XLV

A maid looked sadly at Illarion, "Concubine Mother will be burned this morning in the square. And you will be sent to the battlefield as penance for what your mother did, sir." A piece of news he heard just now, like the beginning of the nightmare of the little Prince's next life.

With a raging feeling, Illarion galloped through the palace halls, looking for someone who could defer the punishment his mother was about to receive. His Majesty's room is tightly closed with layers of security. The little boy screamed outside when he wasn't allowed in. His mournful roar was heard in Prince Alexander's room. The fifteen-year-old young man lay in a pool of blood helplessly because of the repeated beatings from his mother for opposing the Queen's words.

Illarion's half-brother did not expect her biological mother, Queen Minerva, to use the statement she told earlier to frame Concubine Sonya, the mother of her beloved brother Illarion Black. "Just out of thirst for praise, I lost my brother. I