Chapter 124 Monsters in Crowns

Fifteen years ago...

Lucien was enjoying the way the men strung their bows and shot their arrows. He was most delighted when his father killed a huge deer, wishing he could be allowed to hunt just once.

Soon they moved, the king leading everyone to another clearing.

"We shall wait here. Whoever kills the boar shall be celebrated tonight in a feast!" King Alaric announced.

The men looked amongst themselves, challenge in their eyes.

Lucien saw his beautiful mother whisper something to his father, kiss him, and then walk away.

He loved his mother so much, more than he even did his strict father. She always understood him, and never once supported the idea of making him a man before he actually became one.

Minutes passed. No boar showed up, and his mother was yet to return too.

The royal guards stood around the clearing in case they needed to shoot down any threat before it got to the king and his noblemen. Lucien was starting to get bored and wished he could simply stand and return to the carriage. But doing that would expose him, and he wanted no troubles with his father, or the disapproving looks from the men.

"Your highness, I think I hear something over there," a man pointed to an opposite direction.

"Then by all means, hunt it," King Alaric ordered.

The men nodded and stealthily moved away. The king and his closest guards were the last to leave the clearing.

Lucien sighed in relief and frustration. He was starting to get hungry and tired. Now he understood exactly why they said hunting was not for children—it was exhausting!

"Someone’s being sneaky," a voice spoke behind him.

Lucien froze, his heart jumping into his throat.

Slowly he turned and faced a very beautiful teenage girl—long hair, fair skin, still way older than he was.

"Are you going to tell?" he asked quietly.

"Hi," she crouched down in front of him, her beautiful blue dress crowding around her ankles. "I’m Lysandra. You’re the little duke, right?" she asked, touching his cheek.

Lucien nodded. "I’m not that little. I’m nine." He corrected but still gave a small smile.

Lysandra chuckled. "My mistake, your grace. However did you get here?" She gestured to the forest.

Lucien shrugged. "I snuck into my parents’ carriage. I regret it. This is a bore." He rolled his eyes.

Lysandra laughed quietly. "You should head back to the carriage. It’s dangerous out here." She said.

"But the carriage is so far away. I... I don’t know the way. I’ll get lost." He murmured.

Lysandra sighed. "Then promise me something." She touched his soft cheek, smiling down at him. "No matter what, do not leave this place, even if you see an animal... stay. I’ll come get you after, promise?"

Lucien frowned. "An animal?" He asked in confusion.

"Just promise. We can’t have a young duke eaten by a bear before he gets a chance to rule. Okay?" She insisted.

Reluctantly he nodded. "Come find me quickly. I’m really getting hungry."

Lysandra nodded and stood. "Stay." She said and quietly walked into the clearing.

Lucien smiled as he watched her leave. He didn’t know why, but he liked women—not in that kind of way, but because he believed women were the kinder creatures. If it had been a man who found him, he would have been dragged by the ear or collar to his father for discipline.

But women... they were sweet, kind, beautiful in and out, and he could not think of any reason anyone would want to hurt such beautiful souls.

A short while later he heard her voice again.

"Your highness."

Lucien gently turned and resumed his spying through the leaves.

Lysandra was bowing to the king, two royal guards standing by the sides of the king.

"Ah, Lady Lysandra. Have you gotten yourself lost?" King Alaric questioned, taking her hand and kissing it.

Lysandra shook her head. "No, your highness. I have gone to be away from the blood and gore. I do not fancy violence." She replied respectfully.

King Alaric smiled. "As it should be, my lady. Women are only good for one thing." His voice lowered as he ran his hand down her arm.

Lucien frowned, sensing a shift in the king’s tone, and the way Lysandra jerked away from the touch told him his instincts were right.

But he was just a boy. He struggled to understand why Lysandra was acting strange when all the king did was touch her gently.

"I do not take you as a defiant lady, Lysandra. Or am I wrong?" King Alaric slowly stepped closer, reaching out to touch Lysandra’s cheek.

Lysandra stepped backwards. "Y-your grace... my uncle is somewhere in this forest. I will scream, and that will not look very noble to your name, your highness." She warned, gritting her teeth.

King Alaric chuckled. "Oh, but don’t worry, my defiant lady. Your uncle is far away from here, and..." He looked at his guards and gave them a sign with his hand. "I will make sure you don’t scream."

The guards moved, marching toward Lysandra and seizing her arms.

"No—no, your highness, do not do this, please. I respect you—let go!" She screamed as the guards held her.

Lucien’s small body went rigid behind the shrub.

He could not see everything clearly through the thick leaves, but he heard the struggle—the sharp scrape of boots on dirt, the rustle of fabric, the sudden muffled sounds as something was pressed over Lysandra’s mouth. Her cries turned into choked, desperate noises that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

He heard the king’s low voice, calm and cold, saying things Lucien did not fully understand. He heard the guards’ heavy breathing. He heard Lysandra’s muffled protests grow weaker, then rise again in short, panicked bursts that were quickly silenced.

Lucien’s heart hammered so hard he thought it might burst. His hands trembled against the damp earth. He wanted to run—to the clearing, to his father, to anyone—but Lysandra’s earlier words rang in his head: *Stay. No matter what.*

So he stayed.

He stayed while the sounds continued—sounds that made his stomach twist and his eyes sting. He stayed while the forest around him seemed to hold its breath. He stayed until the noises finally changed, becoming quieter, broken only by the king’s voice and the occasional soft, defeated sound from Lysandra.

When at last it grew silent, Lucien was shaking so hard the leaves around him quivered. Tears had left clean tracks down his dirty cheeks. He did not understand what he had just heard, only that something terrible had happened to the kind girl in the blue dress—the first person that day who had spoken to him gently instead of scolding him.

He pressed both small hands over his mouth so he would not make a sound of his own.

Just when he thought the horror was over, he heard a woman’s scream, and that scream made his blood turn to complete ice.

His mother.

"No, mama, you can’t be here now!" His lips quivered as he crouched closer to the ground to peer through the shrub.

"Alaric, what have you done?!" Lucien’s mother stumbled back in horror as she stared at the unconscious girl on the floor.

King Alaric calmly buckled up and turned to her. "Lady Valemont. Your husband is my best friend. Walk away in silence, or I shall not be responsible for—"

"To hell with your threats, Alaric! The whole kingdom will hear of your evil actions!" She pointed at him. "Your reign is over, Alaric, you shall face your judgement." She cursed him and quickly ran over to Lysandra.

"Oh, my Heavens. Come now, child, I will take you away from these monsters." Lucien’s mother gently placed Lysandra’s arm around her shoulder, but just as she was about to stand, an arrow snapped.

"Argh!!!"

Lucien covered his ears as his mother’s piercing scream tore through the sky. He never looked away.

He saw it when King Alaric ordered his men to shoot, he saw it as the arrow pierced right into his mother’s heart, he saw as Lysandra tried to use her last strength to shove his mother away when she saw what the king had ordered... he saw the blood spurt from his mother’s lips and drop onto Lysandra’s blue dress.

He watched his mother’s head fall onto Lysandra’s chest, her eyes connecting with his one last time under the shrubs, and just before the life left her, she gave him a small smile, a smile that would fuel years of revenge.

Right in front of him, his mother died.

His hands clamped over his mouth, and as Lysandra locked her eyes with him, she shook her head ever so slightly, a sign... stay, no matter what.

For she knew that the moment Lucien showed himself, King Alaric would not hesitate to kill him, too.

In that moment, the boy who had sneaked into a carriage for adventure learned something the hunting party would never teach him: that the world was not only full of deer and boars and glory.

Sometimes the monsters wore crowns.