"Your highness." a voice said from the tall and highly decorated entrance doors. Queen Alison turned her attention from looking out of the balcony doors that led to her beautiful kingdom, to the man that now was now walking along the red velvet carpet to Alison's throne, raised up on steps. He dropped to one knee when he reached the foot of the marble steps and bowed low to the queen.
Alison, who kept her signature powerful expressionless face, looked down at the man who although was much bigger than her, he feared her like everyone else. She shifted in her throne. It's tall back was layered in fine cushions, and the golden frame was decorated with jewels.
"Speak." she commanded. Her voice sounded like thunder and echoed in the throne room. The two masked and strong guards who were stationed at a respectable distance on either side of her, flinched.
"We found you a new personal assistant." the man said, straightening up.
Alison raised an eyebrow and straightened up even more in her high throne. She ran two fingers through a lock of her blonde hair and let it fall back to her shoulder. She adjusted her crown which was elegantly shaped. Gold and silver came together, to make a unique yet very pointy, crown that Alison always wore. She placed both arms on the armrests of her throne and looked down at the man again.
"Bring her in." Alison commanded again, waiting for her new personal assistant to be pulled in. The man nodded and quickly exited the throne room, returning shortly with a girl walking behind him. Alison's nose crinkled at the smell of sweat and dirt, obviously from the girl.
"Details." Ali said as the girl kept her hair low and covering her face.
"Her name is Emily Fields and she is eighteen... She was going to be married to a man named Ben Coogan. But since you wanted an assistant at any cost, we pulled her away from her dreary peasant life before she was married." the man said.
"Look up at me." Alison commanded to the girl. Emily looked up at Queen Alison's icy blue eyes, giving her a look as if she was reading Emily's life story. Alison had to admit that Emily was pretty even though she was covered in dirt. Once she got washed up, she could be beautiful. But for now her hair was tangled and she smelt bad and was filthy. No personal assistant of Alison's would serve her in that state.
"Take her to the baths and make her bathe. Get her some silk deep purple clothes, purple would suit her best. After that, have the prep team do something about her hair." Alison commanded. She then turned her stare to Emily. "What's wrong with you? Are you mute?"
"N-no." Emily stuttered.
"Good." Alison said. She looked from her new assistant to the man. "Are you taking her or are you just going to stand there?" she snapped, her voice rising.
The man jumped and once he regained his footing he grabbed Emily by the arm and pulled her out of the throne room. Alison scoffed once the doors closed, "Now it smells in here." she said, rolling her eyes and getting up from her throne. Her dress was covered by a maroon royal robe with white fur on the shoulders, which was clasped around her neck and it flowed to the ground as she walked out of the throne room. As she approached the door, the two masked guards stationed at the door, opened the tall double doors that lead to the long hallway in the castle.
Alison walked quickly towards her room, wanting to avoid her political assistant. She had no intention of hearing how her parents wrote in their will that she was to marry Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood, she wanted none of it. She had met Prince Noel before, at her fourteenth birthday. Prince Noel was cute enough, and nice enough, but he lacked something that Queen Alison had been searching for forever. Someone unique. All her life she had to deal with the same suitors. Princes with pretty faces and flashy teeth, some nicer than others, but all put up no fight if she showed some interest in them. Alison wanted someone who wouldn't just melt in her hand like putty, or dropped to kiss her feet whenever she looked at was very frustrating for her. There was no challenge, and Alison only wanted a challenge these days.
She made it successfully to her room and shut the doors behind her silently. Sighing, she turned on her heels and crossed her large room, noise from the kingdom below could be heard through her open windows, which also let a slight breeze and lots of sunlight in. Her large king sized bed had recently been made by one of the maids in the castle, but she kicks off her shoes and removes her robe anyway and jumps on the bed, scattering the pillows to the floor and spreading her arms out.
She closed her eyes for what seemed like five minutes, but it must've been longer because when she opened them, the brilliant blue sky was now pink and orange, signaling the setting sun. There was also a loud rapping noise on her bedroom door, and someone on the other side was saying. "Queen Alison, Queen Alison. Your dinner is going to get cold!" It was her political assistant and Alison was surprised that it as her rapping on her door.
