“What do you mean he turned to Darkness?” Strider asks.

“I mean that he is pure evil now. There is no more light in his eyes. There is only pure hatred. He killed our eldest son because he was jealous that he wouldn’t have the crown for eternity. We locked him up in the dungeon in the basement of the castle,” Amelia explained.

My heart grows heavy with dread. Not Asher Eusebia. Anyone but him.

Asher was one of the kindest people I have ever met. He truly cared for his people and their future. To be king was his destiny. Asher was born to be one. He was always willing to help my brothers and I put a stop to Darkness. He was going to be our greatest ally and be a strong asset to our battles. Asher was like a brother to me.

I look down at my feet with a moment of silence. I know I will mourn for him when I have alone time but right now is not the time to cry. I suck in a deep breath.

“Take us to him,” I command.

She nods and gestures for us to follow her.

“Are you sure he turned to darkness and is not just a crazy person?” Theon whispers. He is only loud enough for Strider and I to hear him.

“Are you serious right now? You have to be joking,” Strider says.

“What? You never know. Some people get crazy the older they get.”

“Sometimes I even wonder if we are from the same bloodline.”

“Shush, both of you,” I hiss.

We walk into Chopver’s castle. Out of all the castles, I think this one has to be my favorite. The marble floors make the castle always look so clean and the walls are filled with paintings of the many generations that ruled before. The diamond ceilings acted as a mirror.

I look up and I see Theon making faces at himself through the ceiling. We make eye contact and I glare at him. His face immediately falls into a more serious look. I roll my eyes and think about the comment Strider made a couple of minutes ago. How is it possible that Strider and I are so serious about our duties and Theon acts like it's all a joke?

We walk down the stairs into a stone hallway. This is where the dungeon begins. The temperature drops so cold that I can see my breath in front of me. The lack of light and stone walls are also dead giveaways.

We walk down the hallway where there are three cells on each side. Most of them are empty except one. The old pale man is all skin and bones with no meat on him. His long white beard and his unkept teeth show that he has been in here for a very long time. He walks up to his cell bars and gives me the nastiest glare as if I somehow put him in the cells myself. I shudder and keep walking, pretending that I didn’t notice him.

After we get past the cells, we walk into a circular room where there is a while with four straps in the shape of an X. There are blood drips throughout the wheel.

“Geez, what do you think they use that for?” Theon asks.

I roll my eyes, not bothering to answer him. We don’t dictate how each kingdom rules its people. The only thing we look for is that everything is given fairly. If someone deserves to be punished for what they did then so be it. We don’t agree that people should be punished for nothing though.

After the circular torture room, we get to another hall. This one is a fourth of the one we passed through before. There are no cells on the sides but there are cell bars in the ground.

“Engeldeo, it’s me, your wife. I have the Windslow siblings here. Are you feeling well enough to talk to them, my love?’ Amelia says.

A groan and then a shriek come from the ground. I see something moving in the shadows, too quick for me to realize who or what it is. Curiosity gets the best of me and I feel my legs pull me to see what is in the cell.

The next thing I know is that I feel a sharp pain right above my right eye. Theon grabs my shoulders and snatches me away from the cell.

My brother hands a handkerchief to me “Here sister.”

I blink and take the handkerchief, curious. He motions to put it to my head. Following his actions I dab it on my forehead. Pulling it back a small splotch of blood is on it. Scanning the ground I see a rock with a bit of blood on it.

That’s King Engeldeo Eusebia for you. He is known for his aim. He could hit a bullseye on a target from hundreds of feet away. If we wanted to, he could have blinded me with the rock, or worse, hit someone else somewhere that could have been fatal. But he didn’t. If he fully turned, wouldn’t he have tried to kill someone, not just harm them?

“Sister, are you alright? I don’t think you should walk up to the cell again. He might try to hurt you again,” Strider says.

I ignore him and stand close enough to the cell to take a look inside once more. I grab a torch off the prison wall. Lighting up the cell, my eyes meet a man who looks like Engeldeo but instead of the warmth that is always in his eyes, they are ice cold. His pale skin looks almost green and translucent. Purple veins are vibrant all around his body. His height is the same as it always was but the muscles on his body have grown twice in size. His sharp yellow teeth are vibrant against his pale skin.

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This only happens to the people who disobey Darkness. If they don’t follow his command or try to go back to Light, they will be punished and turned into mindless beasts. They aren’t able to ask Darkness for forgiveness either since he took away their speech. All they can do is shriek and wail.

King Engledeo’s eyes keep darting around the cell and out of it, yet when we make eye contact for a brief moment, there is a sense of familiarity in them. Part of him is still in there somewhere.

Engeldeo steps a couple of paces back. I sigh with relief. Maybe he has realized who I am and that I am not an enemy. Maybe there is still some of him left inside … him.

I turn around to ask Amelia some questions about how he turned and what made him kill his son. I open my mouth to ask the question, and then all of a sudden I hear the most ear-curdling screech. The cell bars rattle and clank until they sound like they are about to pop.

I turn around to see that Engeldeo has jumped to grab the bars and his feet are sticking out.

