Dawn put the necklace around her neck and gently held the bottle in her hands.
"I promise I'll be the Queen the people need," Dawn whispered to herself. She got out of bed and made her way downstairs. As she walked through the living room, she saw Kat looking through a book.
"How did you like it?" Kat said still looking down at the book.
"Is it...really her?" Dawn asked.
"It's all we could find of her, Lucas and I made sure to collect as much of her as we could," Kat said looking at the necklace around Dawn's neck. "she truly loved you and wanted to always be by your side so we thought this way would have been the best for both of you,"
"Thank you, Kat," Dawn said as she hugged Kat, she caught a glimpse of the book Kat was looking at. It was a photo album, opened to a page of a family. In the photo, there was a young Alessia, a young boy and an older man and woman. "Who's in the photo with Alessia?"
"This is a picture of the late Royal Family," Kat paused "They're all gone now," she said with a sombre expression.
"What happened to them?" Dawn asked.
"Alessia didn't tell you?" Kat asked with a surprised face.
"Only bits and pieces but I never knew she had a brother or that she lived with her mom,"
"I can start with her brother, Kamari, he was the total opposite of Alessia," Kat said pointing to his picture. Kamari stood with his arms folded in the photo. "He wasn't a fan of the other 2 nations, he always said that the Normal nation was the cause of literally all our problems and the Gifted nation dumped all their problems on us. As Tormentors, we were always looked down on by other nations,"
"Where did he get that philosophy?" Dawn asked in a joking manner.
"His mother, Queen Lyla," Kat then shifted her finger to the woman in the picture. She stood straight and had an emotionless expression on her face.
"She looks scary," Dawn commented.
"She was scary," Kat said giggling. "When Alessia and I were younger we would always hear the horror stories about her mom back in the day,"
"Horror stories?"
"Yes, before Alessia and Kamari were born Queen Lyla watched over Tormentors with an iron fist. She always kept Tormentors safe and empathized that it doesn't matter where they are Tormentors should feel safe and have the same rights and opportunities that Gifted and Normal people have,"
"She's right, we should have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else," Dawn said.
"She always made us Tormentors feel safe, she was the first Queen to protect us but her methods were very...harsh," Kat said. "She created and fought with silver chakrams instead of arrows," Kat turned the page and a photo of Queen Lyla with two silver chakrams in her hands, she was smiling. "She used her chakrams against those who did wrong against our people, I will always be indebted to her and her family," Kat said smiling at Queen Lyla's picture.
"What do you mean indebted to her?" Dawn asked.
"I'll tell you another time," Kat said closing the book. "She learned at a young age that we have purposely been ostracized by other nations, used and abused by those nations so she took it into her hands to protect us from not only the hatred but the harm the other nations wanted to do to us. She was kind to us but had a cold heart towards everyone else,"
"What happened to her?"
"The same thing that happened to Alessia, she was put on trial and the Normals wanted her executed," Kat explained. "she didn't want to go down without a fight so she killed the executioner, the guards, and then herself," Kat sighed. "She was a really brave woman,"
"I wanna be just like her," Dawn said as she stood up. "I'll protect my people just as she and Alessia did and I'll make sure Tormentors everywhere feel safe,"
"Are you sure that's what you want to do? Alessia and the late King always talked about peace between the nations, if you take on Queen Lyla's approach then you will destroy any hope of those aspirations coming true," Kat said to Dawn with a serious look in her eyes.
"Alessia always believed in me, her dying words were words of encouragement not just for me but for you too," Dawn said. "She told Tormentors to trust in me and I trust that Queen Lyla saw something we didn't, the entire world sees us as villains so why should we fight that?"
"Dawn,"
"No, think about it, the Normals have been executing us for centuries and the Gifts stand by and do nothing about it but when it comes to the dirty work they always called on us!" Dawn yelled. "They've been killing and abusing our people for years but nobody does anything! They took the most important person from me and you! If they still expect us to continue to stand by and do nothing they're mistaken, I won't just put a smile on my face and act happy, I won't pretend to be the sun and I won't preach this peace and positivity bull**! It's time we fight back because if we don't then there will be no Tormentors left in this world. We deserve every right they have and the fact that they treat us like this is inhumane. We're humans too!"
Kat sighed, "Okay if this is the path you want to take, I'll walk with you,"
"R-really?" Dawn asked surprised.
"It's what Alessia would have wanted and I always did what she needed of me," Kat said with a small smile. "But it won't be me you need to convince of this but the people,"
"No actually, this time I think the people should stay out of whatever I do,"
"What do you mean?"
"Given Tormentor history, there's so much we don't know as the general public so I'll address the people as the next Princess but everything I do will remain in the dark. The people should live their lives however they feel is right, as the Tormentor Princess, I, Dawn will ensure the future many Tormentor Royalty has dreamt of before me,"
Novel Bin 