[Verdantis: Capital City]
[Location: Royal Castle, princess Alyssia's chambers]
Alyssia heaved shallow breaths, confined to her bed, and beads of sweat rolled from her pristine, delicate skin. Her eyes tightly clenched, yet the anguish was there all the same.
"By the Gods...." King Casimir's jaw clenched at the state of his daughter. "Tell me this instance! What plagues my daughter?!" He bellowed, eyes darting to the stiff form of Lyra; anxiously, she bit the nail of her thumb.
"The mark of Death," she answered.
"What?"
"She was marked as a sacrifice; soon the Bringer of Death shall descend and take her." She further clarified, her voice all but dull.
"You make no sense, woman! Speak clearly!" He ordered with a wave of his hand, Alyssia's guards, Luther and Gunther, stood by the door, cautiously glancing inside but not disturbing.
