Blood stains my face, my loved ones looking at me warily as I stare back at them menacingly.

“This is who I am, and there is no need to be afraid.” I say, stepping forward.

Mother flinches back, father steps forward in front of my family.

“You really think I would hurt you?” I sneer. Guards come around me. My family flinches, sheilding their faces. “Stand up, you cowards. I did it all for you.”

My brother grinds his teeth, spitting at the floor. “Kayla,” he chuckles. “You did it all for you.”

I step forward, bending down to be level with him. “So I have.”

“Seize them,” i order the guards, walking past to take my rightful place on the throne. They come around me, grabbing my family forefully and pulling them up to their feet. My parents grunt with pain.

I snap around to face the guards, “Do not hurt them.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The guards bind my family’s arms behind their backs. My brother glares up at me. “You are you only one who has ever hurt us.” He whispers.

“And yet, brother, it seems you do not love me enough to follow me. That hurts me as well.”

He chuckles, spitting, “I will never follow you. Never.”

His words hit me, paining my chest with a hundred sorrows and burdening me more then a hundred tortures. I did everything for my older brother. Everything. I would have followed him to the ends to the earth.

I mask my face before he saw it. Before any one could see it. He is my weakness. And now, that I am queen, I cannot have any weaknesses.

“Well,” I shake, “Now I see where your loyalties lie.”

I face the guards. “Inprison them,” I say. “They will come to their senses soon enough.”

“Kayla—“ my mother says, being pulled up. I face my head away. This is for the best. They need to know who their loyalties lie with. I am a queen now, and this is the most effective way.

“Be quiet, mother.” My brother says, being forced up. “She doesnt care about us.”

I swallow.

They drag my family away. We will try again tomorrow.