Chapter 20

The royal guards refused to allow anyone to leave while they searched and checked all the guests in attendance. The assassin could still be on the loose and on the royal grounds and royal guards were searching every inch of the royal garden to find him or her.

Everyone from the servants to the nobles were being questioned and checked by the guards. Whispers and rumors soon started spreading about the assassination. Nobles were eyeing each other with suspicion and everyone eyed the royal children as if they could be the ones responsible for their own father's death.

Given the tense and rocky political atmosphere of the royal capital in recent months, it could be entirely true that a prince or princess decided they weren't going to wait until the king kicked the bucket and decided to speed up his death a bit. Why wait to kill the king in such a public and important event like his own birthday party was unknown ... .unless it was on purpose.

Arya thought it was a bit stupid but the situation around her-especially the king's highly public assassination-was starting to feel a bit like the plot straight out of one of her favorite novels: The Making of a King.

The novel focused on a prince named Maxton who was the king's firstborn son with the queen. Despite being his first born son and Crown Prince, he was born physically disabled with one of his legs being shorter than his other one. Because of this, Maxton was abused every day by his strict and cruel father who could not bear the idea of his son being lame and disabled. He blamed his mother, the queen, for bearing him such a pathetic and worthless son and soon threw her aside in favor of mistresses and concubines who bore him many healthy-and not physically disabled-children. 

Maxton was a gentle and sweet child who charmed and won over everyone with his smile and warm personality. He was a smart and curious person who would spend hours pouring over books and old documents. 

Everyone kept on saying that he would grow up to be a kind and wise king who would bring about a golden age for the kingdom. But smart and kind weren't what his father wanted from his sons. He wanted his sons to be warriors and fighters like he was and his oldest son didn't fulfill his expectations at all.

His father would beat him up, whip him and hit him while his mother desperately tried to protect her son from his abusive father. He and his mother suffered badly as the king paid less and less attention to them and soon, his mother was replaced by the king's most favored concubine as queen.

The mother and son were stripped of their royal titles and privileges and sold off into slavery. 

7 years later, the mother had died from abuse and cruelty inflicted on her during her time as a slave and, by then, the son was out for revenge after he finally managed to buy his freedom. But he had nowhere to go or anyone to turn to except for the guild master of an assassin guild who offered to take him in as his students.

Maxton wanted revenge and he wanted power and strength of his own.

So he joined the assassin guild as its newest and youngest member/the guild master's only student.

He learned how to use a bow and the ways of assassination: poisoning, suffocation, the different ways to kill someone without a weapon, how to twist someone's neck into two pieces, etc. He learned how to take advantage of his disability to appear harmless and non-threatening, how to slip and blend into a crowd, how to disguise himself so he wouldn't be caught. He learned how to cover up his tracks and make the killings look like accidents or suicides.

After 5 years of training, he was ready for revenge.

He poisoned the king's drink during a banquet and a succession war ensued after his death. The entire kingdom was thrown into a civil war and Maxton took advantage of all the in-fighting to gain support and trust from the lower classes-who had been exploited and mistreated the the upper class for too long now-and other members of society like merchants and artisans, who were sick and tired of being looked down on and mistreated by the upper class as well and wanted change.

The civil war left almost all his half-siblings dead except for one younger half-sister that Maxton spared and allowed her to live since she was only 10 years old.

Maxton revealed himself as a prince who was stripped of his royal status 12 years ago and he took the throne for himself with no more rivals and the only remaining royal princess renouncing-or giving up-her right to succeed for her own safety. 

Expect…..

Arya hadn't finished reading the story yet but she made an educated guess that there were people who didn't accept him as their new king and plotted to kill him and/or overthrow him. Hopefully, she'll get to see more of his assassin fighting skills in action in the next part of the story. That always happened when a new ruler took up the throne. Fighting and dissent also happened. History could prove it over and over again with many examples.

Baron Pax, Catalina and Elijah gathered around Arya to discuss what had just happened as royal guards went around making sure no one left yet until they could catch the assassin who could still be lurking around in the crowd.

Baron Pax brought over his own family.

