The Girl Who Wasn't Chosen
They said the gods marked their chosen by light.That the divine were born in gold cradles, wrapped in silk, their first cries blessed by priests.That purity was a crown, and crowns were forged only for blood that never begged.They were wrong.
The girl who would one day be queen came into the world nameless, half-starved, her mother dying before morning .There was no priest, no blessing only a midwife with shaking hands and a whisper of pity.
"She has her eyes," the midwife said.
"The King's?" asked the woman who would sell her.
"No," the midwife murmured, "the wrong ones."
And so the child lived hidden in a merchant's home, raised among ledgers and lies.They named her Mwei, meaning beautiful flame.
Because even in silence, she burned.
The South called itself a kingdom of faith, but faith there was a blade sharpest when clean, cruelest when bright.
King Capeak Jenwhu ruled from his marble throne, preaching divine law while drowning his people in gold and sin.
And far to the North, King Valerius Raelix IV, the Dragon King, ruled from a fortress carved of fire and frost.
His crown was not blessed it was earned in blood.
When prophecy whispered that two kingdoms would unite through a holy bride, Capeak smiled.
He already had a daughter the real one perfect, obedient, kissed by priests.
But the North was no place for purity.
So he sent another.
The false princess.The counterfeit bride.
The girl who looked too much like the saint to be safe.
Her name was never supposed to be remembered.
Her story was meant to end at the altar.
But the gods if they were watching must have laughed.
Because the girl who was never chosen learned to choose herself.
And when the North met the South, it wasn't faith that saved them.
It was hunger.It was fire.It was her.
In the chronicles, they call her many names the Imposter Queen, the Bridge of Fire, the Woman Who Tamed the Dragon.
But if you asked Mwei, she would have told you the truth: she was no saint, no savior, no daughter of light.
She was simply a girl who refused to die quietly.