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Sophia went through the motions of her days numbly, the king had raped her a total of eight times over the past month.
He visited her room every night for the first three days, but Sophia had stopped crying and protesting and he lost interest quickly.
Today marked the seventh day since the last time he had come for her and Sophia was starting to gain hope that he would leave her alone.
Kyla had broken up with her after a week of Sophia refusing all physical contact and failing to communicate, but Sophia didn't blame her for breaking it off, she probably would have done the same.
Kyla probably assumed she was cheating on her or had just lost interest, Sophia hadn't even been able to tell her anything, making weak excuses every time she asked what was wrong.
She wanted so badly to tell Kyla the truth, but whenever she tried to say anything close to what was happening her voice would just stop working due to whatever insidious power the king held over her.
Sophia's replacement arrived to relieve her and she began to walk out of the throne room with dread.
This was the time of day she had switched from loving to absolutely hating, she would go back to her room and wait in apprehension hoping the king wouldn't show up.
King Ranock's voice called out as she was headed to the door, and a fist of disgust and dread clenched around her heart as she heard the sound of his voice.
"Sophia. Blackburn and Alexandra are getting back tomorrow, you will resume your old post guarding my daughter." King Ranock said, and Sophia felt a little bit better. Not much, but a little bit.
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Cal rode back to Ranock side by side with his newly pregnant wife, their three guards and two vampires trailing behind them.
King Ranock had instructed them to return in a month if they had sucessfully conceived.
Probably going to have some weird mysoginistic traditional ceremony or something. Cal thought cynically, he wasn't very impressed with the way women were treated in Ranock.
They rode into the western gate of Ranock as the sun set and headed to the keep, leaving the horses with a stablehand before Vera and Mia headed off to rent a room at the inn.
The guard on the drawbridge told Cal and Alex they were to join King Ranock in his private dining room so they headed straight there and found the king sitting at a table already eating and a plump middle aged woman sitting next to him.
"Ah wonderful, you've arrived. How was your trip dear?" King Ranock asked.
"Uneventful, father." Alex responded.
"Mabel, if you will." King Ranock said to the rotund woman who hastily stood and walked over to stand in front of alex, putting her hand on her stomach over her dress.
"Back up please my Prince, the energy from your marks will interfere." Mabel said to Cal, and he backed up a few steps confused.
"It will be a boy, regeneration, spatial mage." Mabel said, and Cal got irritated.
"Hey! I wanted to be surprised by the gender what the hell do you think you're doing!" He yelled.
Mabel looked up in surprise, "I-I appologize my Prince, I simply did as I was bid." She said, dropping to her knees.
Cal immediately felt bad. "It's ok, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. Please stand up." He said while sctratching the back of his head.
King Ranock raised an eyebrow. "Well that was dramatic." He said. "Please come join me, eat and celebrate, a male spatial mage is certainly a blessing."
Mabel left the room while Cal and Alex took seats at the table and quickly piled food onto their plates, they were famished after the long ride from their home.
They ate in silence, Cal irritated at the king for revealing the gender of his child.
After the meal Cal and Alex bid the king goodnight and headed up to their room exhausted, they went to bed without making love and Cal fell asleep quickly.
Cal jolted awake to a sharp pain in his chest, it felt like he had been stabbed.
He looked down at his chest in pain, he had been stabbed.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing, Alex was holding the handle of his ornamental sapphire studded dagger he always carried, the blade completely buried in his chest just below his heart.
He opened his mouth to speak and coughed up blood.
He panicked and looked across the room while drawing his spatial energy around his body and teleporting, failing to envelope his night clothes in his haste.
He appeared lying naked on a rug across the room in the same position he had been in bed, his feet now up against the closed door.
Blood poured out of the gash in his chest and quickly stained the white fluffy rug beneath him.
"You missed his heart sweetie." Lord Ranock's voice said from behind him.
Cal struggled to figure out what was going on as his conciousness dimmed from bloodloss.
Black spots swam at the edges of his vision and then suddenly the ring with the heart shaped ruby exploded, ripping his finger off.
Cal's perspective abruptly changed and he almost fell over.
