10-minute Prompt: She turned away from her kingdom, the two small lives in her arms the only thing that mattered.
Anyone in the kingdom could recognize their queen at first glance, even if they'd never even seen her portrait. She was taller than life, literally eight feet tall, with broad shoulders and a royal posture one could detect from miles away. And she was always dressed in gallant white robes, with dozens of attendants following her every movement outside the castle and within.
But although they recognized her, they did not know her.
They did not know that she was an angry, bitter, old woman, who could not reveal a sliver of her fury even to her closest servant, as her fragile image as a queen was the only thing that kept her in control. They did not know that she hated the color white, that her robes restricted her movement. They did not know about her children.
She was barren, which did not affect her standing in this kingdom, because lineage was not matrilineal. Instead, it depended on the lives of two little does. They were precious beautiful things. Their fate was to grow to adulthood, before competing with each other for the title of the next Queen. Whoever won that title would be bestowed with great power, so that they could lead the kingdom into a new age of magic and prosperity.
So they were the only things she took as she fled that day.
Fire raged in the city. The castle had crumbled. The sun was choked out of the sky with smoke. But she had her does.