The Kindness of Kings

by Chelsea Ballinger

  She tried to sit up, but he grabbed her by her wrists and pinned her on the bed, raising her arms over her head.

  "Get off of me!" she yelped, but his determination to make her love him caused him to become deaf to the fear in her voice.

  "Do you know who I am?! I am King!" He screamed at the top of his lungs in her face and a flashback of his father appeared before him.

  "Who are you?" his father asked him when he was fourteen years old during one of their sessions.

  “I am King,” Sedgwick had said, but with less conviction.

  “I don’t think you understand the question, Sedgwick. Who are you?” Caius asked in a sharper tone.

  “I am King.”

  “Who are you?” Sedgwick stared at his father, confused.

  “I’m…”

  “Who are you?”

  Sedgwick was still lost.

  “Damn it!” Caius slammed the top of Sedgwick’s desk and yelled. “WHO ARE YOU?!”

  “I AM KING!” Sedgwick yelled with all his might. That day he knew what his father wanted from him. He wanted Sedgwick to not only say he was King but to feel and believe it, because if you didn’t believe who you were then you did not deserve the title, especially a crown.

  But at this moment, it did register to him that in addition to inheriting power, he was taking on the behavior of a tyrant. He had become what he most feared in life, a man who would take whatever he wanted. In his rage, before he knew it he was turning her over and pounding his fists on her back just like his father did to Louie.

  “Stop!” Mina screamed, finally snapping Sedgwick out of his trance. He stared down at a frightened Mina whose tears covered her bruised cheeks. He glanced at the purple bruises that did not take long to appear all over her back.

  “Oh my God,” He mumbled to himself with tears in his eyes.

  “Oh my God, Sedgwick!” He turned his head and saw Jezebel gaping at him, not recognizing the kind boy she had always known. “What have you done?”

  Sedgwick looked down at Mina and quickly moved off of her. He brushed past Jezebel and headed out the front door, running until he reached his father.

  +

  Louie couldn’t sleep after talking to Mina and driving around to blow off some steam, so he settled for his iPod blasting music through his head phones into his ears. Thankfully, he had his cell phone next to him and on vibrate. The buzzing feeling caused him to look at it and see Bartleby on his caller ID. He let it ring, not wanting to talk to anyone for a little longer, but the second phone call caused him to worry. He pulled off his headphones and answered his phone.

  “Yeah, Bartleby?”

  “Where are you?” Louie could sense the frantic tone in his voice.

  “In my room. Where are you?”

  “At Jezebel’s. They have the castle blocked. I don’t think they want you to know.”

  “Know what? What happened?”

  “It’s Mina. Guards are all over here.”

  Louie’s heart stopped. “Bartleby, what are you saying? What happened to Mina?”

  “Just come, okay?”

  Louie didn’t waste any time throwing on some clothes and his long black jacket. He decided to slip out through the lower ward of the castle, having a feeling that his father and Sedgwick would stop him from going to Mina. Once at the cottage, he saw three guards.

  “Your Highness. No one is allowed in or out of this cottage,” one of the guards said.

  “Were they specific about royalty when they told you this?” Louie challenged him. “Remember the penalty for lying to a Prince?”

  The guard paused, then sighed. “No, Sir.”

  “Then out of my way.” The guard moved away from the front door. Louie knocked and Bartleby answered.

  “Where is she?” Louie brushed past him as Christina came down the hallway.

  “You called him?” Christina snapped at Bartleby.

  “Where is she, Christina?”

  Christina held up her hands. “Okay, Louie before you go in there, you have to promise you won’t snap and do something crazy.”

  Louie did not listen to her as he moved past her and entered Mina’s bedroom.

  Mina was lying on her side, facing his way and Jezebel was behind her staring at her back with a wash cloth in her hand. Mina’s eyes widened at the sight of Louie who took one look at the torn strap of her gown and the bruise on her cheek and knew all he needed to know.

