"The things we do when we are blinded by pain and anger are incomprehensible and terrifying."

I really hope you don't hate it!

(Ignore any typos!)

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Sitting on the edge of her dying lover's bed, she let a tear drop. It wasn't because she was sad. Far from that, she was happy. She'd finally have what she wanted in a few minutes. 

She adjusted the black veil on her head, trying to hide the blossoming smile forming on her lips as she stared at his wrinkled face. He was only forty three years old but the deep lines on his face told another story. King Kayod used to be the life of the party, going to every festival, drinking, interacting with the villagers. He was loved by them. By everyone. 

She traced a line on the scar on his eyebrow. This was when she tried to assassinate him about three years ago. But he was strong and she had failed miserably. What could she expect trying to kill a man twice her age in combat? So, she opted to kill him in a discrete manner. A drop of poison every month in her lover's wine during dinner did the job perfectly.

"Your Highness?" One of the  guards stationed beside the king's bed called.

"Yes?" She looked up with annoyance.

"Would you prefer if you spent his last moments together?"

"I'd love that. Thank you." She said, a smile dancing on her lips.

The guards exited the room silently then she turned to her husband. For the first time in a while she stared at him and soaked his image in her mind. Her eyes roamed his weak body, moving from his legs to his now slim torso and then settling on his handsome face. 

A small sound left his mouth but she shushed him, placing a finger on his lips. 
"Tsk save it my love. It's no use."

She saw a tear slowly drop from his eyes. His beautiful eyes... And in that second she felt guilt for inflicting this on the man who loved his kingdom and the man who'd do anything for the woman he loved. Her. 

But the guilt  vanished just as it came when she remembered holding her dead fiancé in her hands. The bomb that knight was planted by king Koyod's troops in Manigault, one of his rival kingdoms. This attack happened barely three months after Kayod was crowned king of Gaan. He decided to plant the bomb during the yearly Appreciation day that took place in her town's square.

That  day, as usual she was running late and her family had left to attend the festival before her. As she combed her dark hai and admired her dress in the mirror, a violent  vibration shook her small house and the contents on her jewelry table fell. With confusion and fear, she  ran to the town square hoping it was just another earthquake.

 Most of the people were dead. Bits of flesh were scattered around her. The ground was smeared with  red liquid and around the fireplace -made with logs-  in the middle of the open space, she saw her family's dead bodies. Her brother, her mother, her cousin and her father. 

She couldn't find it in herself to scream. She could only walk lifeless to their bloodied bodies and weep over each of them. She searched amongst the faces laying on the ground and recognized that of her friends and colleagues. But there was one person she prayed not to find. The one person who taught her to love. The only person who loved her for her. But there he was, heaving in pain in one of the streets not too far from the main space.

"Aspen!" She had screamed. His blond hair was burnt, and his tan skin was now covered in bruises and blood. She ran to him and knelt down beside him, crying.

He turned his head towards her and she grabbed his hands, sobbing and shaking. "You can't leave me, please." She cried.

"I love you, Ivy." 

 She cried into his hair."I will always love you, Aspen. Always."

He took his final breath and went still in her hands.

And that day she vowed to take revenge. To kill the king. The king took everything and everyone from her; her friends, her family and Aspen. 

"Your highness-"

"Get out!" She yelled. The young maid ran out.

In a swift motion she wiped her tears. She wasn't remorseful for any of it. Not for the bad advice she'd been giving to him for over two years, the palace's blueprint to his rivals, the emotional distress she caused. None of it. Not even for his death.

She looked at him in the eyes and saw he knew. He knew that she had done this to him and in his pale blue eyes she saw betrayal and hurt. And she smiled at him and decided on the spot to avenge her loved one with her bare hands. She had the chance to be alone with this mass murderer  and she would use it.

She stood up and locked the door shut with the key  before removing her black veil and letting it fall to the ground. Her red lips tugged upward.

"My love…" she trailed off. She plopped on his bed and cupped his face. "I won't lie these last few months have been really hard for me. I've tried not to end you right in the middle of the night. It would be very reckless and stupid if I did that, don't you agree?"

"Wh-w-wh-why," he croaked, tears falling on his pale face like rain on a window.

"Because the day you killed everyone I loved, I died. And so did my conscience. So, you will pay! For all of it!" She yelled. "I will burn every single last one of your villages. One by one, I will execute all those who planned the attack on my town. I will avenge each and everyone of my people. And you are the first scapegoat." 

She brought out the  dagger strapped to her thigh. It glimmered in the reflection of the sun. With one final look at his beautiful eyes, she slashed his throat. The blood didn't gush out immediately, something that shocked her. But when it did, it spilled like water in a dam. Reddish black liquid pooled around his pillow and dripped on his grey shirt. He gurgled and gasped, blood dripping from his mouth.His eyes were wide with shock as he looked at his murderer. His wife, the queen of his kingdom. With each passing milliseconds, his eyes slowly defocused and became glassy. Then his body went limp.

"This was for all of the people who you took from me, Kayod." 

Her heart in her ears, she pushed the window open and climbed out. Right beside her, a tall broad man with dark hair sat, his legs dangling in the air.

"What took you this long. Let's get out of here."

"You couldn't give me a minute to savor--"

"We'll talk about all of that later but we need to leave here. Take my hand."

"No."

"Do you trust me?" He asked, a mischievous grin on his face. He reminded her so much of Aspen.

She scoffed. "God, no!"

Without waiting to hear her arguments, he grabbed her hands and they jumped. Despite herself, she screamed as she saw the ground fast approach but suddenly a small carriage full of hay appeared underneath her before her fall.

"You son of a--" he clamped a hand on her mouth and glared at her.

"Insult me later but stay still or we don't make it out alive."

She obeyed and shoved him away from her. As they approached the gate, he covered the whole of the carriage with a brown thick blanket and they hid under. Maybe it was because of the stench or because of the fear of getting discovered that she held in her breath. She didn't know.

Still in the dark, a smile grew on her young face. The after taste of revenge was a wine she would love to drink more often. It was sweet but bitter; joyful but painful; human yet inhuman. It was satisfying, it left you wanting more. She had taken just a sip of this thick wine and now she found herself wanting to get drunk in it. She needed it. More and more until the pit in her stomach and the hole in her heart were patched up.

Just as they franchised the palace gate, she heard screams. Surely, they must have discovered what she'd done. For comfort, she placed her hands on the dagger strapped to her thigh and played with the marbled handle, letting the cold feeling calm her pulse. They wouldn't know it was her. Of course not. 'Oh! The king was murdered and the queen was abducted' was what they would conclude. She chuckled. Little did they know...

The young man removed the brown blanket  and ran a hand through his black hair, sitting up. His gaze turned towards her. In his eyes, she saw something familiar. Someone who felt her pain, who felt the same loneliness she did. Someone who had the same goal as her: destroy this kingdom. Burn it to the ground. For everyone to go through what she did. 

"Let's do this again." He stated, before shifting his brown eyes to the bloody dagger strapped to her thighs.

"We will." She assured, turning away and admired the beautiful scenery of the village.

What a shame, she thought.

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A/n

I hope it wasn't too bad!

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Bye!!