The Royal Revenge
Chapter 59: Tricked

Chapter 59: Tricked

The princess was starting to crumble from a rush of self-loathing.

She watched as the child completely melted in her hands. His body finally lost. Only his clothes remaining in Elys’ arms.

She felt the weight of his passing pull her downwards into a spiraling world of emptiness, the birds mercilessly pushing her down further.

Elys clenched her fists, the emptiness inside of her slowly getting replaced with a surge of hatred and anger.

’There is no other choice here,’ Elys thought to herself. ’Might as well use it to end everything.’

The boy was no longer alive in her arms, his cause of death baffling and perplexing.

Elys felt the immense pressure of her reality. There was no explanation, nor anyone else present that could stop the progress of time as it marched forward. The universe’s clock never looked back once it started to tick away into the next second of the here and now.

With the weight of the birds crushing Elys, she opened her crossed arms and screamed with all her might, "AAAH!!!"

It was a scream of pain and agony, suffering and frustration. She wanted to cry, but the tears couldn’t find their way out of her eyes now. Why did it have to come to this?

Elys couldn’t live another second in this torture. She closed her eyes and tried to recall how she used to command magic, back in the time when she hadn’t formed a trauma for fire and the dead.

Unclenching her fists, Elys let the magic all around her find its way to her system.

Magic was inherently everywhere, as what her father had taught her since she was a child. He had learned to use that natural magic to his advantage, turned it into something useful.

With that being said and done, King Alaric Whitecaster became the first Northern King to have learned the powers inherent in everything the mind perceived.

Warmth started to envelope Elys with the thought of her father. He had been so strict, yet never been harsh on his words when she failed or messed around during her trainings.

If only she could turn back the time and save him, her mother, and all of her loved ones.

Light started to emanate from the princess’ body. A bright glow which expanded far and wide. The birds were too sensitive to the light that they voluntarily flew away from the light.

But just as quickly as the magic returned to her, Elys still had an aversion to the damages her spells left behind afterwards.

She lost her confidence, and with it, her control over her magic.

From a warm glow, a burst of light spread out across the dark room. Explosion followed it afterwards, and Elys had to cover her ears and close her eyes with the loud noise.

Her dress caught fire, and she had to blindly put it off as the light was still unbearable if she opened her eyes.

Everywhere the light touched, things turned silent. The birds that used to have attacked the princess and the boy were now out of sight, frantic screeches echoing in the distance.

’I am sorry,’ she sobbed silently, ’I just can’t control myself.’

Just as she feared, her magic created a vacuum effect, whipping and crushing her at the same time with the brute force of the energy released from her magic.

She could hear what seemed like concrete wall fall over, and she assumed the room had collapsed with the intensity of her uncontrollable powers.

When everything died down, only static remained, a ringing incessantly drilling itself in Elys’ ears. Elys expected to find herself back at the inn, thinking the dark void that surrounded her had crumbled to return her back to reality.

But when the princess opened her eyes, a familiar but infuriating face showed up instead.

"You seemed to have had a nightmare," Prince Aleksander cocked his head.

A nightmare? Elys turned her head in confusion, her eyes widening at the sight next to her.

The carriage was still moving.

+++

"What happened?" Elys blurted out the second she opened her eyes and saw the scenery outside her window.

The trees that lined the forest trail they took towered over them. There was no sight of the moon above, but the stars were seemingly brighter than the usual.

"Weren’t we supposed to be resting for the night?" Elys asked as she returned to her seat, "We arrived at a town, stayed in an inn..."

The princess’ eyes widened with the realization dawning on her, "Wait..."

The prince merely smiled; a bit too amused, to the point it ticked off Elys. The princess glared at him. She had pieced together the obvious, making it all the more maddening.

Elys’ brows furrowed to make a tightly knit bridge of fury. Her forehead wrinkled with the facial muscles that involuntarily followed her mood.

"You invaded my head with a pre-fabricated vision," she pointed out as she crossed her arms. "You tricked me. Why?"

Prince Aleksander merely shrugged her question off, "You didn’t want to answer my questions. I wanted to see what your reaction might be if you were to be cornered helpless."

The princess felt rage boil in her blood as she heard his lame excuses. Although she could have burst in anger if she wanted to, Elys calmed herself down and approached his arrogant ass with equal pride.

"And did you see anything that intrigued you?" she snapped at him, almost a bark even, demonstrating power as she wasn’t going to be pushed around willingly.

The prince cocked his head to the side, leaned over his propped hand and said, "As a matter of fact, I did. And it is quite interesting how you have kept this all along," he hummed. "Very, very interesting indeed."

His eyes were brooding, a low rumble rising from his diaphragm with the way he hummed when he closed his mouth. The princess found this annoying. It ticked her off to no end that the prince had suddenly switched tactics.

She was more accustomed to his violent ways.

This one... this wasn’t what she was accustomed to.