"Your Majesty," Ilosovic Stayne said hopefully. "I hope you bear me no ill will." He smiled pathetically.
Mirana was uncompromising. "Only this one, Ilosovic Stayne. You are to join Iracebeth in banishment from this day until the end of Underland." She enjoyed seeing the fear flash across his face. The pain he had caused her, and Underland, finally justified…
They had been courting for almost a year. Her mother had been concerned that she was courting below her station, but as Mirana was the younger of her two daughters and less likely to inherit the throne and elevate this knave to Prince Consort.
She was looking for Ilosovic to tell him that her parents accepted, if not blessed, their relationship. The library was a favorite place for the two of them and naturally the first place she looked for him. But she soon found out that he was not alone. Standing in front of the fireplace, stood Stayne and Iracebeth, much too close to be only friends.
"…And, someday, Ilosovic, when I am queen, we will not have to hide what we have." Iracebeth said.
"And what of your sister? When she finds out-"
"You break off you relationship with her before I take the throne and then she will be no problem at all."
Mirana gasped. Her Ilosovic plotting to leave her? And for her sister, no less. She could not believe it.
The couple heard her. "You little twerp!" Iracebeth screamed. "You were eavesdropping! I'm calling the guards!"
"No need." Mirana said weakly. She backed against the table and grabbed the first object her hand came to. "The two of you deserve each other." Enraged, she threw the object in her hand, which was a candelabra, at Stayne, hitting him in the head. Then she ran off to her room.
Hours later, her father came to her bedroom door. "Mirana." He said sternly. "Open the door."
She got off her bed and opened the door for her father.
"Mirana, are you aware of what happened earlier? In the library?"
She nodded. "I-I was there."
"Then what happened? Your sister said that you threw a candelabra at Ilosovic. That is not like you to lose your temper."
"What does Ilosovic say happened?" She asked.
"He is still unconscious."
Mirana was about to answer, when she realized this was a opportunity to keep the throne away from her temper prone sister, and to keep Ilosovic away from the throne for good.
"She lied, father. Racie was mad at me, for having revealed their clandestine relationship. She threw the candelabra at me but she missed. She hit Ilosovic instead. I was terrified, so I simply ran away." She looked up, wide eyed at her father. "Is he alright?"
"Yes, he'll live. But he'll never be able to use that eye again." Mirana felt bad. Not necessarily for injuring him, but for causing him an enduring handicap. Her father was speaking again.
"I'm sorry. What were you saying?" She asked.
"You said they had a secret relationship?"
Mirana nodded again. "Then that, among many other things, disqualifies her to be the next heir to the throne. Which leave just you. With one request, Mirana."
"Yes, father?"
"The only reason your mother and I let you and Ilosovic be together was that you were never to inherit the throne, unless something happened to Iracebeth. Now that you are to be queen, you need to call off your relationship with him. Understand?"
She nodded. "That will be no problem, father." Silently she vowed to never harm anyone, physically, ever again. But to punish him mentally…
"Majesty! Please! Kill me! Please!" He begged from his knees.
Mirana looked at him coldly, a hint of a satisfaction playing on her face.
"But I do not owe you a kindness."