  “Mina,” he said quietly.

  “Louie, you shouldn’t be here,” Jezebel said to him as he slowly approached them.

  His heart jumped when he saw Mina’s bruised back. Memories of the beatings he took from his father triggered the hatred. The beatings to his back had not stopped when his mother had stopped his father that first time. After her death, they continued until he was old enough and big enough for his father to become intimidated by him physically. Louie’s bottom lip trembled as he placed his hand on Mina’s shoulder, bending down over her. He bit his lip and clenched his jaw, not wanting his tears to fall.

  Mina couldn’t say anything. She just placed her hand over her face, crying to herself and ashamed that Louie was seeing her this way. Louie knew. He didn’t want to believe it, but he knew that Sedgwick, the “good brother,” had done this.

  He gathered himself together and glared into space before stomping away. Jezebel grabbed him by the arm.

  “Don’t do this Louie,” Jezebel pleaded with him, but he quickly jerked his arm away from her, running past Christina and Bartleby and heading straight for Serenity Castle.

  +

  Sedgwick didn’t know what to do but go to his father about this. He told him everything that had happened. How Mina slept with Louie and how she loved him and how he just snapped.

  “I don’t understand what happened. I just… freaked out. How could I do that to her?” Sedgwick said while staring at his hands trembling in his lap.

  “Calm down, Son,” Caius gently said. “Sometimes rage gets the best of us. We are only human. She will be fine. You were betrayed and you were hurt and upset. Any man in that position could do anything.”

  “Are you sure?” Sedgwick looked at his father.

  “Yes. You will be amazed what people do when they have their heart broken.”

  Caius’ office doors flew open as Louie entered, red-faced and determined to find his brother. The first sight of Sedgwick sent him charging, and he grabbed Sedgwick by the collar of his shirt, yanking him from his seat and slamming him against his father’s bookshelf.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Huh?! You fucking coward!”

  The guards started to make their way towards the brothers, but Caius stopped them, wanting to see how Sedgwick would handle the situation.

  Sedgwick did what his father hoped and sneered at Louie, pushing him off.

  “Fuck you, Louie!” Sedgwick shouted. “I know everything! You could have anyone, but no, you fucked the one woman I ever loved!”

  Louie laughed harshly. “Forgive me if I have less remorse and sympathy right now!”

  “This is none of your business. Not your place.”

  “Not my place? Not your place. You have become just as foul as him!” Louie pointed to Caius.

  Louie’s anger faded and pain filled him. Sedgwick didn’t know that he had not only scared Mina, but he had broken his brother’s heart, the brother who had believed in and looked up to him.

  “You don’t deserve her. Never did. Never will,” he panted, between breaths. “If you ever touch her again, I will make you pay.”

  “It is getting handled,” Caius said calmly, a sly grin on his face.

  “Oh, I know because I am getting her out of here. You don’t need me and you don’t need her. You two…” He stepped back and pointed two fingers at his brother and father. “You two can live happily ever fucking after together.”

  Louie backed out of the room and Sedgwick’s fists tightened at the audacity of his brother judging him and telling him what to
do.

  “What do I do?” he asked his father through gritted teeth.

  “Do you want her to leave?”

  “No.”

  “Well, he did threaten someone who has a higher ranking than him. That’s punishable by exile. But first you have to stop him from taking what you want. You must do what must be done.” He whispered in his son’s ear, “Be a King.”

  +

  Louie arrived back at the cottage in his car.

  “What happened?” Bartleby asked as he came back in.

  “We’re leaving,” he told him.

  He got to Mina who was putting on a shirt with Jezebel’s help. He got a glimpse of her bruised back before an oversized button up that appeared to be Louie’s covered it.

  “You shouldn’t be up,” he told her. She faced him as he walked closer to her.

  “I won’t be a victim. He didn’t break me again,” she gritted out.

  Louie smiled lightly and brushed the hair from her face, rubbing her temple gently and gazing at her. “I’m so sorry he found out and did this to you.”

