ALANNA
Flinching at the sound of the door of Zeron's chamber being jerked open, I shakily rise to my feet, anxious about telling my husband the truth about Ervis. But, I'm shocked when the person who steps into the chamber turns out not to be Zeron. "Your highness, thought I'll find you here" Ervis says with a mocking smile on his face. Surely he doesn't know that I'd eavesdropped on his conversation with Lochan, right? "What do you want?" I ask, trying to keep my voice steady as I pray and scream internally for Zeron to show up. The last thing I want is to be spelled by this disloyal bastard. He sighs and begins to move around me in circles."You might be the queen of the winter kingdom but you're not my queen. There are many of us out there who despise you . Trust me, there a lot of people who want you dead. Yet, I was willing to spare your life. But, you made everything worse by eavesdropping on my conversationALANNA The persistent knocks on the door of Zeron's chamber awakens me from my rather peaceful slumber. Sitting up slowly, I turn to look at Zeron who is still lying beside me, asleep. I get out of bed, careful not to awaken my husband. Then, I pad across the room and swing the door open only to be greeted by the flamboyant sight of the queen mother. Before I can say anything, she's already pushing past me and making her way into the room. Zeron opens his eyes and glares at his mother, the darkness of his eyes making his glare more menacing than usual."Why are you here, mother?" He asks in a very manly morning voice. "What happened to your eyes?" Tiana asks with a frown on her face."Long story short, I'm becoming a lunatic. What're you going to do about that?" He responds with a blank look on his face."You're not a lunatic and you know that, my boy""Oh, so
ALANNA "Mother?""Nah, try again" Tiana drawls with a smirk on her face. "Rohanne" Zeron spits, his eyes darkening with fury.Rohanne barely gives us a chance to process what's really happening before she casts an offensive spell that sends a fiery monster towards me. My eyes widen and I'm too shocked to move. But before the fiery monster is able to get to me, Zeron's shadows swallow it up and it vanishes from sight. Rohanne unfreezes the coven elders and a dozen fire witches storm in, flames licking their arms, ready to be used to do damage."What? Surprised?" Rohanne says, with amusement written all over her face. Zeron clenches his fist, frustrated. Hera and the rest of the coven move forward to stand as a barricade between Rohanne's men and Zeron. Chaos then breaks out in the coven room as both witches engage in combats using their magic."Z, we need to get out of here" I say and he
*Flashback* ZERON "Zeron, I know that I haven't exactly been the best mother lately and I'm so sorry for that-" mother says to me and I narrow my eyes."You're sorry, really? I can't believe I'm hearing this from my mother. Who are you and what did you do to the woman who birthed me?" I say, not liking the air of weariness and defeat that is around my mother."I want you to understand that I am still your mother and I should've done this before now. I couldn't bear the thought of loosing you, Zeron. Throughout the past decades, I'd had hope that you would eventually find your cure. I was ready to do anything to keep you alive but I wasn't happy with the way your were transforming from bad to worse. Then, things escalated to a point where you no longer cared; it scared me, Zeron. I
ALANNA "Alanna" I flinch, looking around to see who had called my name but I'm met with complete darkness. There's no one here apart from me and this makes me worried. I have absolutely no idea where I am. I take a step further into the darkness, my heart thudding madly. I need to get out of here and I need to do it quickly. "Alanna" the mysterious voice calls me again and I tighten my hands into fists, frustrated. "Who are you?! Show yourself!" I yell and the darkness fades away, revealing a lone figure standing a few metres away. He's wearing a long black cloak and every other cloth he's wearing is colored black. The hood of his cloak covers most of his face and as he starts to make his way towards me, I notice his long black hair that looks exactly like my husband's. I frown, watching him closely. He suddenly halts and
ALANNA "Nature of runes? How did she-" Azalea pauses and stares at me for a moment."Are you okay, Alanna?" She asks and I blink back my tears. "I-I'm fine" I respond and Talon sighs."You're not fine, Alanna" he states and I look away, swallowing hard."I still can't believe she's dead. Who could've done such a thing?" I say, grief weighing me down. I'd really liked Taera. She'd been a very good friend to me and she's been there for me most of the time. After her ghost had appeared to Zeron and I, Zeron had ordered a search party and her body was found in the servant quarters. Presently, Hera and some of the coven elders are in the coven room using a spell to try to figure out who Taera's killer is."Taera's death is unfortunate. But, we have to do what she wants us to do and we have to figure out what she died protecting" Azalea says and I nod."The nature of runes......tha
HERA Humming under my breath, I take my time to water the emerald gold flowers in the coven room. They are ordinarily called the peace and well being flowers and they're the ones partly responsible for keeping war away from our kingdom for quite a long time now. I halt at the presence of prince Talon's aura approaching the coven room. Few minutes later, he knocks on the door and I open it up with a snap of my fingers. He gives me a polite smile and walks up to me. I can tell by reading his energy, that he's deeply troubled about something but he's doing a good job at covering whatever it is with several layers."Good day, Hera" he greets and I give him a smile."Good day, young prince" I say and he looks around the coven room."The peace flowers don't look as healthy as they looked before" he comments and I sigh."It appears so""You know what this means, right?" He says and I
ALANNA "We need to act quickly, Alanna. If he finds out-" Azalea begins but is interrupted by an all too familiar voice that belongs to my husband. "Find out what?" He asks and we all freeze.Just how much did he hear?"Z?" I say but he just stares at me blankly."Um, how long have you been standing there?" I ask and he blinks."I just got here but that doesn't matter anyway. What are the three of you hiding from me?"Now at this point, I have no idea what to do. Do I lie to him or do I tell him the dreadful truth? With his face all blank and expressionless, it's hard to tell if he'd lied. What if he'd actually overhead everything and is counting on me not to lie to his face? But still, what if he's telling the truth?"Has all of you suddenly become dumb?" Zeron asks, placing the bowl of winter berries
ZERON Alanna is hiding something from me and I don't know what it is, but I'm certain that she has decided to keep it to herself. Maybe it's because of the way I'd reacted when I'd found out that she knew about Lochan sharing my life force with me. I'm trying not to get upset about the fact that she doesn't trust me enough to confide in me but I'm failing miserably. I can only hide the hurt and frustration I feel with a blank face, with the hope that Alanna won't see right through it. Who am I kidding?I'm a hypocrite. I've been hiding things from her too.I just hope she doesn't do anything stupid."Zeron?" I blink and turn away from the window of my chamber."Are you alright?" Talon asks but I don't respond. "You know, all you have to do is respond" He huffs and I walk away from him and sit down on the couch. "Is there something you want to talk to me about?" I ask and he sighs."