Chapter 9: The Royal Palace of Valyria!

Selena blinked rapidly as her eyes took in the gigantic, ancient palace built with pure white marbles. This was almost a historical monument. The ancient latin architecture and the luxurious marble works were outstanding and in a league of its own.

Demetri who followed everywhere Selena went, opened his mouth in astonishment and gaped at the tall walls surrounding the palace. Though he was the General’s right hand man, he had never been to the palace. He had only ever been to the palace grounds when the General undertook to train the imperial guards so he was just as fascinated as Selena to see the royal palace. Selena had already colored her hair blonde and was already pretending to be her sister, Mia Langdon by sitting in a wheelchair which was being dragged by the stoic Demetri.

Before setting off, the Queen had meticulously made her watch past interviews of her sister so that she could mimic her actions and behavior. The Queen had declared that she should keep her mouth firmly shut until it was absolutely necessary. The Queen had desperately hoped that the past few days with her daughter would bridge the gap between them but to no avail. Though Selena obeyed her commands, it was obvious that she was still shutting her out.

There were many wars between the vampire clans in history but not once did any succeed in an ambush against Valyria. It was precisely because of this impenetrable fortress. The walls were strictly guarded and was over three hundred meters tall, a height that even ancient vampires couldn’t dream of jumping over.
The Queen watched proudly at her daughter’s reaction. She was feeling all kinds of emotion today. Her daughter was finally back to where she truly belonged to fight for her rightful place…….After years and years of solitude, she was back home.

A lot of things was going on Selena’s mind as she took in the gigantic fortress, looming in front of her.
She could see the palace at the distance and she let out a resentful sigh. After all these years, she was home, though she wasn’t sure she belonged here. Here hands tightened into a fist as she remembered that this was also the place where her sister was abused and played around like a toy.

The Queen nudged her slightly, indicating her to move forward and Selena’s face immediately erupted into a scowl. No matter their alliance, she still wasn’t too fond of her mother and bore a great resentment towards her.

The guards at the entrance froze as they saw their princess and the Queen arrive. They shot a surprised look at each other, clearly taken aback.
The Queen took a step forward, with her head held high and the guards immediately went on their knees and bowed, showing their respects to the Queen of Valyria.

“Your Highness, the funeral….uhm”, the guard stopped mid-sentence, unsure of how to proceed and shot a panicked glance at the first princess who was solemnly seated on the wheelchair.
A thousand questions were running through the guard’s mind. The whole palace was in mourning for the death of their first princess but here she was sitting calmly in the wheelchair and looking at everything with a keen and curious eye as if she had never been here before.

The Queen huffed at him in indignation, “It’s true that we were indeed ambushed on our way to the fair and a dozen soldiers of Valyria had lost their lives. The brave soldiers of Valyria who dies fighting definitely deserves a tribute”

The Guard’s face paled more and more by the second and he said in a small, quivering voice, “We weren’t mourning the guards……We got information that the first princess had passed away and the King had declared a mourning period in respect for his daughter, the first princess.”

The Queen snorted at him and yelled pretending to be furious, “Such Impudence! Can’t you see my daughter sitting on the wheelchair?”
Selena rolled her eyes at her mother’s excellent acting skills. She genuinely looked indignant and furious on her behalf.

“Stop this atrocity at once”, The Queen yelled out loud and the guard flinched as he got back up and took into a run, clearly to stop the funeral procession. Selena shook her head at the Queen. She really deserves her nickname as the ‘Ice Queen’. She literally scared the living daylights of the poor vampire.
Selena looked at her mother bitterly and wished desperately that she would be a better mother than her own mother in future if she were to have kids someday.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The guard cursed internally, feeling out of sorts and messed up. He had always adored the first princess and he was more than happy that she was still alive and well but as he ran desperately towards the palace, he couldn’t help but shudder at the thought he would have to be the one to inform the King and his concubine that the funeral should not proceed.

As he rushed into the palace, he swore as he realized that just as he had predicted, the funeral was going in full force. He shook his head as he saw the king’s concubine, Natasha Langdon shed a few crocodile tears while the King just sat there in the throne nonchalantly, seemingly not affected by any of the mess that was taking place right in front of his eyes.

The first princess’s step sister, Vanessa Langdon was accompanying her mother in the mourning while her step brother, Andrew Langdon merely looked on uncomfortably from far behind the King at the scene.

Collecting himself, he yelled out, “Stop! The first princess is still alive”
Everything came to a halt and even the ancient vampires from the council shot him a confused look.

The King’s concubine almost scoffed at him in annoyance at having interrupted the proceeding.

An eerie silence filled the air and everyone froze at his words, not knowing what was going on.
“Impossible…..She is dead”, Natasha muttered out loud, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the guard.

“Oh really? What makes you so confident?”, an icy voice behind him said out in a commanding voice and he flinched.

He didn’t even have to turn his back to know that it was the Ice Queen’s voice. She had just made the entrance into the palace with the first princess behind her being dragged along by an unknown male vampire.

The guard narrowed his eyes at the familiar yet distant vampire who was accompanying the first princess. He was sure that he had seen that man somewhere but couldn’t quite put his hand on it.

Natasha shot up to her feet in surprise, her bewilderment and fury not being concealed in her heavily powdered face as her eyes set themselves on the princess sitting calmly on the wheelchair.

Vanessa yelled out a shriek and shot a confused look at her mother while the Queen continued smiling smugly at the mother daughter pair.
“Who was the informant of my daughter’s supposed death?”

The entire room literally stopped breathed and everyone’s eyes was fixed on a scowling Natasha.
The Queen smiled wickedly and tutted, “And how did you find out?”

Natasha continued scowling at the Queen, completely caught unaware. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that the princess could still be alive. She refused to answer the Queen’s question as it was specifically designed to trap her. Her eyes narrowed at the silent princess who was watching everything with a keen eye.

She frowned as she realized that something was amiss. Her assassins had assured her that first princess had been taken care of and something was definitely fishy about this girl on the wheelchair.

Though she looked scared and timid at everything that was going on, there was something about her that rubbed her the wrong way.
With a jolt, she realized it was her eyes that made her squirm uncomfortably like that. Mia would never even dare to look up and would always keep her head firmly bowed to the ground but this girl was eyeing everyone keenly as if trying to read them. Those eyes weren’t frightened in the least, only her demeanor was.