  “No,” she said gently, placing her hand over his. “I need to tell you something.”

  “We can talk about it later, but right now I’m getting you out of here.”

  He grabbed her hand and started to walk. Mina winced, still in pain. Louie swiped his arm under her legs and lifted her up gently.

  “Louie, I’m okay.” A hint of smile appeared on Mina’s lips. Even in the worst of times, Louie was there to bring a smile, no matter if he was serious or not.

  “No, you’re not,” he said, walking out of her room towards the door. Once he got outside he was met with pouring rain and his brother with five guards.

  Neither of them recognized the Sedgwick standing before them. This Crown Prince was dark and didn’t blink as the rain landed on him. His eyes pierced into them and the fact that his brother was being the hero just pissed him off more.

  “Take her back inside, Louie.”

  “You’re ordering me now? How melodramatic of you.”

  “I’m warning you.”

  Louie ignored his brother and carried Mina to his car. Sedgwick’s anger got worst and he blacked out again, running up behind his brother and striking him in the back of the neck with his elbow. Louie fell on his knees, still holding tightly onto Mina, never wanting to let her drop. He slowly began falling over and put Mina to the side. He tried to get up, but Sedgwick kicked him back down.

  “Sedgwick stop!” Mina screamed through the hard rain.

  Bartleby ran towards Sedgwick trying to hold him back. “Stop it!” Two royal guards grabbed Bartleby. One held him as the other punched him the stomach.

  “Stop it right now!” Jezebel screamed as Christina ran to Mina. “Sedgwick, this isn’t you!”

  “Yes.” He grabbed Louie by the collar of his coat and punched him in the face. “It is.”

  Louie looked at his brother before his vision blurred and as the rain hit his face, Sedgwick raised his fist again, striking him with a final blow.

  Chapter 25

  Exile

  Louie stirred in his sleep as Sedgwick watched him. He had the royal guards place him in his room after knocking him unconscious. Louie had been unconscious for five hours, and the force from Sedgwick’s fist was surprisingly strong to not only him, but to Sedgwick himself. But the Crown Prince did feel strong and high. He felt the rush of conquering those who defied him. He liked the authority that came with his fists, the power that ignited in his heart, and even more shocking for him as he pounded on his little brother was how much he enjoyed it.

  Louie finally opened his eyes, slowly gathering his senses. As he remembered everything that happened, he shot up in his bed, searching around his room and seeing his brother sitting in his chair in front of the bed with his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap. He did not recognize his brother who was sitting up straight, dressed in dark blue and staring at him with a cold expression, even worse than his father’s, he thought. At least when his father stared at him, he still emotion, negative emotion but that was still not nearly as bad as the cold, heartless expression from the brother he loved.

  Louie rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the bruise from his brother’s elbow. He licked his bottom lip that had a cut on it from his brother’s ring; his eye also had a bruise under it.

  “Was beginning to think you would never wake up,” Sedgwick said to him.

  “I was beginning to think you were going to kill me.”

  “Even though you betrayed me, Louie, I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “I think we’ve all witnessed how far you would go, Sedgwick.”

  Sedgwick gritted his teeth and looked away.

  “So what now?” Louie asked him.

  “A trial will be held. You threatened me… therefore you will be exiled.”

  Louie laughed harshly. “You’re joking, right?”

  “Threatening a member of the royal family is a serious offense. The Republic and Father will vote to have you exiled from Serenity.”

  “You really are that threatened by me when it comes to her?”

  Sedgwick smirked. “I am not threatened by you, but if you stay here you will only confuse her more. It is time for you to move on and let us be.”

  Sedgwick rose from his seat and Louie jumped out of bed.

  “Where is she?” Louie asked him.

  “She is at home, but she will be moving to the castle after my crowning.”

  “Are you serious right now? You attacked her! You beat her like she was nothing! You did the same shit that Dad did to me until I was sixteen to her!”