He was no longer lying down, no longer in pain, he was standing up near the foot of the bed and looking down at his own body still gasping and bleeding on the floor.
King Ranock walked into Cal's new line of sight, withdrawing a dagger of his own and calmly approaching Cal's bleeding body.
"Daddy, wait." Cal's voice came weakly from the body lying by the door.
King Ranock plunged his dagger into Cal's chest an inch above the existing wound and the body stilled.
Cal's mind was racing, What in the fuck is happening. He thought.
He looked down at himself and his mind went blank. He was holding his dagger, blood languidly collecting at the tip before dripping onto the rug.
"Haha he called me daddy!" King Ranock proclaimed.
Cal stared in disbelief at his own dainty pale hands with perfectly maintained nails that he knew so well.
He was in Alex's body.
She sat heavily behind herself on the bed, the knife slipping from her hand and tumbling onto the rug.
King Ranock walked towards her, "Now we can be together always my love." He said in a seductive voice.
He got close enough in the dim light of the bedside lamp to see his daughter's face, Cal already being able to see perfectly with his darkvision.
"Whats wrong sweetie? I'm not mad at you for missing his heart I promise, it will take a bit more cleaning to fix this mess but it's ok." King Ranock said.
He sat next to Cal/Alex on the bed, putting his right arm around her shoulders.
"Now that you're a widow no one will have any expectations for you to remarry. We can raise that child like our own and I will keep my promises, I will lay with no one but you ever again." He promised her while taking her right hand in his left.
Cal was struggling not to shudder or throw off the king's arm and give herself away while she tried to think of what Alex would say.
She was saved from needing to respond when her old body started twitching on the ground, the wounds on its chest rapidly closing up.
"Shit I forgot he keeps those blighted vampires as pets." King Ranock said, standing and walking across the room.
Cal watched in horror from her seat on the bed as the king sawed through the neck of her old body, tearing the head free and tossing it to the side.
King Ranock wiped his hands and blade on the rug before tucking the dagger in a sheath at his waist and heading back to his daughter.
"Well his corpse isn't on the bed like you planned, but I can move it if you really want me to take you next to it." He said, caressing Cal's cheek.
Cal choked back her bile and surpressed another shudder, her mind still catching up to the events of the past few minutes.
She thought over the whole last month she had spent with Alex. Alex hadn't once shown a single sign she wasn't completely devoted to her and she couldn't comprehend how she had deceived her so thoroughly.
Cal realized she hadn't responded to King Ranock's question and he was looking at her with worry.
"I-I don't feel like it right now, that was a lot more gruesome than I thought it was going to be, I'm sorry." She hastily responded.
"It's ok sweetie, we have the rest of our lives now." King Ranock said, brushing strands of hair out of her face. "Let's go get cleaned up, Blackburn will handle this mess."
He stood and pulled her up by the hand.
Cal retrieved the dagger she had dropped to the floor, wiping it on the sheets and putting it in the sheath that was belted at her waist.
While she retrieved the blade King Ranock grabbed the body by it's arms and dragged it away from the door.
Cal followed King Ranock past her own headless corpse, trying not to look into the sightless eyes of the head lying beside it.
As she was about to leave she remembered her father's ring and grit her teeth, turning back and bending down to slip it off the finger of the corpse.
King Ranock watched without comment, he didn't care if his daughter looted the corpse of her husband.
Cal followed the king down the hall on autopilot, her thoughts racing at a thousand miles an hour.
The king led her to his own private chambers and through to the attached bathing room, apparently he had planned ahead as the bath was already full of steaming water.
He knelt by the massive tub and grabbed the bar of soap, washing his blood soaked hands in the steaming bathwater.
Cal gripped his dagger, she couldn't stomach getting in the bath with the king, she would have to make her move right now.
"Get yourself clean and then wait in the bed, I'm going to go get us some wine to calm your nerves." King Ranock said while he washed his hands, his back turned to Cal.
Cal pulled her blade from it's sheath and lunged forward, plunging it down through the back of his throat up to the hilt.
King Ranock slumped forward over the tub, his arms over the sides preventing his body from sliding to the floor.
