The Queen was nowhere to be seen and the advisor was visibly worried. Bran didn’t know what had happened, but something felt wrong to her. She didn’t wait around to be noticed as she sprinted right over to the wall which was holding up the platform for the Queen’s throne.

She knew how to scale walls from her years of being on her own, and the wall in front of her was nothing too straining for her.

People in the audience watched her climb the wall to the platform which was what brought their attentions to the Queen’s absence. And suddenly, the arena was filled with questions and protests.

Reaching the top of the platform, Bran pushed at the advisor, who looked annoyed at being manhandled. “Where is the Queen?” Bran asked immediately, not wanting to wait another moment. If there was no Queen, she wouldn’t be able to humiliate the woman in front of the entire kingdom.

“I w-was watching the match and she said she was going to the lavatory, and then her maid comes in terrified saying she got abducted.” Bran frowned down at the man, who stuttered out even when his eyes held anger and resignation.

Bran let him go and immediately made her way to the hallway which was connected to the platform. She had to find the Queen before something horrible happened to her.

There was no knowing what had taken place, but Bran knew that she hadn’t fought a bunch of men just to be cheated out of what was rightfully hers. She had deserved to embarrass the Queen in front of all the people outside.

And she was not going to let anything get in her way.

Sprinting in the hallway, she knew that whoever had kidnapped the Queen, they must be using the back exit of the arena. There were only two ways to get inside or outside of the arena. The front entrance was obvious and well-guarded, but the back opening was always left unguarded.

Having the destination clear in her mind, Bran was quick to make her way to the back entrance.

She had been there in mere minutes, even when her body was feeling the exhaustion of being beaten and overused while fighting the other men. She didn’t care though. All she cared about then was to retrieve the Queen and bring her back to the arena in one piece, just so she could rub it in her face that a woman had won the right to be King.

Bran snickered to herself as she thought about everything but her amusement for the future died down when she finally found the Queen.

As she had predicted, the abductors were there by the back entrance. One man was carrying the Queen on his shoulder with her hands bound together and a rag over the woman’s mouth to muffle her screams of help.

Bran was quick to move as she ran down the steps and stopped the man who was carrying the Queen, aggressively.

“Shit!” Bran heard another voice which had her frowning as she pulled the Queen from the man’s arms. Amelia Goldenheart was as lightweight as she was pretty. Her red hair cascaded down her back in a loose braid and Bran wondered if they also looked as silky when completely free of any binds.

Snapping herself out of her awful thoughts, Bran pulled down the rag from the Queen’s mouth before pushing her behind her. “Who are you?” Bran didn’t have a weapon, but the other man did as he immediately pulled out a dagger from his shoe.

Not the most convenient place to put a sharp object, but Bran didn’t have enough time to be cautious since the man was already slitting his own throat without a single word uttered.

Behind the now dying man, the carriage waiting for him suddenly began moving in full speed. Bran didn’t even have the time to look at whoever was driving the carriage since she had a Queen clutching onto her arm tightly.

“Let him go.” Bran had heard the soft voice after several years, but it still held a power over her just like it did for everyone else in the kingdom.

Amelia Goldenheart was not just a loved Queen because she was pretty and kind. She was also respected because she knew how to handle power.

Bran looked down at the dead man, and how his clothes were extremely coarse, as if the man had been living in the woods for all his life. Bran herself was poor and barely got by with what she earned getting paid to be a labour, but she had never seen someone look poor before.

“What kind of weak men kidnap a Queen when she’s in the lavatory?” The Queen grumbled which didn’t go unheard by Bran, who turned around to look at her. “Can you please untie my hands now, gladiator?”

It was the commanding tone of the woman which had Bran scoffing in displeasure. She didn’t do what the Queen had wanted – instead, she picked up the Queen over her shoulder, and began to walk back to the arena.

Immediately, Amelia was in a state of distress and offense. “Put me down right now!”

Bran pretended to not hear a single word that the Queen was speaking as she remained walking. She didn’t even care about the way Amelia struggled on Bran’s shoulder. She was going to carry this Queen inside of the arena and then humiliate her.

It was the perfect plan.

But it was not so well thought through.

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