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-Katherine- My visit with the orphanage had gone well. The children were all waving at me as I left, telling me to come back soon, and I planned to, but I had also promised Silver I would come back as soon as I could. So with the guard behind me, we began finding our way back to Silver. I found them at a big shop, where they were eating food and enjoying the luxury of it. I could see it was specially made with extra care. The queen didn’t eat food made by just anyone. She only ate the best, or it wouldn’t even come near her. When she saw me, she waved me closer, making me put on my fake smile before I walked over to her and joined them at the table they sat at. They were sitting under the sun, talking and eating. I was served some food as well, and I began enjoying the deliciousness of it. "So how did it go?" Silver asked. "Huh?" "With the orphans?" "Oh, just fine. They were happy about the gifts." "I do not know why you spend your money on them," she complained. No, of course
-Katherine- The next day, I went to town on my own. I went early, so no one would find it weird that I could not be found at the castle. I had brought even more supplies with me this time, and I was going to the hospital in the city. I had asked the physician what they might use. He was a kindhearted healer, so he would gladly help me find the right herbs and potions to take with me. They received me with much gratitude and smiles as I delivered the necessities to them, making it clear who was providing them, which was the prince and princess, not the king and queen. I wanted everyone to know what their true royals were doing for them, not the ones exploiting them and making them go hungry. No, they would know who cared, and that was Darius and me. I walked around the sick ones as well. I knew I had to be careful. Without powers, I could get infected quite easily as well. Witches got sick too, but the people at the infirmary were mostly humans. People without powers, and it wasn’t alw
-Darius- The journey was long. We had to gather more men on the road there. It wasn’t an easy trip, and we did meet some obstacles along the way. Such a giant group gathered often attracted the wrong kinds of people, hoping to gain something from it, so we had to take care of them as well. But we manage to make it close to the dark side of Adoran. We stayed on the light one, with some good distance, and then we set up camp. I made sure everything was in order before I went to my own tent to relax after the harsh journey. I needed a moment to gather myself. I knew we had to have a meeting and decide how we would attack now. I didn’t want to rush in. I wanted to survey the area first. I would take some scouts with me, and we would ride along the dark side for a while, checking it out and seeing what we might draw out of hiding. I knew the Dark Ones would feel the shift in the air. They would see we had made camp and know we weren’t just travelling through. No, we had come there to ruin
-Katherine- Silver’s birthday came around, and I was missing Darius like crazy. He had been gone for almost three weeks now, but I knew he must only have just arrived on the dark side of Adorna. I knew the journey would take a while, especially with the number of men following him. So, I hoped the battle hadn’t begun yet. I hoped Darius would be smart about this and not charge headfirst into danger. It would kill me if I received a message about his demise. I begged every night for the Goddess to look after him. I begged her to bring him back to me, and I begged that she listen to me. I had my own battles to fight, though. Every day, I had to act like I was on Silver’s side. I had to stroke her ego and Acan’s. I had to act as if I was actually on their side, even though I wasn’t. Every day I proved to the people why their king and queen never cared about them and why their princess and prince took their problems and issues seriously. I proved to them over and over why I was a person
-Katherine- The night went on, and Silver continued to chat and drink, getting a bit drunk. I settled for that one cup of wine, even though I would have loved to forget about the whole night. Soon Silver found it hard to coordinate her own limbs, and I knew she was making a slight embarrassment out of herself. I didn’t try to stop her, but I poured more wine into her cup, making sure it was never empty. This way, everyone would see what a drunk their queen was. I saw the dirty looks Silver got as her ladies did their best to keep her under control. Soon, her noise and yelling drew Acan to us. He did not look very pleased as Silver hung on one of her ladies, talking loudly and laughing. "What is going on here?" he asked. "Are you drunk?" "Noooo," Silver said, waving a hand in the air. "We haven’t even danced yet," he scolded lowly. I could see how his face almost turned red as he looked at his drunk wife. I took a small sip of my own cup, acting as if I wasn’t at fault for her dru
-Katherine- Acan led me to my room, telling me goodnight. I thanked him, and we chatted for a little while before he went off. I watched him until he disappeared around a corner, feeling so good about myself. This was going better than I thought, and I couldn’t help but feel fantastic about everything. I felt on top of the world, almost. I walked inside my room, letting out my excitement and almost dancing towards the bed before falling down on it. "Katherine, you evil genius," I whispered, feeling so excited, but when I reached out towards the other side, I felt the emptiness. I turned and saw where Darius used to lie in bed with me. Goddess, I missed him, and all that excitement just went away. "You will come back to me." I reached out, stroking the empty side, like I could almost demand he come back to me. I really hoped he was okay and that the fighting hadn’t begun yet. -Darius- I stood by a big fire while most of the camp slept. We had begun planning our first attack, which
-Katherine- Dear Katherine… We have just arrived on the dark side of Adorna. I can almost feel its call. It makes me feel like all the hard work I have done is for nothing. But I know who I am, and I am not one of them. I do see that I am not like the other witches, either. Like you, I feel stuck in the middle. The generals are fighting me. Some of the men don’t trust me, considering who I am and what I can do. I try my hardest to keep us strong and united. We must stand together as we finally attack in a little while. I go scouting a lot, seeing if the forest has any weaknesses. So far, I have not found anything. It worries me. I do not know how this battle will end. I hope it will be with us victorious, so I can come back to you. I miss you. I miss your warmth and your beautiful smile. I miss everything about you. It’s cold in the night without you by my side. I can’t wait to see you again. Darius. I let the letter fall on my desk before I sat down myself and began writing a let
-Katherine- The day went by quite fast working with Acan, and he became more and more chatty the more time we spent together. It was sort of interesting to suddenly talk to him as if we were friends. I had been his wife for so many years, but now I was only his sister-in-law, and that changed the dynamic between us. I had never noticed how condescending he had truly been towards me when I was his queen or how dismissive he was. He didn’t actually put much effort into talking to me, but now he did. Now he seemed interested in anything I had to say. It only fueled my anger because I realized how truly unloved I had been. How much Acan did not wish me near. How I couldn’t wait to completely destroy him. "So what do you hope for? A boy or a girl?" I asked. "Oh, a hard choice," he chuckled. Was it? He had two boys, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t even want one girl. He seemed to think a princess couldn’t do much except marry. It was making me angry. "I will be happy no matter