He didn't make a single sound as he instantly died.
The king's blood was spilling into the bathwater that Cal planned to use so she ripped free her blade and pushed the corpse to the side, leaving a bloody smear on the white tub as it slid to the floor.
She stepped around the growing pool of blood in a daze, going around the side of the tub to swirl the dagger in the water and wipe it on the towel before sheathing it at his waist.
She unbuckled the dagger belt letting it fall to the ground while kicking off her slippers and then pulled the yellow sundress off over her head, noting with disgust that it was the same one Alex had worn on their date in the royal garden.
Cal climbed into the tub awkwardly, unused to her new shorter legs, and sank down against the wall of the tub looking down at the body she knew so well. The body that wasn't hers.
She numbly scrubbed at her new body with the bar of soap King Ranock had dropped in the tub when he died.
A knock sounded on the king's bedroom door and Cal's gaze snapped up, her heart pounding while she waited and hoped whoever it was would go away.
The knock came again, more insistent, and Blackburn's muffled voice came from the hall. "My King, you sent for me?" He knocked again.
Cal looked at the king's body and quickly formulated a plan.
She reached out of the tub and drew the king's dagger from the sheath at his waist before pressing both sides of the blade into the pool of blood surrounding his body.
Then she placed the dagger in the king's palm and closed his fingers around it.
"One second Blackburn, I'm naked." She shouted, startling herself with the feminine voice that came from her mouth.
She climbed out of the tub and dried herself quickly with the towel before slipping back on her discarded sundress and slippers, thankful they didn't have any bloodstains on them.
Then she forced tears to her eyes, it wasn't hard, the only reason she wasn't already crying was probably the shock she was in.
She walked from the bathroom back into the bedroom and over to the door to the hall, unlocking it and pulling it open.
"Blackburn, Cal killed daddy and teleported away." She sobbed.
Blackburn rushed past her to the door to the bathroom, looking at the king's body in the pool of blood.
He turned back to her, "What happened Alex?" He asked softly as Cal cried and sobbed.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"I was in the bath with Cal sitting on the edge of the tub, Daddy came in with his dagger and stabbed Cal in the chest."
"Then Cal teleported behind Daddy and stabbed him in the throat before teleporting again so I ran back to our room and foud him turning into a vampire, he killed daddy, I couldn't let him get away with it." She sobbed.
Blackburn stared at her and Cal tried to guess what he was thinking, she had no clue how much he knew about what was actually going on.
Does he know they were planning to kill me? Does he know the king was fucking his daughter? Is he buying this crazy story? Thoughts and doubts raced through her mind.
"Cal's body is in your room?" Blackburn finally asked.
"Yes, I came back here to wash off the blood, I think I'm in shock." She sobbed.
"Ok, go to your brother's room for now, his guards will keep you both safe. I will get the advisors and handle this." Blackburn said, and rushed out of the room.
Cal stood there for a moment shocked that Blackburn bought her story, and then walked off to Prince Derrin's room.
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Sophia woke to the sharp high note of the magic alarm that woke her each morning just before the sun rose and went through the motions of dressing herself and getting prepared to guard Princess Alexandra.
When she was presentable she left her room in the keep and walked through the halls to Alex's room.
As sometimes was the case when Alex got up early the night guards weren't there, so Sophia sighed and went to search for the princess so she could start her shift.
She was passing by Prince Derrin's room when the guards stopped her.
"Alexandra is in with Derrin." Cody said.
"Uh, ok, should I just wait here with you two then?" Sophia asked, puzzled.
It was no secret Alex didn't care for her younger brother and Sophia had never known her to enter his room.
"Fine by me." Cody replied.
Hellen came down the hall a few minutes later, running late as always.
"She's in here for some reason." Sophia said when Hellen reached her.
Hellen grunted in reply and leaned up against the wall, closing her eyes and crossing her arms while she waited.
Sophia stood rigidly like a good little guard for almost two hours before growing restless.
"What is she doing in there?" She asked Cody.
"Sleeping, I believe." Cody replied.
"Why is she sleeping in her brother's room?" Sophia wondered.
