A Malice Heart
Chapter One

Five years had passed since his coronation and not much had seemed to change.

The hallways of the palace were all the same—dark and lifeless. There was nothing to look forward to, nothing to think about other than how to pass the time while he wasn’t doing paperwork or meeting up with the fools who run his lower court.

There are constant complaints from his people about the poor conditions of the kingdom, how there was no food to be provided and no clean water to drink. Malice read the papers, watched the protests, and even spoke with his people, but realized that he hadn’t cared enough to do anything.

Becoming king was not the luxury he was promised as a princeling. It felt more like being chained upon an altar and getting beaten up over and over again until you become so numb that you forget yourself completely.

Oh mother dearest, why didn’t you put another pill into my breakfast? Malice thought to himself as he ran his hand through his dark curls, standing near the balcony doors of his chambers. Oh father, why didn’t you attempt to hide my body after stabbing me? Or just go for one more thrust of the blade just to make sure I was dead?

Looking around his weapons-filled room, Malice decided to go outside for a short walk in the maze. It was built many centuries ago by one of the very first kings. There was some romance to the story behind it, but Malice didn’t care enough to memorize it entirely. The weather recently had been growing colder and colder by the day. Last winter had killed off so many according to the statistics that he saw on his father’s study. According to the weather reports, next year would be even worse.

Luckily, there were no clouds in the sky to block the view of the beautiful night stars shining brightly down on his palace. Such beauty can only be seen and not spoken, it is the only weak spot Malice would allow himself to possess because it is impossible to steal all the stars in the world from a king.

As he strode down the garden, the sword that lay at his waist faintly clinked on his thin coat of metal armor. The king hummed himself a tune, the same one his mother used to sing as she tucked him into bed. The same one that she vocalized as she blew on his soup before carefully bringing the poisoned spoon into his mouth. A beautiful song shouldn’t be forgotten because of a mere inconvenience, so the king hummed it over and over again until his lips buzzed from the effort and his throat ached for deep breaths.

Malice was so caught up with the self-torture he was inflicting upon himself that he hadn’t noticed the slight rustling of the bushes while there was no wind. He wasn’t able to notice the sound of metal being unsheathed even when there was no guard around. He wasn’t able to notice as the blade rested itself against his throat and a hooded figure stood before him, both hands on the hilt.

“Any last words, Your Highness?” A feminine voice caressed Malice’s ears as she pressed the blade further down his throat, the knife already drawing a trickle of blood.

The king only smirked at the sight and said calmly, “You’re going to pay for that very dearly, darling.”

“Don’t call me that,” she growled in return, raising her head just a bit so the king could have a look into her eyes under the hood that covered her entire head. Her eyes were the shade of blue that could only be seen when the sun is at its highest point and is lighting up the sky while her hair was a shade of rusty red, the kind you replace on battlefields after a terrible war.

“I’ve never had a woman point a knife at me before,” he murmured, bringing his hand up and running it down the blade.

This tool had the power to do the very thing his parents had attempted so many times before, it had the power to save this kingdom from its misery and allow a new era to shine through the corrupted royal bloodline.

This minx before him had all this power in her hands at this very moment, and with only one swift slash of the knife, she could make it happen. “Do it.”

He’d half expected the girl to hesitate and change her mind, yet what he saw in those eyes was not the slightest bit of doubt. It was pure rage and anger as she readied to finish doing what she came here for, but was suddenly stopped as an arrow was shot into her right shoulder. Soon after that, another one joined it.

The redhead hissed in pain as she dropped the sword and fell to her knees, cursing the world and beyond. As the guards who had spotted what was happening under their noses came running towards the scene, Malice only crouched down and placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder. He felt her tense under his touch as their eyes met for a single moment before she was pulled up to her feet and thrown over the guard’s shoulder, her own shoulder leaving a bloody trail all the way to the dungeons which were heald right below the palace.

The king wiped the hand he placed upon her shoulder onto his pants, disgust finally settling in him at the thought of this peasant getting so close to killing him.

See mom and dad? Not today. Someday, but not today.