My station gives me the right to marry three women, so I did; Ofelia, Costanza and Furya. My three wives gave me three sons, birthed on the same day on the same hour, equal in age to the second; three sons, three heirs with equal rights to my throne.
Guided by their mothers, my sons grew to be the handsomest, vilest, most scheming three men in the kingdom. Costanza’s Pedro first attempted to kill Ofelia’s Dario when they were still five, practicing with blunt swords in the palace yard. Pedro tried to bludgeon Dario with the wooden hilt. Furya’s Rodrigo just stood and watched.
Dario then retaliated not a month later when my three boys were in the woods with the stewards learning how to hunt. Three well-practiced whistles and the dogs were on Pedro before the boy could blink. The stewards dove in and tore the dogs away. Rodrigo just stood and watched.
As the boys grew older, so did their attempts to kill each other grow bolder. Their mothers would come and whisper in my ear at night, pitting me against my own blood.
I sat back and waited, one of them would succeed eventually, only then would I need to act. As long as they were at each other’s throat, my own throat was safe.
One did succeed in the end. We were all at dinner around our table, thirty feet long. Looks were exchanged, cold as the lemon sorbet. Hate was seething, simmering in the air above us, as hot as the sizzling suckling pig laid out in the middle of the table. The footmen distributed the soup. As I was swallowing my third gulp, I knew I’d been poisoned. What confused me was that the heat rising up my neck, entwining around my throat, choking me, was mirrored in both Costanza’s and Ofelia’s faces, but it was Pedro who dropped first, followed by Dario right after. The last thing I saw was Rodrigo’s face, calm, looking around, watching.
—
For Trifecta.
Today’s word was Blood:
b : human stock or lineage; especially : royal lineage <a prince of the blood>
c : relationship by descent from a common ancestor : kinship
d : persons related through common descent : kindred
I was watching Game of Thrones before I wrote this, hence the theme I guess. Hope you like it.
—
Thank you, Trifecta, for putting me in third place this week. But I have an ever bigger thank you for the great, great compliment you paid me in your review. Short of printing it and framing it on my wall, I’m going to put it up here, for me as a reminder:
‘Sandra borrowed from history and seemed to take inspiration from other literary geniuses, but at the end, the talent was uniquely her own. We’re still not sure if Sandra is capable of writing anything less than a stellar piece.’
*wipes away a tear!*
Sandra's scribbles 
Nicely written 🙂
Thanks, Linda.
Wow, what a messed up family! This line speaks volumes of his parenting (or lack of parenting) style: “As long as they were at each other’s throat, my own throat was safe.”
Always beware of the quiet, docile ones 🙂
I thought that line would give it away 😀 Thanks for your comment, Janna.
Simply brilliant. From the very first paragraph, I got the sense of other-worldly conflicts, and you carried it on wonderfully with the tone of the piece.
Gorgeous work.
Oooh what a lovely comment! Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.
Yessss fucking love this.
Draug, your entusiasm for my piece brings a smile to my lips and a flutter to my insides 😉
I knew Rodrigo was up to something fishy , but was quite taken with the extent of his ambition .
Nicely done .
Thanks a lot Ambalika!
Reminded me of the Borgias or the Medicis…
That’s what I was going for, so goody! 🙂
A major part of history summed up in 333 words.
Excellent read.
Another very nice comment. Thank you, mate 🙂
Love it, isn’t it a little inspired by king Lear?
A little, also a little by Amber; have you read that series? It’s the epitome of sibling rivalry.
No I haven’t and I haven’t read king Lear either. But I saw Ran by Kurosawa and that was based on king Lear.
Close enough! 😉
Beautifully crafted and well-written. I love the way it flows. What a great piece!
Sorry for the late reply! Thanks a lot for your lovely comment.
great
🙂
There is such a story in these short words, I really enjoyed it. LM x
Thanks 🙂
Love it! The beginning especially hooked me right away, reading a little bit like a story fro the Arabian Nights. Seems fitting that Rodrigo ended up being the one to kill them all, seeing as he took after the father the most (with his stand by and watch approach). Nice!
I didn’t think the resemblence would come out, thanks for confirming that it did 🙂
Lovely period piece! Your word usage was perfectly suited for the setting of your story; all Masterpiece Theatre-ish and all. It is always the quiet ones, as has been pointed out. People say I am a quiet, observant one, myself. Just sayin’ 🙂
Loved your story. Well done.
Uh Oh! A self-proclaimed quiet one! Beware everyone ;p Thanks for your comment, Cobbie.
A great tale of evil – wonderful build-up of a parallel society..!
Thanks, Pirate!
Family!
Even knowing it had to be Rodrigo, it was great to follow through to the bitter end.
I was a little worried that the ending was a bit too obvious, but as long as you enjoyed reading it I’m happy 🙂
ahh … knowing Rodrigo would do the heroic, still you managed to ablaze me till the end ! Well done 🙂
Ablaze you?! Whoa, I’ve never done that before! 🙂 Thanks for your comment.
Oh such a lovely family gathering and so beautifully executed.
Yes, a family you’d just love to be invited over to dine with 😉 Thanks for your comment, Thomas.
That. Was. Awesome!!
Loved the premise, loved the progression and the all the characterisation that you managed to squeeze into this tiny little story – in a way you can see that Rodrigo is going to possibly be the real threat, the quiet one to watch out for, but you think it and keep reading anyway. That’s to me an excellently written story. It’s the kind of story I would really enjoy seeing fleshed out more with the potential for intrigue and back-biting and cold brutality mingled with raw emotions like hatred and greed.
Kudos, seriously.
(Oh and I really liked the somewhat dead-pan/dispassionate way this was narrated, it gelled really well with it all.)
Man, what a comment! I feel humbled, thanks.
You’re most welcome and it was all deserved.
Cheers.
This is great Sandra! Love the narration, love all the in-fighting. It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch out for, isn’t it? Great job!
Yup, it definitely is. Thanks a lot for your comment Suzanne!
That was deviously delicious. ‘As cold as the lemon sorbet’ is a quotable line, and kind of how I see Rodrigo’s expression as he watched his family die.
I’m glad you liked it, thank you.
Nice job, Rodrigo! 🙂 This is so well written, Sandra. You have quite a gift. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thanks a lot!
Ah,power!How it corrupts!A wonderful tale told with panache Sandra:-)
Thank you very much, Atreyee 🙂
I enjoyed this so much, I do love a good power struggle and a devious underhand working its magic.
it was so well written.
Thanks a lot, Kir.
Congratulations! Not my particular genre but had read it. Obviously you wrote it very well. Hope you have recovered ;-O
Hehe 🙂 thanks.
Sorry I missed this on the first round glad you won and I got a chance to read a great tale 🙂
Thanks, Sam, glad you liked it!
Well deserved win!
Thanks a lot 🙂
Fabulous, Sandra. Love how you used the power of threes in this story. Very effective. And the payoff was perfection. Congratulations.
You’re the first to comment on that! Glad you noticed 🙂 Thanks a lot for reading.