The palace
“Kayden?” She said, walking forward.
“You’re the new Queen?” He asked, looking at her crown.
“And you’re the vicious king?” She asked too and they stood there staring
at each other.
“Is that Kayden? As in Kayden Kayden?” Warrick asked her and she
nodded.
“Wow great!” Warrick said.
“So it’s your country that has been invading my country”, Kierra said to
him.
“We’re just taking what’s ours”, he said to her.
“What’s yours? How can the lands in my country be yours?” She asked.
“You should refer to your history books and see how your forefathers stole
our lands”, he said, glaring at her.
“No. You should refer to your own history books and see how your
forefathers stole it and mine took it back and since then you’ve been
attacking us to take it back”!!
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“I can see your little black out messed up with your head”, he said to her.
“And I can see the little beating I gave you messed up with yours”, she said
back.
“Well, I made it out conscious and not passed out like you”, he said and
Kierra was about to punch him but his guards came to his defense and he
pushed them off.
“Your work is to protect me from those who want to kill me and not from
her”, he said to them.
“You think I can’t kill you?” She asked.
“I know you can’t kill me”, he said, smirking and she took the sword one of
her guards was holding and pointed it at him.
“If you don’t want to leave here dead or probably unconscious. I suggest
you leave with your troops”, she said to him and he stared at her.
The stare became intense and she looked away.
“How do you plan to kill me when you can’t even look into my eyes”, he
said to her.
“I think this love talk or hate talk or whatever it is, is over. Kayden or should
I say King Williams, if you don’t leave here, I would gladly look into your
eyes and kill you myself”, Warrick said to him and they both glared at each
other.
“You’re not welcomed here. I suggest you leave”, Derrick said to him.
“Don’t let me tell everyone the reason behind your little fundraising event”,
he said and they all looked at him in surprise.
“Don’t look at me that way. I know you’re broke and need money currently
to fund your army. I’ve always wondered why you haven’t pushed back yet
after the little stunt your brother played to get the previous deed to the land.
We’re going to push hard Kierra. Your country is weak and we’re going to
claim all our lands back”, he said to her and she gawked at him.
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“If you’ll excuse me, I have an event to enjoy”, he said and he walked passed
them.
“What are you all looking at, the event hasn’t ended”, Kierra yelled and
everyone continued what they were doing and she quickly walked back to
the palace and all her council members followed her.
“This isn’t good!” She said, pacing back and forth.
“Don’t let his words bring you down. We’re going to fight for our lands till
the end”, Derrick said to her.
“What’s the size of their army?” Kierra asked.
“We don’t know and they also don’t know the size of ours. He’s just trying
to bring you down, don’t let him get to you”, Derrick said to her and she
nodded.
“You allshould keep your eyes on them and on our money”, Kierra said and
she left.
When she got out, Gabriella ran up to her.
“Was that Kayden or was I seeing double?” She asked.
“That’s Kayden and he’s the king of Janrico”.
“Oh shoot! That’s not good. So what are you going to do about it?”
“Fight him and his country till the end”.
“Can’t you all talk about it, he cares for you and I’m sure he’ll listen”.
“This is the same Kayden you warned me of the first time I stepped my foot
in the training center and now you want me to believe he cares for me and
talk to him?”
“He does Kierra. I didn’t tell you everything that happened when you left
because I kind of wanted things to work out between you and Joshua but
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Kayden really cares for you. He didn’t complete the training school. He got
kicked out”, she said to her.
“What?” She asked and Gabriella told her what he did to Lucy for her sake
and how he was sent back home.
“What? He did that?”
“Yeah”, Gabriella said to her.
“Wow”.
“Uhuh”.
“But that means nothing. Our countries have been enemies for years I can’t
just get soft on him because he attacked Lucy and took care of me when I
was unconscious”, she said.
“I didn’t say get soft. I said talk to him, you both can work this out”.
“You should have heard the things he said to me. He came here just to gloat
and is even ready to go to war with us for those lands”.
“Hmmm, I still think that you should talk this out”, Gabriella said.
“I’ll think about it. I need to take a walk to clear my head”, she said and she
left.
*
Kierra was sitting at the lakeside, thinking about everything when Joshua
came and sat by her.
“Hey”, he said to her.
“Hey”, she said, smiling.
“I heard the Janricans are here and that Kayden is the King”, he said and she
nodded.
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“Hmmm, that’s twisted. I know you were not just opponents when we were
at the training center, you were also quite close”, he said and she nodded.
“So what are you going to do about it?” He asked.
“I’ll figure it out” she said.
“Hmmm, if you need any help, you know you can always turn to me. I’ll
always be there to help you”, he said to her and she was quiet.
Meanwhile Kayden was looking for Kierra and finally found her at the
lakeside with Joshua.
He was about to leave but when he turned around he saw Warrick.
“Look who I found”, Warrick yelled and they both turned around.
“I’m not here to harm anyone. I was just taking a stroll”, he said to them.
