by Marci Fawn
“What?” I gasp unhappily.
“Are you serious?”
If he’s engaged then I really have been nothing more than a pathetic fool. Why did he bring me here just to wreck my life? What the hell was the point of all of this?
“Oh… did he not tell you?” I can tell that she’s pleased by this, which makes me feel even worse.
Is she getting some sort of sick thrill from making me fall apart? What the hell is her problem? Have the rest of the world got the wrong impression of her? Is she really the worst kind of woman on the planet?
“Yes, they are going to be married. This year in fact.”
“Wow,” I slump down on the seat beneath me, unable to stand up for even another second longer. I can’t even hold up my own body weight anymore.
“I don’t even… I don’t know what to say.” Should I just go home? Would I be much better off in America? Was all of this a total mistake? I think back to my real home, to the real life that I’ve built myself, and I feel ridiculous for leaving it all behind. I should have guessed that it would end up like this.
“Now, you better pull yourself together because I have arranged for you to spend some one on one time with your daughter.”
The queen totally changes the subject, bewildering me once more. How does she manage to do that with every single word that comes out of her mouth? It’s insane!
“I don’t have any ill will against you, or any members of your family. Edward will not be there of course, he’s with his fiancée this afternoon,” another knife stabbing into my heart, twisting agonizingly inside of me.
That woman – the beautiful, stunning princess is here, with Edward. Did he know that she was coming? My mind is reeling, trying to work out whether I’m the unwitting pawn in some crazy game.
“So would you like to go now?”
“Yeah, sure okay,” I nod enthusiastically.
Whatever else is going on in my life, I want to see Lily. She’s been my rock for so long, and I need to check that she’s okay. At least with her by my side I’ll be able to feel some kind of normal, despite everything else that’s happening.
“Thank you.”
Then she steps aside, and indicates for one of the guards to take me outside. As he walks behind me, I can’t help but feel like a common criminal, so I have to keep telling myself over and over that it’ll all be worth it to see my little girl’s gorgeous face.
At least I still have her, even if everything else is taken from me!
“Mummy!” Lily cries excitedly as she races over to me jumping into my arms.
“I’ve missed you, where have you been? What have you been doing?”
“Oh, mommy just had to sort some stuff out,” I lie evasively, hoping that I can distract her from asking anything else.
“What have you been up to today?”
“Edward has been playing with me, but then he went to meet his friend…”
His friend… his fiancée… Princess Kristine Larson…
Ugh, that damn near kills me. I don’t even know how to take it.
Either Edward is the biggest liar on the entire planet, and I’m a massive mug, or there’s something deeper going on here. My mind is reeling far too much for me to figure out which one is the truth. Of course, I hope and pray that it’s the second one, but I don’t want to be a fool. I don’t want to be sucked in even deeper to this crazy family madness.
It isn’t just me that I have to protect, it’s Lily too. I cannot have her dragged into something so insane. I won’t let it happen.
“…so I’ve just been reading. There are some really great books here, and some cool toys too!” She sounds so happy that it tears me apart.
On the one side, I’m glad that she’s completely unaware of the horror going on around her, but on the other it’s going to make is much harder to walk away from here.
“Shall we go out into the garden for a walk?” I ask, really needing some fresh air.
“You can show me all of the flowers outside.”
“Yes, can we get Edward to join us?” Lily asks, with such innocence that I almost want to cry.
She might not know who he is to her, but she really loves that man and it’s going to be devastating for the both of us when he can no longer be in our lives.
“No sweetie, let’s just go. Edward is busy, and I haven’t seen you much today,”
“Okay,” she finally agrees, much to my relief.
“Let’s go, there are some really cool yellow roses around the back that I can show you.”
“That sounds perfect,” I smile.
Allowing her to grab my hand and lead me outside. Of course, there is a man following us from behind, but as long as Lily doesn’t notice, I intend to do my best not to let it become an issue. I might become increasingly pissed off inside, but that’s where it shall stay.
Like a burning pit of fire in the depths of my stomach.
As we walk, I listen to Lily talk endlessly about everything, glad that she always has so much to say. She’s always been a massive talker, and right now I need that.
I need to just listen, and not to have to say anything. I’m a complete and utter mess, and it’s taking all that I have just to hold myself together, so speaking might just finish me off completely. All I’m really thinking about is finding a way out of here, escaping before we can get into any real trouble.
I need to be away from all of this, I need to be somewhere normal, and I need the right way to make that happen… but that isn’t going to be easy by myself. I could really use Edward’s help, but he’s off somewhere with his fiancée.
Princess fucking Kristine! Ugh!
But we don’t get as long as we need together, not by a long shot. It isn’t long before a man comes over and whispers to me that I need to get back into my cell on the queens orders, so I apologize to Lily and I hold her close for a few moments, just inhaling her wonderful scent. She doesn’t really understand what is going on, for which I’m grateful, but that really doesn’t make it any easier on me.