  “She will forgive me!” Sedgwick snapped and faced him. “She will forgive me, if she can forgive you for all the torture you put her through all these years, if she can forgive her aunt for abandoning her to fend for herself, she can forgive me!”

  Louie shook his head. “You have lost your mind and I don’t know if it’s the pressure of power or if you really have just been this weak, but this… this is not you. You’re not this, Sedgwick. You are better than any of this… and you’re crazy if you think I’m going to walk away and let you keep her here. You can’t do that!”

  Sedgwick stepped closer to him and looked him in the eye.

  “In two days, I will be King. I can do any damn thing I want… and there is no way I am going to let you… the unwanted son… stop me. Now pack your bags and get ready to find a new home because in three hours you will be banished.”

  Sedgwick left and had the royal guard lock Louie in his room and three hours later a vote amongst the Republic was established. Out of thirty votes, only five voted against Louie’s exile, Henry Oliver being one of them.

  “This is a bit far-fetched, isn’t it Your Majesty?” Henry protested.

  “Consequences for threatening the royal family are never far-fetched,” Caius said as he sat at the round table of the Republic. The wooden round table had an open center where Louie stood at the defendant podium while Sedgwick sat in a seat against the wall of the judgment room. The Bishop was also there, watching the decision.

  “But Prince Louie is a member of the royal family,” Henry Oliver stated, looking at his fellow court. “I say we reconsider this decision before we completely partake in what seems to be a petty rivalry.”

  “Are you questioning the Crown Prince’s intentions, Oliver? Or are you questioning your King, period?”

  Henry cleared his throat, as much as he hated Caius and wanted to stand up to him, he too would be at risk of exile and losing his position in the Republic.

  “No… Your Majesty.”

  Caius grinned. “Well then. Law is Law. If you threaten someone of higher rank, then you are eligible for exile… or prison.”

  Bitter laughter escaped Louie. “What about if you are in higher ranking and you beat the shit out of someone in lower ranking?”

  Caius, smiling smugly, answered. “There has never been a rule about that… the only way to ev
en consider punishing someone in my rank or your brother’s is if murder was involved.”

  Louie looked at his brother. “Too bad you didn’t hit hard enough.”

  “Now,” Caius continued. “A vote has been made and as King of Serenity, I hereby sentence you, Prince Louie Alexander Perry, exiled from Serenity… for twenty years.”

  Caius’ gavel slammed the table as Louie’s eyes closed in defeat. Two royal guards waited outside the table to escort Louie. He shook his head and walked away from the podium as one of the guards opened the mini door that connected the table. He walked past as Sedgwick stood up with the same cold expression.

  “At least… let me say goodbye to her,” Louie sincerely plead with his brother, hoping for mercy.

  Sedgwick’s eyes twitched at his brother’s request and a hint of care flashed across his face, but was immediately erased as he cleared his throat.

  “I’ll tell her you said goodbye,” he told him and Louie’s fist clenched, wanting to attack his brother, but he had to keep the love he had for him for his own sanity.

  +

  Guards still surrounded Mina’s cottage as she paced in her living room. No one was allowed there except her aunt and Jezebel. She knew what Louie’s fate was when she heard about the possibility of exile, but she also knew what her choice would be if he had to leave.

  She stopped when she heard footsteps, and when the front door opened, unfortunately for her, it was Sedgwick.

  “Hi,” he politely said.

  She sneered at him and turned her back on him. “He’s been exiled, hasn’t he?”

  “Yes. For twenty years.”

  Mina’s eyes shut at the term of his sentencing. She opened her eyes and faced Sedgwick, nodding her head. She made an announcement, “Then I’m leaving too. I’ll leave Serenity today.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  Her brow scrunched at Sedgwick’s unethical determination to keep her there. “You do know that this is insane, right? Illegal?! You can’t just keep me locked up here, Sedgwick!”