Jonathon was surprised by his refusal and had expected him to happily take the money.
“You may be honest, but you are very foolish,” Jonathon replied, annoyed that his plan hadn’t worked. “Do you want to give up your life over delusional thoughts that you could marry my sister? It will never happen! If I were you, I would take the money and leave. You will be much better off choosing the realistic option.”
“I do not care what you think. I have given my answer.”
“Do you want to stay locked in here forever?” Jonathon warned him, “Because I can make sure of it.”
“You can threaten me all you want but you are wasting your time. I do not care what happens to me anymore.”
Jonathon felt even more frustrated but refused to give up. He wanted Nicholas gone and he would do anything to ensure that.
“Rosanna will be married soon and you will never see her again if you are imprisoned here,” he continued, trying to persuade him. “She will forget all about you once she starts her new life. Do you think it is worth sacrificing so much for her when you will get nothing in return?”
“I have made my decision, nothing will change my mind,” insisted Nicholas.
Jonathon was angered by his refusal, “If that is what you choose then you can rot in here. My father will decide your verdict soon. You only have yourself to blame when this ends badly.”
He strode off in fury and left Nicholas feeling annoyed. He wasn’t worried at all by Jonathon’s threats. He was so depressed he didn’t care about anything other than Rosanna. He knew that he would never stop loving her, no matter how much her family kept them apart.
Chapter 15
Rosanna spent her day reading and watching people from her balcony. She still refused to go down for meals and her father became more agitated once their evening meal passed without her. He needed to talk with her about the wedding and since she was refusing to dine with them, he had no other choice but to arrange a meeting.
He strode up the stairway determinedly and found Leonardo guarding her bedchamber.
“Tell my daughter to join me in the study at once,” he ordered. “I will not take no for an answer. Even if she refuses, you will escort her there. Is that understood?”
Leonardo bowed respectfully, “Yes, your Majesty.”
She overheard their conversation and gritted her teeth in anger. She hated how her father could boss everyone around and they were forced to follow his orders.
She heard Leonardo knock politely on her door and went over to answer it.
“I already heard what he had to say,” she told him feeling annoyed.
“Your Highness, will you please go with me?” he asked, begging her not to refuse.
“Fine, but only because I do not want to make things awkward for you,” she knew it was unfair for her friend to get caught in the middle of her dispute.
“Thank you,” he looked relieved that he didn’t have to force her there.
She walked down the stairway with him and towards the study. Leonardo waited outside the door as she entered, giving them privacy to talk.
She saw her father and brother waiting expectantly at his desk and sat down in front of them. She suddenly felt upset, remembering that this room was where all the trouble began. She was heartbroken knowing that day was the last time she had seen Nicholas. She had to fight back tears at the memory of him being taken away.
“I have been writing to King Frederick and Queen Cassandra about the wedding,” her father informed her. “I know you do not wish to marry Prince Ethan, but you must understand this betrothal cannot be changed. If I take back my promise it could mean war and neither of us want that.”
She looked down miserably feeling her eyes water. She would rather die than go through with this wedding and already felt as if her life was over. However, she couldn’t bear to be responsible for starting a war. She cared too much about her friends and the people in the village. She could never bring violence and suffering on them and the thought of it scared her.
“Even if you are unhappy, the marriage needs to go ahead regardless. It is in best interest for you and our kingdom.”
“I cannot believe you would force me into this,” she felt betrayed by them. “Can you not see how wrong this is?”
“He has no choice,” Jonathon defended him. “The betrothal is a serious agreement. There is not only the risk of war that concerns us. There are legal punishments we have to stand by if you refuse to co-operate.”
“What do you mean?” she asked nervously. “What punishments would I face?”
Her father looked strained having to tell her, “Rosanna, if you refuse the wedding you would risk losing your inheritance, being sentenced to prison or even death.”
She looked at them horrified. She couldn’t believe they would be so cruel when she was part of their family.
“You know I would never want to take such drastic measures,” her father reassured her. “However, I do expect you to go through with it. I want you to promise me that you will marry Prince Ethan, so we can avoid all the unpleasant consequences.”
“But I cannot marry someone I do not love,” she argued.
“You have to,” he told her sadly. “I do not want to lose you and I could not bear for anything bad to happen to my own daughter. Please do this for me.”
She could see how anxious and hurt her father was and realised that it must be hard for him too. For once she felt sorry for him, despite everything that was happening, and realised that he did care about her. He was just trying to keep her safe, but she was still angry by the injustice of it all.
“I suppose I have no choice if I am being threatened with death,” she replied annoyed.
She felt ill at the thought of her future marriage and her heart was breaking that Nicholas could never be her husband. Part of her was tempted to take the death sentence instead but she had to be realistic. No matter how depressed and hopeless she felt, she knew that dying was far worse than spending the rest of her life with Prince Ethan. She knew how devastated Nicholas would be if anything happened to her and she couldn’t put him through that. She didn’t like hurting him by going along with the marriage either, but she had to do it despite both their feelings.
