The Blood King's Bride

Elena truly loved James; she did. But as she stood there, watching how he smothered her stepsister with kisses, she was surprised at the fact that she did not feel even an ounce of pain. It was so much so that she stood there, studying the complexities of the way he kissed her; it almost seemed as if he was swallowing her whole face.

James had never kissed her like that. The highest he had ever done was to give her a feather light kiss on her lips, one she doubts she even felt. She supposed she should have seen it coming, the betrayal, that is. Nothing had been going right for her ever since the death of her beloved Queen Mother. And her father, the King, did not waste his time replacing her.

She doubts that her father ever loved her mother. As soon as she had reached the age where she could understand her surroundings, She realized that the marriage between her parents was just a farce. Oh, her mother loved her father, but the King never even glanced at her.

She had heard the gossip between her mother's maids, on the day of her mother's death, that the only reason her existence came to fruition was as a result of a drunken stupor her father had fallen into. He slept with her mother, mistaking her for one of his lovers.

Being her naive and stupid self, her mother laid with her father, even though she knew he thought her another person.

Her father woke up the next day, and realizing what he had done, he spat on her and left the room in disgust. He never saw her again till her death.

Her mother was abandoned in her quarters, and as time flew, even the palace servants lost their respect for her. She gave birth with the help of a village midwife and not the palace midwives because, for some reason, they were 'busy' and therefore could not attend to her.

Elena grew up with only the existence of her mother. Despite being a royal princess, her childhood was no less than a commoner. The kingdom was not informed of her birth, and even if anyone in the palace wasn't in support of the way she was treated, no one said a word.

She remembered always asking her mother about her father. Still, as she grew up, she came to understand that her father never acknowledged her. So she stopped asking.

When she was fifteen, her mother was poisoned. Her death was recorded as a natural cause, and no one cared to investigate. That same day, she was buried as a commoner. Two days later, the King remarried.

If Elena had any hope before her father finally acknowledged her, it was crushed when she saw the vast difference between how he treated her and her stepsister. They were both of the same age, and her stepsister looked a lot like their father, so her father had been with another woman even before she had been conceived.

Elena was made a palace clown. She was laughed at, sneered at, spat at, beaten, and had almost been raped. Her hope dwindled every day, and her heart turned colder, but all the same, she still had hope.

She had met James, who was the son of a Duke of a nearby kingdom, and at first, had thought him to be genuinely concerned for her. She took him as a friend and even told him the most embarrassing secrets she had of herself. There was finally someone she could converse with, and she was happy about that.

But with time, she started to realize that she had never been his goal in the first place. She realized through his subtle behavior that all his kindness towards her was all really for show. His main target had been her stepsister.

Knowing that her stepsister had made it her goal to take everything that even created a spark of interest in her, she was not surprised that they finally ended up together.

She left them in the hallway and made her way down to her quarters. Fortunately, no one resided where her mother had previously been, which was her haven.

As she walked to her room, she changed her mind and decided to go to the throne room. Using the secret passages she had found in the palace, not only had she been able to discover so many palace secrets, but she had even been present in all the throne room meetings.

She made her way to the wall corner directly behind the throne seat. As she was on the other side of the wall, the holes on the wall in front of her made it visible for her to view the back of the throne seat. She could see that, but not the throne room. However, that did not prevent her from hearing what was being discussed.

"Your majesty, how about we offer Elena as a bride to the Blood king? She is a princess also." That was the new queen, her stepmother.

She wanted her to be offered to the Blood King?

No! Her father would never agree to it!

Even though she had lost all hope in him, he couldn't be that evil.

"That's a great idea!" He acknowledged. Then he faced the scribes and announced;

"Let it be known, that from this day henceforth, Princess Elena," he said the 'Princess' with a sneer,

"...would be given as a bride to the Blood king; a tribute of the relationship between the two kingdoms."

Ha.

Elena made her way back to her room. Once she reached her bedroom, she began pacing in the comfort of her closed space. Tired and scared, thinking of a way to escape this disaster. 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 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 ever surviving. She wondered what she did to her father to make him hate her so because if he didn't, no matter if he accepted her or not, he would not want to send her to the Blood King.

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

She continued pacing while drafting out 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 nonetheless.

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

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

Elena stood there tight-lipped. She was used to this kind of treatment, especially from maids, who supported her stepmother. She took a deep breath and started making her way out, heading for 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 purpose 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 pathway towards the throne.

The carpet was where people, Elite and commoners alike, made requests or granted tributes to the King. The pillars by the left and right side of the palace hall were 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, twenty-one 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 the absence of the factions. The scribes were present only, who sat very close to the stairs leading to the throne - the King, and her stepmother, the current queen.

When she reached a reasonable 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 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 a huge achievement for her.

