3 Throne

Rama stared at the corpse of her Father as he was being carried out by their guards for burial, her eyes watered but she blinked the tears away.

She stood unmoving even after his body had been carried away as she spaced out, wondering what the future held in store for her.

"My Princess, I'm sorry for your loss." She heard the deep rough voice behind her, it belonged to the chief commander of the guards, he was her loyal personal guard, although his loyalty lied with the rest of the royal family, his loyalty toward her was greater.

"Did you send the messenger to inform the rest of the kingdom and my family members?" She asked, her voice composed and unwavering as she spoke.

She was trying to be strong, she didn't want anyone to see her weak, her pride as the future Queen would be deeply hurt if she appeared weak in front of anyone, so she appeared unfeeling with a stoic expression on her face and hardened jade eyes.

"Yes your Highness, the rest of your family members should arrive any moment." Ramir, the chief commander spoke in a professional tone.

He knew how much she adored her Father which made him realize how badly she was hurting, but she was doing a great job at hiding it behind a thick mask, any hint of weakness from her would give the people a chance of labelling her unworthy for the throne.

Rama sighed softly in exasperation, she knew her aunt and her cousin wouldn't waste a second to arrive the Castle after being informed of the King's death, they were probably celebrating on the news.

"Good, I'll summon the high court tomorrow and inform them about my coronation." Rama explained to him and even though her back was turned to face him, she could feel the doubtful expression building up on his face.

She had grown close to Ramir since she was a child, he taught her great skills of fighting in combat and sword fighting.

He knew she had the enthusiasm and prowess to make a great Queen and he was rooting for her, but a guard had no voice when it came to royal matters, to them he was just a mere servant, so he kept his opinions to himself.

Ramir didn't say anymore and only nodded in accordance to her words.

Ramir had exited her presence to give her some privacy since she was in mourning even though she didn't show it, as a child she had found it hard to convey her emotions, she felt alien to it, so she grew up with it making her fierce.

Rama's jade blue eyes narrowed to the expensive carriage moving through the golden gates to stop at the entrance of the Castle, meters away from her.

A woman in her forties wearing an expensive flowing gown exited the carriage with the help of the coachman, along side a young man who had a plastered smile on his face as they approached her but her expression didn't change, only her eyes hardened when she stared at them.

Her aunt had lost her husband years back, so it was just the mother and son.

"My dear niece, I'm so sorry dear, you must be devastated on your Father's passing." Her aunt drawled in a sad tone as she widened her arms to hug her niece who went stiff in her arms the moment she fell into her embrace, not caring to hug her back.

"Your rooms have been prepared." Rama said stiffly, ignoring her aunt's so called consolation, she knew they were delighted about her Father's passing, to them it would pave a way to the throne for her son.

"Rama, it's been long. You've grown into a young woman with such a foul attitude or is it your Father's passing? I'll take it as such." Jafar's voice resonated with a smugly look on his face she felt so eager to punch off, his brown eyes glinting with excitement, the fact that they were jubilating over the King's passing was too visible.

She felt her fingers clutching her black dress tightly at the thought that they could have had something to do with her Father's death, after all they were both acting suspiciously and the fact that they would benefit from his death made her blood boil in anger.

"I may be a woman but I was born with the attitude and strength of a ruler, after all that is why Father chose me to rule the Empire, so why must I act less than the ruler I'm meant to be." Rama said, making her words as sharp as the blade of her daggers that didn't miss a day's sharpening, she hoped it would cut through him and he would realise how pathetic he was knowing that the King never chose him as his heir.

Her aunt gave a nervous chuckle but her cousin remained silent burning a hole through her golden skin with his eyes, it was clear that her words had cut him deeper than it should.

The former Kings who had no male heir naturally chose a heir from their closest kinship, but him being rejected by her Father publicly was an unbearable disgrace, knowing the King had seen him unfit to rule, it broke his pride.

"You still have your sharp tongue like I remembered." Jafar's tone was low and filled with malice, his eyes spoke of nothing but hate when he stared at her, the throne was meant to be his, a male heir and not a princess in a dress.

"My mind is sharper...And my blades too, do you want a taste?" She retorted, her facial expression calm but her jade eyes shot him a hard daring look, chin raised proudly like the Queen she was to be. Jafar wanted to say more but her aunt interrupted.

"That's enough catching up, it was nice seeing you again, come on Jafar, it's been a long journey we should freshen up." She watched as her aunt dragged Jafar away in her arms who was reluctant to leave.

"The real battle hasn't begun, yet they run away like the cowards they are." She murmured under her breath with eyes burning in rage before turning ahead to leave.

The skies had quickly gone dark, by now the entire Empire must have heard of her Father's demise, she thought inwardly as she stared out the window before leaving to take her bath.

Her handmaid Malika had just finished preparing her bath when she entered the bathing room.

Being an only child, she had grown mutually close to her handmaiden who had taken care of her needs for as long as she remembered, Malika was as far the only one who could truly understand her and her emotions.

"You can leave, I'm well capable of bathing myself, I'm not handicapped." Rama said with a hard voice directed to the maid that was reluctant to leave as she wanted to give her mistress a bath.

It wasn't unexpected for a maid to give her mistress a bath since she was a princess but Rama felt utterly embarrassed about it, she found it uncalled for as she was already a full grown woman and allowing another full grown woman bath her was just as outrageous.

She had dismissed her numerous times from giving her a bath but her handmaid wouldn't just drop it, she felt obliged to meet every need of her mistress.

"I'll leave, if you need anything I'll be in the room." Malika said before dashing out of the bathroom, giving Rama privacy that made her sigh outwardly.

She swiftly undressed revealing her slender, curvy golden skinned body before immersing into the scented water. She stayed in the refreshing water for a good amount of time as her thoughts ran wild in different directions.

She had her Father's killer to find as she suspected it was no ordinary illness and worst of all, she was suspecting a family member, it seemed almost impossible but it was the only logical explanation she could come up with, someone had killed her Father and for a reason which seemed to align with her family members being suspects.

And then, she had the high courts to deal with, they would never agree to her coronation as ruler of the Empire, in all the centuries of ruling, they had never once been a female ruler, but she didn't care about their opinions, her Father had entrusted her with the seal of the ruler before he died, she would take her throne whether they supported her or not.

If blood had to flow for her to seat on her throne as the rightful heir, then no doubt she would make it flow like an endless river if they wished.

Her Father had already declared her as the next ruler of Saba Empire publicly, so if anyone stood in her way, the actions and decisions she would make wouldn't be her fault, the ones who would go against her would be to blame for the blood she would spill.

It didn't help that she had a bloody temper, she would put it to it's good use if she had to and pour her wrath on them, any negative response against her ruling and she wouldn't bat an eye in separating heads from shoulders, she would do anything to seat on her throne, she would sacrifice it all, her humanity even.