He took a moment to gather his thoughts and then continued talking.
"The king...he really was an awful man. And not only because he sent his warriors to other lands to pillage and steal and do much, much worse. But he was no better to his own subjects. Any crime, no matter how small, was punishable by death. But sometimes he'd order other things.”
He winced at the memory.
“One time, one of the boys in the orphanage was caught stealing. It was just a loaf of bread. They cut both of his hands off."
Aria shuddered.
"He treated my mother terribly. Beat her. Raped her. But he did that to almost all of the women in his palace. The first time one of them had fought back, he had her hung in the center of the village, the one right below us. He and his men were cruel for sport. No other reason."
Aria could see the anguish on his face. She couldn’t resist reaching out to clasp his hand, trying to offer some comfort.
"So, I grew up in secret. But when I was six, my mother had Grace. The king was furious. He didn't want any female children. Somehow, my mother convinced him to let Grace live. Probably because she promised that she'd birth him a boy eventually. Grace grew up in the palace. My story was that both of my parents had died at the hands of the king, for treason or something. But it didn't matter. No one really cared. But honestly, I had it better than all of the others.”
He smiled wistfully at that.
“My mother made sure I had enough food to eat, clothes on my back. She secretly paid a woman to teach me to read, to write. When I was eight, she hired a man to teach me to fight. When I was 12, my mother brought Grace to meet me for the first time. She was scared, hesitant, but I already loved her. She reminded me so much of my mother. There was nothing, nothing about her that reminded me of the king."
He smiled, thinking of his sister.
"Anyway, I trained day in and day out. Every single day. My anger at the king and his men and how they treated the rest of us was what fueled me. Eventually, I could beat everyone in my village. Even men who were twice my age," he said.
And it didn't sound like he was bragging. If anything, he sounded sad about it.
"Grace would visit with my mother when she could. But we had to keep our meetings short for fear of being discovered. Each time she came, she begged to stay. More and more. I finally asked her why she wanted to stay at an orphanage when she lived in a palace. And she told me about the things the king did to his servants, to our mother. She told me about how he'd beat her. She was a child, and he was beating her. I think that's what finally pushed me over the edge.”
“When I turned 18, I went from town to town, training. Staying until I could beat every single person there. I went back to my village eventually. By that time, I'd already made friends -or should I say allies- in every single village in this kingdom. I had support. I was making my final preparations, my allies and I would storm the palace, and I would take the throne. A few nights before we were supposed to leave, Grace came to my village. She was only 12, and she'd come all the way from the palace on foot by herself."
He gripped her hand so tightly it bordered on painful before he continued.
"She told me that our mother had given birth to another girl. The king had her and the child killed. Grace ran because she knew she was next. I lost it and killed all the king's guards in my village," he said and paused to study Aria.
She focused on making her face as impassive as possible.
"Anyway, a few days later, we surrounded the palace. The king knew that he was surrounded; there were a lot more of us. But he had stronger men, better weapons. So I challenged him to a sword fight. And he agreed, assuming I would be easily beaten. He was the king, after all," Lex said, a smile playing at his lips.
"And so, we fought. The king was good, but I was better. I had him on his knees within minutes. Before I killed him, I told him who I was. And then I slit his throat in front of all his men and took the crown."
Aria didn't know what to say. Holy shit.
"Not exactly what you were expecting," Lex asked, smirking at her.
"What happened after that? I mean, did they all just accept you like that," she asked.
"Of course not. Some men were very, very loyal to the old king. But they were just as bad as he was. I had them killed first."
Aria swallowed and looked away.
"When I took the throne and killed the men closest to the king, I gave the others an option. They could stay and serve me, or they could leave. Most of them stayed, at first anyway. Once they realized I was nothing like the previous king, they left. And I made it clear they were to leave this land altogether, or they would pay with their lives. I moved my men into the palace. My people. Grace."
He smiled at the memory.
"I was 18 when I began my reign. The first couple of years weren’t great. I didn't exactly know what I wanted to do, how I wanted to rule. But I knew it was the opposite of how the man before me had ruled. I wanted to make
