"Can you feel the beating of my broken heart, hear the song of misery that it sings, or have your ears become deafened to the sound?" Spoke Alexandria her hands wrapped within a blackened cloth. She wore a long black gown her face hidden behind the net of onyx across her expression. Tears had come to fall harshly the night before, the realization that her husband had committed adultery was too much for her heart to hold. She had been a fool, his tool used until it had begun to rust and lost all worth. He no longer touched her the way he once had, nor did he whisper such sweet words into her ears. He was a hard-hearted beast now tamed by the chains and collars of a wicked mistress. She could not bear to look at him; her pride would not allow it. She awaited his words, his hands. She knew they would soon follow her questioning. The Queen of Dread felt as if nothing but a peasant begging at the heel of her Lord.
"My sense of hearing has left me for some time. Its presence is not needed when a wife can bear me no rightful sons. Nor should my sympathy fall onto she who has failed to remain loyal to every vow she took. I care not if your heart has failed to beat, and as for the songs it may sing, see them forgotten and replaced with those of grateful nature. For nearly a century you have shamed me, baring offspring cursed by the gods themselves. Those who lived long enough to take breath were a shame to my very name! Yet, you dare stand before me, your body adorned in robes of mourning. I stand before you still alive and well, yet you have yourself dressed as if I have been slain."
He lunged forward grabbing hold of her, his grip threatening to snap the bones of her wrist. She struggled against him, the scent of the whore still claiming his flesh, the stink of ale upon his breath. As all the times before, the Queen fell weak in her struggle, his power and strength far surpassed her own. She felt the cold kiss of the stone wall press upon the thin linen of her gown, her feet breaking free from her slippers as she was forced upon it. "I wear the clothing of a widow because the man I married and gave my life, my body and my soul to died long ago. And now his legacy and memory is tarnished by the cunt of a demon!" Her voice rose, the years of his suppression, abuse and violence towards her coming to erupt like a volcano freed from the grasp of a dormant state. He ripped her hands above her head slamming them so harshly the stone around them began to crack.
"You dare disrespect me, woman! You raise your voice to me as if I am beneath you!" He barked furious and bitter. His free hand came to wrap around her throat until her face flushed red, and she gasped desperately for air. He pressed between the skirt of her dress, the entirety of his body weight forcing her to remain his prisoner. Every fiber of her shook in fear, perhaps this time he would kill her in his fit of rage. Just maybe this is what he had always wanted, or was it the work of the Tyliquin. Alexandria did not know, her mind was wrapped around panic, her head now swimming from the lack of air in her lungs.
"It is no worse than what you have managed to bless me with, oh dear husband." She managed to mutter through broken breaths. Her eyes began to water from the pressure applied to her neck. She took a moment to gaze deep within the cruelty of his eyes, the dragon she once knew seemingly consumed by madness. The grip around her throat came to fade only to be replaced by the stinging strike of his hand. The force threw her to the ground in a heap of tears and cloth, her body in shock. He came to stand over her, she felt so small between the leather of his boots. It was only then that the Queen realized his love for her had been stolen long ago. The steel tip of his boot came to meet her stomach, the blow hit deep, knocking what little air her lungs had gathered out once more.
"A bitch such as you should learn her place. You are nothing more but a burden forced upon me by a dragon who would not provide piss to douse a flame burning upon my lands. You, Lady Draconvieh, are my curse, my punishment for betraying the loyalty of my kin. The gods have always hated me and upon the day we were wed, they gave a grand show of just how much they despised the day of my birth. You are nothing but a deformed simple dragoness, blessed by my name and my birthrights no matter how they are claimed. Without me you would not have gotten this far in life, and if not for my father's idiocy and greed, I would have seen you dead decades ago."
Calira turned upon heel his floor length cloak swaying to curl around his boots, the symbol of Dread all that Alexandria could now view. He hung his head low in thought, the thick locks of ebony locks cascading to frame his features. His eyes raged as if fire burned bright behind them. He felt trapped, unsure of what would come of this. Without a word, he moved to the door leaving his wife to her own thoughts. The soft click of the door latch provided Lady Draconvieh with a second wind. He had finally gone.