This is a mess. I made a mistake bringing us both here; now all I need to do is get us both home.
I will do it, I have to. I’ve been left with no choice.
“Come on,” I finally smile at her.
“I’ll walk you back to your bedroom, then I’ll see you again very soon… I promise.”
18
Edward
Kristine wants to spend the afternoon with me, but I have absolutely no interest in that.
Now that Lily is with her mum, and I’m not allowed to spend any time with either of them, I have a mission to complete. I may not be able to go up against mum on the issue since she is the queen, but there must be something that I can do.
There must be some loophole, some trick that I can find that not only negates my bullshit engagement to Kristine, but that also frees Faith too.
So I head straight up into the library, and I start looking through the books that I’ve avoided for years, the ones that I never had any interest in – the ones all about the law and royal rulings.
There has to be something that I can do, I think to myself, growing increasingly frustrated with every passing second. It cannot be totally hopeless…
But as the hours pass, I end up almost punching a wall.
What exactly is the point of being a prince if I have absolutely no rights? If my life really isn’t my own? Sure, the thought of starting a whole new life by myself with nothing is absolutely terrifying – after all, I’ve been so sheltered, so protected, that I wouldn’t even know where to begin making it on my own – but wouldn’t that be better than this? Wouldn’t it be liberating?
Would I be able to survive being free?
Just as my mind flickers between decisions, a slight cough rings out from behind me, shocking me. I spin around in my chair to see a very uncomfortable looking Marcus standing behind me.
“Oh it’s you,” I gasp sadly, allowing my emotions to cover my face.
&
nbsp; “Are you okay Marcus?”
“I, err…” he steps closer to me, flickering his eyes everywhere.
“I would love to speak to you, if that’s okay?”
His nerves have me intrigued. He seems to know something, and all I can do is hope that it’s the answers I so desperately need.
“Unless you’re busy of course.”
“No,” I admit, shutting the books behind me.
“I’m hitting dead end after dead end here.”
“I have something that I need to tell you, something that I should have told you a very long time ago… but my job and life was on the line.”
What the hell is he on about? And why does he look so serious?
“It has made me take a step back from you because the guilt has been eating me up alive, but I cannot allow this to carry on forever. You deserve to know the truth.”
“What is going on Marcus? You’re freaking me out here.”
My heart is racing and I almost can’t sit still. This is huge, I just know it. He has pulled back from me, and that has hurt, but there’s clearly some very deep and involved reason behind it, I just don’t know what it is.
“It’s to do with your wedding night.”
My wedding night?
Is he referring to my future wedding night? The one that everyone seems to think I’m going to have with Kristine, even though it’s never ever going to happen. I will get out of it somehow for sure.
“Okay…” I drawl cautiously.
“I was in Greece, when you got married…” Wait, he’s talking about Faith here.
My real wedding night. My ears prick up in the hope that I might actually end up learning something useful, something that finally answers all of the questions that have been plaguing my mind for a very long time.
“And I went to her after your wedding.”
“She ran away that night, how did you see her?” It doesn’t make any sense.
“She ran away because I made her go, on orders of your mother. She had you trailed the entire time that you were abroad, and because I didn’t get to the wedding on time, she made me send Faith away before you could… consummate things.”
What the hell?
This is too insane for words – my mind is reeling. Although from what I’ve seen, I’m not surprised by anything my mum does anymore. I am shocked that Faith didn’t tell me though – this could all have been resolved so much easier. Why did she feel the need to keep it a secret?
Was she that afraid?
“She had her life threatened if she ever contacted you again, and I also sent her off with a massive check… although it’s best for you to know that she never cashed it. Not even when she was desperate, when she was pregnant and practically out on the streets.”
Suddenly, the harsh realization of what Faith’s life without me was like hits hard. I was so busy wallowing in my own misery, and my own struggles that it hasn’t ever hit me that she was a single mum with nothing to her name for a very long time.
She had money… money that she could have used to make her own life easier, and she didn’t because she knew what an insult it would be to me.
An intense rush of love washes over me, as does a gratefulness.
Especially now I know that she never wanted to leave me.
“This is so unfair!” I blurt out angrily.
“We could have been together, happy for all this time. I could have been in Lily’s life the entire way through.” I start pacing the room in a frustrated state.
I’ve never felt so rage filled and hopeless all at once.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Marcus is shaking his head, looking seriously distraught with everything that has happened.
“I wish… I didn’t mean…”
I step over to him and rub his back, desperately wanting to calm him down.
“Don’t worry,” I tell him genuinely.