His wife was a beautiful woman who had whitish-blonde hair with soft golden eyes. She wore a beautiful gown of salmon pink.The dress was of a simple but elegant design that allowed the woman's beauty to shine and be the main focus.

Two girls were standing by their mother. The older girl-no, not girl, woman- wore a blush pink ball gown trimmed in white floral applique at the hems. The veil-like sleeves of the dress were in the same light pink and looked delicate and airy on her. The younger girl wore a lavender gown made of a sort of light and flowy material with embroidered lace flowers in white and purple. Her shoulders were shown off by an off-shoulder design. 

The oldest girl had her father's carrot orange hair that was loose and flowing down her back with gold and pearl pale pink flower accessories decorating her hair with her mother's soft golden eyes. 

The youngest daughter had her mother's whitish blonde hair with her father's olive green eyes. Her hair was pinned back in a twisted bun and she wore a simple gold flower vine accessory with small purple flowers and diamonds that was pinned to the right side of her head and she looked like a little china doll with her cute and dainty features. She was a girl who was going to grow up to be a great beauty later in life.

Baron Pax introduced his two girls.

"My oldest daughter is Kassandre. She's 26 years old and she has already awoken. My youngest is Evangeline and she's 17 years old. Girls, say hello to Princess Arya."

Arya smiled and curseyed to the two girls. They returned her respect with a cursey of their own.

"Hey. It's nice to meet you two."

"Hi, you're so pretty. I think of your dress."

"Aww..thank you so much, Kassandre!!"

"I got a lame power. I can see the memories of others-not just people's but animal's as well. It's not very cool. Like, I can see the memory of dad and mom's wedding in my head or I can see the happiest memory of my nanny. "

Arya frowned.

"Look, Kassandre, your power may not be powerful or super cool but sometimes, knowledge and brains is the key to victory and your power can gather a lot of information because you'll be able to look into a person's memories. Memories contain thoughts, plans, people and information. I think you have a cool ability, Kassandre and don't think otherwise, okay?"

Kassandre thanked Arya for her kind words and looked very touched by Arya's kindness.

Everyone looking on was touched and warmed by the sight.

Catalina frowned and she jabbed her fan at an approaching guard.

"Looks like it's our turn now. Let's get this over with."

…

Well, looks like the succession war people kept saying was going to happen really did happen.

The king's shocking assassination started the flames of a succession war.

Arya was now in danger due to the fact that her identity as a royal was revealed to the public.

The king himself introduced her as a princess so there was some legitimacy to her identity but she was a princess with no allies or friends. No one knew how powerful she was.

Baron Pax left with his family already and it was just Arya with the two siblings.

Going back to the mansion and changing out of her dress, wiping off her makeup and settling down in the living room for an emergency meeting was not on her to-do list.

"Uncle…he died like that. Someone murdered him."

"Princess, he was sick, very sick. But he still had a few more months left."

Elijah paced around the living room.

"The assassin must be a professional if he or she was able to kill the king off so quickly like that and be able to slip away before they got caught."

Catalina snapped her head towards her brother. She placed her teacup onto its saucer and just looked at her brother like he lost his mind.

"Eli, we can talk about that later. Right now, Arya's in potential danger. She needs to leave-"

"Who said she's going anywhere? My little cousin will be staying in the royal capital where she rightfully belongs."

The Crown Prince made his appearance. It seems as if he had followed the trio out of the ballroom and back to the mansion.

He was still in his formal suit and he glanced around casually and lazily.

"So this was where my newest little sister was living until her rather flashy debut. A concubine mansion with only one servant. Well, you'll be living in the palace soon enough, little one."

Arya couldn't believe that the crown prince was acting like this even though his father was murdered.

"What about uncle, your dad?"

The Crown Prince collapsed into an empty armchair and accepted some tea from Catalina.

"Father? Oh, he's fine. He'll make a full recovery after a few days of bedrest."

Arya didn't believe what the Crown Prince was saying. She saw the king literally get shot with an arrow straight through his heart!! No one could survive that unless they were immortal!!

The Crown Prince noticed Arya's confusion and chuckled.