“I promise you that everything will be fine,” her father assured her. “Prince Ethan will be a good husband and treat you well. Maybe in time you will be happy.”
She didn’t say anything knowing she would never be happy again. She knew her father was trying his best to make her feel better but nothing would unless she could be with Nicholas again.
She stood up to leave now that their discussion was over and they had the answer they wanted.
“Rosanna,” she heard her father say and turned to him.
“I expect you to dine with us tomorrow,” he said sternly. “I will not tolerate this hunger strike of yours any longer.”
She nodded obediently, not feeling brave enough to refuse. She hadn’t stopped eating to disobey her father; she had truly been too upset and worried to eat anything. She would at least have to try and get her appetite back or he would be cross with her.
She left the study feeling so miserable and heartbroken by their decision. She wanted to cry but had to stay composed for now.
Leonardo followed her and felt concerned by how upset she looked, “I am sorry,” he said to her sympathetically.
Even though he had been waiting outside the room, he still overheard parts of the discussion and wasn’t happy with it either.
“I cannot believe this is happening,” she said as a horrible feeling of dread overwhelmed her. “What have I done?”
He couldn’t bear to see her looking so devastated and wished he could do something to change it.
“It is not as if you had any option,” he reasoned. “You should not blame yourself.”
She realised it was not safe to continue their conversation where anyone could overhear, so they went into the music room to talk in private.
She sat on the stool and rested her head on the closed piano to cry, “I feel as if I am betraying Nicholas if I go through with it.”
“If it helps, I think he will understand,” Leonardo reassured her. “He would never want anything bad to happen to you. Surely that would be much worse for him to deal with.”
“I know, but I cannot help feeling guilty. I love him. It seems so awful to marry Prince Ethan when I know it is the wrong thing to do.”
“This does not make you a bad person. You are being forced into it,” he insisted. “I wish there was something I could do to help.”
She suddenly got an idea and felt a little hopeful, “there is one favour I would like to ask. Could you send a letter to Nicholas for me?”
The thought of being in contact with him gave her heart a glimmer of hope. She needed to explain what was happening so that he understood she wasn’t deliberately betraying him.
Leonardo looked unsure of the idea.
“I know it is a big risk, but I need you to do this for me,” she pleaded. “You are the only person I trust who is allowed into the dungeons.”
He sighed, knowing it was dangerous to help her and there would be dire consequences if he was caught. Yet, he couldn’t let her down as a friend, especially when he was her only hope.
“I suppose I could try,” he answered hesitantly.
She smiled, “thank you! You are a wonderful friend and I am very grateful.”
“I can only do this once,” he warned her. “They will get suspicious if I keep visiting him.”
“I will write a letter and give it to you soon,” she said feeling excited.
“Fine, I will try and visit him tonight when my shift ends.”
As promised, Leonardo went down to the dungeons later that night. Nicholas had drifted off to sleep but the sound of footsteps nearby woke him. He ignored it at first thinking the knights were doing a routine night observation. Yet, he soon felt a presence nearby and opened his eyes to see Leonardo stood at the cell door. He felt a wave of relief and got up to talk with him through the door.
“We must talk quietly so no one else can listen,” Leonardo warned him.
He nodded to show he understood.
“How is Rosanna?” he asked softly, feeling concerned about her.
“She is still very upset. She misses you and worries about you,” Leonardo replied quietly.
“Tell her not to worry, I am fine; and that I love her and miss her too.”
“I will.”
“Is she in a lot of trouble with her father?” he asked worriedly.
“He is not very pleased with her, and she has to stay in her bedchamber so she cannot visit you,” Leonardo informed him. “I do not know yet what they plan for you, but they can hardly charge you for any crimes. I expect they will set you free once everyone has calmed down.”
“At least that is some good news,” he replied half-heartedly. “What about the wedding? Are they making her go through with it?” Nicholas felt a sharp pain in his heart and couldn’t bear to think of her future marriage.
“The king spoke with Rosanna and it will still go ahead even though she disagrees with it.”
Nicholas looked hurt by his answer even though he expected it, “But surely they cannot force her to exchange vows against her will?”
“She has been warned not to go against it.”
“Her father has threatened her?” asked Nicholas angrily, unable to believe it. He wanted more than anything to be able to protect her.
“If she refuses the marriage it could result in war, and her father would be legally forced to punish her for it.”
“What kind of punishment?” he asked anxiously. The thought of anything bad happening to her terrified him.
Leonardo looked down, finding it hard to say, “It could be disinheritance, imprisonment or death; whichever will scare her into going along with it.”
He felt shocked, “but she is his daughter. Surely he would not stand by and let her be killed?”