“Holy shit!” the dark-haired soldier who came with us said, “The cell is ten feet deep. How is he able to jump that high?”

King Engeldeo looked like a dead pig on a pole about to get roasted. His yellow teeth bite on bars, leaving green foam on them. The screech turned into painful cries of mercy. He gets down from the bars. I run up to see if he is okay. Scratching his head as if he is trying to get something out, purple blood oozes from his skull. He looks up and we make eye contact again. I could see Engeldeo was begging through his eyes to save him. I am lost.

“Engeldeo has been like this for a week now. I got up immediately and ran to his room down the hall. A few guards met me as I opened Asher’s door. My husband was standing over my son, his face losing color as blood drained from his neck. I asked my husband what was going on, and he turned his head to the side, barely acknowledging me. Then he started to turn towards me, showing a bloody knife in his hand. Raising the knife, he looked at it and then at me. Engeldeo started to whisper to himself and deny something. He kept saying to himself, ‘That wasn’t the plan’ and ‘You didn’t say I had to end her too’. I waved the guards in and had them restrain him. I should have called you but I didn’t want to alarm you. I thought that maybe I could do something that could reverse this nightmare.” Queen Amelia’s voice trails off, “I thought maybe I could find a cure.”

She looks up with tears welling up in her eyes. She was also begging for something different than Engeldeo. I stare at her with understanding and look at her soldiers.

“Please, wait until we are out of earshot, but you must kill King Engeldeo,” I say. I could tell Amelia did not have the courage to tell her men to kill her husband.

“With all due respect, Queen Orien, we are not under your rule and therefore we will not kill the king under your command,” the solder with dark hair responds.

I look at Amelia and I’m met with wide round eyes. Maybe I read her pleas wrong. Maybe she just wanted to get out of there and not see her husband like this anymore. Her head shakes and tears fall down her rosy cheeks. She walked to my side with a face of courage.

“Do it. I command you to kill King Engeldeo Eusebia when we are out of earshot. I don’t want to see my husband suffer anymore. It’s worse than seeing him peacefully in permanent sleep. Please, Hemmonet, you know I love my husband so much. If I knew there was even the slightest chance that he could be saved then I would not be asking for this. Please do this, so that I may no longer suffer as well,” Amelia says.

The soldier with dark hair, Hemmonet, hesitates. He looks between Amelia and me with a look of sympathy. He looks down and lets out a deep sigh, resigned with what he has to do.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Hemmonet finally replies.

With that, I lightly grab Amelia’s arm and walk her over to Engeldeo.

“What are you doing,” she asks.

“I am giving you a moment to say goodbye to your husband for the last time. You love him so much and should be able to have the chance to tell him that,” I reply.

She doesn’t look at me but nods.

“May I have some alone time with my husband?”

“Take all the time you need. We will be at the end of the hall by the stairs we came down. Come to us when you are done saying everything you desire.”

I gesture for Theon, Strider, and Hemmonet you walk to the opposite side of the hall. While we walk Strider asks, “When did you guys first find out that he turned to Darkness?”

“Some time last week. It seemed like it just happened overnight. His Royal Highness must have snuck into Prince Asher’s room. The guards were there the whole night and said they didn’t hear or see him enter the room. They heard Prince Asher scream and when they met the Queen at his door, they saw his throat had been slit. The guard who saw it is still on leave because he saw everything. He was such an innocent kid, that guard. The whole kingdom is still in mourning,” says Hemmonet.

That would explain why Amelia was wearing her black dress today. I guess she will be wearing that a little bit longer since she will be losing her husband now.

“Is Asher buried somewhere close? Can we please see him and pay our respects?” asks Theon.

“His Highness is buried close. I will have a servant show you where he is after Queen Amelia comes to join us.”

“Was it…,” Theon hesitates, “Was it quick? Asher’s death. Did he suffer?”

Hemmonet shook his head, “His death was almost immediate. I will spare you the details since I know the four of you were close friends.”

“You will do the same to King Engeldeo right? You will give him a quick death and make sure he doesn’t suffer. It’s not his fault, he is under the control of Darkness. He is filled with hate that is not his. Whatever greedy desire he had, I am sure that he regretted it from the beginning. In a way he is already dead,” I say.

“I promise to give His Highness a quick death. I will also make it as painless as possible, Your Majesty.”

My brothers and I nodded. Strider and Theon both put their arms around me. Then they put their arms around each other, the three of us forming a circle.

“I can see that you have been holding tears in since the news, sister. It’s okay, you can cry now. You know we don’t judge. We will keep you hidden while you mourn,” Strider whispers.

I make eye contact with him but he quickly becomes blurry. The hot tears warm up my cold cheeks. I dip my head and silently scream into the ground. This is Darkness’ fault. My own father is creating evil and killing people I love. My knees give out as I continue the silent screams. Theon uses his strength to keep me up and Strider pulls us both closer to him. I see teardrops joining mine on the ground. I feel a sense of peace knowing that my brothers are comfortable to grieve in front of me as well. The three of us stay in the circle, crying for the loss of our closest friend.