CHAPTER THREE

I smiled with a cup of tea in my left hand and a book in my other. The mansion was in disarray and chaos with Hildegard's mysterious disappearance.

"Callisto!" Father screamed angrily as he stomped towards me as an excited smile pasted on my face. 

This was going to be marvelous.

"Lovely weather we're having. Don't you agree father?" I asked as he stood before me in the pavilion.

Silence broke as the environment reminded us of life with it's soft and delicate sound.

Father raised his hands in dares to slap me but I I raised my hand putting his motion to pause before I dropped my book and stood up.

"Where is she?!" Father asked as I folded my hands and walked away from him.

"Who?" I asked politely as I batted my lashes.

Father took a step closer and gripped my hand, pulling his face closer to mine.

"Where is your future queen?" He asked with his voice dangerously low and hostile as I angered but maintained my smile.

"Dear father, your looking at your future queen. I fear that the old queen is...late." I responded as I took his rough hands that gripped me and slowly released.

"Did you kill her?" Father asked as I sighed.

"Who knows. What do you think father? Did I kill her?" I asked father as I stepped away from him.

I walked to the end of the pavilion as I stared at the flowers that shimmered with the sun and danced with the wind.

"All flowers are beautiful even the ugly ones because they all have functions to little creatures but to us humans just mere decorations that are just begging to shrivel and die. Your daughter, Hildegard is just like that. Beautiful, elegant, small, helpless and dependent and a mere decoration for satisfaction. She is what this kingdom doesn't need in power...a child." I said as I heard father's footsteps to my side.

I faced father whose face had finally calmed down but it was clear he was still mad at me.

"You fear me father. Why I wonder? Yet strangely, I'm still your favorite." I asked as I gave a look of confusion.

Father chuckled as he stared at the blue sky with fluffy clouds that knew nothing of the disasters to come.

"There's a wise saying my father, your grandfather taught me as a young learned man."

"And what will that be?" 

"Be weary of a devil's spawn, they always bite back." He said as I smile slowly.

"Grandfather was really wise. It's unfortunate his passion for woman turned him into Snow White. A bite of a red apple was all it took to have his flesh under the soul though it's sad red is my favorite color." I said as father sighed.

"I should have listened to my grandfather and gotten rid of you the moment you were born now I'm stuck in this mess." Father cursed as he walked to the table.

I turned back and faced my old man as he sat in the chair with his fingers interwined and his leg crossed.

"And I can provide you with a solution." I said as I took a step, closing a step distance between us.

"And what solution would that be?" He asked with a straight face as his breathing quicked in anticipation.

"This country needs a queen and I am the only one who can give it what it deserves. Send me in replacement of my sister, stating to the king that your oldest daughter has lost her life to a terrible contagious illness from one of the peasants and her body was buried immediately. Inform his royal highness of your youngest daughter who is more suitable and fit to rule and have her stand in the palace as Prince August's bride until death do us part. I am a woman after all, fruitful, bleeding and endowed with a color blessed by the gods." I explained as I walked around the small pavilion.

Father banged his hand on the table and stood.

"That is preposterous! You are to wed Lord Capell's son and no one else! I will not do something so stupid and foolish child! Do not test me and tell me where your sister is?!" Father demanded as I broke into laughter.

"Would you rather I send my sister's head to the king? If I did, automatically the throne becomes mine without doubt. All it takes father is a letter and your daughter you so much groomed into an obedient doll will be delivered in a box. So are you willing to take that risk?" I asked father who said nothing as his fists clenched.

He was clearly backed in a corner that would end in my favor no matter how he tried. Even if he did get to my sister, she would be dead before she ever saw Westoros ever again.

"What of the marriage proposal with the Capell's? Surely you know it wouldn't be wise to make an enemy with them especially in these delicate issues?" He asked as I arched a brow.

"I already thought about it." I started as I walked closer to father who sat with unease but enough trust. "We will send my handmaiden Gwendeline to the young lad as a wife."

"Do you know what will happen the moment they realise we sent them a lowly maid."

"Father be careful, you may insult anyone of my maids but Gwen remains an exception. She is elegant and proper, personally trained by her grandmother who served the queen and will be of use to us. Gwen will be adopted into the family and be our secret child and if the Capell's ever find out about Gwen, I will be queen and they will be powerless." I explained, catching father's interest even more.

"If you have thought of everything even without me, why still include me?" Father asked as I smirked.

"You have want I need father." I responded.

"And what would that be, my little pheonix?"

"The king's court." I replied bluntly pasting a smile on father's face.

"Very well. I will help you but only on one condition." Father said as I tittered.

"Go on."

"When you are queen, you will have be by the king's side in power." Father stated as I nodded.

"Of course, that has always been the plan from the start. I look forward to working with you father." I said as I stretched my hands towards father who stared at it in suspicion.

He stared into my wily eyes and then shook my hand while maintaining eye contact.

"Pleasure as well, my little phoenix." Father responded.a

The biggest mistake father had ever made was...he trusted me more than he should have.