I have no idea how things came to this. Slowly as if over time people began to pull away from me until all that was left was their sneers of contempt and angry assumptions. All I'd had left were my two closest confidants, the ones who I wrongly believed to always have my side. Slowly my head tipped back with tired and empty eyes, their dull lifeless sheen nothing like the Diamond luster they once held. My Lipps were cracked from dehydration and my stomach twisted with knots, though I know not if it was from hunger, betrayel or fear. Maybe it was all three..

As my hazy vision settled on the man before me, my heart twisted not with despair like I'd expected. No, it broiled with an agonizing rage the churned throughout my entire soul setting my heart aflame. I could feel the heat in the back of my throat and wanting nothing more than to see him get exactly what was coming to him.

Count Varrion Barakian, or should I say, Duke Barakion once this event came to a close. My own brother, The one I helped raise from nothing after our mothers death. Dull diamon blue met electric blue in a battle of wills. One haughty with a victorious gleam and the other Shimmering with a fire rage. Slowly I broke our state to settle more cursed eyes on the woman simmering behind him with a dreary and sniffling facade.

Nerrellia Galliwren, a woman of lower stature, the daughter of a baron who earned his noble title through merchant trade lines and mines. My so called childhood friend, the one I'd thought would be by my side till out deaths. In the end, I guess I was half right, only it was only my death that would occur.

I don't understand why things ended this way, everything I did, every choice I made was for them. To give my brother the life I once believed he deserved.

I'd been so BLIND to everything! No more!

I shall not remain blind in my final moments. A dark smile of ruin spread across my lips red tinting them as the cracks opened from the movement. My voice was hoarse as I spoke, the weeks I've spent locked away in the empires dungeons with minimal food or water having taken its toll. My once elegant golden curls were matted with grime as my head tipped forward.

"You may believe you have won this, Little Brother. But with my dying breath and all on the names of all those who came before us in out line, I CURSE the day you were ever born. I RUE the night you took our mother from us with your unworthy birth. With my last breath I go to death knowing my truth, knowing that you will fail, and everything will crumble around you once reality sets in."

Varrions face had darkened with every word, his pallid skin scrunched with distaste as he glared down at my kneeled form. He didn't respond to my remark, merely raised his hand in the air demanding the silence of the crowd. All at once the people lips shut, in anticipation I deemed most likely.

"The Empire has gathered here today, to witness the one known as Artesia Barakion pay for her crimes again the Empire and its people. The following crimes are as written, Treason against the crown, Patricide, smuggling, attempted murder, poisoning, Fraud, assas-."

The listing of crimes continued on and with each added one my eyes grew larger, shock taking hold. Treason!? PATRICIDE!?

Our father died from sickness 3 years ago...

Unless... My eyes snapped up to glared at Varrion. That what someone wanted me to believe while framing me in the background. I knew for a fact most of the crimes were misunderstandings blown out of proportion. The poisoning, a fellow Dutchess had fallen ill at one of my tea parties, the noble women stopped responding to my invitations. The assassination attempt, someone bearing the family crest of a golden dragon had broken into a barons manor. Nothing I had actually had anything to do with.

My gaze once again rose this time to look up at the balcony holding the imperial family. The emperor himself was in attendance, looking down upon us with a glacial indifference.

The man didn't care whether I was truly innocent or not. All he cared about was his reputation, and so he'd made the choice that would bolster his family against the only threat to his throne.

Dutchess Barakion.

The crown prince was in attendance, his form rigged but nothing else revealing any sort of emotion. The princess was nowhere to be seen. Knowing that the emperor would do nothing to stop this farce I let my head slump. Hated burning within me.

If only...

If only I hadn't been so blind..

Maybe things would have been different.

My eyes slid shut, there was a beat where no one spoke, and then a searing cold pain striking through my neck and then finally nothing. It was quiet, and...soothing? Like soft clouds cradling my form, in the dark black surrounding me there was a sudden glint. Something shifting within the depths of shadow, it slithered and scraped, before I was thrown back.

My spine collided with something soft and the force was enough to make my eyes snap open in alarm. Wait.. force?

Light blinded my gaze for merry moments before the fuzzy vision faded away revealing a room. Expensive and high-quality fabric surrounded me. The bed I was on was one I was familiar with. In fact I recognized the entire room. It was mine... years ago long before I'd ever taken up my father's title and standing. Deep emerald curtains hung in front of stainless windows, a marble fireplace was set into the wall across from my four poster bedding. There were sitting areas, a work space with a mahogany desk and shelving filled to the brim with scrolls, books and more.

I haven't slept in this room in so long I had begun to forget it ever even mine...

Slowly I looked around hoping for answers. My neck still twinged within phantom pains and my throat was parched for drink. One of my hand lifted to caress my throat only for it to pause in mid air when something glittering caught my eye. Slowly I looked down at my revealed skin with a silent shock and a growing anxiety. Tiny glittering gold scales flecked my skin leading from my wrist to my elbow.

Something that had never been there before. In a hurry I lifted my other hand only to be met with smooth unblemished skin. When I brought the afflicted limb back into the morning light I was forced to take a deep breath when the scales where no longer there.

What...?

What is happening!?

I was on the verge of questioning everything when a knock came at the door. I froze...

People..? Would they be able to give me the answers I desire?