Chapter 3.
[Seraphina's POV]
My eyes peeled open a sliver, which was all I could muster in my weakened state. The world around me was a blur of white and grey, the edges of my vision hazy and indistinct as if I were viewing everything through a pane of frosted glass.
The first thing I saw was the billowing snow all around us, great curtains of it swept up by the wind to dance all around us, hindering our movements without fail.
Nevertheless, what I found bothersome most of all, was the man who held me in his arms as he braved this harsh weather, his black hair and firm figure refusing to bend even now when faced with nearly zero chances of survival.
His jaw was set in a determined line, his eyes squinting against the stinging assault of ice and wind, and yet his grip on me never faltered, nor loosened even once, as if letting go was a thought that had never even crossed his mind.
It pained my heart dearly seeing him like this. Even now he still refused to give up on me, even while I had foolishly been dethroned by those I held dear.
The betrayal left a wound in me that refuses to heal, bleeding with each moment, and yet the sight of this man struggling through the deepening snow while carrying my useless weight brought a different kind of ache to my heart, one that had nothing to do with politics or power and everything to do with the simple, crushing weight of guilt.
If not due to my naivety, he would not be forced to bear all this.
If I had simply been sharper, more thorough and less willing to see the good in those who surrounded me, perhaps I would have seen Aurelia's ambition festering long before it blossomed into outright treason.
Perhaps then I could have prepared myself in an attempt to fight back.
If only I hadn't been this blinded by friendship, I could have spared this loyal soul the misery of fleeing through a frozen wilderness with death snapping at our heels.
Sadly even now, I felt my strength weakening, even now when he needed someone to support him, I was simply too powerless to do anything, and it hurt me even more than the cold that seeped into my very bones.
Was I really this useless, were Aurelia's words correct, was I not fit to rule? The question echoed in my mind, filled with cruelty, like splinter that dug deeper with every passing moment.
All I had ever done was try to help all those around me and govern with a gentle hand.
My only aspirations had been to listen to petitions of all the people of our kingdom and ease the burdens of the nobility where I could, but it seemed all my efforts were but in vain.
The kingdom I had nurtured, the people I had protected, the very throne I had occupied, all of it had been stripped away in a single, devastating stroke, and the woman who had taken it from me was the very person I had welcomed into my confidence, my home, my heart, with open arms.
I wanted to cry, to release the torrent of grief and frustration that swelled within my chest, but the ever growing cold only froze my tears before they could fall, prompting me to stop. Even sorrow, it seemed, was a luxury I could no longer afford.
To think that even now I would think about her, about Aurelia and the friendship I had believed so deeply in.
After our late husband, Theron Valemont, had married her as his second wife, ever since he had grown distant from me, I had made a conscious choice not to harbor resentment or jealousy.
I had seen her arrival not as a threat but as an opportunity, a chance to fill the emptiness that Theron's neglect had carved into my days.
I tried my best not to be at odds with her, but instead extend the hand of sisterhood rather than the claw of rivalry, to the point of us becoming friends, or so I thought.
We had taken tea together in the garden, shared private conversations in the quiet of the evening, and even laughed at the absurdities of court life as if we were two ordinary women rather than queens bound to the same indifferent king.
I had trusted her and loved her, in the way one loves a sister. Who would have known the very person I thought I could confide in would turn around and stab me in the back, all for the sake of power.
If she had only but asked, I would have gladly handed it to her. The thought was not born of weakness but of weariness, a profound exhaustion that had settled into my spirit long before the snow began to fall.
After all, I might have been naive but I was not foolish enough to believe that everyone amongst the kingdom nobles were on my side.
Having not been able to bear any children with my late husband, my fate had long since been set in stone. The moment Theron's body was laid to rest, I knew that my time as queen was finite.
It wouldn't be long before the vultures would soon begin to circle, forcing my influence to erode with each passing season until I was nothing more than a footnote in the kingdom's history, a barren queen remembered only for what she could not produce.
Aurelia could have had it all without all this senseless bloodshed, but it would appear that I underestimated her cautiousness.
Fearing that I would one day rise and take back what was rightfully mine, she had chosen blood and steel, rallying her forces to eliminate all those closest to me, the remainder were simply to frightened and ended up switching to her side in the end.
To think she feared it to the point of sending armed men to hunt me down like an animal, reducing our years of shared laughter to ashes in a single night.
I truly was a pitiful soul, was I not? Day after day, year after year, I was the one who took on the tiring task of managing the kingdom in Theron's absence, poring over ledgers and petitions while the candles burned down to nothing, mediating disputes between bickering lords while my husband hunted or feasted or simply ignored the weight of his crown.