She flew through the forest on horseback without a single ounce of care for her safety. She was running out of time faster than she could count. The moment she arrived, she leaped off her steed without even coming to a full stop. She hit the ground running in hopes she wasn’t too late.
Her father was fading fast when she finally made it to him, but his last moments were able to be spent with her. Bullets of sweat ran down his forehead, matting his short brown hair to the side of his face. His green eyes met hers with a dull shine as he looked away, coughing blood into a handkerchief.
She held him in her arms, begging and pleading with him not to go into the light. But it was no use, there was no saving him.
His body shook with a cold chill though he was feverishly warm. He held her hand with what little strength he could still muster.
“Alivia…” His voice spoke shakily.
“Save your breath, Father, please.” She cried.
“L-let me speak…” He coughed again; more blood.
“I don’t have long left.”
“Don’t say such things…”
“When I’m gone, I want you to look after your brother.”
“Please father, hold on, you can’t die. You can’t leave me here.” She said sniffling,
“It will be okay, my wildflower. You’re going to be okay.” He inhaled a shallow breath.
“Please, I can’t live without you.” She said as she clung to me.
Giving her a bittersweet smile, he closed his eyes, succumbing to death’s cold and lifeless hands. A final breath slipped from between his lips and the room fell quiet.
Her lips quivered.
“Father?”
There was no answer.
“FATHER? PLEASE!”
His hand fell from hers, landing next to him.
She held desperately onto his limp, lifeless body and sobbed for what felt like a lifetime. Some of her still wished that if she waited long enough, he might open his eyes and crack a joke like he always did. But no matter how much time went by, it never happened. She cried until her eyes were too sore to blink. The world felt so dark, hopeless, and bleak.
The burial team had shown up around twelve hours after he had passed to collect his body. They had to pry him from her grip, which had been quite challenging. She didn’t give him up easily. Once they had left, she sat in the room by herself. She allowed everything to sink in for the first time in the last twenty-four hours. All the anguish, pain, and suffering that she had felt all melted into one tidal wave of rage.
She felt her blood boil at the thought of the one responsible for his demise. The king. He had increased his workload tenfold on top of his regular orders and deliveries causing him unparalleled amounts of stress on his mental and physical health. He had slowly diminished his health day by day for the last few years. She may have never met The King, but she could not forgive him for what he had done. He was going to pay for his actions and there was no doubt about that in Alivia’s mind. She must avenge her father’s death.
She decided to stop wasting time on tears and get to work formulating her revenge plan. It was clear it wouldn’t be easy; the king wouldn’t get close to just anyone. The only people he gets remotely close to are his mistresses or whatever they call them nowadays. The ladies in question are the ones who hope to carry the next heir to the throne. No need to fall in love with some woman and have her drag you down as a queen. That was pretty much the motto of the royal family since long ago. The woman was expected to have a boy on the first try or else she was disgraced, along with her baby girl. All in all, it was a stupid and unreliable system to her. But she knew that to infiltrate the palace, she’d have to go through the king’s heart to get there. It would be tough and a lot of work, but she knew it would all be worth it in the end.