Whispers of Fate: love,loss & the crown.

Princess Elena POV

"... too stubborn and wild for a lady! You're a princess for crying out loud" my mother, Queen Elsa. A complete ice queen, always disapproving of what I do and hating every moment of me not taking after her. Don't get me started on the fact that her precious first daughter is an exact copy of her in character.

Princess Eleanor, an ambitious princess moving like a hawk, waiting for the perfect next to be king prince she can get her claws on. Being Queen has always been her dream not mine, I pity the unfortunate soul that'll have to put up with her.

"Mother..."

"Queen!"

"Well you're my mother aren't you? Mother, I am not your typical example of a proper lady, granted. But I am still a lady if my possession of breast and lack of male genitalia is any indication. Please do excuse my presence, Queen" I said emphasizing on the queen.

"You stop right there, you..youu rebellious child. I'm not done with you" she said with an icy stare

" what would you like me to do for you mother?" I said purposely to irritate her

"You could start by learning some manners and probably get your hands maid to select much better dresses for you"

"Is that all mother? I'm a very busy person you know" I said warily with my shoulders slumped because I wasn't ready to deal with her

"Don't slouch! Even after all theses years you still haven't learned to stand properly like a lady should. At this point, we'd be the one begging to give you out, the likes of you end up with men far less than a lord"

"By now, I'm sure everyone in Wessex knows of me. If that would be all then please excuse me, queen" I said with a mocking bow

"Ohh Elena. You think of yourself as the most luckiest, to do whatever you may at your will. One day you'll come to realize that we, who act stupid, and trained like animals are not fools for being what we are. You'll sooner or later learn how the world works and treats we women" the almighty queen said. I was really getting tired of these talks

(Turning to the queen) " i don't consider myself lucky, what I have now, I paid for it. The one thing I'm sure of is I'll never regret not wanting to be like every other girl, to become Eleanor, to become you. Everyday I'm grateful I don't have to bend to the wills and want of a man"

The Queen comes closer to me and holds my face

"What a naive little fool you are (kisses her forehead). I do hope the day you realize all I do and say (Elena scoffs) is because I love you. Eleanor is the eldest and of course bound to be wise. You. You. (Kisses forehead again) you will learn soon enough" and after the awkward moment, she walks away.

Wasting my precious time.

I'm guessing you're wondering who is this girl, who has no respect or regard for the one person she calls queen and mother. I am Elena... scratch that. I am Princess Elena, second girl child of King Edward the 10th of and Queen Elsa. Sister to the Queen reagent Princess Eleanor and I am nothing like a proper lady. If getting expelled from every lady school in London and across England is any indication.

It was a sunny day in Wessex, summer time.

"Your highness, the king has asked you to meet him at his throne quarters" said a meek servant. I snort at the thought of any servant being meek, they had no choice. With a nod i dismiss her and hurry to meet my father. I'm sure you all think I have a dysfunctional relationship with my father, sorry to disappoint. King Edward wasn't just a good king but the best father ever, he knew every single thing about me and secrets, I couldn't say the same for my mother though. Wessex castle wasn't small, no it was huge and large so it took me time

"Father!" I shouted, running to hug my father like a 5 year old would. I could see the disapproving looks Miss Pearl would give me if she saw me. Lol, who cared.

" dear Elena, how are you my jewel?" My dad asked me. He sounded different?

" I am bored for sure, never in a million years would I have known that traveling across desert and towns would be much more fun that being here" I said with a huff, which earned me one of my fathers whole hearted laughter.

" you're too wild at times child. It's not fit for a lady" anyone eavesdropping would think I was getting scolded by him but atlas he was busy mocking me. He was so different.

" (snorts) mock me all you want, on the fourth night I'll be across Europe to see Lord Thomas. It's been a while and I think he has become too rakish for my liking. Time to set his head straight"

" would it be weird if I said I still didn't like that boy? Whenever the both of you are in one place it breeds trouble. That's by the by Elena. I am sure you're wondering why I have called you"

" as I should father. What is the matter?"

" Do you still remember the favour you'll forever owe me princess?" At that my heart skipped. It's been months since my father talked to me about it. He knew why I ever agreed to that, he knew I didn't enjoy it but I was too selfish to refuse the offer in exchange for my freedom. What could I have done? What were my chances? I could either stay in the castle and become another accessory or have my freedom to do what I wanted and when I wanted. No one knew in the whole kingdom who I secretly was for the king, and everyday, sometimes I wonder if my mother was right. No one could know who I was to the king.

No one knew, nobody could ever know that I, second born princess was the king's secret assassin.

"Why, of course I do remember. Such things are hard to forget I tell you" I tried to make it sound carefree but it came out clipped.

