Estevan
I watched as Calixto and Morgana left the castle gates, my father looked at me as if he expected my command as he stopped next to me, I nodded.
"Guards!"
The guards armed themselves by raising their swords, the gates closed, Morgana and Calixto looked around.
"What does that mean?" Calixto asked, "Let us go!"
Alexia looked at me, I thought she was going to say something, but she swallowed and stared ahead mutely.
A small group of Torrem guards protecting the kings against three times as many guards who seemed to keep approaching, I looked at everything in alert, the tension growing in the place, I put my hand on my sword.
I didn't ask Alexia what had happened, I didn't need to. The kings left swearing that we would pay and if the war was going to be formed anyway, if there was a chance of preventing hundreds of Olimper lives from being lost in battle by killing the kings, that was what I needed to do.
"Things turned out the way I thought they would, a beautiful disaster," said my father.
Eyes filled with rage, the few guards were not going to contain the ambush they had prepared three times their numbers.
"Attack!" I spoke and a confrontation began, the sound of swords clashing against each other, I saw the exact moment when Calixto's king received a sword to the heart and Morgana's neck was cut, a bloodbath mixed with the red flag of Torrem signaling the impending disaster.
Alexia looked shocked, she pulled hard on my arm, her eyes welling with tears.
"Alexia!" I shouted her name out loud in the hall for the first time, she turned away perhaps in surprise, I couldn't tell, but I continued "It was necessary, you know we couldn't let them go!"
"Yes, I know," she replied and then turned away, disappearing down the hall.
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Alexia
A bloodbath.
There were splashes on the edge of my dress and I knew that all this was happening to me, the strangest thing was that I didn't care about the death of Calixto and Morgana, I felt that I was changing, getting colder, being more calculating and weighing up my legs and gains.
I knew that two lives killed today could save hundreds tomorrow in a war over a misunderstanding.
I hated Charlotte more than ever, but I didn't blame her. I had accepted this deal even though I knew it could cost me my life and I would have accepted it again. At the time, I didn't know how many lives it could cost, but I was aware that it could lead to war between the kingdoms, so it was time to accept the consequences of my actions.
"Charlotte, I've been looking for you all day and they told me you were unwell. Are you feeling better?" Mariah asked.
"I'm not Charlotte."
"What?" She frowned and put her hand on my forehead, I pushed her hand away and looked into her eyes.
"I'm not delusional Mariah, I'm telling you that I'm not the princess of Torrem, I'm Alexia, Princess Charlotte's maid" I said and she opened and closed her mouth, she didn't seem to understand, her mind hadn't yet been made up, I continued walking towards the hall where the nobles liked to spend the day, I walked through it.
"Alexia, what are you going to do?" Mariah asked, tugging on my arm. I looked at her uncomprehendingly. She seemed to be acting as if she already knew, so I pulled her arm away and continued walking through the hall, seeing one or other of them bow as I passed them. I went to the center of the hall, took off my shoes and climbed on top of the table with a glass of wine in my hand.
The sound of breaking glass drew the attention of everyone who turned to me, the silence present, the nobles who were going to crucify me as soon as I opened my mouth.
But I was tired of hiding, of carrying the burden that this secret was going too far, it was time to face my demons and accept whatever came.
Estevan appeared in the doorway, he looked at me in shock and ran towards me.
"It's a good thing I've caught everyone's attention, because I'd like to make a confession" I looked at everyone's face "I'm not Charlotte, the princess of Torrem. I'm Alexia, your maid"
Murmurs began to grow in the hall and I raised my voice, saying:
"That's all you need to know, that I wasn't born a princess, but a servant and that this exchange with the princess of Torrem herself, being here and hiding this secret is no good, so you can crucify me!" I said, staring at Estevan, who kept running towards me, and I felt an arm pull me away.
The nobles seemed irritated, I looked furiously at the man's face which almost made me fall face down on the floor and Mariah pulled his arm hard taking his hand away from me, the murmurs grew louder, the commotion, a table fell to the floor, forks and cutlery fell to the floor as I ran through the hall, one of the nobles grabbed my dress ripping it slightly, I held the neckline over my breasts and looked around, I didn't see Mariah or Estevan anymore, but the nobles seemed to be furious with me, all that pressure was too suffocating, sometimes they only made noises, I felt the fabric of my dress tearing and Estevan's voice getting closer, my eyes focused on one of the nobles and I threw a furious punch at him, I was surrounded by the guards and Estevan who, like me, entered the crowd with his fists.
I could feel my face hurting, I didn't know how everything had turned into a hurricane, from one second to the next I was covered by the nobles, I expected anything, I knew I would be humiliated, but they were so angry that a maid was in the position of princess that they just went crazy with fury, I felt the kicks while I was still sucking, I felt too tight, too hot, too painful the weight of so many people, no one else knew who was hitting whom or what had become of them, I felt the pain in my bones, my ribs, my face until everything became too blurry for me to keep my eyes open.
The sounds became muffled until they were nothing, until my world went dark and my eyes closed.