The Dusk was approaching, a palace looking majestically sharp and huge, nearly a devotion to art and architecture, it stood like a disciplined gentleman, on the balcony a young lady and a middle aged man were standing, looking over the marvellous huge garden. the man asked the lady while spreading his arms.

 

“Alessandra! Look at that, aren’t those flower patterns beautiful?

It spreads nearly across 1000 yards, there are so many flowers that we could smell their odour”

 

The lady Alessandra (looking at the humongous garden with a serious expression, there was no emotion of sudden surprise on her face)

 

Father! It’s bountiful… no doubt, but… (She looked at the man as if he had let her down)

 

But why? (With a disappointed face)

 

The man was shocked he didn’t expect that from his daughter.

He replied

 

A ‘why’! What does that mean?

 

She replied

Why are you doing this?

The man replied

Why not! Didn’t you like this?

 

She replied with a sigh.

No, I will say it’s pretty underwhelming.

 

With disgruntlement he countered.

It is a gift for you my loving piece of charm, you should be thankful.

 

Sardonically she scoffs.

Thankful! For what? My people are suffering from famine and drought, and a worst case scenario the kingdom’s treasury is mostly empty from wars, but rather helping people you are wasting money on that thing that will die when the season is over.

(Her eyes burned with a cold, jagged fury, her lips curling into a sneer of absolute, heart-wrenching disappointment)

 

The father with a cold and wounded pride

Alessandra! Enough. Since your mother died, I have done everything to make sure you never felt her loss. I have worked myself to the bone so you could live in beauty, yet you throw it back in my face? Forget the peasants. They do not matter. This is a gift for my daughter, and you should be grateful to have a father like me .

With a broken laughter, she said.

Grateful! After all you have done to me, Father, enough! You have kept me within these stone walls my entire life. I have never felt the grass beneath my feet or opened a single door to the world. I have only ever known the light from a balcony or a window. You call this a gift, but it is just another cage.

(A lone tear fell like shattered glass, her eyes hollow with the quiet, suffocating ache of a daughter who realized her home was a tomb)

 You had killed my lover, you have arranged my marriage with a 55 year old drunk king who had killed his wife for not satisfying him in oral pleasure. And you had killed many persons for calling my name without miss, (while saving) how could I be more thankful to you?

You think this is normal?

Then you’re wrong, you’re just a bastard old man who struggles to control his temper, you have abdicated the responsibility that a king must shoulder.

While she was criticizing her father, her father was trying to silence her.

When she spoke that you had the power to save m….m…ma

While she was speaking her father with a raw suffocating rage shouting violently

Enough!

His voice was low, steady, and heavy with authority.

Do not mistake my patience for weakness, Alessandra.

You stand here because I allow it.

He stepped closer, his presence suffocating.

You speak of suffering and duty, yet you understand neither.

You question a king as if you were his equal.

His gaze sharpened.

Your lover died because he forgot his place. He rots in the dirt where he belongs… and you would be wise not to follow him.

A pause. His tone turned colder.

You call this life a cage? Everything you are, your name, your comfort, your very breath, exists because of me.

He looked at her with quiet disdain.

And yet, like many women, you confuse emotion with wisdom… and defiance with strength.

Leaning closer, his voice dropped further.

You were not raised to rule, Alessandra. You were raised to serve a purpose.

His eyes hardened.

You will marry as I have commanded. You will obey him… endure him… and fulfil the role you were kept alive for.

You are just a sex slave, It is your duty to provide an heir to the dynasty.

His eyes were red like amber, as if they would consume her piece by piece with truth.

You are not a daughter today, Alessandra. You are a State Offering, and that’s the real truth.

A sharp pause.

The only reason you still stand before me is because you are of use. Without that… you would have been discarded long ago.

He straightened his gaze cold and final.

You are nothing but a gilded tribute to buy our peace.

You are not special. You are necessary.

With an eye contact to her eyes, he whispered in her ear

Now, consider yourself a votive lamb, Alessandra.

You bleed so the Kingdom may live.

You are a crown pawn, moved for the sake of this kingdom.

A final glance, heavy with quiet threat.

Now leave you stupid girl. Before I remind you how little power you truly have… and how easily it can be taken from you.

(holding her mouth ran away to her room)

She was shattered in the dark. She was raised to be a Royal, but she is still just a girl who was never allowed to see the world.

Alessandra in fear and nervousness closed her eye and she shrank into the shadows of the corner paralyzed tremor pulled her small and hollow against the stone.

While her eye was closed she chanted a poem remembering her mother

The living become cold

But not shattered and sad

Though your things are sold

It is truly not bad

She retreated into the darkest corner, pulling her legs tight against her chest until she was nothing more than a small, broken shadow. Her hands clenched near her ears, grabbing at her hair with a desperate, white knuckled grip as she tried to shut out the world. The weather turned bitter and cold, a biting wind whipping across the balcony as the rain began dropping little by little, turning into a hard, rhythmic thunder storm that shook the very stone. Despite the freezing chill, her face was slick with a thick, frantic sweat, her skin glistening in the flashes of lightning. She looked so small, shivering and hollow, a daughter shattered in the dark.

The helpers are near

You can find them right there

If you have a fear

Let the God hear

She screwed her eyes shut with a crushing force her teeth grinding together as a jagged scream tore through the stress. She gripped her hair tightly pulling and digging her nails in as she lashed out hitting the cold stone wall near her in a frantic desperate blur.

Be not afraid

Don't be scared

Let the worry fade

And the light be prepared

While her eyes were closed, she felt cold, like she was in water,

She opened her eyes.

She saw raindrops but not normal looking.

Above her head millions of droplets dropped on her,

She closed her eyes again, when she open her eyes again

In slow motion she saw a fish swimming.

She felt as her hair was floating, she couldn’t breathe air, and she felt cool and calm like she was floating.

she thought she was weightless.

Suddenly she realized she was not in her room.

She was in the ocean.

She opened her mouth to shriek, but the air fled; she saw the bubbles looking like shattered diamonds leaving her body.

Her chest tightened with a jagged, burning heat as her body fought for a breath that wasn't there, a huge shiver of panic ran down her spine, with her lungs screaming for air, she thrashed toward the light, fighting the heavy pull of the depths.

As she came near the surface, she heard a voice “not again” ……,           “I hope it’s a boy” and “I hope this won’t try to kill me”

She reached the surface but something was wrong,

Now she was floating but the water doesn’t feel like water.

It…its sand, she was now on dry sand.

She was in a desert.