“And hey Joshua it’s nice to see that you’re still in touch with her”, he said,
smirking.
“It’s not nice to see that you’re still bothering her”, Joshua said to him.
“Can you both excuse us? I’ll like to talk to Kayden”, she said to Joshua and
Warrick.
“What? I’m not leaving you with him”, Warrick said.
“Neither am I” Joshua said.
“The last time I checked, I beat him up at the training center”, she said,
smirking and Kayden chuckled.
“I’m still not leaving you here”, Joshua said and it pissed Kayden off.
“And who are you to her?” He asked Joshua.
“I’m her friend!”
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“Friend? Where were you to protect her when she was being attacked by
Lucy?! Did you protect her? Did you do anything about it? Get out of here
with that bull crap!” He said and it amused Warrick.
“That’s enough. I can take care of myself. Just excuse us”, Kierra said.
“C’mon. Let’s go”, Warrick said to him.
“If anything happens to her, I’ll kill you”, Joshua said and he left.
“When will you stop being a jerk? You’re just a pain in everyone’s butt.
You think …” Kierra started to say but was taken aback when he hugged her.
“Just shut up”, he said to her and she just stood there in shock.
“I really wanted to do this when I saw you. I’m glad you’re alive”, he said
to her.
“I know you want to hug me back. Just do it, no one’s watching”, he said,
chuckling and she hugged him back.
“When did you become this soft and jovial, vicious king”? She asked,
chuckling.
“I’m just happy that you’re alive and you only get me like this once in a
while”, he said and then he released his grip.
“I heard you were expelled from the training center. You didn’t have to do
that for me”, Kierra said.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I only did that to redeem myself. She defeated
you once and defeating her proved a point”.
“Yeah sure. Whatever makes you sleep at night”.
“Okay. Now my walls are back up. I put them down for old time sake but
we’re enemies now and I’ll treat you as one”.
“Kayden we can… ”
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“Do whatever you must do and I’ll do whatever I have to do. Those lands
belong to my country and I’m taking it”, he said to her.
“Kayden just …”
“Bye Kierra. It was nice seeing you again”, he said and he left.
“Jerk!!” Kierra yelled.
*
Kierra was in the throne room with the financial overseer as he counted all
the money.
“This is more than enough to fund the army”, he said to her and she smiled.
“Quickly take it to Prince Derrick and you both should use it and sort things
out”, she said to him and she left to her room.
As she sat on her bed, all she could think of was Kayden. She tried getting
him off her mind but it wasn’t working out.
“Oh God! What do I do? I don’t want to make a mistake which will affect
my country. I need your guidance in this. I don’t know how to fight a country
which belongs to someone I can’t get out of my mind”, she said and then
she started praying and drifted off to sleep.
*
“The soldiers at the northern border are ready to attack”, Derrick said to her.
“We’re just waiting for you to give the orders”, he said.
“Are they enough to fight off the Janricans over there”? She asked.
“Yeah. As long as we don’t get any surprises”.
“Okay, they can go ahead and strike”, she said to him and he nodded.
“I want to hear good news Rick”.
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“Hopefully, you will”, he said and he left.
*
At the border, the Navaran soldiers were fighting the Janricans and as they
were fighting, the Janricans started retreating. The Navarans were confused
at the situation till a grenade was thrown by the Janricans and it killed
everyone.
The palace
Kierra heard the news and she was boiling with anger.
“So we lost 200 soldiers just like that!” She yelled.
“If it’s a real war Kayden wants, I’ll give it to him”, Kierra said angrily.
“Kierra calm down. This is really sad but we just have to look for new
strategies. We can’t just go to war, we’ll end up risking a lot and spending
a lot”, Derrick said.
“Aren’t you the one who wanted us to go to war in the first place?” She
asked.
“Yeah but with what has happened right now, I don’t want us to rush into
war, we may be in for more surprises”.
“No! We will sit down and have a war plan. I was being lenient at first but
since I know it’s Kayden who’s doing this, I’m going to go head to head
with him. We will fight off those at their borders and invade his country!
We’re done being messed with!” She said and they all nodded.
“Let’s get to work. I need all the soldiers to start training and get all abled
men out of their homes to train. Whiles we’re at war, we’ll need them to
guard their homes and the cities. The guards also have to train more to guard
the palace. We’ll have to purchase more gun powders, more weapons
especially bows and arrows. In a week’s time we’ll attack and every evening
till then we’ll meet to debrief on what we’ve done. For this evening, we’ll
draw out our war plan. Got it?”
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“Yes my Queen”, they all said and she nodded.
“I’ll need someone to send a message to Joshua. Tell him I need him to train
with me”, she said and she left.
*
Kierra was in her room when her guards announced Queen Valerie’s
presence.
“Let her in”, she exclaimed and her mother walked in.
“Aww Kierra, you look so stressed”, she said to her and sat by her on the
bed.
“Yeah. All this is driving me crazy and I’m not just stressed, I’m hurt”.
“Hurt? Why?”