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

Recovering from his shock, the King spoke, 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 snidely.

"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 fate 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." Instantly there was a smashing sound next to her. The King had thrown his glass goblet at her, causing a piece of it to slash 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, whether you like it or not!"

She didn't know where her boldness was coming from, but she embraced it and blurted out,

"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 could feel her blood boil below her skin as she knelt, squeezing her fingers tightly into her palms, her eyes on 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, and the King stood 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, and then her door was banged shut and locked from the outside. She knew that they would stand there to make sure she couldn't escape her misfortune.

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 from the slash on her cheeks, and yet 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 forced herself not to cry. She had endured all sorts of things in the palace, and she would not break because of one more disappointment. 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 had been her sanctuary for a long time. The extravagant room once filled with life when her mother was alive was now dull in contrast. The French windows were open, yet she never noticed anything outside 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 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 palace's outer walls entrance when she heard a conversation. It was between two maids. They snagged her attention, as something about the way they spoke made her suspicious, and 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! She knew it!

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 until they 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!

Elena finally arrived at the entrance of the castle gate. To avoid the guards from seeing her, she sneaked out in the form of a maid. It would have been hard to discern her as she was never treated, especially in the castle, so her clothes were worse than a maid's. Her heart was beating hard when she reached the guards.

Fortunately, they didn't suspect anything, so she left the castle without a problem. It was a good thing that not everyone knew her face. They have heard stories about the bastard child, but most haven't seen her or even care to. She spent most of her time in the castle library or her secret passage hideout, listening to the King and his advisors. Thanks to the extensive knowledge she accumulated, she knew following the Forest would lead her to the border between her Kingdom and the Kingdom of Neba.

Neba was her mother's homeland. Her mother had always talked about that Kingdom, its scenery, the food, and the culture. To be honest, Elena had always been a bit curious about her Kingdom - the Kingdom of Pres. But after the way her own family in the castle treated her, she doubted if the people would accept her if they found out her real identity. From what she had gained from the discussions between the King and his advisors, the people are fiercely loyal to their King - the same King she wants to destroy.

So as far as she was concerned, going to the Kingdom of Neba was a good idea. She would start a new life and map out her journey towards getting revenge.

Kingdom of Pres,

Back at the palace...

The maid looked at her colleague who left the garden with a look of derision. She had never seen such a shameless person in her life; then again, all the people in this Kingdom were. She was sent here as a spy by the King of Neba to find out about the sad ending of his only daughter. The King had never been a fan of the King of Pres. So after finding out about the mysterious way his daughter died, he instantly became suspicious. The King of Neba had an uncanny sense of intuition. It turns out he was right again.

His daughter didn't die of natural cause.

She was killed.

She smiled. Looks like there was going to be a war.

IN THE FOREST...

As Elena made her way deeper into the forest, she took in her surroundings. She saw plants, trees, and animals that she had only seen in books in the palace.

There was an animal that caught her interest. It had a hide of golden brown and very unique horns. The horns look connected, made up of different connected horns. Its eyes were black. She didn't see any white or any other color, just black. It looked soulless, but she found it very cute if she looked behind the eyes. She wondered if it was a mystical creature. She has heard of them, but no one has seen any in a long time.

The animal was grazing, and she just couldn't help herself to study it, not worried at all if she would be caught.

As she moved, the animal paused its eating and looked at her. She stood very still as the animal did so as not to scare it, and they were like that for a while. Sensing no threat from her, the animal resumed its grazing. She moved closer to the animal slowly so that the animal won't be spooked. Except for the occasional twitch of its ears, the animal paid no heed to her.

She walked closer to the animal, so she was about an arm's length to it. As she stretched out her hand to touch its hide, the animal paused its grazing and sharply looked up at her. She gasped and retracted her hand a bit, especially after closely viewing the animal's soulless eyes. When she was sure that the animal would cause her no harm, she raised her hand towards it again, slowly until she could feel its hide.

She was in awe as soon as she touched it. She looked at the animal, surprise and admiration shining through her eyes. Its hide felt as soft as silk and yet very sturdy. As she moved her hand through its hide, stroking it, the animal growled in satisfaction.

"You like that, don't you?" The animal released another contented growl in response. She smiled in return and kept dragging her hand across its hide.

"You are the first friend that I've made since I escape from the palace. So I'll name you..." She paused, thinking of a name that could fit the animal to perfection.

"Forest. I'll call you Forest since I met you at the Forest." She laughed at her joke. She continued stroking it, and then she looked at the sky. Seeing as her time had gone, she wished Forest goodbye and ran further into the woods. She looked back at her first friend and saw that it had resumed its grazing.

She smiled.

She alternated her time between walking and running. So finally, before the sun completely went down, she was able to make it to the border of Neba.

