Alexia
"Come here, you wretch," he said, "Do you think you can pretend to be the princess for the rest of your life?"
His voice became closer, even holding the dress it was difficult to run as I was already exhausted.
Sustained only by adrenaline, I heard his footsteps very close by, as well as his presence while I was still climbing, and I turned quickly, drawing my sword, which clashed with his. A struggle began, I forced him down and realized that even with gravity in my favor, he didn't even seem to be making an effort, I kicked him in the face and he held onto the wall, and I ran again until I reached the top.
I looked around, the cold running through my body, whipping my face hard, I looked around in desperation, my heart racing as I realized I had no way out.
On one of the lower towers, still high enough to cause instant death when I fell, I feared the worst, and turned to see that he had announced, still holding his hand to his face.
"You're full of tricks, aren't you? That's why you're still alive" he said "But now it's over, you must have left her to die that day! Charlotte was wrong to take pity on you and get you out of the castle, you betrayed Torrem!"
"Charlotte betrayed Torrem" I said, correcting him "I don't owe my loyalty to a woman who would kill me without blinking and throw me in a mud puddle!"
The disdain in my words that came out laden with anger, his face twisted in rage, he lowered the cloth over his face and I could see him completely.
"Lord Alexander," I looked at him shocked, he had been banished from Torrem for years after setting fire to a room in the castle, almost causing a huge fire, which almost didn't spread, "Charlotte has corrupted herself!"
He advanced on me and our swords clashed against each other, brutal and precise attacks as he advanced quickly, my chest beating hard against his chest as he attacked me relentlessly, walking backwards, in the open air the wind whipped my face, at that height it was frightening, any carelessness in getting too close to the edge and I would fall.
Finding a gap, I spun my swords and saw his sword fly, but not as skillfully as I would have liked, I saw mine go with it.
He looked at me quickly and I was sure I was in trouble, I ran away from him in desperation and Alexander grabbed me by the waist and dragged me, struggling to get free he dragged me to the edge of the tower and put my face out, the height caused a chill in my stomach, the fear of falling ran through my whole body making me nervous, my eyes filled with tears.
"Lady of fire? Where's your dragon?" He asked, pulling my hair up so that I could look straight ahead "Look at Olimper, did you really think this could be yours? Did you think you could use Princess Charlotte's name for the rest of your life? You're a servant Alexia and it's past time you died!"
"Let me go!" I said furiously, trying to kick him, but he lifted my face more, causing a pain in my hairy body.
"Look at the flag of Olimper, your greed for what doesn't belong to you has led to your downfall!" He said harshly.
I looked at the flag and its entire length and remembered what Martin had told me, that I was weaker and less experienced, in a fight or a battle I would be at a disadvantage, unless I used my wits and sometimes I was even short.
"Why are you doing this, Lord Alexander? What did Charlotte offer you?" I asked, trying to buy time while my hands acted underneath without him noticing.
"You can't buy me Alexia, I'm on the winning side!" He said in my ear.
I felt him let go of my hair, and his whole body was suspended by the hook at the end of the flag, which I then attached to his shirt, undoing the ties.
I looked at him suspended in the air, my plan had worked. Alexander struggled and put his hands behind his back trying to get free, just one push and he would fall right where he was and then I was sure he would kill me in a second unless I was faster so I grabbed the sword from the ground and ran towards the flag rope bindings.
"No!" he shouted, I slammed the sword hard against the ropes and they snapped all at once, I saw him fall from the heights and I went over the edge.
Alexandre fell among the bushes, I could only see one of his legs sticking out, which was horrible, but I couldn't help taking a deep breath of relief.
I dropped the sword to the ground, looked around and felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach, I had killed someone again.
I felt that living among kings was corrupting me, but just like in Zaim I was only acting in defense or I would die or the person attacking me and I had gone too far to die in the middle of the road, I wanted to live!
I looked at the stairs and made my way down them quickly, I still couldn't relax, I needed to get rid of his body. I entered the corridors and the first face I saw was Soraya's, she was talking to a lady, but when she saw me she said goodbye to her and came towards me.
"What's that?" She looked me up and down "It looks like a hurricane came through and swept only you away."
"That's almost it," I said, "I was attacked by the man with the ticket. We fought at the top of the tower and now he's dead in the bushes in the garden."
"But were you hurt?" She looked me up and down for the first time showing concern for me, I shook my head in denial, tired of talking and she continued "Let's clean up the mess before someone from the court sees him and questions his integrity or you'll lead us all to an unprecedented disaster".
Soraya really helped me.
Bringing two security guards she asked me to take her to where the body was, we went to the bushes and dragging the body lightly out of the bushes it looked a little disfigured, Soraya twisted her face in horror at the scene, I knew I would have nightmares in my sleep but I kept my eyes open.
"Who is he?"
"Lord Alexander, he used to live in the castle and was banished from Torrem after almost causing a catastrophic fire in the castle."
"Not a good character!" Soraya said coldly, "Are you blaming yourself?"
"No. It was me or him!"
"Yes, and you seem to be getting clever, I don't know how you managed to fight a man of that size, but only the clever survive in the castle," she said as Alexander was being cradled by the two guards.
"Can they be trusted?"
"Yes, them and two others who aren't here who took her body away when I thought I'd killed her," she said as if it were a common occurrence, looking me in the eye, "They're the ones I call when I want to bury someone!"
I watched as the body was taken away, placed on a cart with a cloth over it to cover it as it left the castle, and I stared in disbelief at how easy it all seemed.
"He was sent by Charlotte"
"How do you know?"
"He's the one who infiltrated the castle and got me out of here the day I was going to run away" I looked at Soraya "When he thought I was running away with a man, it was him and I thought the princess of Torrem was very nice, I don't know how many others are on her side, but it's dangerous not knowing who your enemies are that's why I think we have to find a way to tell everyone about me"
"Or we could find the real princess and kill her"
I knew that wouldn't solve the problem, after all, anyone who comes to Olimper castle who has lived in Torrem castle will know that I'm not Princess Charlotte, the luck we were having was only due to the fact that Olimper and Torrem had lived at war for a long time, the people still hated each other so no one came to Olimper.
But the king's and queen's letters were like a clock in my head turning slowly.
Too tired to argue, I just wanted to take a bath and go to bed, so I returned to the castle.
I opened the bedroom door and took off my heels to let my feet rest, my body was sticky, my dress torn and my hair destroyed.
Then I heard Estevan's voice calling me.
"Alexia"
I turned to see him, Estevan was in the room.
I felt my chest fill at the sight of him, he looked me up and down, but before he could ask me anything I threw myself into his arms and squeezed him tightly.
"Estevan," I said, and he squeezed me tightly. I put my face in his chest and said, "I'm so glad you're back!"