Amethyst: A Collection Of Short Stories

Poison Ivy

"The things we do when we are blinded by pain and anger are incomprehensible and terrifying."

I really hope you don't hate it!

(Ignore any typos!)

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Sitting on the edge of her dying lover's bed, she let a tear drop. It wasn't because she was sad. Far from that, she was happy. She'd finally have what she wanted in a few minutes. 

She adjusted the black veil on her head, trying to hide the blossoming smile forming on her lips as she stared at his wrinkled face. He was only forty three years old but the deep lines on his face told another story. King Kayod used to be the life of the party, going to every festival, drinking, interacting with the villagers. He was loved by them. By everyone. 

She traced a line on the scar on his eyebrow. This was when she tried to assassinate him about three years ago. But he was strong and she had failed miserably. What could she expect trying to kill a man twice her age in combat? So, she opted to kill him in a discrete manner. A drop of poison every month in her lover's wine during dinner did the job perfectly.

"Your Highness?" One of the  guards stationed beside the king's bed called.

"Yes?" She looked up with annoyance.

"Would you prefer if you spent his last moments together?"

"I'd love that. Thank you." She said, a smile dancing on her lips.

The guards exited the room silently then she turned to her husband. For the first time in a while she stared at him and soaked his image in her mind. Her eyes roamed his weak body, moving from his legs to his now slim torso and then settling on his handsome face. 

A small sound left his mouth but she shushed him, placing a finger on his lips. 
"Tsk save it my love. It's no use."

She saw a tear slowly drop from his eyes. His beautiful eyes... And in that second she felt guilt for inflicting this on the man who loved his kingdom and the man who'd do anything for the woman he loved. Her. 

But the guilt  vanished just as it came when she remembered holding her dead fiancé in her hands. The bomb that knight was planted by king Koyod's troops in Manigault, one of his rival kingdoms. This attack happened barely three months after Kayod was crowned king of Gaan. He decided to plant the bomb during the yearly Appreciation day that took place in her town's square.

That  day, as usual she was running late and her family had left to attend the festival before her. As she combed her dark hai and admired her dress in the mirror, a violent  vibration shook her small house and the contents on her jewelry table fell. With confusion and fear, she  ran to the town square hoping it was just another earthquake.

 Most of the people were dead. Bits of flesh were scattered around her. The ground was smeared with  red liquid and around the fireplace -made with logs-  in the middle of the open space, she saw her family's dead bodies. Her brother, her mother, her cousin and her father. 

She couldn't find it in herself to scream. She could only walk lifeless to their bloodied bodies and weep over each of them. She searched amongst the faces laying on the ground and recognized that of her friends and colleagues. But there was one person she prayed not to find. The one person who taught her to love. The only person who loved her for her. But there he was, heaving in pain in one of the streets not too far from the main space.

"Aspen!" She had screamed. His blond hair was burnt, and his tan skin was now covered in bruises and blood. She ran to him and knelt down beside him, crying.