Plan

Elena woke up some minutes to sunset. She searched the room for Esteban but he was gone. She left the secret room and went back to her room, she took a bath and got dressed for the day. She wore a long raven dress that extended to her legs. And black heels, she held some of the hair at the center and left the others to flow freely.

She left her room still feeling a bit tired and sad that Esteban had left. She wanted to spend more time with him, she looked for her grandmother. She wished to talk to her about marrying Esteban and making him king. After what happened to Esteban she realized that she never wanted to see him in pain let alone live without him. She took her time constructing a plan in her head that will help convince her grandmother to agree to her request.

She looked all over the palace but not just her grandmother but she didn't run into anyone in the palace. There was no life on site, she concentrated her eyes to see if she can catch some movement in the palace. She could hear some heartbeats in the royal garden, she changed her direction and went to check what was happening.

"I have been wandering around the palace looking for you and you are playing here?" she asked her lady royals who were tired, thirsty, and hungry from being out in the sun the whole day. Lola was so relieved and happy that the princess was back.

"We are not playing but rather waiting for death," said a furious Paloma.

"Why what happened?"

"What of question is that you disappeared without a trace for an entire day. What did you expect your grandmother to do to us?" she scolded angrily. Elena was about to reply when Paloma's body went dry. Her heart was ripped out of her chest and thrown to the ground.

"Anyone else feels like scolding my granddaughter. I will remind you that she is the princess of Atria and the future queen of this kingdom. She might consider you friends but you should not ever forget your status in this palace. Do I need to remind all you the duties of a lady royal?" asked the queen grandmother and they shook their heads. She had caught Elena's scent from the border and came back to check on her only to find a servant scolding her. She was filled with rage at what she saw that she could not hold herself from killing. Anyone who dares to raise their voice to her granddaughter doesn't deserve to keep living.

"If I ever see a repetition of this again then I will end all of you. There is no shortage of women to replace you. Understood," she said.

"Yes your Majesty," they replied in unison.

"Elena comes with me, we need to talk. The rest of you go change and get some food for Elena," she said taking Elena with her.

Elena felt bad about her friend but she couldn't say anything. She didn't approve of the way that her grandmother handled everything but it was Paloma's mistake. It is punishable by death to talk back to royal blood. Had it not for her grandmother then she would have died by some else's hand. She made a note to change that rule the minute she becomes queen. She followed her grandmother to the throne room.

"Where were you Elena?" she inquired.

"I was here at the palace. I was in the secret room practicing magic. Something happened to me yesterday that made me want to refresh my knowledge of it," she replied.

"Does it have anything to do with the witches in my torture house?" she asked getting the crown from the safe hidden underneath the throne.

"Yes," she said.

"Good, I was worried something bad had happened to you but I believe that you can take of yourself. My dear, I need to have my sleep soon so I am afraid that I can't be with you any longer. For your mother and father, I stayed awake to teach them the ways of the throne. When they died I was stuck helping you but I need to rest soon. My strength is deteriorating with every day, I will be able to help you in one hundred years or two at the earliest. I won't be able to witness your Coronation since I plan to leave tonight," she said sadly.

"Don't be a sad oldie, I will be fine. You've done your best for me and I won't be selfish and ask more from you. Go for your rest, I will handle everything," replied Elena giving her a comforting hug.

"But now there is so much to do and you don't have much time. You haven't even picked a groom and there are so many ceremonies to be done before you get coronated."

"We have rehearsed my coronation a hundred times since I was a child. I know everything by heart so you should not worry about me. You have taught me everything I need to know how to be a good queen so leave it up to me," she said with confidence. Icyn smiled so much, her granddaughter had grown up so much and she was more than proud of her.

"Okay."

She explained to her all the secret locations in the palace, what is kept in them and how to open them. She was still reluctant to leave but she couldn't stay any longer. Her grandmother said her goodbyes and left the kingdom. Elena watched with tears in her eyes as her grandmother left her. Her mother and her guide were her grandmothers and now she felt alone.

"Here," said Elsie handing her a handkerchief. She didn't look at her or take the offered handkerchief. When her grandmother had gone out of range and away from her sight she turned around and left as well.

"Elena please give me a chance to fix our relationship," Elsie begged but was ignored.

"We used to be so close in the past. I just want us to go back to that," Elsie whispered as she watched Elena walk away from her.

Elena walked back to her room feeling sad about her grandmother left. She knew that her grandmother should have been sleeping for so long but chose to stay only for her sake. She shut her eyes and went over her plans, she was going to marry Esteban at all cost. With her grandmother out of the way, the greatest obstacle to her plan was out of the way. She was now the ruler of Atria and she deserved to be with the man of her choice.

Esteban was the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and she was going to make that possible at all costs. But the thought of sharing Esteban with Elsie was one she didn't want to even consider but that is a problem for after she marries Esteban.

She went to the royal zoo and chose a beautiful red fox to have for dinner. She let it out of its cage and allowed it to run away, she charged after it so fast and killed it in a blink of an eye. She drained its body of blood and wiped her mouth.