~Burn It All Down~
"Nah. I'm your king." He yelled and turned around, his dark eyes landing on his new adviser in front of him while he walked up to her.... the words secretly being meant for her in particular.
~~~
Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Shuri, Nakia and Queen Mother had already fled through the cave's tunnels while the rest of the Elders quietly walked away from the tragic event, softly crying or visibly angry. She would've loved to do the same, to show emotions and grief for her former king and the Warrior Shaman, but she couldn't, not when the murderer of T'Challa and Zuri was standing right before her with his hand held out for her to take it.
Venery looked up with hesitation and back at his hand covered in dried blood before forcing herself to take it. She had to stay in character, be loyal to the throne, that was the oath she had taken after all.
"I will walk you to your room and send someone to patch you up before we start the ritual, your highness." She slightly bowed with her head, really trying to keep her voice from breaking. She felt like such a betrayer to Wakanda and all the kings that had once ruled over it.... she felt like such a failure.
"Aight, princess. Lead the way." He gave her a small smirk, showing off his golden fangs while his muscles flexed with every breath he took. If they weren't in the situation they were in right now, if he wasn't the bad guy.... if everything was different, she would've given into the fact he was really handsome, but everything wasn't different. This was the situation they were in, he was the bad guy, he did kill Zuri and T'Challa and he was the new king now. The new king she had to serve no matter what happened.
The woman managed to pull her golden eyes off of him before turning around, not saying a word as she began to walk. Not that she was able to say anything either, her voice would definitely crack if she did so and she didn't want him to already doubt her loyalty on the first day. With burning eyes from the tears that were forming and an unsteady breath, she picked up the path that led back to the palace with the man following her closely.
Killmonger didn't say anything either as he walked behind her, giving her time to silently grieve or just process what had taken place at the Warrior Falls.
He didn't mean to hurt her or anyone else the way he did, but he had waited his whole life for this moment and he had to do it.... no matter how much it disgusted her or the rest of his people. Not that he truly cared that much about their judgements though, the thing was just that she was his adviser and he needed her by his side to remain seated on his throne.
He had to make her trust him and he had already gotten off to a bad start.
Killmonger knew she was astounded by his actions and he was right. Everything about the man truly disgusted her, but even then.... he did have the right to take over the throne. The right to take what belonged to him as well. He had done nothing wrong according to the law of Wakanda, but Venery still had a bad feeling about the king.
After following the path of the grey smooth stones back to the inhabited city again, they ended up on the airstrips just in front of the palace and she opened the massive and heavy glass doors for him.
"After you, my king." Her hand waved through the air elegantly as a sign for him to step inside first, but the man was stubborn though.
He hovered over the woman's smaller frame, placing his hand right next to her head. "Nah- after you, princess." He sighed for her to walk and she nodded slowly, awkwardly slipping past his body to walk in.
Together they continued to walk through the gigantic halls and into the elevator and at the top floor, they finally arrived at his room.
Ven unlocked the door and stepped inside to check if everything was okay. The room was semicircular on the side where all the windows were, a circular balcony attached to it, and the color scheme of the king's room was green, white, gold, and black. The walls were decorated with many different kinds of Tribal paintings belonging to almost each Tribe he now ruled over, and in the center of the only straight wall was a very large double bed set against it.
"This is the room you'll be staying in." His eyes scanned the room once he joined her inside. "If you need anything just knock on the door on the opposite side of yours. That's my room."
Before she could flee from the room and go back to her own to break down there, he kicked the door shut with his boot and she backed away from it.
"Listen, girl.... we need to talk." He leaned against the door and crossed his arms, his voice confident and calm. "Tell me what's bothering you."
"Bothering me? Sir, you...." She went silent, knowing that whatever she was going to say next was going to be bad talk about Killmonger and he was standing right there.
"We're in a safe place with just you and me, princess. It's okay to speak your mind." He walked away from the door, circling around the woman before sitting down on the huge double bed. His legs were wide, his elbows resting on his thighs, and the eye contact they held never broke. "Again- what's bothering you that you want to talk about?"
She inhaled deeply, not knowing what to do so she simply decided to be honest.
