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Screams rattled through the once serene night of the castle walls, foot steps pounding over the carpeted and marble flooring. Maids and servants bustled about as the sudden catastrophe struck the palace.
"Out of my way!" A voice snapped from behind the clustered sobs, pushing his way through, doctor Álvaro, of the palace assistance, forced himself to the center of the scene with his nurse trailing behind, "Leave us! Speak not of it until I have determined the cause." The nurse shooed out the remaining hand maids and slammed the door as the doctor checked the vitals. After a moment, he shook his head with a deep sigh, "she's gone, but we all knew how weak her health was to begin with." He trailed to her swollen abdomen hurriedly, it was warmer to the touch Than he expected, and a faint sound came to the ear when he placed the stethoscope over it. "Marta! Quickly! Get me my operation equipment!" The nurse dashed from the room, as the doctor sat half in shock, judging by the heat, or rather lack there of, from the departed queen, the child should be dead as well, too much time had passed, but how?
How was this small heart still beating?
The nurse returned, her breathing was heavy, and her hands shaking with adrenaline, he took his things quickly, and set them out, grabbing up the scalpel and immediately getting to work on saving the child. In a matter of minutes, she was born, a healthy, beautiful princess.
"Alert his highness, tragedy and grace has fallen into his hands."
Once the child was cleaned and set in the soft blankets, whining lightly with a small stir, the nurse left again to the quarters of the king, only to return once more, trailing behind him, their breathing rapid.
"Is it a son?"
A pause fell between them uncomfortably, the doctor shifted, agitated that the first thing the king wished to know was not the current status of his wife or health of his child, but the mere gender.
"Well no your majesty-"
"I see," he interrupted, his gaze casted down to the child as she stirred, and opened her eyes, blinking lightly with the light of the torch behind them. His expression contorted into something of disgust, "this is my child?"
"Of course your majesty!"
"That is impossible! What a disgusting sight! Her eyes are as bold as hell fire! I've never seen anything so repulsive! I refuse to believe she is mine."
"Sire! This is an outrage! You cannot afford to lose this one! You know how difficult it has been for even a consort to conceive! For the queen to go this length for your child, bedridden, and given to you an heir-"
"Enough! You dare beg for her life when you know how useless she would become? A daughter cannot take up the title of king, she is nothing but fodder to the surrounding nations..." he casted another grimace to the child, and faced the doctor once more. "This is not an heir, it is a disgrace! Get it out of here! I never want to see it again so long as I live! I order it burial with its mother. That wench, I knew she was against me, but to die birthing someone else's child is traitorous!"
"Wait! Please Sire! You said you wish not to see her so long as you live, let me find her a place to stay outside of the kingdom, she will not be in your sights, I cannot bear to watch innocence parish! Give me four sunsets, and she will be some place away from here."
The king gave a rough exhale, and narrowed his eyes on the doctor, "four sunsets..." he trailed, his gaze landing on the paled frame of the late queen for the first time since he entered the room, "we shall burn her in the afternoon." He proclaimed, and turned, walking out of the room, with guards trailing him.
The doctor looked to his nurse, her eyes doubtful, "Oh stop it you!" He gruffed, "Find a nursery maid while I send word to Lord Strazio. I am sure he will be utmost tentative to the loss of his sister."
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"I do apologize for my intrusion, Doctor Álvaro." His silk-like voice trailed the hallway, as they entered the back end of the castle.
"Do not apologize, Lord Strazio, I should be nothing but thankful for your hasty arrival on such short notice. My condolences on your sister, I am deeply troubled that the king did not act accordingly for your family to wish her farewell." They turned another hall, Strazio looked about the walls of the servant wing, it was nothing in comparison to the luxury of the rest of the palace.
Strazio was hesitant, he parted his lips, but clenched his teeth once more, with an uneven sigh, he asked, "Did you happen to uncover her cause of death, Doctor?" The Doctor looked to the young lord with a sympathetic gaze, his brows knit together, and looked down again, shaking his head ever so slightly.
They remained silent for the rest of their journey through the corridors until they reached the room where the small child lay asleep, curled close to the servant who had been chosen to nurse her.
"How is she?" Lord Strazio inquired softly, he stood at a distance, almost as though he was afraid his presence would be all it took to shatter her.
"She is healthier than expected for being premature two months. She eats well, sleeps mostly, and she isn't very loud no matter the occasion." Strazio's attention was focused on the uncanny contrast between the dark pelt and brilliantly visible white hair of his dear niece. He could easily tell the similarities she held close from her mother, in his heart, he promised he would care for her as his sister's precious memento to him.