"This is not of my doing dear Elena, but an agreement is an agreement. I do know you do not enjoy doing this but as a king..."

"I know. You saw a chance to make things easier for you and you took it. That's what a good king would do"

"But not a good father" he said with a sigh

"Did you summon me here to make it known that you feel you're a disappointment to me your daughter or did you call me because there's someone out there that needs to be silenced for life"

" rose, I do need you to do something for me but this time you won't need to get your hands bloodied." I scoffed at that, like it was a new thing.

"I have heard that Prince Alistair is reluctant and hesitant about his engagement to your sister Eleanor, I need you to go fetch him and do what you must" I gave a deep sigh.

"you really are a terrible father you know. Why would you want to subject any man to the torture of having Eleanor as a wife?" That earned me a glare. Clearing my throat I asked

" how are you sure I'll be successful in bringing this goddamn prince over here to Wessex?"

" you're a smart girl Elena. And I didn't give you the name dark rose for show you know. I trust you'll get him to agree to this. Remember Elena, this is for Wessex. You must not fail and that's an order from your king" I kneeled with my head hanging in the form of a bow

"consider it done" and with that he left me without another word.

I slumped down on the floor. I'm sure you're wondering what the hell is happening. Let me start from the beginning. I was 5 years old when I realized I didn't want to be stuck in the palace, wearing gowns and heavy accessories, going for tea parties and balls all my life. I wanted to see the world and beyond. I was an explorer. When I turned 15 I wandered around and found a guard practicing with a sword in the fields, it peaked my interest. A wandering mind I had or so I've been told, the sword held power and I didn't want to be a helpless royal. After putting in so much thought to it at age 15, I met with the king my father and begged to able to learn the art of the sword and the skills needed to defend myself. Of course he barked and told me a girl wasn't allowed access to such let alone a princess, but I have been one to get what I want and I remembered saying

'Give me my freedom to do what I want and in return I'll do whatever you want for as long as I live'

What a fool I was, the king after a week granted my wish but told me he'll cash in his favour on my 18th birthday. I was sent far away in pretext of going to learn the ways of a lady while in reality I was learning how to be a good fighter. I was the best my master had ever taught, at least that's what he told me, on that very day I clocked 18. I had my first kill, nothing is much more traumatizing than watching the life drain out of a human. Anyways I'm not going to dive into the past as I like to keep the past in the past.

"For heaven's sake Elena, now you're on the floor like a child?" At the voice of my elder sister I groaned. No way did I want to deal with that wrench after hearing that I'm to bring her nut headed future husband here.

"I find it oddly comfortable sister. You should try it sometimes you know"

"That's the difference between me and you Elena. Thank the lords I'm the first born child and not you, this kingdom would be totally hopeless with a reagent like you"

" I assure you Eleanor that I'd rather pick this life I live a hundred more times than the boring, pretentious life you had carved out for yourself. Although I'm not surprised, after all the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree"

Eleanor was livid but with an icy stare she moved forward towards me and whispered in my ears

"Spoken well dear, although I wonder which tree you fell off from. You're nothing like any of us or the royals before us" with utter disgust Elena stepped back looking at her sister

"Are you trying to imply something? If you may I have matters to attend to... but you wouldn't understand as you're too dense to really understand the kingdom you are supposed to one day rule"

"Power is politics Elena. But you wouldn't know this as I can swear you live a life worse than a rakish prince. I mean a girl at 19 who has been deviled..."

"Enough Eleanor. I do not care about virtue and everyone around knows that. I can't actually see where virtues has taken you to now huh? The people will forever love me more and trust my words over yours"

"You call me pretentious but you are also one dear. You say you're not interested about the palace,kingdom and people affairs and still yet you always talk about how the people and governors trust your words more than mine. Perhaps you're acting so uninterested so..."

"Tsk tsk tsk. A fool is what you are my dear elder sister. Yes I am more than not interested in all this matters for they bore me to death. However, I remind you of this so you know that people may bow at your feet but will never believe a thing that comes out from that wretched mouth of yours. I dare say your future not only as a future queen but as wife lies in my hand dear princess. You see I am in charge of delivering your dear prince here. (Circling Eleanor) just imagine, a woman of no virtues with your beloved. A disaster if you ask me, I could make him hate you, I could do whatever I want" Eleanor's pale face was worth the taunts, she looked at Elena with disgust and left. Sighing Elena decided to retire to the stable to take her horse Sally. Of course Elena would never stoop so low as to try to sleep with the idiotic prince but she couldn't resist tormenting her sister. Riding as fast as she could on sally, Elena recalled how her childhood with her lovely sister was before she found out she was to be the future Queen.