“I know this might sound stupid but I wasn’t expecting Kayden to do that to
my soldiers. I was expecting him to back off the land and just stop this
madness. I was just stupid to let my feelings let me have hope in him”, she
said.
“Kierra don’t say that. After all you’re still a young woman, of course your
feelings will get to you. Don’t be mad at yourself for that because at the end
you still acted as a queen and sent soldiers to fight for our land. Kayden on
the other hand is also being a king. This fight and problems didn’t just start
now for him to let his feelings make him leave the lands to you. His people
will go crazy if he lets the land go”.
“I’m glad that you’re admitting that you both have feelings for each other
though”, her mum said to her, trying to lighten up her mood.
“I didn’t say that”.
“You did”.
“Did not”.
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“Did too”.
“Even if we did have feelings, there’s nothing we can do about it. Our
countries are at each other’s neck”.
“Mmm, if it’s meant to be, it’ll be”.
“I feel so bad fighting his country but he wouldn’t let the land go”.
“I understand you but in everything, don’t forget to pray to God”.
“I will. How did you and daddy handle it”?
“Some years before you were born, we were at war with them for a long
while. The country was upside down and we were even losing the war, so
we just retreated and came back. It took a long while before we were able
to make the country stable. However, the Janricans didn’t stop and they took
most of our lands and villages. That was when we started praying to God
and pleading with him to help us because we were helpless. We prayed till
we got prophecies of how you were going to come and restore peace to our
land”.
“And I’ve arrived and all I’ve done is nothing”.
“You’ve not done nothing Kierra. You took back your throne and you’ve
helped the country financially and you’ve been able to fund the whole army.
You’ve done all these within few months. I can’t wait to see what you would
have accomplished in a year’s time. I believe and hope in God that he’s
going to use you to restore our lands and restore peace to our lands. Just
believe in him and walk with him”, she said to Kierra.
“I will. Thank you mum, I already feel better”.
“You’re welcome”.
“I’ve also been thinking. I had a couple of dreams some few days ago and
what I understood from it was that my marriage will be of a high
significance to our country. What if getting married to Joshua could help
us?” Kierra asked.
“Joshua? But you don’t like him like that”.
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“Yeah but what if we’re actually meant to be”.
“You can’t make a statement like that when you don’t even love him like
that. I don’t think God will want to impose a marriage without love and
attraction on you”.
“Maybe the feelings will come later”, she said.
“No Kierra. Don’t get married and wait for the love to come in. That’s a
very stupid thing to do. He’s not a bad person though, I know he loves you
but I want you to get married to someone you’re in love with and someone
whose purpose is aligned with yours. Right now focus on saving your
country and after that, you can think of other things”.
“Hmmm, okay”.
They talked for a while and then her mum left.
Kierra thought about the whole conversation she had with her mum and she
still felt like she had to get married to Joshua to save her country.
She remembered that Joshua was in the palace and she got up and went to
the room he was in.
“Kierra”, he said in surprise when she walked in.
“Joshua”, she said to him.
“Can I sit?”
“Yeah”, he said and she sat on his bed.
“I’m really grateful for everything you’ve done for me Joshua. I know I’ve
not been fair to you and ”
“No Kierra. I understood you the last time we spoke. Even if you’ve got
feelings for me or not, I’ll always be here for you. I just want to help you to
be happy”, he said to her and she started tearing up.
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“I’m just so mad at myself right now. You’re just so perfect and you’re the
kind of man I’ll want to end up with but these stupid feelings of mine are
just messing up. I really do want you Joshua but I’m just not in love with
you and it hurts me”, she said in tears.
“Oh Kierra, don’t be hard on yourself, I’ll always still be here for you and
you deserve to be with someone you love because that’s what really matters
in a relationship”, he said, wrapping his hands around her and comforting
her.
“No no. I deserve to be with someone like you. I want to be with someone
like you, Joshua”, she said, placing her head on his chest and he pecked her
on her forehead.
They were in that position for a while and then she spoke up.
“Can I sleep here? I really need to be by someone tonight”.
“No Kierra. You’ll drive me nuts if you sleep here. For your sake please
sleep in your room”.
“But I don’t want to be alone”.
“Okay, here’s what we will do. I’ll follow to your room and stay with you
till you fall asleep. Is that okay?” He asked and she nodded.
They both got up and left to her room.
When they got to her room, she laid on her bed and he sat by her.
They spoke for a long while till she drifted off to sleep.
Joshua still sat there and watched her sleep for some time and then he left.
*
Kierra woke up really early in the morning and was taking a stroll outside
the palace.
She heard screams coming from the woods and she quickly ran to help
whoever was there.
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When she got there, she didn’t see anyone and as she turned to leave,
someone knocked her down and she fell to the ground and was unconscious.
*
The palace was in chaos as everyone was searching for Kierra.
“What’s happening?” Joshua asked one of his guards.
“Queen Kierra is missing”, he said and Joshua got extremely worried.
