She ran through the halls, her shoes pinching her feet. Servants ran past her, moving out of her way as screamed and yelled for them to get out of it. Her anger was a force to be reckoned with, but anger was not the only emotion she felt.

“Cora! Cora!” She called for her daughter as she ran into occupied and vacant rooms. She had chefs, servants, guards all her workers searching the castle for the heir. Her eyes scanned every corner of every room, and on their own volition, her hands grabbed at almost every item and threw it against the walls and floors. No matter the fragility.

“Everdeen!” She called out for the woman who ran across the end of the hall, barging into rooms.

“Have you seen Cora?!” Her voice was in sheer panic and shock.

“I have not, Your Majesty. The last place I had seen her was the Midday Feast.” She kept her calm, her hands clasp as they rest at her waist.

“If you haven’t seen her since the feast then what have you been doing?!” The Queen snapped at her servant, screaming at her in distress and disorder.

“I was preparing the Hig.” She paused. Her voice stern as it wisps through the uncomfortable air.

Vitana sighed, her hands running down her face. The stress of her daughter absent from the palace. Guards patrolling the streets, searching carriages that passed.

“Your kingdom seems to be in disarray, Your Majesty.” A scruffy voice, a man’s voice wrapped around her head, the way it lingered in the air, drifting to her ears sent a fury through her.

“Shut your mouth! I have been patient with your insufferable presence.” She moved to him, their heights aligned, their eyes staring into one another’s. Her face contorted, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked into his cold dark eyes. His lips curved into a wicked smile as his hands gripped her arms and pushed her away.

“I have better things to do than have you stare at me.” Anyel’s voice lingered as he walked away, his boots clapping against the floor. His walk, his talk, his stance, his attitude, everything about him bothered Vitana. Her breathing heaved as she stared him down.

“Everdeen, send the palace guards to arrest Anyel Malvado for Fauna Malvado’s death.” The tapping of boots stopped. Vitana’s hand hung at her side, curled into a fist. Everdeen stood by her in shock, looking towards the queen, bewildered by the command she uttered.

“Now, Everdeen!” Everdeen raced down the hall and through a set of doors. The Forest King turned to face Vitana. His nose crinkled, his eyes wide as he looked towards her. She stood their, fists clenched, posture tall, face engulfed with rage.

“You have no right!” He hurried down the hall coming face to face once again. His finger pointing in her face, the madness that ran through his veins gave his height an inch.

“She was loved! She loved! And you took her from everyone!” She screamed at him, gripping his finger, bending it over.

“She was unruly! She tried to run from me! Me, her husband!”

“You were no husband!”

“I gave her a home, a life anybody would yearn for!”

“You gave her a prison.”

“I loved her!”

“You mistreated her!” Tears began to fall from her eyes.

“No, I gave her a throne, a crown, everything she should’ve wanted.”

“You didn’t give her what she needed.” The doors flew open. People covered in armor that mimicked the deep waters of the ocean held swords and spears. They ran to Vitana’s side, the tears on her face halting.

“Arrest King Anyel for the ebbing of Queen Fauna Malvado.” Her broke and the guards gathered around the king, tying his arms behind his back with rope.

“This is wrong! This- This is treason! You are betraying an ally, I will get you for this, Vitana!” His cries scattered through the halls, echoing.

“Take him to the public dungeon.” She turned and walked through the open set of doors, hearing Anyel’s screams and yells as he was dragged away.

“Your Majesty, what are we to do with him?” Everdeen spoke gently as she followed her queen. her head hung low with her fingers intertwined. Vitana’s eyes red from crying, her body felt raw, her bones ached, her muscles felt taut.

“He will be treated like the rest. Food once a day until a trial.” She spoke softly, Everdeen nodding as she took in the queen’s orders.

“I’m going to the oubliette.” Everdeen stopped.

“Ma’am, you haven’t been there since the moment Cora was born.” Everdeen went from calm to worried, the thought of the oubliette caused her emotions to waver, throwing her around.

“If you have been feeding her, she will still look the same, minus sunlight.” Vitana wiped her tears, “find my daughter, Everdeen until she is found the kingdom is under lockdown. Ports will be searched, ships will not leave unless checked.” Along with drowning pause from both women.

“Now, Everdeen. Send the word.” Everdeen turned and raced through the halls.

The Monarch continued her jaunt through the palace’s public rooms, down several flights of stairs until she came to a room with a door made of steel. The door was in a room, a vacant room with walls of stone, water dripping from the ceiling, the air cold as ice. She continued forward, the resonating noise of every drop that fell echoed, bouncing off the walls through her ears. She grasped the steel handle, stiff and cold on the skin of her palm, a shiver running through her. A set of keys hung close to the door, rusting at its hande, discolored red-brown. She turned her arm, the handle rotating with. Locks clicked and unlocked, she took a step back to open the door, a hiss of air flowing from the room.

