Her good friend Lunnara

"Oh, sweetie! what happened to you!?" Lunnara's voice sounded concerned beyond believe, and when her arms surrounded her, Karla felt save and found there a shoulder to cry on. Of course, the wise Lunnara would be there for her.

"I am a failure... A disgrace!" She said, embracing the kind old woman.

"Oh, don't say that. How could you be?"

"I thought I could be a queen, a good one. I thought that... maybe if I became a good ruler, if I helped others to obtain their happiness and prosperity... then maybe it would have been worth it, maybe all those deaths and wars would suddenly have meaning, but they don't. I'm not a real queen, my king does not love me nor does he listens to me, her sister has already humiliated and mocked me . I'm just a war-trophy for him, I have no real power in this horrible castle, I can't change nothing, I can't help anyone, I can't..." Suddenly the tears reappeared and Karla wasn't capable of articulate her desperation anymore. Lunnara held her tightly and helped her to get up.

"We will start by cleaning you a bit."

"Why bother? I'm worthless..."

"You are dishevelled. Let's focus on what we can improve for now."

She brought her to a small room and started to clean her in silence with the hot water from a great basin. Karla did not pay attention to the fact that her friend had that room and water already prepared in advance. She was too grateful and lost in her thoughts to think about it. The woman cleaned her robes and redo her hair with careful and expert hands that made her feel save.

"You don't have to do this." Said Karla

"It is my duty, my princess."

"It is not and you know it."

"Well, we won't tell anyone, then." Said Lunnara with a wink. "Look at you: you are smiling again. Even if it is a sad smile that's something already."

"Thank you...." She said shyly, letting those bright green eyes of her shine again. "I really mean it...."

"It's nothing, my queen. One such as you must always look comely."

"If only the king cared for me as much... He hasn't come looking for me. He... no one cares about me, no one but you... I could do so much good for these people, if only..."

"Well... I may have... oh, but I would never suggest something like that to your highness."

"Suggest what?"

"Oh, It's nothing, a foolish thing."

"Tell me. Don't make me command you to."

"Well, let me share a story with you, my queen: when I was very young, much like you are now, I fell in love with my late husband, the gods bless his soul... Oh, you should have seen it: he had this blonde hair, the same my dear Myrce has inherited, and he had this bad boy kind of smug attitude, oh, it was too much for my young heart..." That make Karla produce a real smile again, and Lunnara continued. "I always knew that I would be the one to make him happy, the one to give him his children, but alas, he did not fancy me back. I tried everything I could but he will not look at me, no matter how comely I dress or how much attention I paid to him."

Karla assented with her usually royal demeanour. "Then, what did you do?"

"Well... I'm not proud of this, but... I ventured into the forest in search of a witch."

"A witch!? But they are horrible and pagan monsters!"

"Indeed they are, but I was young and in love. I searched for her and found her cabin... oh, she was a hideous thing, a bloated frog more than a woman, but I asked of her help and she gave me this." Lunnara brought a hand to her dark and dense hair and produced a small vial with a transparent liquid. "She told me that one drop would be enough and that's what I used, but she gave me far more... I have keep it with me all this years..."

"What is it?" Asked Karla.

"It's a love potion."

"A love potion?" Asked Karla with eyes wide open. Little did she know of how recent the content of that vial really was: Lunnara had been practising her ability to chant spells as she was cumming, to magically charge her semen. A love spell was an easy thing, and this 'love potion' had been collected from Malape's gaping cunt not too long ago.

"Yes, if a man drinks just but a drop of this, he will be smitten by the first woman he sees, and his love will go beyond the grave and be of the purest form. It worked with my husband, and so I was able to make him happy, and bring the same happiness to others."

"If I had the king's heart..." Karla's fingers were already close to the vial. "...I would be able to make him mend his ways... I could... But oh... that is pagan sorcery and of the worst kind."

"Well, I may know nothing of the ways and duties of kings and queens, but I have been the lady of my own house and farm for years, humble as that kingdom may be, and I know that sometimes an evil act can bring much good to the world if it is done by the right hand at the right moment. Oh, but of course, I'm speaking nonsense. Forgive me for bringing such a hideous thing to you. I would never speak of it again."

With that said, the woman hid the vial again in her mane of black locks, and Karla couldn't help to feel disappointed. It was an immoral solution, but such a convenient one. She did not love this king, but he was his husband now and only if he loved her she could obtain real power in the kingdom, she could become a wise and powerful queen and bring meaning to the deaths of her brothers.

Was the bargain worth it?