Chapter Text
Cecil left her brother's room, quietly shutting the heavy door so as to not disturb his sleep.
There was nothing that could be said now to change her mind...he still burned and tossed with fever and there were troops to lead.
Her advisors called out adamantly against her, defaming it as unwise and foolish. She was the Queen, who would be there to rule the country if the misfortune were to come that both she and her brother were to perish?
She merely replied that if she were to perish as would all of the armies of her enemies.
Nothing could be said to change her mind, no one was to know the King was near on his deathbed. She decreed that she was now acting King and would ride into battle in her brother's stead while her brother would be referred to all as the Queen. Word would not get out that the King was ill.
The king's steward held his tongue as he dressed and fitted the queen, tucking her long hair into a hood, fitting her brother's armor over her body.
She stood two inches taller than her younger brother and her body was soft and curved, but under his armor it was impossible to tell that it was her.
When she left she rode her brother's horse.
And when she spoke to the knights who filled her army she spoke in her brother's voice.
Despite her brazen determination to fill her people with bravery, she was afraid.
Cecil was trained to run the country, she could make snap decisions and no one dared defy her commands, but she was not trained for war. The very few men who knew it was the Queen, not the King, advised her to stay away from all battles, be a figure, not a fighter, lest she die in her first battle.
And for she followed their wishes to the very letter for the battles, very far away and watched.
No it was not then that her life was in greatest danger, it was while she was moving her troops from their field encampment to the rocky hills and the abbey beyond a pass through a valley when her life was in its greatest danger.
There was no warning, no subtle clue to the ambush that knocked Cecil from her horse and into the cruel arms of a huge man, screaming in his devilish language. She could sadly make out every word he screamed as she was forcefully thrown forward and forward again, behind her fighting and screaming voices alerted her that the ambush had not just been on her.
She caught a glimpse as she was thrown onto a horse behind the man who had captured her of her army behind her fighting valiantly the men who had descended from the rocks and trees. The ambush hadn't been successful, despite her capture and quick withdraw from the battle, her army fought forwards after her until they were a brief sound in the distance. There was a small collection of men and this was where she was thrown to the ground. Before her she recognized an un-armored man as the prince Hiro who had started this fight with her kingdom.
Then forcefully thrown to the ground before him she realized that she was to be murdered here and now, before the army behind them could catch up to them. Cecil looked up to see the prince himself drawing his sword, commanding that he would desire to watch the light's fade from the King's eyes. And then someone ripped her helmet and hood roughly from her body, knocking her to the ground her hair flying about her head.
"You're a woman," Hiro exclaimed, confused and taken aback, momentarily considering that perhaps they hadn't gotten the King at all, merely a decoy, yet he paused, smiling cruelly, "You're the Queen, aren't you."
Cecil held her tongue and her head, terrified, but never giving her hated enemy the satisfaction of seeing her fear. Even as he touched her face and pulled her head back to examine her. She had met Hiro before formerly, if she could recognize him surely he could recognize her instantly, yet he still took his time, squeezing her cheeks together, pursing her lips, laughing at her.
He gathered her hair into a fist, pulling her to her feet, "I want her bound and safely escorted from the battle, no one is to harm her," he commanded, tossing her against two men who immediately restrained her arms. They wasted no time biding her to a horse and disappearing with no hope of her troops catching up.
First she was paraded through a war camp in nothing but Hiro's cloak, her body barely hidden behind it. She could only hold it to her body and walk, nothing to defend herself from the grabbing hands and disgusting gazes. After they had spent they one day of rest in the war camp, she was properly dressed and sat on a horse with her hands bound to the saddle. They were but a day from the castle and a messenger had been sent before to tell them of their arrival with the "special" guest. They entered the castle town as a parade, she was led in behind Hiro and advertised as his conquest. Her eyes never once opened to see the faces of the jeering crowd.
It seemed to her she didn't open her eyes until she was sitting before Hiro near alone in a room. In reality it had been several days, water had been thrown on her to simulate her being bathed, she had been pushed in cold, damp rooms, and dressed.
Now here she was.
"I will not marry you."
"I didn't ask," Hiro snarled, "Be quiet."
"I will not marry you, you will not inherit my kingdom," she laid out plainly, her hands resting cupped in her lap, Hiro glared at her from where he sat across a luxurious room filled with colorful tapestries and carpets.
"You have no army, they fell to my sword, you'll keep your mouth shut."
"My army did not fail, your ambush failed."
"I captured you."