She crossed the border and made her way to the throng of people who were filing into its Kingdom. She noticed the guards asking for something resembling a wooden pass. She instantly became nervous as she didn't have one at all.

She studied them closely and realized that they collected the pass from only adult males and females. A child or award could be supported by one or both. Using her small stature to her advantage, she made her way towards an old man in the crowd and supported him, acting as his ward. The man probably could not speak because he looked at her with gratitude.

They grew closer and closer to the guards guarding the gate into the entrance of the Kingdom of Neba. Finally, it was their turn.

"Your pass." One of the guards said. She lowered her head and stood shyly behind the old man she was with, keeping up with her act. After what felt like hours to her, they were finally granted access inside the Kingdom.

Neba was a beautiful country. As she entered the Kingdom, she was greeted with the sight of bustling citizens carrying out their day-to-day activities. It was filled with life. She imagined her mother walking amid the crowd smiling, a royal disguised as a commoner.

Elena wished the old man goodbye, and he, in turn, replied to her with a smile. Thinking about her mother brought a smile to her face. She was sure that the citizens loved her mother and could also freely converse with her, unlike in the Kingdom of Pres, where citizens couldn't look upon a king's face or talk to any of the Royalty. She knew upon seeing this Kingdom that she would find safety here. She had never felt so at peace with her environment, even when she was in the Forest.

She made her way into the throngs of people, buyers and sellers and just normal pedestrians carrying out their different activities. She passed stalls that sold very different and beautiful items. They were bracelets, necklaces, anklets, and very beautiful, colorful clothes for females; headdresses fit a queen and beauty substances for the skin.

Her hands itched to buy some of those items, but she couldn't afford them as she didn't have enough money. Even when she was in the Kingdom of Pres, she was never given an allowance or earned any. It was one of the causes of her malnutrition, which made her seem smaller than most when she was just nineteen years of age.

Elena set to work immediately to begin her new life in Neba, asking about available job openings in different places. Finally, she came upon a restaurant that looked worse for wear and had a poster saying...

HIRING.

A COOK IS NEEDED.

She was very happy upon seeing the sign. She tore the poster and went inside the restaurant.

Although Elena didn't eat well, one of her many skills would be cooking. Back at the palace of Pres, she made use of leftover ingredients to cook for herself. After having the opportunity of tasting the King's food (which no one ever found out about), she could proudly boast about cooking better than the King's most prized chef. That was her secret as she never wanted to cook for the King or his family. Despite her cooking skills, she had so few materials to work on. So she could only eat well if there was a huge ceremony hosted by the King, which included different dishes, thereby providing her with a variety of leftover ingredients.

Elena entered the restaurant and took in its surroundings. The wooden floor creaked whenever she moved. The walls had molds on them, and save for the waiter, there was also what looked like a homeless man who slept atop one of the tables. The tables and chairs weren't in good condition either. They were either broken and supported by some kind of pillar or roughly covered with parts of them already chopped off by rodents.

No wonder they have no customers. She thought. If they could accept her, she would bring good food and change the outlook of the place.

"Hello. What can I help you with?" The waiter said. She guessed that he was also the manager. Seeing as the place was, she doubted anyone would work here, not to talk of him being able to afford any.

The manager was of a short lanky build, and he was extremely thin with beards so full only his eyes were visible. She brought out the poster she tore and gave it to him.

"I'm looking for a job. Are you still hiring?"

The shock was evident on the man's face. He looked around the restaurant, then looked back at her, sadness and disappointment radiating off him.

"We would have loved to hire you, but as you can see, there isn't much to do here. I would soon have to shut down the shop." Elena was quiet for a while.

"What if I can help you bring this restaurant to new heights? I can bring you so many customers that you would get tired of serving." The man's eyes lit up in hope before it quickly dimmed and was replaced with curiosity.

"I have to test your skills first to be sure of that." He said.

"Where is your kitchen?" Elena asked.

"Over here. Just follow me." Knowing that there was nothing he could lose, he took her to a small room at the back of the restaurant. Compared to its serving area, the kitchen was pretty decent.

She took a look around then started removing random ingredients from what was left on the kitchen shelf. Taking out a small pot, she washed it and kept it aside. There was chopping, slicing, boiling, grating, and grinding of different ingredients mixed. Finally, the food was done.

She took a small serving bowl and served the manager what she had cooked up. The manager at first hesitatingly took a spoonful, and then his eyes shone widely as if tasting something rare. He began to eat the remaining food very fast. The food was spicy, so he made little panting sounds as he ate until he finished the food, leaving no stains in the bowl. He released a sigh and looked upwards, a contented smile on his face. Then he faced Elena.

"How was it? She asked him. The man looked up at her, awe and hope illuminating his eyes.

"Wonderful. It was wonderful!".