Dawn shook her head at the man standing beside of her. His lip turned up in a lazy manner as he leaned towards her his hand in his pockets. His kaleidoscope eyes twinkled as he continued to tease her mercilessly. Arrion was truly annoying. Especially when he got like this. She shook her head in exasperation as she shoved him away from her and stormed off.
"And where does my queen think she is going?" He leaped past her and put his hand against the door, as agile as ever.
She huffed at him, with a glare on her face, "Away from here, your Majesty."
"So cold, my queen?" A look of incredible sadness came to his face, "Will you ever come to love me?"
With a stomp of her foot she turned and walked to the window, "Maybe when your dead I"ll spare you a tear. All you are to me, all you will ever be, is a means to have a home." She wrapped her hands around her body and stared out the window, "I do my duty for you, what we agreed, so I have kept my end of our bargain. You get a queen, and I get a home."
Silence and then the door opened and closed. She glanced over at the door and wondered that he had left so quickly. A sigh escaped her lips. What was love? She had no idea why he had brought it up to her.
Love made one weak. It was the first lesson she had ever been taught. And it was one that she would always remember.
She could not understand why Arrion was so obsessed with his campaign to make her love him. Love did not mean anything, even people who claimed it would still stab you in the back without hesitation.
Dawn opened the window, and climbed out. She felt the urge to climb to the highest peak of her husband"s castle. And so, she did. The whole time continuing her berating of the concept of "love."
She grew aware of the unnatural stillness of the land and as she looked down, she caught sight of some black shadows moving along. Curiously, she followed them from her high vantage point.
When she saw Arrion exit the building, a dejected air about him her eyes watched as the shadows crept towards him. It took her a few minutes to realize what she was seeing.
a.s.sa.s.sins! They really had the nerve to go after the king of Lumna? When she was around? She moved quickly, relying on the speed she had cultivated years ago. Even if Arrion was annoying she did not want him to die.
She could not reach quickly enough. She watched in horror as one of them threw something in his face making him stumble back as he screamed in anguish. It had hit his eyes, his beautiful eyes. She watched as his shape grew larger and his hands turned into paws.
He turned into a grizzly… she smiled grimly. He was strong enough to get the better of these men.
She should still come to his aid though, she supposed.
As Dawn was leaping down, she saw that he was actually losing. His movements were clumsy unsure, as if he could not see. She hurried faster to make it to him.
She was too late though, she watched as one of the a.s.sa.s.sins stabbed him near his heart, an almost fatal wound. She was unable to keep from calling out, her voice coming out more strained than she would have imagined it would, "Arrion!"
His bear ears perked up and he tilted his head towards her, his voice came out deeper than normal, "My queen. You said you might shed a tear if I died. Well, looks like that is a very real possibility now. So, cry for me a little, but not too long. I would hate to see you unhappy."
Already a tear trickled down her cheek, "I didn"t mean for you to go and actually get yourself killed, you idiot!"
One of the a.s.sa.s.sins turned to her, "Oh, the queen, perfect, we can just kill you as well."
The other a.s.sa.s.sin pulled his sword out of Arrion and then shoved him over the ramparts down to the water far below. Dawn watched stunned as her husband fell down from the height of three hundred feet. There was no way he could survive that fall.
Rage filled her and her vision went completely white. She could not hear the screams of those who had just killed the man she had promised to spend the rest of her life with.