12

Dedicated to all my wonderful readers. I hope you enjoy this, however short it might be. Storygirl thanks for the powerstones💜

***

In a dark forest far from the palace and surrounding towns and villages, a lone werewolf howled in pain as he tried to heal himself but the mixture of wolf's bane and silver in his body was slowly killing him. It was giving him no room to heal.

If he could get to the cave on time, hopefully the dark witch would still be there to heal him.

He ignored the pain he had to go through to move and continued on his journey to the cave. At long last he arrived to see the dark witch looking impatient.

Her snake eyes seemed to be narrowed in anger. " Where is the girl? " she asked uncaring of his condition.

" We failed to capture her. " he said dropping to his knees in front of her.

Her eyes narrowed to slits. " And the king? "

" He was saved by the princess before we could kill him. " he said weakly.

" So you failed. " she said moving closer to him.

" Yes, but I will do better next time. I will surely…surely take my revenge on the brat. Just please, help me. " he said barely able to breath.

" Help you? But you have used up your only chance. There will be no next time. " the dark witch replied as the dark void space where her tongue should have been, brought out smoke of sorts with a choking smell which went forward to take the life of every living creature before her. " you are no more useful to our queen. " She said pushing his dried up carcass away. It fell to the ground smashing into pieces and soon she faded to join the night shadows.

***

" Your majesty, my words might anger you but if the princess refuses to help us, all might be lost. " councilman Donald said with fear in his voice as he thought of all that had conspired. From the dark witches' attack to the betrayal of Councilman Ernest and his family.

" My daughter will not agree to this. " the king said, worried.

" The attacks which took place prove that the dark witches have a hideout in the kingdom. All this while, they could have attacked us but they were simply watching. We must do what we must now. " Councilman Sebastian said and all the other councilmen agreed with him.

As the king saw it, he had no choice. Now he had to tell his daughter of his plight and where she would need to come in. But in the end, the decision would be left to his daughter.

Outside the room next to hers, Clarissa stood watching the young boy sleep. She didn't know what it was about this child that drew her to him. Normally, the child would have been sent to one of the orphanages but she had chosen to keep him by her side.

She wondered if this was a weakness she'd gotten from her mother.

She heard the light footsteps she was now used to. Most would have been unable to hear them but the constant training she'd had for the past three years and the fact that he probably increased the sound of his footsteps so as not to startle her was the most probable reason as to why she had heard him coming.

" You have taken a liking to the child. " he said not questioning.

" So it seems " she said unable to deny his claims.

" I have never heard you yell since we were little. You always claimed it was irrational and not classy or befitting of a princess. " he said watching the child with affection. He wondered how the innocent soul could have been a child to the traitorous parents who were executed.

" And I still stand my ground on that. " she replied. " But the boy got on my nerves and I found myself yelling. "

Leonard smiled and wondered if this child would be the one to break Clarissa's ice. " And you left him alive? " he asked sarcastically.

" You very well know, I don't kill children. " she said moving away from the child's room and walking towards hers.

But he was worried as he thought back to what she had done. " Don't you think you will taint him if you try to show him just how wicked the world actually is. I think you should let him grow and believe in the good that there is even as little as it might be. "

" So you followed us. " she said

" I came to check on you when I heard you yelling. I didn't want to interfer as it has been quite long since anyone was able to get a reaction out of you. " he explained.

She ignored his present words and replied his former words " You watched your mother and sister die. You watched my mother die and so many others and it never tainted you. " she replied.

" Not all souls are the same. For some it takes very little to break them. " and he feared that she was already broken.

" Make sure his room is guarded at all times. " she said cutting off the discussion, refusing to listen to anything more he might have to say.

As the doors to her room were opened for her to go in, a guard ran towards them, stopping her from stepping into her room. She turned slightly, wondering if the message was for her.

The guard bowed as he relayed the message. " Your highness, the king wishes to speak to you in the throne room. "

What could possibly be going on now? She thought to herself.

She nodded to the guard. Both Leonard and the guard escorted her to the throne room.

On their way there, she saw the councilmen hurrying off. They bowed to her in greeting but none of them said much to her. Not even councilman Sebastian who sometimes liked to test her patience.

One thing she did notice was the fear in their eyes. Although it was not abnormal for them to be afraid of her, this time she felt it was something else. After all, this was not the first time they had witnessed her carry out an execution.

She quickened her pace wondering what her father had to discuss with her that had the councilmen scurrying like rats.

Author's note

This is shorter than I'd like but I hope you liked it.

Please continue to support this book with your reads, votes, comments, shares, rating/reviews. Thank you💜