"I don't know, when we got here to replace the other guards they told us she showed up late last night and said she'd be staying here." Cody answered.
Sophia was still confused, Alex never slept in, not even on her wedding night.
She waited another two hours before she got impatient and knocked on the door to Cody's objections, Prince Derrin was grumpy when he was tired.
She had to knock loudly a couple of times before the door finally opened a crack and Alex peeked out rubbing at her eyes.
"Sophia, what are you doing here?" Alex asked sleepily.
"Guarding you?" Sophia questioned.
"Oh yeah of course, that's your job after all." Alex responded, yawning loudly and slipping out of the door.
Alex started walking quickly down the hall towards the entrance of the keep.
"Don't you want to change into your training clothes?" Sophia asked, eyeing the yellow sundress and pink slippers Alex was wearing.
"Not training, I'll explain at the inn." Alex replied without stopping.
Sophia and Hellen rushed to follow her.
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Cal woke up in the huge bed next to the sleeping young prince and was confused for a moment before she remembered the night before.
She rolled off the bed groggily as someone pounded at the door again, crossing the room as fast as she could to make it stop.
She was confused when she opened the door and saw Sophia. "Sophia, what are you doing here?" Cal asked.
"Guarding you?" Sophia asked her confusedly.
Oh, right, duh. Cal thought.
"Oh yeah of course, that's your job after all." Cal said, yawning loudly and slipping out the door.
She needed to get to Vera and Mia and tell them what had happened. She started walking quickly to the inn knowing Sophia would follow her.
"Don't you want to change into your training clothes?" Sophia asked her from behind.
"Not training, I'll explain at the inn." Cal said without stopping.
Cal decided she could probably trust Sophia, even though she wasn't feeling very trusting at the moment.
She made it all the way to the inn before realizing Hellen was following her as well.
"Uh Hellen, why don't you take the day off." Cal said, standing in the doorway of the inn.
Hellen grunted and walked off back towards the keep.
"What are you doing Alex? Hellen will get in trouble if your father finds out." Sophia asked.
Cal snorted, or tried to, it didn't feel or sound quite right in this body. "He's not going to be finding out, trust me."
Vera and Mia weren't in the lobby so Cal headed to the counter.
"Which room are the vampies staying in?" She asked the bartender.
"Room four, your highness." He responded.
Cal headed up the stairs without another word and knocked softly on Vera's door so she wouldn't wake up Mia.
Vera opened the door a minute later in a black silk nightgown. "Alex, Sophia, good morning. Where is Cal?" She asked, looking past Alex and only seeing Sophia.
"Can we come in?" Cal asked, ignoring her question.
Vera stepped to the side, holding the door open wider to let them in.
Once the door was closed and locked Cal held out her right hand, showing them the silver infinity sign that she was had been relieved to find was still there.
"Do you have a pair of gloves I can borrow. sis?" She asked, and launched into the tale of what had happened last night.
Cal had been expecting them to react with disbelief, anger that Alex had tricked them all, or disgust that the king had been in a relationship with his daughter for who knows how long.
But when she told them about killing the king Sophia gasped, then it looked like she was trying really hard to say something before a haunted look came over her face and she sat down in the only chair in the room.
Vera had listened to her whole tale with a stoic look on her face. "So you are carrying your own child in your wife's body?" She asked when Cal finished.
Cal's hands shot to her stomach and her mouth twisted in horror.
"Shit." She said. "How do I get rid of it?"
Vera glowered at her. "Why would you want to get rid of your child?" She snapped at her.
"Alex betrayed me. I don't want to have her baby." Cal replied incredulously.
"Alex betrayed you yes, but that child is innocent. You will carry it." Vera said commandingly.
"Vera... I can't... I'm not a woman, I can't have a baby. I want it out." Cal said in exasperation.
"Cal!" Vera yelled, waking up Mia. "You will carry that child!" She stomped her foot on the ground.
Cal sighed, "We can talk about it later Vera. What do you want to tell Mia, about, you know?" She asked, indicating her body with her hand.
"The truth of course." Vera said as Mia sleepily got out of bed.