"I.... I served T'Challa for a long time and I feel like such a betrayer whenever I think about serving you the same way. I want to, I truly do because I believe your motives could be good ones and till know you did nothing wrong, but I have this bad feeling.... like I'm living on the border of right and wrong. I don't know whether to serve you and be loyal to you or stay loyal to-...."
"A dead man?" He interrupted her, still in that same controlled and calm voice while he leaned forward a bit. "Being loyal to a dead man is what you're doing right now. He's gone and I'm sorry, but it had to be done." She lowered her head, fighting the tears and clearing her throat so her voice wouldn't crack.
Whatever she was going to do, whatever she was going to say, she in no circumstances was going to look weak in front of him.
"Perhaps you're right." She sighed, still feeling like a betrayer as she looked at her feet. However, in the meantime that Venery was struggling with her thoughts, Killmonger leaned back and stretched his arms which suddenly reminded her of his wounds. "Almost forgot, let's get you patched up, my king." She held out her hand to him and he took it, standing up so he could follow her.
~~~
"Welcome to the City of The Dead." She smiled when she saw the beautiful temple appear before her eyes after the long stairway they had to climb and she turned around to face her current king. The man had begun to act more calm and more controlled when he figured what was about to happen, finally feeling a bit of peace since this was what he had trained for all his life. Together they walked into the sacred temple and she helped him get ready for the ritual. "As per tradition, you must undergo the ritual where all Kings of Wakanda must go through by drinking the fluid of the Heart-Shaped Herb. It will grant you visions, a moment to speak to your ancestor's spirit within the Ancestral Plane even, before officially being crowned as king and Black Panther."
He hummed and carefully laid down in the circle filled with terracotta coloured sand encircled by the shamans, royal guards and his adviser.
"Allow the Heart Shaped Herb to give you the powers of the Black Panther and take you to the Ancestral Plane." The woman shaman chanted and then ordered the others to bury Killmonger after the herb's fluid that he drank began to take effect on him. Venery helped, gently covering his face while the rest covered his body. Once Killmonger was completely buried in the sand, everyone was silently waiting for him to wake up and Ven kneeled down beside him once he started to breathe heavily.
He was.... scared?
Before she could reach out to rest her hand on the accumulated sand to hope it would somehow comfort him, he suddenly arose from the sand and it shocked her. She stumbled backwards and he wiped away a single tear that he tried to hide. It appeared something changed him in the time he was in the Ancestral Plane.... He looked like a whole new man. Powerful. Ready to conquer the world, but yet hurt. Traumatized. It made her curious about who he had talked to that made him change like this?
"Breathe, my king." She reached out to touch his shoulder and he faced her before she could even do so, hyperventilating and shaking. He suddenly noticed he scared her away through all the panic he felt at that moment and held out his hand which she took carefully, stroking the palm of his hand. "Just breathe, my king."
Taking a deep breath, he suddenly felt the power of the heart shaped herb coursing through his veins and he smirked a little, clearly enjoying the wave of power.
"The Heart Shaped Herb did that?" Killmonger began to walk toward a dirt plot filled with the heart shaped herb and glared at it while the female shaman that had followed him nodded to confirm he was correct. "This is all of it?"
"Yes. So when it comes time for another King, we will be ready." She stated and Venery joined them instantly, knowing that what she had said wasn't going to appeal to him at all.
"Another King....?" He narrowed the gap between the shaman and him with a dangerous look in his dark eyes. "Yeah, go ahead and burn all that."
Ven furrowed her brows as she heard Killmonger order the rest of the shamans to burn all of the herbs and she couldn't believe what she had heard. She knew he wanted it to be done in order to cement his status as king over Wakanda permanently and to prevent anyone from ever opposing him, but she couldn't let it happen.... it was something holy to them....
"My King, we cannot do that. It is our tradition-...." She stepped in front of him and he clenched his jaw, really trying not to harm her in any way while she tried to go against his commands.
"When I tell you to do something, I mean that shit, girl. Burn it all!" He growled lowly as he leaned into her ear and her heart stopped for a second before she automatically nodded, frightened of what would happen if she didn't agree with him.
"You heard the king-...." She felt a lump form in her throat and repeated the order to the other shamans so they would finally take action, burning the whole garden while Killmonger observed the landscape to make sure all of them are burned down.
"I'm sorry my kings." Ven whispered softly while watching all the beautiful flowers turn into ash.