left the Kingdom.'
My mind could not process all the facts at once.
'It's our sister Marco, you can't treat her like that.' I insisted again. I had to believe that there was still an ounce of goodness left in his heart.
'She's my sister, and I can do what I want with her, she is my property now that father is gone,' he replied at once.
'I am your sister too, and I demand that you release her right now.'
I pressed something I shouldn't have pressed, I took it too far.
Marco left Jonah's side, who said nothing about what we were discussing, only seemed to enjoy the scene, as if we were an entertainment show.
'You're not my sister, but I think you know that, don't you? Listen to this Mena, listen to how the sister you protected so much admits that she is not of our blood and that because of her our mother is dead.'
I never thought Marco could hurt me as much as he did at that moment. Every word he had spoken had been little daggers to the heart. How could he blame me for our mother's death? He was completely insane.
'It is true that I am not your blood sister, but I love Mena and I loved mother with all my heart and I will not let you blame me for her death.' I answered him without fear or hesitation, with the assurance of love on my side.
'You have no idea what you are talking about, she is dead because of you and so will Mena! Both dead because of you!'
My eyes moved to Mena, who struggled in vain against the chains with which she was held. Galaga stood by her side and watched her struggle with sadness and grief.
'No! Please! What do you want from me? I will do anything but please release them all!' I pleaded not knowing what else to do.
My idea of blowing up the room had been totally ruled out.
And using my powers would be very risky, I could hurt the people I loved. I didn't know how to really use them, how much could my power do? I only knew that I could heal, that I could create things, but what could I create that would save us all? I couldn't do much more without the sign.
'I don't want anything from you anymore. I would have married you just to enjoy you, but I made a deal with your brother, and I will keep my word. So now I just want to see you suffer for having rejected me, twice,' Jonah replied instantly.
'What about the heir? Your father...'
'My father, my father, my father, all the time talking about my father! Am I not more interesting?Either way, you should know what happened to him, you naughty girl,' he told me and rose from the throne.
He walked a few steps behind him and held the long, tall cloth behind the throne. He ran it aside and there I could see what had become of King Lucius.
He was sitting in a wheelchair, with his eyes open, but his expression was gone. His mouth was slightly open and his body was totally gray.
He said to me before all his soldiers, 'You did this to him and for you I had to take the throne.'
'You are a liar, I didn't do anything to him, you always wanted the throne and you couldn't wait for your father to die.' I replied, even though Marco came to me and slapped me.
'Quiet, listen to your King,' he said, enjoying the blow.
I took my face and tried to calm my instincts.
My magic was growing, almost impossible to contain, if I didn't control myself, I was going to explode and I didn't know what would happen if I exploded.
'You see, because he made the deal, and not me, the conditions changed. There will be no wedding, as I am the one who does not want to marry you now. This is as far as you will go princess, as I would keep you alive for my own amusement, but I promised your brother that I would get rid of you. And since my father is not technically dead, but in a state of eternal unconsciousness, he can still maintain the curse. The curse will come to your Kingdom and when it does, I will be sure to kill every last one of your rats.'
There was no deal.
I had no leverage.
I had nothing to offer.
What was I supposed to do?
'So, let's start having fun, let's see...' he said walking towards the men who had accompanied me. 'If you take one step in my direction, or try anything, I will kill them all.' He told me.
He stepped in front of each one, watching them carefully.
I stood still, as Marco was very close to me and noticed the knife hanging from his belt.
'Which one of you is a Laoch? A little bird told me that the beautiful princess was interested in one of them. I want to see my competitor, ' Jonah asked maliciously.
My body tensed and I stepped forward.
Marco came even closer, cutting the distance.
How did he know that name?
I turned my head to the shackles and looked at the pain on Galaga's face. She was hurt, wounded inside and out. What had they done to her? How much information would they have taken from her? Even worse, how had they gotten it out of her?
'Enough Jonah, please,' I begged him, not knowing what else to do.
'It's King Jonah, and it's over when I say it's over.'
He compared each of them until he took both Laoch by the shoulder.
'The same eyes gave them away.' He waved to the guards to bring them to the front.
I tried to move forward, but Marco wouldn't let me get to them. He grabbed me by the throat and, as I feared, threatened me with the knife.
'Stay still, little sister, the best is yet to come.'
Jonah forced the guards to bring them to their knees.
'My sword,' he asked another guard, who brought him exactly what he ordered.
'No!' I shouted over and over, trying to get free of Marco's strong arms. As I tried to free myself, Marco lowered the knife and stuck it in the middle of my ribs. I screamed in pain, and began to bleed.
Galaga, chained, tried to fight but in vain, she fell under the weight of the chains.
Russell was trying to break free and run to me.
'Pleiton, behave yourself,' the prince warned him as if he cared about me. He turned away again. 'One of you is named Russell, right? Your good friend Galaga told me some very interesting things about the happy couple. Looking at you both, I must confess that I don't understand what she saw in a simple subject, having the chance to marry me.'
He was walking back and forth, dragging his sword on the floor. The grinding of the iron against the cold ceramics pierced my bones.
The pain in my ribs had spread around my body, it hurt more and more.
'How could I know?' he said maliciously.
He turned and looked at me.
'I can't tell, so I might as well kill you both,' he said.
Jonah raised his sword and pointed it directly at one of the two.
I saw the sword go straight into his heart.
He managed to scream.
'Long live Queen Gaia!'
Jonah stuck it deep into his body.
I shouted as loud as I could, with all my strength, but there was nothing I could do.
Aaron Laoch was dead.