"Hi Alex! Hi Sophia! Mia shouted excitedly, her sleepiness forgotten when she saw who was in her room.
"Mia, remember that ring with the heart we liked to tease Cal about sweetie?" Vera asked.
Mia giggled, "It is for girls!" She screamed.
Cal grinned despite herself. I'ts for girls indeed. She thought wryly.
"Yes that ring Mia, Alex killed Cal and that ring caused them to switch bodies. This is Cal in Alex's body, Alex is dead now." Vera said.
You've got to be kidding me, no way an eleven year old girl will just understand and accept that explanation. Cal thought.
"I understand." Mia said, and ran to give Cal a hug. "Sorry Alex killed you Cal." She said with her face pressed into Cal's new breasts.
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Sophia listened to her story in astonishment, she couldn't imagine what Cal was feeling, being betrayed by a woman she loved and trusted like that.
When she got to the part about her killing the king a fierce surge of happiness and hope bloomed in Sophia's chest.
She gasped and opened her mouth to thank Cal for killing that disgusting man and tell them what he had done, but to her horror the magic was still preventing her from talking about the king.
She had to go sit down while she thought about what that meant for her, she would never be able to tell anyone what had happened, and she would still be stuck as a royal guard for the rest of her life.
Cal finished her tale and Vera brought up something Sophia thought was obvious, but Cal seemed completely floored, her mouth opening in horror while her hands shot to her stomach.
Sophia was stunned that Mia accepted her mother's words just like that, but Mia had been through a lot and was an incredibly resilient and smart little girl.
"So now what?" Sophia asked, grinning at the uncomfortable look on Cal's face from Mia's head being shoved into her boobs.
"I think I will pretend to be Alex until Derrin is corronated and Lucious is buried, and then just go live in my castle, I'm done with this shitty world." Cal said bitterly.
"Maybe it's not the world though, maybe it's me. Both of the women I fell in love with turned out to be evil."
"Both?" Sophia asked.
Cal scratched the back of her head the way Sophia knew Cal always did.
"Nothing, it's not important. Make sure you all call me Alex until this all blows over." Cal said while pulling on a pair of black cloth gloves Vera handed to her.
"I've got to go Vera, I'll see you tomorrow." Cal said and gave Vera a hug before rushing back to the keep with Sophia in tow.
When they reached the keep Blackburn was waiting for them in the courtyard, standing from a stone bench at their approach and pulling down his black hood for the first time Sophia had ever seen.
Cal and Sophia stopped walking and Blackburn took a knee before Cal.
"Princess Alexandra I know I have no right to ask you for any favours after failing to protect your father, but if our friendship ever meant anything to you I implore you to release me from my pledge of fealty to House Ranock."
"If I don't flee soon I will be held responsible for the death of the king, and they will execute me for treason." He pleaded.
"Why do you need to be freed from your pledge to flee?" Sophia asked, confused.
Blackburn looked up at her. "The pledge allowed King Ranock to give me certain orders that prevent me from leaving."
So that's what his power was. It was the oath of fealty. Sophia realized, and hope rekindled in her chest, Cal could free her too!
"Uh I release you from your oath." Cal said.
"Princess please do not joke with me about this. Tell me plainly if you plan to release me or not so that I may prepare for the outcome, You owe me that much." Blackburn said angrily.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make a joke, please tell me how to release you." She said.
"With the crown, Princess." He said slowly, looking at her in confusion.
"Oh of course, where is it?" She asked.
"Follow me." He said.
Blackburn stood and walked briskly away into the keep with Sophia and Cal following.
He led them to the throne room where two older men were loudly bickering, growing silent as soon as they entered.
"Princess Alexandra, I'm so sorry for your loss, if there is anything I can... Hey! What are you doing!" One of the two old man said as Blackburn walked down the carpet to the throne, picking the crown up off the cushion.
He held it out to Cal, ignoring the protestations of the old man who was ranting about the crown remaining on the throne for the traditional three days of change.
"What do I do?" Cal asked.
Blackburn seemed to be searching her eyes. "You aren't Alex." He stated after a moment.