“I do not know whether he would or not, but he does not want to. He sounded upset when he told her about it.”
“What did Rosanna say?”
Leonardo raked his hand through his hair, feeling awful for breaking the news to him, but knew that Nicholas had to find out eventually.
“She felt it was her only option to go along with it considering all the penalties if she refused.”
Nicholas felt terrible and hated to think of what Rosanna was going through. She had to make these awful decisions without him there to support her.
“I hope you understand her reasons.”
“I do,” he answered sadly. “I would never want her life to be in danger.”
Leonardo carefully produced the letter hidden inside his armour. He checked that the knights on duty weren’t watching him and then passed the folded letter through the bars, “She asked me to deliver this to you.”
Nicholas smiled, feeling happy and touched to receive her letter. His heart filled with love at the thought of hearing from her.
“Thank you for bringing it,” he said gratefully. “It means the world to me.”
Leonardo felt pleased to be able to help as Nicholas eagerly unfolded it. It was dark inside the cell but he could just make out the words if he stood underneath the barred window, which let a small amount of light shine through from the lanterns outside.
He began to read her neat hand writing and his heart ached with missing her so much.
Dear Nicholas,
I am missing you terribly and I hate that my family have forced us apart. I cannot bear thinking of you alone in a horrible dungeon cell and I feel so guilty that you are there because of me. I am greatly sorry for how my family reacted and I am very worried about you. I will pray for you every night and hope that you are well.
I feel so lifeless without you here and I will never be happy unless I see you again. I wish there was something I could do to help. You are a wonderful man who does not deserve any of this. I will always feel guilty for how much trouble I have caused you.
I am sorry to give you bad news but I will be marrying Prince Ethan soon, even though I hate to go through with it. If I had not agreed to, I would have been punished or responsible for war breaking out. I hate knowing how much this will hurt you and I am sorry. I hope you can forgive me and that you understand. I feel as if I have betrayed you, and I am heartbroken that you are not the person I am marrying.
Please remember that I will always love you. Even if we never see each other again, my heart will forever belong to you. At night I have been looking out at the stars and thinking of the wonderful night we first met. I wish more than anything that we could be together again.
I hope that my father sets you free soon and I will keep doing all I can to help you.
With all my love,
Rosanna
Nicholas felt his eyes water as he finished reading it. He was pleased to receive her letter but hearing from her only seemed to make him miss her more.
“I will have to take the letter so that no one finds it,” Leonardo reminded him gently.
Nicholas felt sad that he couldn’t keep it or be able to read it again, but he understood that they had to be careful and reluctantly passed it back through the bars.
“Thank you. I really appreciate everything you have done for us,” Nicholas said gratefully.
They heard footsteps and knew that one of the knights on duty must be coming to check on them. Leonardo knew it must be because his visit had gone on longer than planned. If he quickly left at the sight of them then that would look suspicious. They may become curious to find out why he was visiting him.
“Go along with my act,” Leonardo whispered to him quickly.
He nodded and listened as a knight started approaching. Leonardo immediately turned angry and grabbed hold of Nicholas to pull him against the bars. He didn’t do it with enough force to hurt him, but he had to make it look realistic and threatening. Nicholas
didn’t need to act shocked because he was genuinely surprised and hadn’t expected it.
“If you dare go anywhere near the princess again I will make you regret it,” Leonardo yelled at him.
He let go of Nicholas who was still stunned as he backed away. He had to try his best not to laugh at seeing the knights’ reaction to the scene. He was gawping in surprise at the sudden drama and watched with interest.
Leonardo found it amusing too and gave Nicholas a smirk while he still had his back turned to the knight. Then he forced himself to look serious as he turned and stormed out. The knight watched him go in awe and then his eyes went back to Nicholas. He was curious to see if he had been injured during the confrontation, but the cell was too dark to see properly so he lost interest and left. Nicholas smiled, knowing they had the knight fooled and he wouldn’t suspect anything.
He remembered how much he missed Rosanna after reading her letter and went over to the barred window to look out at the night sky for a while and think of her too. Even though he knew there was very little chance of them seeing each other again, he couldn’t help feeling joyful that he had heard from her.
He felt blissful knowing that she still loved him as he went to try and get some sleep. The stone floor was as cold and uncomfortable as the night before, but he felt warm inside as he remembered the words from her letter and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Rosanna felt a little better now that she had been able to write to Nicholas. Her heart filled with love thinking of him reading her letter. However, she still couldn’t sleep that night with so much on her mind.
She didn’t like to think about her future wedding because it made her feel more depressed, so instead she recalled the happy memories she had with Nicholas. It made her cry to remember the times they spent together, but her heart filled with love and happiness. She could become lost in those moments and almost make herself believe that this awful separation hadn’t happened. She wanted more than anything to return to the past so they could be happy again.
Love Letters Page 10