She took in a deep breath and opened the door enough for her to enter. The room it led to was dark and silent, a single candle lit in the room, the wax sliding down what was left of it. The sound of chains shaking and breaths heaving filled the room. Vitana shut her eyes, let in one last breath feeling the air fill her lungs and she slowly opened her eyes.

A woman with long grey hair sat on the floor, her wrists chained, the chain length bundled around her. Her hair was long and enveloped her shoulders, the grey locks reflecting in the light of the candle, her skin was cold and pale, the wrinkles that fell on her cheeks, the crow’s feet that marked her deep blue eyes, her nails were edged to a point, tinted yellow. Her clothes made of rags, tattered and falling apart, barely keeping her warm in the cold and damp atmosphere that filled the room.

“So, you decided to open my door,” her voice rasped with every word, chest heaved as she looked towards the queen: her dark hair barely gleaming in the low light, her tan skin glowing, her eyes barely visible.

“Your granddaughter has disappeared.” Vitana’s voice presented as stern and stiff as she looked down unto the woman below her. Her dress dancing on the flow with the slight breeze that blew through the slightly opened metal door.

“To where?” She staggered, struggling to help herself up, gripping the lines of chains that connected to the wall, pulling at it to help her balance. Her chest surged as it scrapped together air to fill her lungs, urging for air as she panicked and questioned.

“To the sea.” The elderly woman let out a puff of air as her expression fell from worry to comfort, “all because of your benighted tales.”

“Infinitesimal things grow quite large, my dear..” She relaxed, pressing her back against the cool wall, feeling the dampness of dew as it absorbed into her torn clothing. Her eyes closed and slight smile clung itself to her cheeks. The queen, quite agitated, stepped towards her, the heel of her shooks clopping against the battered stone. She gripped the older woman’s chin, her thumb and index squeezing the flesh tight against the bone, she hissed at the pinched, a bruise will form.

“You put these thoughts into her head and you will help me find her.” Vitana spat at her, her teeth baring, her nostrils flaring. A raging fire burned inside her eyes, the crinkle of her eyebrows, the redness of her face. She burned like a candle under the darkness of the cell.

“Remove my chains.” The elderly woman dared, raising her eyes to meet the queen’s, her lips curling into a smirk, a wicked one, one that challenged the power of gods, the risk she took with three words set herself to danger. The queen’s eyes twitched, the quick movement, the fluid motion as she stepped away and walked out of the chamber and plucked the set of keys off the hook and returned to the room.

“Arm.” The elderly woman lifted her arms to her, a click of the lock and both her wrists were set free. She rubbed her wrists, the redness and chafe of them, a white thickness of dry skin wrapping her skin.

“Let’s go,” Vitana ordered as she looked away from the woman. Her resentment toward her fueled her anger, the danger she felt her daughter was put in, the disappearance, the miscommunication, the intolerance, the contempt.

“I may need some help.” She labored her way to her feet, the weakness of her bones, the age of her life, the strength she didn’t have, the strength that left her.

The queen gripped the woman by the bend of her elbow, pulling her to a stance. They walked left the room, Vitana keeping a slow pace for the older woman’s limping body.

“He would’ve enjoyed us together, he would want us together.” The elder woman spoke as she dragged her feet across the floor.

“Well, he’s died.” Vitana’s rage slowly swirled into dejection.

“You were a lovely wife to him. He spoke so highly of you.” A smile growing on the struggling maiden’s face.

“And he was a lovely husband to me.” Her voice barely able to finish her statement, the flood of emotions in her chest put pressure on her heart.

“He was as handsome as he was brave.”

A nod.

“The kingdom must’ve felt that pain from his death.”

“The kingdom has held its head high after his death.”

“Why did you lock me in that prison?” The decrepit woman asked, looking up towards the queen’s blank face.

“You put those stories in her head and then you left to visit the Islands of Vitrus. Those stories fueled something, it lit something to search for.” Her face fell into a frown, despondency. She turned to look directly into her eyes.

“She built her entire life around these stories, her journal filled with dreams of sailing and meeting this... this fictitious woman.”

“Viti, if I had known I would have discouraged her.”

“It wasn’t just the stories,” tears welled under the sovereign’s eyes.

’You returned from the Islands and she fell into your arms like I was nothing.” Rolling down her cheeks were her tears, the salty taste lacing her tongue and lips.

“I was jealous, envious of your relationship with my daughter.” She wiped her face, damping her sleeves.

“In point, I resented you for your bond with my daughter, I knew it was because of his death. Never being able to meet her own father.”

“Dear, no, that wasn’t your fault.”

“She believed it was. She put two wrongs together and created a lie. Then my stress led me to hate my own late husband and because my ignorance couldn’t take it out on him, you were there.” The aged woman let out a heavy sigh. Her eyes falling to the ground.

“And for that, I apologize, Leticia.” And with that simple sentence, the queen and her mother-in-law embraced, their arms wrapping around one another in an intimate hold.

“And I forgive you, Vitana.”