Sophia prepared to act, if she could touch Blackburn before he could touch Alex she could...
"Nevermind, I don't care anymore. Just put the crown on your head and say, 'I, Princess Alexandra Ranock, release Sasha Blackburn from any oath to the crown'." Blackburn said.
Cal put the crown on her head and repeated the words, grinning at finding out Blackburn's name was Sasha.
As soon as she finished the sentence Blackburn reached out and pinched her on the arm.
Sophia rushed forward, despair gripping her heart as her only chance of being released from the late king's compulsion was touched by a combat healer.
"Owww what was that for!" Cal asked, rubbing at the red spot on her arm as Sophia stopped in her tracks.
"I had to make sure the oath was gone, goodbye, whoever you are." Blackburn turned and left the room, nodding at Sophia as he left.
"Alex, release me from my oath." Sophia said as soon as he was gone.
"What, you don't want to be my guard anymore?" Cal grinned at her.
"Alex, please, I need you to release me." She begged.
"Jeez you don't have to beg Sophia, what's your last name?" Cal asked.
"Reed." She replied quickly.
"Ok but you better not pinch me Sophia. I, Princess Alexandra Ranock, release Sophia Reed from any oath to the crown." Cal said.
"The king was a shithead." Sophia tested if it worked, then she turned and ran out of the keep.
She ran all the way back to the inn she had just come from, bursting in the door and looking around the common room for Kyla.
She spotted her coming out of the kitchen and ran over to her.
"Kyla I need to talk to you in private." She panted, out of breath.
"Now you want to talk, now that I'm in the middle of work and have already broken up with you." Kyla snapped, angry tears coming to her eyes and her arms crossing over her chest.
"Please Kyla, I can explain everything. I love you."Sophia pleaded.
She had never told Kyla that before, and the words made her furious.
"You better not be expecting me to say that back, you can't just come in here after not touching or talking to me for weeks and tell me that you love me expecting me to just fall back into your arms like some stupid emotional damsel!" She yelled.
"Just come hear me out, please Kyla. If you tell me to go after I explain you will never have to see me again." Sophia promised.
"Fine. I'm taking my break, gimme a room key." Kyla said, looking over to the barkeeper who was openly gawking at the scene they were causing.
"Room two." He said and set a key on the counter.
Kyla angrily snatched it up before stomping over to the stairs with Sophia following after her.
They entered the room and Sophia shut the door behind herself, turning to find an angry Kyla tapping her foot impatiently.
"Well?" She asked.
"I was under a magic oath that wouldn't let me say anything about the man who was raping me." Sophia said.
Kyla's foot stopped tapping and she uncrossed her arms. "Sophia I..." She said in a soft voice.
"He gave me orders and I had to do whatever he said, he he..." Sophia's voice cracked and Kyla rushed over to hug her as she burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably.
Kyla held her for a moment before leading her over to the bed and sitting down beside her.
Sophia pressed her face against Kyla's chest and let out all the tears she had been holding in over the last month, soaking Kyla's shirt as she stroked Sophia's hair soothingly.
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Cal was surprised when instead of thanking her Sophia just called the late king a shithead and ran out of throneroom.
She headed upstairs to Alex's room. My room. She corrected herself.
She entered the room not sure what to expect, but all signs of the horrors of the night before were gone.
The only thing out of place were the two huge bare spots on the floor where the bloody rugs had been removed, one at the foot of the bed and one by the door.
She went to the nightstand in which she had stashed the box of magical rings from House Corin and took one out, considering it.
After a minute spent staring at the ring and contemplating, she placed it on her left index finger, just like she had the last one.
Just like last time it shrunk down to fit her finger and she was unable to remove it, she was about to place the box back in the nightstand but had a better idea.
A moment later she appeared in a pitch black room and bent down, placing the box of rings on the stone ground of the cave-vault she had gotten them from.
She teleported back into her room at the keep and looked through Alex's dresser for something to wear.
She stripped off her dress and pulled on a pair of lace panties, wishing Alex had some less sexy underwear, she didn't want to feel sexy.
Some of the clothing was so complex and odd she had no clue how to even wear it, and there were no simple pairs of pants.
