Why does she keep pestering with her bonnet? He wouldn't dare to look upon her, she was average and he was a nobleman, a King even. If she were to ask him to dance he would painfully turn her down, she was only a plain girl. So style would never win her any bonus points. His lines were never to blur between hers, she could ruin the very being of his armor.
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She didn't know if she would allow herself the privilege to gaze upon him, the haunting beauty of a man that was not right for her soul. Course, Calliope knew their could be nothing between them, he had been warm once before, she could tell that from the way he gaze at his mother beside the throne. The former King stood few feet away and held tightly to his sword's shield, eyes locked on the common people around the neighboring square. He had news to share supposedly.
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The blue moon had finally risen, a girl shall be chosen to be the new King's mistress; however, that worked out. Every eligible woman is able to claim the role, a chance to free their loved ones from the clutches of their misfortunes and mistakes. The hunt for remorse has finally begun and the winds of change were making the town nervous. It made the town's Bishop nervous as well.
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In fact, he wouldn't allow to show her face in the spotlight, when the moon would shine her features perfectly and the King would choose her. Though there were other beautiful women all over, he would glance upon her and claim her roses as his own, Jonathan wished to never had agreed to bare a child. He wouldn't have lost her this way if he had known the risks.
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Knights have died by their honor, Jonathan had died the moment his eyes laid upon Meredith and fled the country with the northern Queen, only to have her throne taken from her and her name revoked. Never to step foot in the castle lines again, this is the danger he placed for his daughter, she'll mocked for being the daughter of a bastard child and a lousy piss Knight.
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She placed either hand inside of her parents and looked them in the eyes, her hair had been tied in braids to show her small doll-like face and her eyes had been hidden from the hood that she wore, to her father's request. There was no like that she had a disturbing beauty that stopped the harm in the world and brightened the sky, but Jonathan knew that her green gaze could turn for the forest against the very beings that attempt to destroy it. Calliope brought forth a chain through his soul that she never knew of, family always had some kind of testament to honor.
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Meredith, said not a word as she gathered daughter close into her arms and squeezed her tight.
Both the parents knew what the royal court could do to a person's heart and they had no choice, but to have a leap of faith in their daughter, she had done the same years now. Calliope touched her father's cheek, feeling the warmth of his unshaven smile as he touched her wrist and kissed the center of it. A love of a man that had taught the dignity of a warrior's heart since birth.
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“Oh daughter, how you've grown into such a lovely creature, harden that instinct of yours,” Jonathan reminded her, his long limbs pulling her close into his shield, her fingers wrapped the center of his spine as she matched his tight hold and he pulled back, caressing her face, “ Never let them change the woman you are, we are stronger than they are and what does that mean?.”
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“Our blood is pure and nothing wicked shall come through, I know Papa, no matter how frightful the land has become I will remain loyal to myself and the people,” Calliope reassured him, kiss to his forehead to silence his next words turning to her mother, Meredith eyes watered and she embraced her daughter the way she had the days she had been just a girl, one so far from the world that the very since of the word war meant a secret to her ears.
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Meredith rocked her side to side and released her hold.
“We stand in the same line as they do, but we do not taint ourselves with its riches like fools and I for one am looking forward to the announcement of you becoming the Mistress,” Meredith admitted, stroking her end braid slowly, placing a hand on her husband as he began to argue, “She is a fighter and she will not worm her way into their darkness like some of those fools-”
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“Their very deaths led them straight to execution! No chances will be given to her Edith, she does not even know the system,” They never finished their arguments in front of her, they refused to believe this very day would to happen. For him to lose his only daughter and for her to watch her baby bare witness to such a sacred ceremony, everyone had felt that way today and he will not make the mistake of letting Calliope go without truths, “Darling, there are some things kept-.”
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The horn blasted, singling for the women and young girls to come forth to greet the King, no one is to intrude in the ceremony. Or everyone shall be placed on trial, this moment is to decide who will come into the Royal Court and be King Julius's ear and heart. The sake if he had one anyway, the man looked irritated when he rose from his seat and stepped down the few steps to lead to the females before him. Calliope had been ripped from her father, the very moment the Knights dragged him off and shut his screams of her name in the dark, her mother hidden in the shadows. Every single person surrounding the desert like square, leaned against their doors to watch this very day commence. The chosen girl shall live her life along side the King and bare witness to his inheritance and his loyalities and the same time pay off their loved ones death.
Calliope couldn't breath.
She was the second to last girl and she had the perfect view the new King.
Brown eyes that had once filled with light, were now dirt, and looking at her.
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“Welcome, people of Emain, the rightful heir to the throne and your King thanks you for participating in the annual ceremony this year, I am joined by our Queen and our former King to announce something that could save any of you,” King Julius sounded cold when he spoke, like his words were not his own, that was the first thing Calliope noticed when he started to open his mouth and how she wanted to find some way to shut it back closed, “We do not tolerate treason in our land, we feel the need to do away with people that lack the means to survive, for instance.”
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He raised his hand and the head of the Knights Division, Pearson broke formation to stand beside the King and one swift motion cut through the stomach of the girl that stood beside Calliope and shove her body to the side, nodding to his squad to take away as the parents cried in fear and anguish. Calliope blinked, feeling the drips of blood coming down from the corner of her eyes and the image of the girl's fallen corpse still playing over and over. Her gaze turned back to him, a monster could only ignore the feelings of others, only a devil could shrug so cool, she thought as she shifted and placed her shaking hands to her back to prevent herself from falling too.