"Lucky. He got lucky. The arrow missed his heart by a few inches to the right and he barely survived. It got lodged between his ribs instead. No serious harm done. You can calm down now. "

The Crown Prince sipped away at his tea as Arya processed the information.

"Your highness,-"

" Just call me Ezekiel. No need to be formal among family, you know. As for you two, get out. I need some alone time with my little sister."

Catalina and Elijah were powerful ability users but they did not dare to disobey an order from the Crown Prince. They both left, leaving Aerya alone with the Crown Prince.

Right, Arya thought, he's my cousin by blood.

"So, what brings you here, Ezekiel?"

Ezekiel set his cup down and looked Arya in her eyes.

"To get to know my little sister better, duh. So, I'll go first. I like swordsmanship and fighting. I also like to read and write in my free time. My abilities include super strength, lightning control and manipulation, super speed and a little something from my dear old mama I don't want to talk about."

"Are you some kind of overpowered hero from a novel? How do you have so many powers?"

Ezekiel laughed. It seemed like the world brightened up all around Arya at once.

"You read novels too? Yes, I do seem like some overpowered hero from an action novel. But I managed to inherit all of my father's abilities and my mother's as well. It's rare but sometimes a kid inherits both their parents' abilities."

"What did you get from your mama?"

Ezekiel stopped laughing, His face turned dark for a split second before he smiled once again.

"Now your turn. Little sister."

Arya turned her attention to her empty teacup her cousin was drinking from.

She used her telekinesis to lift up the teacup from the table and move it around in the air, left, right, up, down, upside down, etc.

"Well, I can move things without touching them. Catty's been teaching me close combat and Elijah taught me his swordsmanship. I like swordsmanship and dueling too. I also like to read novels and draw too. I hate "princess lessons"-I don't want to learn how to pour tea or eat with a fork!! I want to train and fight!"

Ezekiel decided to tease her a bit.

"Hence the dress you were wearing. You made quite the impression on all of us for wearing a dress that showed off your legs like that. Oh, your hair is quite short for a princess."

"My hair?"

Ezekiel reached over and played around with the short locks of hair.

"You must have been hiding behind those doors while waiting for my father to introduce you. You saw how all the princesses had long hair. It symbolizes beauty and femininity and it's a sign of high status for royalty and nobility-especially for the girls. Only maids and house servants keep their hair short."

Myna's hair barely reached her shoulder. Now that she thought about it, she noted that all the female servants and male servants kept their hair short while at the banquet. Some of the princes and some of the male nobles had long hair as well. 

"I must look like a maid. But I like my hair short-much easier to keep clean and groomed. I think I look better with short hair than long hair. Besides, I never really like to keep up with social standards anyway. I like my hair the way it is."

Ezekiel laughed again.

"I only knew you for a few minutes but I think you have to be my favorite little sibling. You are funny and so different from all my other siblings obsessed with power. They're not as cute or lively as you are, Ar-Ar."

"Ar-Ar?"

"My pet name for you."

"Well, if you have a pet name for me, I have to come up with a pet name for you too!! How about…Ezzy?!"

"Knock yourself out, Ar-Ar. I have to go now. After my old man died and came back to life, security is going to be much stricter around here and they're going to get worried about me if they can't find me. See you later, little sister."

….

"Wow, my cousin, the future king, is much nicer than I thought he'll be."

"Well, your charming personality and the fact you showed no interest in the throne helped you gain his favor. That might come in handy later on in the future."

"Why?"

Elijah looked offended.

"Why? Because he is the most powerful out of all the king's children!! He's also the heir to the throne so winning him over won't hurt."

"Doesn't he have to fight for it with his half-siblings aka my cousins?"

"Well, he's a strong boy and he's not easy prey."

"Why do they fight so much, Eli?"

"You mean the royal kids?"

"Yes, them."

Elijah had no answer for that except to bid her goodnight.

Arya was left all alone in the dark mansion. Catalina left to attend to her "royal guard duties" and Elijah followed suit. Myna won't be coming back until tomorrow and Baron Pax left to escort his family back home.

Arya sighed. 

The drama of tonight's events left her feeling drained and sleepy.

She decided to go off to bed.