"Perhaps, he grew bored with beating me." She thought to herself. Her hand moved upward to grasp the seat of the window, her hands bearing little strength. Managing to pull herself up Alexandria took a seat and gazed from it. The wind blew harshly beyond the stained glass, the trees bending to its will. And yet, a figure familiar to her moved through the whistle of them untouched by their might. It was Tonisa fading into the trees as she often did, though this time she took a moment to look over her shoulder. Her lilac robes faded into the bark of the forest, and the Queen's curiosity followed.
Gathering a traveling cloak and removing her veil, Lady Draconvieh slipped out into the corridors. The burn within her belly still remained, but she had to know what the woman was planning. The walk was long and unpleasant, every step was pure agony, and now her wrist had begun to swell. For miles inward did she walk until she came to spot a faint emerald glow off in the distance. She heard singing as well, the singing of women, the sound of festivities. The pleasant strums took hold of her mind placing it within a trace of death. She found herself slowly swaying closer to a tree, which sat cracked in half. Her body was no longer her own but that of whatever had charmed her. She approached the tree kneeling beside it, the focus of her eyes lost somewhere in the spaces surrounding her. The ground pulsed with slight vibrations, the center of its power radiating deep from within the hollow trunk of the tree.
"Calira has come to me on more than one occasion seeking the warmth of my thighs," spoke a voice dancing within the wind. It was soft and silken in tone as it came and went. "The usurping Queen of Dread shall die," it spoke again. After several moments, the Queen's faculties returned to her. And she realized as the voices spoke that no one was there. She was going mad, but then she realized that the voices sang from within the tree. The ghastly smoke is what spoke forth and for a spilt second, she realized that deep within the tree laid the diary of the witch.
"So this is what you have been hiding within our territory." Alexandria thought aloud. She reached inside taking hold of the books spine when a sharp pain radiated over her hand. The pain traveled upwards and into her arm, she felt it going numb, her limbs weak. She pulled back and screamed in horror as the book's guardian slithered up and bit her. His attacks were merciless and quick, his hollow fangs injecting the dragoness with enough poison to slip her into an eternity of sleep. The diary fell from her hand while her body collapsed to the ground with a thud.
The gleam of the moon was all she could lock onto. The light of her life was fading and all she could do was lay still and wait for death to claim her. The sound of rustling leaves came to invade her ears, the footsteps heavy forming a ballad of purpose. She knew even within her diminishing state who they belonged to. She had lived beside the sound for most of her life. And now its owner came to squat over her like an overgrown toad.
"I believe your plans come to form, my love. She is as hard as brick," spoke Calira, his hand falling into the thickness of his mate's hair. Tonisa came to wrap her long sleeved arms around the girth of his abdomen. Her lips pressed between the blades of his shoulders accompanying a giddy laugh. "It has indeed, I see your idea of using the barb tail was dare I say perfect." "My ideas are never far from perfect, my love. With her out of the way, I can at last become your life mate and Queen. Your name shall no longer be tarnished by such filth. I must ask a reward of you, my love." His arms reached behind his back to embrace her. "Is becoming my wife not reward enough?"
"No, it is not. You see she has stolen years from us, my darling. Years we shall never get back no matter how long we live. I wish her to feel the pain we both felt for those years. I wish to torture her before I finally claim her miserable excuse for a life." A maniacal grin came to form upon her flawless features. She was truly bent in the head. The years away from her only true love seemingly breaking the kind girl who used to be.
"Please...do not do this..." the fallen mumbled weakly. Alexandria came to realize that they could not hear her, her speech came from her thoughts. Her lips could not move and suddenly even her lungs came to tighten. "Will it set your heart at ease, my love, to see her beaten and bruised before she dies?" "Yes, it will. It will grant me my rightful vengeance. I will never be satisfied until she knows how I was the one to make her suffer." "Very well. I shall give you one day to carry out your bidding. After that, her body must be buried properly." "Of course, I shall see to it myself, my devoted." The two kissed and soon after, Calira took his leave. Tonisa's pupils had come to dilate, the draconic blood within her coming to surface. "Come now, milady. It is time to have a bit of fun." Her voice had begun to hiss as she spoke. Sharp nails came to dig roughly into the Queen's hardening skin. All she could muster was a simple wince of her left eye as she was lifted. Suddenly the fading light Alex could see went black. She knew she would not live long after this night. And as she was carried to her undeniable doom she wondered. "Why me?"
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