"Even if you had killed my brother as you had hoped, my kingdom would not have fallen. "
" Be quiet!" Hiro pounded his hand on his chair, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, she couldn't quite be certain why she was sitting in this room alone with him. He hadn't even spoke to her yet, she'd been the first to speak which seemed to really ruffle his feathers. She could really only assume she was here so that he could intimidate her, flash his feathered tail and impress her. It was fairly entertaining to see him sit before her and have it be clear that he had taken special detail to try and appear intimidating to her. She was astoundingly unimpressed, amused, but unimpressed. Cecil also made certain to wear her underwhelmed opinion of him distinctly on her face, her eyebrows barely cocked and her face resting in a neutral, borderline bored, position. She wanted to make it abundantly clear to Hiro that he could wear a fur cloak, rich velvet, and any amount of jewels and she could be in black smock and she would still be more grand than him.
"You're a vain woman," he spat diverting his eyes from hers, she had done nothing but stare directly at him, daring him to return her gaze, he'd broke.
"So what if I am."
"Quiet, I'm talking."
"Fine, you may talk."
He glared at her while she continued with her neutral face, fighting the urge to smile. Her unwavering gaze was a dare, go on, talk, I gave you permission. Cecil would be the first to admit she made several bad decisions in her life, she would classify fighting in her brother's place among them, but not this moment. No, this moment was the pinnacle of showing Hiro how little respect he commanded, how little she feared him. Watching as he deliberated her words over in his mind and considering if he should talk as though she had said nothing or if he could somehow possibly work his way around what she had said.
In the end he left the room.
When she was alone she smiled to herself and nodded her head. She would have stood up and examined the room, however she was smarter than that. It didn't matter, though, because before she could become bored enough to walk around and inspect his riches, Hiro returned with two armed guards.
They forced her to her feet, surely there to escort her somewhere.
As they led her out of the room with Hiro behind her she spoke up again,
"You're a man aren't you, Hiro?" She spoke in a soft voice, just audible to the men surrounding her, "Was it too daunting a task to escort me yourself?"
"Be quiet," he seethed behind her.
"It appears to me--" she started with a coy smile to herself "--that I must be far scarier than I realized."
"Silence," he grabbed a handful of her hair and shoved her forward making her stumble, "No one cares for what you have to say."
She winced from the pain and caught her feet again, quickly regaining pace lest she be dragged along by her hair. Cecil held her tongue as she was led through the castle, uncertain as to where she was being taken exactly, however it was not to the dark lower rooms that had been infested with disgusting things, she was continually climbing stairs with Hiro behind her. In this time that she held her tongue she considered her position to herself. If she were to continue to demean and insult Hiro there would be a chance, even if he did intend to marry her, she would be a slave and never freed again. However, if she were to turn on herself and become almost subservient to Hiro he would easily be swayed and tricked.
The idea in and of itself made her ill, but it seemed like the best way to get what she wanted from Hiro, which was eventual freedom.
Although, she reasoned with herself, she wouldn't have to start groveling at his feet immediately, make him think that he was proving his grandness to her or perhaps she was learning her place.
Perhaps he would fall in love with her, trust her completely, believe the lie that she had fallen for him...and then she would slit his throat in the night like she did to her tyrant father so many years ago.
She hoped her life would not come to that, not that she opposed killing Hiro and inheriting his land, more that she despised the idea of waiting years for Hiro to eventually perhaps trust her and then waiting even more for her chance to kill him. And if during this entire mission word were to get to her that her brother had died and she had not been there to see him to the otherworld-- she doubted she would be able to continue a charade for her freedom. In the midst of her thoughts, after climbing a seeming infinite amount of stairs, she was pushed roughly from behind and stumbled down a step into a very dark room illuminated by a single small window and the door behind her which shut as soon as she caught her bearings.
"Hiro?" She called into the near darkness.
"Do you like your new home?" Hiro's voice came obscured from behind her, she twisted her body on the floor around until she was facing the door, she could just see his cruel gray eyes leering from behind a head height hole cut in the door, "This is where you're going to live for the rest of your life." She blinked trying to focus her eyes, but his face disappeared before she could retort anything. Barely she heard him, "Barricade this door, no one is to go in or out unless I directly command it," she scrambled to her feet and went to the door to look out the head height hole, but she realized it was six inches above her head, the room she was in was a full step below the outer hallway, "I want a guard posted at this door at all time as well and at the base of the stairway."
She kneeled so as to look under the large gap between the floor and the base of the door, but all she could see was boots and Hiro's slippers. She stood again and knocked fiercely on the door, "What do you expect me to do in here?"
The talking outside the door stopped and she heard someone chuckled before Hiro's voice came again, answering her simply, "Rot."