I sit on the throne sideways with my legs hanging over the side in a "most undignified manner" as my royal advisor would say. I note his disapproving look out of the corner of my eye. After 6 months of being in power the effect of my reforms was finally starting to kick in. Even though Bryce was the King's right hand man before I took over, I chose to keep him on staff. Despite the initial friction between us, over the last few months he had developed respect and a certain fondness for me which I could currently feel radiating off of him in spades as he reads off what could be chalked up as a list of my accomplishments.

I absent-mindedly stroke the pointed tip of one of my ears as he reads off how much the economy if flourishing. Underneath his respect and pride however I could sense a slight uneasiness.

"Out with it," I interrupt him.

"Out with what?"

"There's something you want to say, say it."

"Why don't you just read my mind and find out," he replies sassily. A display of my favorite thing about him. He's one of the few people in my life that's not afraid of me.

"You know I prefer not to, now tell me."

"It's just that they say it's bad luck for a woman to wear all black except when in mourning." I look down at my short black leather outfit. Stylish and functional in my opinion but highly inappropriate for a queen by traditional standards. I however wasn't one to care about what I considered to be outdated expectations.

"Luck? You want to talk to me about bad luck?" I sit up straight and look him in the eye. "If I believed in such things then bad luck would be growing up in the slums of Emraldia, abandoned by my father and scrounging for food while he and his wife are living large up in the castle. These fools that ramble on about luck and superstitions are the same ones that think of me as some sort of witch. The queen of dark magic they call me. Do you think that's what I am? Have I put some sort of spell on you?"

He sighs. "No."

"Exactly. I spent years training my mental powers and developing my fighting skills. There's no such thing as luck, just like I'm no witch. Life is what you make of it and therefore I will wear whatever I want."

He smirks. "Understood."

"Good. Now go line up my new contenders. I still have yet to find a suitable consort." As he nods and leaves to go do so I think back on one of my earliest memories of my mother. One that started my journey to the throne.

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