Chapter 3: Death in the Palace
The death bells rang for the death of Crown Prince Roald.
No, Kalasin did not kill him.
She didn't quite have the heart; he was her brother, after all. It was a stupid riding accident, none of her doing. Now she could have what she wanted; she was eldest child, and she was heir.
Or so she thought.
Three weeks after Roald's death, King Jonathan named Prince Liam, Kalasin's younger brother, as heir.
She was simply fuming.
"I'm the eldest after Roald!" she yelled at her father. "Why the fuck are you naming Liam heir? It is my blood-right!"
Jonathan looked calmly down at his eldest daughter. "Child, it is simply not done. You are a girl, you could never be heir, unless every one of the possible other male heirs died, and then you would have to marry and your husband would be King, whereas you would be merely Queen."
"I'm not a child!" Kalasin screamed. "I can make my own decisions and do whatever I fucking well want! Merely Queen? Care to tell dear mother that? You mother-fucking bastard of a male-chauvinist pig- you call yourself King? You call yourself my father? You're no King! I have no father!" She stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard behind her she thought she could hear wood splintering.
Red mist pulsed behind her eyes, she hated him, she hated him, she hated him! She walked a little ways down the hall and then screamed as loud as she could, letting out all the tension caused by her father.
Once she had loved her father. Once she had respected him for his authority, for his calmness, for his responsibility. Now she hated him, she hated him with everything she had. Now she would find someone else who hated him, someone who hated him as much as she did. Someone very powerful, very evil…. And very dead.