Chapter 50: The cat out of the box!

Selena gulped at the council elder, ignoring the triumphant screams of the crowd behind her, as the implications of what she had done hit her full force. Though the citizens of Valyria was grateful for what she had just done, she doubted whether the council would be of the same mind as them.
The council elder gave her a stiff look and murmured in a low voice so as only she can hear, “Follow me. It’s better if we have this conversation alone.”
Selena nodded at him petrified and gulped as she followed after him while one of the other council members sent a guard to call the Queen and the concubine too.

The Queen swore out loud as one of the royal guards came to deliver their instructions while the royal concubine was still shellshocked at what she had just witnessed a few moments ago. The first princess not only controlled earth, but also air to defeat the minotaur and his bulls. It would be safe to say that she had the ability to bend all natural elements and that sets her on a league of her own, far apart from everyone else. She was truly invincible and now the concubine finally came to know how this puny girl had managed to evade the assassination attempts sent by her. Given her tremendous power, slaying a dozen vampires might be nothing at all for a vampire like her.

As everything finally fit in place, she shared an indignant look at the Queen and murmured, “You always had a back up plan from the beginning itself, didn’t you? You hide away one of your twin daughters from childhood itself from everyone’s prying eyes. You are a master strategist after all.”
The Queen glared down at the concubine, unable to come back with a snide comment to put her in her place as her mind was still worried for Selena and what was about to come.

“You had hidden your ace very well. Unfortunately your ace is far too powerful that she will get on the council’s nerves too. Being too powerful is not a good thing too as it gets you a lot of unwanted attention and far more enemies.”, the concubine said snidely, clicking her tongue annoyedly at the Queen while she continued following the royal guard who had come to fetch them, a thousand possible scenarios reeling inside her mind.
The Queen found herself wondering whether she should have delt with Caro later on, given the mess they were currently in.

As she entered the throne room, she eyed Selena warily and bowed her head deeply to the council head. The council members returned her bow politely. They however, had a disapproving look on their faces as they had now realized of the little play she had orchestrated in front of their very eyes.
It would be safe to say that the Queen had just lost what little favor she had with the council.
The ancient vampire then fixed the Queen with an indignant look and murmured, “It seems as if you have hidden something from us for several years, Your Highness. How could you bear to play with your own child’s future like that? You alienated your own child from her family only for your own selfish desires.”
The concubine fed a fake tear and sniffed, “Oh how poor is the late king. He passed away without even knowing that he had another daughter. That is a fate no father deserves.”
The Queen winced while the concubine watched all the drama with a smug smile on her face, happy at seeing her old rival put in a sticky situation from which there was no return. No matter what, she will never be able to live this down.

“I assure you that the first princess would no longer stand as an official candidate and I am sure you know the reason why. Fooling the throne and the council and lying to your king are punishable offences. We, however will chose to ignore all that if the girl will step out from her claim to the throne willingly.”
Selena winced at the council head’s venomous remark. The Falak dragon was right after all. It seemed as if Andrew would ascend the throne.
Selena stared down at the council head harshly and scoffed at him in indignation, “You are clearly blackmailing me and yet you have the nerve to say that it is my willful decision? The council is meant to serve the ruler and not rule over the ruler.”
The Queen glared down angrily at her daughter, upset that she had ruined her master plan of several years and spat at her, “What was your reason for showing off your powers?”
Selena shot her mother an incredulous look and hissed at her in indignation, “Their lives were in danger.”

“You could have chose to ignore that and you could have been the Queen of Valyria.”
Selena scoffed at her mother and snapped back, “Yeah, and a terrible queen at that. I have no intention of being a queen like that who shamelessly put her subjects lives in danger to protect her own. That would make me no different from the lot of them.”

The concubine tutted at her and she said snidely, “Well, unfortunately for you, dear, you will never be the Queen either.”
“We will see about that.”, Selena murmured under her breath but the concubine’s quick ears caught that as did the council members.
The concubine raised an eyebrow at her in disbelief and tutted at her disappointedly, “You should know when you should give up, dear, otherwise you are just fooling yourself. Quit daydreaming and get accustomed to your harsh reality. You will never be the Queen.”
“Oh, my reality is far from what you expect. After all, I would go along to be not only the Queen, but also the first female ruler ever. I am going to be the Empress of Valyria and you, my dear concubine are going to beg on your knees for me to take the throne.”
The Queen raised an eyebrow, surprised at the tone of confidence in her daughter’s tone while the concubine let out a haughty laugh, clearly not believing a word of what she had just said and dismissing it altogether.

“Laugh all you want, but your son will never be the emperor even if becomes the king as he doesn’t have blue blood in him. All he ever going to be is a mere puppet of the council of elders.”, the Queen shouted at the concubine, loosing her composure and the smug grin on the concubine’s face froze as she realized the truth behind her words.

“Vanessa, noooooo!”, A very familiar voice yelled as the second princess came inside throne room impolitely.
Caro was right behind her, looking agitated and Selena narrowed her eyes a them, surprised to see the lot of them together.