Chapter Text
The rightful heir stands small and scared, the sun rising behind her. In one hand she holds a blood-drenched knife, still warm. In the other, she holds an item of godly power, humming with her secret name. Power pulses through her.
In a daze, she barely notices the people around her, bowing down before the new Queen. She hardly even registers arms around her, the one person not bowing, holding her tight.
The girl that holds her whispers words into her ear, but whatever they are is lost to the morning breeze. The heir stands in shock. Her life has changed in an instant.
Or perhaps it was only following the course that was meant to be.
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Everybody knew the boy king - until at once, they didn't. He had been replaced in an instant, like his father and his father before him. This was how the world worked. Very few remember you when you're gone.
The heir remembers. She remembers the way he used to eat plums. She remembers the pride with which he always held himself. She remembers the love that he held for his country. She remembers how she killed him.
Some days she has nothing but regrets. Doubt that she really did the right thing. Other days, she knows that what she did was for the best.
Marcus survived, spending the remainder of his days in a cold underground cell. It seems a cruel irony to the heir, that he had lived where Faaiq had not. That the worst man of all continued still to live free, an ocean away.
The heir goes on. Day by day, she comes to terms with her life, her love by her side. She learns. She builds. She plans. She prepares.
Whatever comes next, she is ready.