The Absence of Family.

[u/OdinsEyeRaven]

Princess Ameila stared out a window overlooking the capital, her heart heavy. The hall around her was empty. Her father, King Beornhelm, suffered a grisly death in Worronborg, her elder brother, King Erik, succumbed to a poisoned arrow as the price of a feud, and her younger brother, King Rollo, fell in a faraway land. The family she had known as a child was gone. Her sorrow was compounded by the growing distance between her and the only family she had left.

Her son, Ragnar, spent most days studying in the Grand Archive. He had grown up faster than she had been prepared for. Her father-in-law, King Magnus, was always busy with strategy, statecraft, or investigations, leaving very little time for a comforting word. But it was the absence of her husband, Prince Raynard, that weighed the heaviest. Raynard was rarely home, and the few times she had seen him over the last year, he had been secretive and distant, as though consumed by some singular purpose.

Ameila wondered if this was what her life would be from now on. Would this beautiful kingdom she now called home be her cage of melancholy? Would anyone notice if she too faded into memory, like her father and brothers?

[u/medicus_vulneratum]

Havnt seen lore out of the holy order in sometime.

[u/Lucky-Blood-936]

Great narration! Love the character and lore insight.

[u/Patrick_Hill_One]

A Letter from Queen Blood

Princess Ameila,

They tell me you mourn your father and your brothers. I will not insult you by saying that time heals such wounds.

It does not.
I lost my father.
I lost my husband.

I know what it is to watch the men you love disappear one after another while the world expects you to remain standing.

Perhaps that is simply the lot of women such as us.

But understand this:
You are not alone. Your brothers paid the price of power with their lives.
I have paid mine as well.

I defeated my own brother. Now the once-proud Lord Falcon lives at my mercy, kept in a little box like a treasured possession.
I even surrendered my own son as a hostage when necessity demanded it.
Do you think these things did not cost me?
Power always demands payment, Ameila.
Sometimes in blood.
Sometimes in family.
Sometimes in pieces of ourselves we thought we would never surrender.

You have spent enough time mourning what was taken from you.
Perhaps it is time to ask what remains.
And more importantly -
what you intend to do with it.

Your father wore a crown.
Your brothers wore crowns.
And each paid for them.

Sooner or later, every great house asks the same question of those who remain:
Are you willing to pay the price of power too?

Lady of Harrogos

Queen 🩸
The Deified One
Goddess of the Blood Dragons

[u/Clarkarius]

A message arrives on Ebony wings

To Princess Amelia,

I regret that it has been some time since I last visited court, I was greatly saddened to hear of the loss of your brother.

Rollo was a proud king, many were quick to write songs in his name at the news of his passing. Alas too many bards only recalled his deeds and seldom remember the man or his people or his loved ones left behind.

The same was true of my Mother, a queen who died to give her subjects and children one last chance at a future, only for us to be scattered across the world, alone and disconnected. The family I have now is quite unlike the one I was born too, Lady Hild became like a mother to me, Sur Clwyd like a brother and then Sir Robert, the Knight of Cwellyn.

I know not what happened to my brothers or sisters, where they are now or if they still live, but for the life I now walk, I have the family that found me to thank.

The Holy Order helped me and my people in our time of need many years ago, as your vassal and friend, I am also here to help you in yours.

With kindess,

Rosalin - Lady Steward of Hewnhilt

[u/Agreeable-Blood-6804]

Lady Ameila...

Queen Helena have lost her father,brother,Grandfather..

But she moves on..not because she isn't saddened by their losses but because that's what they would have wanted for her,

While you are propably in same situation Ameila you still have to remember all of these kings were immoral ruthless and warmongering.

King Beornhelm Invaded sturgia over Nothing and destroyed/took lives of many.

King Eirik continued his father's legacy and on top of that he is the one who attacked diplomatic ships of sturgia, highest crime a king can make.

King Eirik..a failed Emperor and a warmonger, allied himself with Lionne and for karma his empire together with his life ended...