The Palace Beast

*** KINGDOM OF MAXIS ***

On the horizon, the sun blooms, its golden petals reaching outward into the deep blue sky. Our days are brightened by the sky's brilliant flower. That sunrise, which is so commonplace yet extraordinary, is the invitation to a new day. Princess Bonnie spreads her arms and yawns. After her encounter with Kyle the previous evening, she remained nude. When she turned around, Kyle was gone from sight.

Abruptly, she perceived two soft taps on her door, succeeded by a soft shove. With haste, she picked up a sheet and covered herself. The door slowly opens as she stares intently at it, curious to see who enters without her invitation. It was Andrew; he was bearing a flower he picked from the field during his early morning walk around the field. Seeing it was him, the princess was relieved as she climbs down the bed still covering herself with her sheet. "Good morning my love." Andrew greeted with a soft smile.

"Good morning. I wasn't expecting you this morning."

"I know, that's why I came to surprise you. I came to give you this."

Andrew walks closer to the princess and handed the flower over to her. She gently smells the flower and then drops it at the small table beside her bed.

"It's a beautiful morning and I want to be the first to see your pretty face."

"Of course it's a beautiful morning and I am glad to see you here. I have to have my bath and attend to some royal issues. I will call you when I need your presence. Right now there are some issues bothering Maxis I need to attend to." The princess walked Andrew to the door and then shuts the door. She is still after Drew and his brother is still lying dead. The lost book of Anubis is still not in her possession. Right now she has to deal with Drew once and for all. ...Some Minutes Later...

After the princess has had her bath, she makes her way to the throne hall. As she was about to enter the throne hall, she started hearing yelling coming from outside the palace. It's too early for such yelling. It was multiple voices of angry guards and some soldiers of Maxis. She couldn't dismiss the voice as she turned around and headed to the main door of the palace.

On stepping outside, she saw her mother, Queen Afi riding towards the palace and beside her was Drew who was dressed in his noble robe and his sword strap around his waist.

Angrily she ran up to her mother who was still on her horseback, blocking the horse from taking another step towards the palace. "What are you doing? That man is a traitor and is needed dead or alive." She yelled at her mother with a frowned face.

"Can you step aside child or I have to crush you with my horse!"

"Guards, have that man arrested," Bonnie yelled pointing at Drew who was still on his horseback.

As the guards obliged to do the princess' bidding, the queen yelled in a loud voice, "Anyone that lays his hand on Drew will have the wrath of the queen. As you all know, I am still a queen of this kingdom and I have every right to pardon any prisoner. And today, I declare that Drew has been pardoned and restored as a noble in Maxis. If you have any problem with it, you have me to contend with. And as for the princess, she has no ruling authority over Maxis but just an ordinary princess."

This was like a dream to the princess but the truth be told, the queen remains amongst the ruling authority of the royal household without the king. Princess Bonnie is just a princess and has no much ruling authority over Maxis or the royal household. However, this does not mean Queen Afi is the crowned queen of the kingdom of Maxis. In the absence of the king or a crowned prince, she has the power to make decisions and to pardon anyone she chooses to pardon. The guards and the soldiers of Maxis are not happy seeing Drew ride with Queen Afi, that's what brought about the yelling. They know how Drew has gone against their king and has betrayed the trust they have for him. The queen has made her pronouncement about her stand with Drew, none of them could raise a sword against Drew because they are all on oath to protect the decrees of the ruling power of the royal family.

As the queen climbs down her horse, Drew followed suit as he walks up to her and stood beside her. The queen stared at the guards and the soldiers who have gathered around. One of the principles of the kingdom is, if you see a royalty riding beside a condemned prisoner, do not strike.' This is the reason why the guards in the watchtower could not fire an arrow or throw a spear at Drew because he was riding beside the queen.

The queen clears her throat and then opens up to speak, "The throne has been vacant for a month now with the king still lying dead in his chamber. No plans for him to be buried and I'm fed up with the wait. Today I am declaring a step to the throne since my husband is no more and my son is no more. We have to make the right decisions before our enemies start mocking us."

"The only enemy this kingdom has now is you." The Princess cuts in sharply as she glares at her mother.

She never expected this to happen this way. Deep down her, she knew her mother have been plotting with Drew to take over the throne. It was a hard knock on her head. She walks closer to her mother with a frowned face, "You can never be a crowned queen over this kingdom."