"I'll be out in a minute!" Alison yelled, silencing the rapping that got annoying a little too fast. As Alison put back on her shoes, clasped her robe back around her neck again, fixed her hair, and placed her crown back on her head, she wondered if people could hear her when she yelled since the windows were open. There wasn't as much noise coming from the kingdom below, probably because it was getting later.
She swung open the doors to her bedroom and walked out, heading towards the dining hall where she was most definitely going to be hounded with tomorrow's schedule and more gifts from Ravenswood telling her that she was going to have to marry Noel if she liked it or not since her parents signed off on it. She honestly wanted no part of Ravenswood and their stupid prince Noel and his flashy smile and blue eyes. She would much rather be alone than have his children because it would probably be miserable.
When she arrived in the dining hall, she internally sighed as her annoying political assistant watched her approach her seat and sit down. She lifted the lid to her plate to reveal a chicken breast with steamed peas and mashed potatoes. She picked up her fork and knife and began cutting, tuning out when her assistant began telling her about recent events in other kingdoms. The same man from earlier entered the dining hall when Queen Alison was halfway done, making her stop eating and turn her attention to him. He did the same bow as before, dropping to his knees and staring at the ground before scrambling to his feet again.
"Speak." Alison commanded, before taking a mouthful of peas.
"Sh-...she's ready." the man almost whispered. Alison was confused for a second, raising her eyebrow and chewing slowly while staring at the man.
She swallowed and took a sip of her wine, "Send her in." she commanded.
A few seconds later, the man returned flagged closely behind by her new personal assistant dressed in dark purple. Alison's mouth twitched as she realized how right she was about the color choice. Her new assistant stopped in front of Ali, her face straight but this time she wasn't trying to hide her face from Ali. "I told you she would look good in purple." Alison said. No one in the room seemed to know who she was talking to, but they didn't question it. Alison continued to observe her beautiful new assistant, staring at her because she had never seen someone as beautiful as herself. "You can start now." she commanded.
The man jerked his head at the spot next to Alison's chair, silently telling the girl to go and stand next to her. The girl tentatively walked up the steps and positioned herself on Ali's other side, her political assistant on her right eyed Emily.
"I don't bite." Alison said, making the girl jump. She was standing a good three feet away from Ali. Alison laughed at her new assistant's reaction. She was very tense.
"Anyway...back to more important matters." her political assistant said. "It seems that tomorrow, Prince Noel Kahn of Ravenswood will be paying a visit here for a week, so that you can get to know each other."
"What for?" Alison asked, almost spitting her drink across the table.
"Well for your marriage, of course."
"I told you, we are not getting married." Alison said, slamming a fist on the table, causing the table to shake and the plates to rattle.
"It's not exactly your decision, your highness. It is your parents dying wish. I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about it. Prince Noel Kahn will be arriving tomorrow and you are to spend time and get to know him. That is what is going to happen."
Infuriated by the news, Alison rose to her feet and made her way to towards the exit to the dining hall. She quickly snapped at her new personal assistant to follow, and nodded at the guards, giving them their cue. The guards began moving to her political assistant and seized her by the arms. "What's going on?" she yelled, as the guards carried her away. Alison watched as they carried her...old political assistant out of the dining hall and away from sight. Alison smirked as she watched the scene unfold, and when she was satisfied with the output, she headed towards her room with her assistant close behind her.
"Rule one of being my personal assistant. You must always address me as Queen Alison, your majesty, your highness, or anything along the lines of that." Alison said, lecturing her new assistant who sat in the middle of the her room awkwardly. "Your job is to help me with my daily activities, but not to intervene or give me advice like I ask you."
There was a knock on her door, stopping Alison's speech. "What is it?" Alison called out.
Entering was the same man from before, who was looking very awkward standing in the Queen's bedroom. "Your highness...you can't just keep sending your assistants to be executed when they get mad at you." he said. Alison noticed how much he was sweating and it wasn't even a hot night.
"That's where she was going? To be executed?" her assistant said.
Alison turned to her, "What? Don't act like you haven't seen an execution before. You saw my brother's. That's why they call me Killer Queen, didn't you know?"