Stepping forward, he knelt before the woman, "May I?" The lady smiled lightly, and gently placed the child in his waiting arms, she was not as heavy as he had expected, but she was far lovelier up close than he had realized. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, and his eyes widened, he looked towards doctor Àlvaro, "orange?" it should strike anyone as odd for her eyes to show color at such a young age, yet Strazio was, oddly, more intrigued than anything, though he did not outwardly show it.
"That is something I could not explain..." Álvaro trailed.
Strazio smiled gently, looking down at his niece, "I am sure it isn't anything to be worried about," he paused, "ah, I best be going now, it is drawing near to noon."
"Oh of course, let us make our way back." The two men left the room, traveling the same way they came, Doctor Álvaro stood aways from the carriage as the young lord climbed in and handed the child gingerly to his wife.
"Give my regards to your father for me." The Doctor called, a smile brushing his ancient lips.
"Of course, thank you for alerting me as soon as you could, I shall take her under my wing, send news to the king for me sometime this evening." With a bow from the Doctor, the carriage pulled away, journeying back to the home of the young lord of an opposing country.
The lord and his lady looked down to the face of the sweet child, and with a pained heart, Strazio gave her the name Lilium, for she had the innocence of a white lily, as well as being a true remembrance of her mother, and her eyes of orange, glinted a glorious yellow, a symbol of passion as that of an orange lily.
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"Lilium," Uncle Strazio called out in search for the petite child who roamed about as she pleased, "Lilium darling, where have you gone?" He peeked into different rooms, before opening a closet, and finding a sweet dark pelted lily wilting behind her nape-length hair of shimmering white, its volume was astounding, thick, and wavy, covering over her beautiful orange eyes like the petals of a flower not in bloom. "Lilium? What ever is the matter?" He cooed, casting a worried glance to his niece.
"They were calling me a demon..." she replied solemnly, her voice oddly quiet for her normally haughty personality.
"They? Who is they?" He asked, his voice as soft and sweet as it always was.
She took a breath, and tried to remain composed, but he could see the nervous habit of playing with her front paws and subtly interlacing her toes in a strange way, "The apprentice kits in the kitchen kept whispering about it... They were talking about that rumor again..."
Strazio gave a soft sigh, he knew he would need to have a talk with those kits, it really wasn't appropriate for them to continue such nonsense, especially not in the presence of the lady in question, "Lilium," he breathed, drawing her in, and giving her a gentle, but firm, hug, "You are not a demon, your eyes are passion, beautiful, beautiful passion, you are a princess Lilium, some day, you will be a queen. Your mother would be proud if she had gotten a chance to have met you, you are not to blame for her death. Never let those fools get under your skin." Lilium gave a gentle nod, she did not speak, nor did she cry, "come, let us take you back to Merriam, and she can rearrange your hair again."
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Lilium took a deep breath and opened her eyes, looking out once more over her people, it was odd to imagine that she truly had done as her uncle had thought she would, she proved her father wrong, avenged her mother, and most of all, created a life for herself that she dreamed of. She basked in the thought of being feared by her people, there was no stopping the rumors once they started, she had learned that ages ago, if they want to be afraid, let them, they brought it upon themselves, it only made her role as the queen a little more fun.
She was not going to worry about how her people saw her as the demon queen, a being who could poison anyone whom she allowed her bare gaze to pierce, supposedly proven with the death of the king and her immediate taking of the throne. A monstrous beauty who could entice anyone, and for the sake of her people, only ever stood in their presence with her luscious moon-washed bangs draping to the floor, filtering over her vision so that they may not fall victim to her ever present powers as she saw fit of them.
She chuckled to herself, the stories that wrapped around her was one of her favorite things about being a queen. She was fair to her people, and punished as she saw fit, but to even have a maid stand in her presence had the poor lass shaking in her boots before she made it into the throne room. She kept up the facade of her "Demon Queen" title, and allowed the nasty criminals stand before her and wet themselves at the sight of her gaze before their life ended. That of course being in the worst of cases, other times she let them off with a fair prison sentence, graced with being "let off the hook" from a shameful death by sight.
Turning away towards her rooms, she shut the tall glass doors that lead to and from her balcony. The smile faded into a neutral glance, and she felt a secret longing within herself, for that still small assurance, that she was not a "Demon Queen" but a beautiful woman who ruled her people. It was in these moments after smirking to herself, when she was alone, that she would truly feel lonely, so far from the family who accepted her, who did not believe rumors, or play these silly games, she longed to hear someone outside of herself, say just once more to her, how proud of herself she should be, and that the uneasiness she felt for her eyes was unnecessary. If just one person in the castle could know and stand by her with honesty like her uncle, she would stop seeing her eyes as the demon in her life, and change it into the passion her uncle had told her to be all those years ago.
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