King Arcus

Her blood boils as she walks through the enormous bronze door of the throne room. Her long purple gown trails behind her like swirling snakes, sharp edges cutting into the earth at her every step leaving trails of blood from her awake. Hands firmly touch the edges of her dagger ready to pierce the heart of King Arcus.

A crown of thorns sits tilted on the Arcus’ head. A black gown, dark as his heart, is wrapped around him and a playful smirk plays shamelessly around his lips. 

“Serena”

Her mind is telling her to kill him this instance but she stands rigid counting down the minutes when she can finally do what she’s dreamed to do.

“Your Highness, such a pleasure to finally meet you.” She says firmly biting her lips. She nods her head in respect clearly not bothered to bow or curtsy.

 “We need to talk in private.”

Arcus pauses and turns towards the guards who stand like statues against the corners of the throne room. “Please give us a minute”

His voice like a commanding officer, they depart without a word. 

“This is about to get interesting,” Serena thinks to herself. A malicious grin spreads on Serena’s lips.

As Arcus strides towards her, her hand finds the dagger and she slowly traces the handle waiting for the right moment to strike. A cold shiver runs down her spine as he whispers words of hatred.

“Such a shame, I’ve seen women more beautiful than you” Arcus’ hand grabs her hips and pulls her towards him, still with her back to him she tries to release his grip but fails. 

“I’ll never let you go, never” His breath hot against her neck giving Serena the right moment to strike. 

“Neither will I!”

Serena reaches for her dagger but her hands collide with thin air, she looks up at Arcus with confused eyes.

“Tell me, Serena, what has upset you?” He lets go of her hips and cups her chin wiping away imaginary tears.

“How?”

“I could smell hatred on you as soon as you walked in” Arcus says. “I should kill you but what a shame would it be if a king killed his queen?”

All the hours Hudson trained with her, he never mention a word about her being a queen, he only spoke of her freedom if she brought back the heart of King Arcus.

“Queen?”

“Such a shame, you weren’t informed,” Arcus says. “This whole mission was a setup, I ordered him to capture you to bring you to me, but he knew you could put up a fight so he fed you lies making you believe that if you bought back my heart you would win back your freedom.”

Serena’s face turns white as a ghost, her eyes widen in shock. All Hudson wanted was to avenge his brother’s murder. She knew something was fishy about him but never really cared because she knew he would grant her freedom if she completed the mission.

“No!” She yells in frustration, “I trusted him!” How could everything she worked for turn out to be an absolute lie?

“My men killed him the same night you left to come to me,” Arcus assures her. “No need to be upset, sweetie.”

“How could you let him do that to me?” Her shaking hands collide with his stone-like face, he narrows his eyes at her.  

“It was the only way you would come to me,”Arcus says he’s cold stare piercing into her soul. “People do crazy things to be with the person they love.”

“What if I don’t love you?” Serena spat.

“How dare you say that your king?” Suddenly, the whites in his eyes turn pure black. “You shall never utter those words again, do you understand?”

“Yes,” she says through gritted teeth.

“Good.” He mumbles smirking.

“I fear that the only thing you will make of me is a puppet, if that is to happen then please let me go.” She looks up at him with puppy eyes, she needed to somehow to convince him to let her go.  

With a smirk still playing on his lips, he leans in and whispers in her ears. “No. You shall be my Queen.”