“I know that you were obviously put in a bad position, and I know what mum can be like. I won’t…” I sigh deeply, knowing that what I’m about to say will put me in a very difficult position, but that it has to be said.
Whatever Marcus has been to me in the last few years, he was my close friend once and I still feel protective of him.
“I won’t tell her that you told me. I won’t do anything to get you in trouble. I know that you were only doing this to protect yourself. I understand.”
And I actually really do. It might hurt me, but I get it.
“So… what will you do?” Marcus asks, his face pale with shock.
“How are you going to…?”
“I don’t know,” I admit.
“But I do know that mum has gone too far this time. This is just… it’s insane.”
Marcus remains silent, just staring at me as the cog turns in my mind. I flit from decision to decision, trying desperately to make the right choice, but I keep coming back to the one and only option that I can think of.
I don’t think that I have any choice.
“I’m going to speak to mum, I’m going to tell her that I’m not marrying Kristine, and that I won’t be going through with any of her plans.”
“Do you know what that means?” He gasps, holding his arms across himself protectively.
“Do you know what she will do to you?”
I nod firmly, certain of my decision this time.
“I will have to renounce my birth right, give up the throne and my position here. I’m okay with that. I will cope.”
“You will need to get seriously organized,” Marcus warns me.
“You’re going to need money, and to get your stuff packed. You’ll also want to organize a driver and somewhere to stay while you get settled.”
He’s really panicking now, which makes my heart race and anticipation to course through my veins. I now realize just how huge this is, and how much it’s going to take. If I just barge in there, all guns blazing, then I risk being kicked out with absolutely nothing.
“Okay,” I tell him.
“I’m going to go and make some calls, get myself sorted. Can you please check on Faith? I think that she might be still with Lily for a few more minutes – let her know what’s going on.”
I stare at him, trying to work out if he will at least do that for me.
“Thank you Marcus.”
“I will see you very soon,” he promises.
“I won’t let you down.”
19
Faith
“Okay sweetie,” I smile to her after a few moments of playing with her toys.
“Mummy has to go now, but I’ll be back really soon.”
“Then will we be going home?” Lily asks me questioningly, for the first time not looking quite as happy as she once was about being at the castle.
She can clearly sense that everything isn’t right with me, and that’s affecting her. I though she hadn't spotted anything, but it seems that I was wrong.
“Soon,” I tell her, hoping that I’m being honest.
“We’ll be back soon enough, okay?”
“Alright,” she smiles sadly at me, before returning to the game that she’s in the middle of.
At least there are a whole load of toys here for her to play with, but I don’t want to leave her here alone. It makes me feel very uncomfortable so I step over to the guard nearby with a plan in my mind.
“Are you ready to go back now?” He asks uneasily, clearly unsure about what the queen is asking him to do.
Everyone can see that this is wrong, but no one has any choice. Whatever the queen wants, she gets – however insane it is. If only I had something that I could use to manipulate people… I would be out of here in a minute.
“I’m not leaving until Edward is here, I refuse to leave Lily alone.” I shoot him a fierce look, which luckily works because he shoots off down the hallway, leaving my daughter and me alone.
If I wasn’t so terrified that we would get caught on the way out, I would make a break for it now.
B
ut I don’t get the chance anyway because almost a couple of seconds later, I hear footsteps clacking down the hallway.
“That was quick…” I turn around, anxious to see Edward once more, to try and see just where his head is at and to try and gauge what might be going on with his crazy life in this mental situation, but it isn’t him.
It isn’t the guard either.
It’s the dark haired gorgeous woman from the photographs – and she’s even better looking in person.
Oh my God.
She really is here!
That makes the queen’s story seem even more believable. This girl is here, which suggests that she really is engaged to Edward.
My heart falls apart as I realize how intensely I had my heart set on the possibility that it was all a fake, and a misunderstanding somewhere along the line. But if she’s here, then Edward has been with her all afternoon, and that she is going to be his wife.
“Hi,” the girl calls out in a sugary sweet voice.
“How are you?”
“Err… I’m okay…” I reply cautiously, unsure of what the hell is about to happen now.
I flick my eyes down the rest of the hallways, trying to see if anyone else is around, actually wanting to see one of the guards for the first time since all of this started, but of course because I want one of them, there isn’t anyone to be found.
“How… how are you?”
“I’m good, really good.” She steps uninvited into Lily’s room.
My daughter glances up at this stranger, but clearly deems her less interesting than her game because she returns to it without even saying anything to her.
“I’m Kristine by the way.”
“Faith,” as she shakes my hand, I can clearly see that she’s being too nice for it to be real.
She’s being fake for some reason, and I really need to find out why. What does she have planned for me?
Why the hell is she here?
If Lily wasn’t in the room too I would run, but I cannot leave her behind and I can’t grab her too without making too much of a fuss.