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King Julius went on, “If you do not know the rules of our land, then you shall pay the price of living a burden. That girl had been protecting a rogue of years now, hidden in her parents home, though we may have punished her. We are not done with them.” He started to walk again, Calliope fought to say something to him and she was going to, when she opened her mouth.
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Pain pinched at her side, the girl beside her had caused her side to burn as they locked gaze and she gave her a look that said 'let him talk, he is ruler'. It was the ultimate truth, if she were to be Mistress her role won't satisfy him, but it'll maintain the role of birth and strength for the city.
She couldn't act out of pace nor could she argue against his motives, in Emain no one had a voice and those that did are told to follow the rules placed for them. Crime is forbidden to harm the people of the land, to punish those by manslaughter, when they wish to act beyond protocol.
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Calliope had only ever met King Julius once, at the age of ten in the time of being the Prince of Emain, she had attempted to get some herbs for her mother's garden. Only the Knights had thought she was stealing and escorted her to the work camp with the other misbehaved children. To prevent further precautions, he stepped in and helped her deliver the items safely.
Back then, there was a warmth inside of him that couldn't be erased, looking at him now she could only imagine the kind of horrid, grief he had to feel at his brother's funeral. The pressure of now being King, for the sake of his father's pride and the nature of the Kingdom. Calliope felt her pulse tighten as his gaze returned to her, drinking her in, and consuming her.
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This was not the same boy from before.
He was a man now, a cold stranger.
One that slaughtered a woman in fresh blood and swift hands.
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“Now there are eleven women for me to chose from, be glad that none of you have been granted the same fate as that one.....yet. Our order has simple rules and as your King, I shall not be made a full out of, whomever is to be my mistress will listen to my word and now other,” King Julius's voice called for attention after that accident and everyone returned it, this was an aftermath of a fate Calliope saw, the choosing of a woman decides the destiny of Emain after all, “I am a man of much pride and wealth, though I require a woman of intelligence and courage, to lead beside me. The girl near her will become her assistant and personal maid, is that clear?.”
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He sounded like a pompous twit, giving orders like he plays the role of God, Calliope thought this knowing this would be her only memory of her life, she would not see the ones that she loves and she would be ignored by her father. Knights were forbidden to show tenderness to the Royals without it seeming like it was an affair. She found it silly, she was to stand by Julius if chosen, not wed him for the world to see. That would be too drastic for the both of them, her father wouldn't allow her to yield to such principles bounded by a Kingdom pledged by a ruthless ruler.
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Calliope's corset tightened around her tiny frame, the buckles of her boots pressing into the solid ground as he now towered over her, it was a rule not to stare up into a Royal's face without being ordered to, but as King he made his own choices. His long fingers traced the line of her, her mouth pressed together when his warmth hand touched her small stature. The Queen had been watching from her throne, Calliope could tell, she had been watching her the whole time.
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“My son, have you chosen a woman in which she'll empower you? There is no reason to keep the rest of us waiting,” Queen Pamela had no doubt ruled the land Emain at one point, when former King Quincy had fallen victim to the life of a sick man and could no longer rule, her voice had gotten brittle and steeled. Demanding attention, “She is Jonathan's daughter? Fine choice.”
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King Julius face twisted in a way of discomfort, his gentleness had turned into an alarming warning pat on the cheek, the very effort put her back down from earth into her old, rusty shoes. Where she remained to be a participate and the daughter of Knight/former Queen, this wasn't meant to be an exciting test to her trail nor did she suspect to hear these next words that silenced the crowd.
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He shoved her toward him and twisted her around, so her back was facing his front and she flushed from annoyance and mixed irritation, he smelled real of war and fortune. She could never be apart of the world he lived in, she was a giver and he was a destroyer. He would punish the world before claiming it.
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“This holy woman shall be my Mistress of Emain, she has the eyes of a hooded wolf and I need that in my flock, girl next to her,” King Julius drawled, his breath tickling at her ear as he mentioned to the girl that pinched her earlier. She had a neutral expression on her face, “You shall be her personal maid, any obligations to that and I will break you and the rest of the ones you love. You both have forty-eight seconds to say good bye to the ones you cherish before I change my mind.” When he released her, she turned to find her mother, only to her knowledge, she would there in the shadows and watching proud. There was a time she would have ran to her mother.
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Only this time, it felt like the sky was moving and everything was floating into pieces, the image of her mother with folded hands and a gentle smile to ease caught her by surprise. In a time before her birth, she had been Queen of another town, only for it to be burned to ashes and never spoken of again.
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Meredith moved now, her arms circling around the center of her waist and holding her baby girl close, her daughter was now twenty and she could not do anymore for her than what has already been done. Calliope pressed her face into the base of her mother's neck and caressed her soft short curls at the nape of her neck, the seconds had been up and she would not pull away. This stands to be the only moment she would ever see her mother again and she refused to let go, even when they gripped her up and pulled her toward the castle gates where her new home would be. Her cries for her old life had been shut by the silent stillness of the doors.
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