She gave up on finding pants and settled for a long green pleated skirt that stopped just above her ankles and a matching green longsleeve blouse.
She was still in her room sitting in front of the large dresser mirror trying to figure out how to make her long blonde hair stay out of her face an hour later when someone knocked at her door.
"Who is it?" She asked, sighing in exasperation and giving up on her hair.
"It's your favourite uncle!" A boisterous voice boomed through the door. "I hope you're decent, because I'm coming in to give my favourite niece a hug!"
The door slammed open and a grinning giant of a man walked in.
He strode over to were Cal was standing up from the bench and picked her up in a massive bearhug, twirling her around twice before setting her back down on her feet.
He leaned down to her eye level and squeezed her shoulders. "I'm so sorry about your father and your husband, Alexandra. I can only imagine how you are feeling."
Cal was at a loss, getting picked up by someone three times your size and crushed while spun around is a humbling experience.
"Um hi Uncle. Thank you for coming." She said, glad that he had identified himself at least.
"Oh Alex it must be bad, you didn't even correct my usage of your full name." He said sadly.
"If you want to talk I am here for you, I will be here from now on to help your brother rule until he is old enough."
"Now why don't we go fetch that brother of yours and have ourselves a family dinner." He said more cheerfully.
The massive man turned and walked out the door, looking back at her expectantly.
Cal sighed and followed him.
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Queen Lumina Dawnwing listened intently to her scout who was giving her a firsthand report of seeing people appear in the Ranock portal arches of Crossroads with carts of goods to trade.
She had gotten many such reports over the last month and had sent this scout out to confirm.
It's real then, King Ranock has a spatial mage that charged the portal from Ranock to Crossroads. But why hasn't he charged the portal for the return journey? She wondered.
The scout finished his report and she dismissed him, sitting on her throne and thinking through her options for a few minutes.
She absently tucked her straight long blonde hair behind her pointed ears as she came to a decision, she would go herself and try for the diplomatic approach.
But she would also bring her full contingent of Dawnwings, Lumina certainly wouldn't be the only one after the services of King Ranock's spatial mage.
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Empress Sirenia Sandscale rode at the head of the column of two hundred and fifty of her strongest soldiers.
She scratched her Rankir absently under its ear hole and the giant lizard flicked out its tongue while pressing her head into the scratches.
Halfway there. She thought, as she saw the buildings of Crossroads rising ahead to the North with her sand colored reptilian eyes.
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Lord Karo Ranock stood in the ashes of his older-by-one-hour twin brother's estate, fists clenched by his sides.
He had returned from his mission to aquire skulls from the spatial mage's crypt across The Endless Deep expecting his brother to tell him how he had already succeeded at getting a spatial mage with the bones from the temple, that Karo had wasted his time, like Karo had told him would happen.
His men wisely remained on and around the caravan of covered wagons, not approaching him until his anger subsided.
Ashes rose in the air around him as he screamed out his rage to the world.
"Whoever did this, wherever you are, I will find you, and I will make you suffer!" He swore an oath to the wind.
Karo finally calmed down after several more shouted expletives and began to search the grounds around the ruins of the estate.
He made his way to the ritual site and saw something strange, a long metal rectangular box was sitting in the middle of the summoning triangle.
He walked up to the box and peeked inside, there were human bones strewn across the floor and two gnomes were sleeping huddled next to each other on one of the strange benches that lined the wall.
Lord Karo signaled to his men who had followed him at a distance and they entered the metal box, grabbing the gnomes in their sleep and binding their hands and legs.
Karo pulled out his wicked looking long black metal dagger and got to work.
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Zatira, wearing a pink apron with purple hearts on it, was pulling a sheet of chocolate chip cookies out of her stone oven with her bare hands when she felt an oath to cause her harm brush across her mind, causing her to fumble the pan and spill all of the cookies onto the ground.
Her skin broke out in purple fire as she got angry at herself for being so easily startled, which caused her apron to intantly turn into ash.
She sniffled, looking at her hard work lying ruined on the ground and regretting the loss of her favourite apron she had made herself.
Then she burst into tears.
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