Challenge: Center the story around royalty. Roll a d6 to determine whether your protagonist is the ruling monarch (1-2), the heir to the throne (3-4) or the heir in line after the first heir to the throne (5-6). Optionally, make a servant of the royal family a pivotal character.
I rolled 1, which meant I got the ruling monarch as the protagonist. Of course, I also made a servant a pivotal character – the deuteragonist, in fact.
“For what it’s worth, you looked stunning, Your Highness,” Layla said as she guided the queen to sit down for taking the ornaments off her hair. “I wish it was for a more joyous wedding.”
“That senseless war wouldn’t have ended otherwise,” Queen Marita sighed. “There’s no sense in perpetuating the violence when there’s a diplomatic way to end it.”
Layla knew enough about the king of the neighboring kingdom to know that the violence would not end here. It would only concentrate on the queen and her alone rather than be spread across the kingdom and its people. “The entire kingdom appreciates your sacrifice, Your Highness. It’s the most noble thing anyone has done in such a long time.”
Queen Marita said nothing in response. Layla knew that she, too, knew exactly what she had signed up for with the “I do” she had said mere hours ago. The queen took a shuddering breath and murmured, “Thank you, Layla. For being by my side through all this. I couldn’t have hoped for a better handmaiden.”
“You’re too kind, Your Highness. Our kingdom couldn’t ask for a better ruler.” Layla felt the weight of her task press against her heart. “You deserve only the best for that.”
“Thank you.” Queen Marita sighed again, the weight of what her nights were going to be like from now on heavy on her shoulders. It broke Layla’s heart even more than what she was going to have to do did. “Let us get this over with, shall we?”
“Yes, let’s.” Layla took a deep breath and withdrew the knife she had hidden in her brassiere. “I wish things would have turned out differently. You deserve so much better than this.”
Queen Marita did not see the knife coming before it had already slit her throat. Layla held her as she bled out, offering words of comfort and promises to do everything she could for the kingdom but no explanations why she had decided to assassinate her queen. Queen Marita tried and failed to ask for answers, the blood rushing out of her blurring her words.
The last thing she managed to think before everything faded away was, Someone please save my people.
WindySilver 
really nice twist!
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Thank you!
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Oooooh.
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Thank you for reading! :D
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Oh.
OH.
Oh no.
Was it a mercy kill, or a genuine assassination? Some other political intrigue that Marita didn’t see coming? Either way, great work.
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Thank you! It was a combination of a mercy kill and political intrigue that I couldn’t write because Marita is the protagonist and not Layla (though I very much wanted to write Layla moving to phase 2 of her plan). Layla knew she could not let her queen suffer the sleazy king and the only way she could prevent that was killing her. And since she had to go through with the murder, she might as well try to pin the blame for it on the king to get the royal guard and the people to revolt, just in case it would lead to the king’s death and save them all from his tyranny.
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