"Yeah but I wasn't at risk of my own life! Now there's a possibility that I may be executed too." Emily said, beginning to panic.
"You won't be executed if you keep quiet and do as you're told." Alison said, getting annoyed with her new assistant. Each word that came out of her mouth was like dripping venom.
Emily gulped and didn't speak again. Alison, pleased with herself, turned back to the man, "I'll give this one a chance, but I'm not making any promises with the next political assistant that you bring me. You know how I hate hearing about Prince Noel, does he have to come?"
"I'm afraid so. Ten tomorrow morning."
"I hope he gets in a shipwreck on the way here." Alison muttered, rubbing her temples. The man, having nothing else to say, left the queen and her assistant alone.
After Alison gave her assistant the run through of the rules, she began to get extremely tired and decided to go to bed. "Emily, was it? Help me get undressed." Alison commanded. Emily walked over to Alison as she stood up, letting Emily take the crown off her head and put it in the case. She removed Alison's robe and placed it on a hanger, and helped untie her corset. When the corset was untied, Alison gasped for breath, the corset made it extremely hard for her to breathe. "That's much better." she commented.
As she was being undressed, Alison noticed the fumbling or her assistant's fingers as if they were shaking. Confused, but said nothing, Alison waited for Emily to help her out of her corset and into pajamas. Alison never felt uncomfortable about her body around anyone before, but for one fleeting second she wondered what Emily would think of her when she saw her with barely any clothes on. The feeling disappeared quickly and was replaced by the feeling of confidence, why should she be ashamed of her body? Queen Alison is utterly flawless.
She smirked to herself at the sound of Queen Alison. The sound never got old. The Killer Queen sounded even better to her, it made her seem so much more prestigious and feared. The name brought intimidation, enough to make you shake. But right now, the only thing The Killer Queen wanted was to go to bed and sleep. But at the same time she wanted to stay up because the sooner she went to sleep the sooner Prince Noel would come and she did not want that.
Alison pushed back the covers and climbed under them, but propped herself up with pillows. "Brush my hair for me." Alison said, not even glancing at Emily while she pulled a book out from under her pillow. Emily found a hair brush and began gently brushing out Alison's golden blonde hair. The curls flowed through Emily's hands and were smoothed out by the brush. It felt good on Alison's head, and she finally flipped open to the chapter she was on in her book.
"Have you read this?" Alison asked curiously. She pulled her head away from Emily's hand and the hairbrush and turned around. She was surprised to see Emily's cheeks red and she looked embarrassed. Confused at first, Alison wondered why she wasn't answering the question when she realized. "You can't read can you."
Emily shook her head in response and resumed brushing Alison's hair. "Do you even know how to write your own name?" Alison asked, bewildered. She had never met someone who couldn't even write their own name. It was a must.
"No." Emily said and Alison could hear the embarrassment in her voice. There was a twinge of pity that flashed through Alison before it quickly disappeared.
"Tell you what. Tomorrow, I'll teach you how to write your name. It's a start, but it will be a good start." Alison concluded. She looked down at her book while Emily quietly brushed her hair. "Do you want me to read you some?"
"Yes, your majesty." Emily said, moving so that she could get the other side of Alison's head. It sounded funny when Emily said your majesty, it just didn't sound right to Alison.
Alison shrugged it off, figuring it was because she was new and began to read from, The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. As Alison read, she could tell Emily was paying close attention because in the reflection from the mirror, she could see that chewed on her bottom lip every once in a while. When Alison's hair was brushed out, Alison didn't want to stop reading to Emily so Alison made Emily give her a back massage.
"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves." Alison concluded, after receiving a really deep tissue massage. She closed the book and set it down on her bedside table, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Emily tucked Alison in and turned down the light until it Alison's room filled with darkness.
"Do you know where your room is?" Alison asked sleepily.
"Yes, your highness. I was shown to it earlier." Emily said, straightening up and walking towards Alison's doors.
Alison heard the creak of her door opening, causing her to sit up abruptly.
"Emily?" Alison called.
"Yes, your highness?" Emily asked.
"Nothing I just wanted to say good night." Alison said, laying down again.
"Good night, your majesty."