“But you know what?” he said with a maniacal laugh. “It needed to happen.” He pointed his shining blade at Prince Gerald. “And I was planning on killing His Highness, as well. And, of course, as acting Regent in the absence or ‘tragic’ death of all successors, I would have been made King! I can’t believe you went along with my plan, Gerald! Your hatred for your parents really turned out well for me.”
The old man threw a glance in my direction. “That is, until Princess Adelaide had to come and ruin things.”
Many guards that were previously huddled in the corners of the throne room were slowly beginning to approach the scene, but the Prince held up a hand for them to stop.
“I can handle this,” he said.
“You are too soft!” Clarence continued. “Your sister’s return was your downfall, even before I had the chance to kill you!”
Gerald scowled, then snapped his fingers. “Someone give me a sword!”
I brought a hand to my mouth. Was I about to watch a duel? A plump soldier standing maybe ten feet away from the Prince scurried over to him, armor clanking loudly as he did. He unsheathed his longsword and handed it to the Prince with a bow. Gerald took it in his hand and tightened his fingers around the leather hilt.
“You will surrender now, Clarence. I will surrender, as well. We are both guilty. If you do not comply, I will be forced to run you through right here, right now.” He pointed the sword threateningly at the man. The Prince’s weapon seemed to gleam even more eagerly than Clarence’s dagger had.
Clarence threw his head back and guffawed. “You don’t have the courage to do such a thing!”
I watched as Gerald’s weapon arm started to shake, and little by little fell towards the floor. His face twitched uncontrollably, and his breathing grew ragged.
“I will, Clarence,” the Prince said, but his voice started to waver. “I’ll kill you if I have to.”
The old man smiled wryly and began using his dagger to pick at his fingernails. The entire room held their breaths as we waited for the Prince to make a move, but soon his sword fell to the stone floor with a clang, and Gerald hunched his shoulders forward dejectedly.
Prince Gerald turned his back to the man and faced the advisors and a group of guards to his left.
“Arrest him,” Gerald said. “Arrest both of us.”
Before any soldier could move, or before anyone could shout out a warning, Clarence lunged toward the Prince with a loud cry of rage. I was surprised by his quickness, and I tried to warn Gerald as the old man charged him, but my words were stuck in my throat.
Gerald was too slow to notice the attack, bringing his swords in front of himself too late. With a look of terror in my twin’s eyes, his deflection failed, and the old man’s dagger whisked through the air in a blur of motion and buried itself into the Prince’s chest.
“No!” I cried, attempting to rush to him, but Harry held me back.
“Clarence might hurt you, too,” he whispered in my ear.
The entire room erupted with chaos as people screamed and leapt from their seats. The other four advisors ordered Clarence to be restrained, and the old man spat on the floor as two soldiers pinned his arms back.
Prince Gerald, with the dagger still squarely in his chest, slowly fell to his knees. Crimson grew like a puddle on his cream-colored tunic and began to drip onto the floor beneath him. I started crying as I watched the light start to fade from his eyes, the brilliancy in their hazel color disappearing along with it.
After Clarence was dragged out of the throne room, kicking and cursing violently, Harry let go of me. I immediately sprinted the few feet to my brother and slid on my knees as I reached his side. The blood pooling on the floor stained the brown frock I’d taken from my old clothes at Lucinda’s cabin. I felt the dampness and warmth of the blood seep through my dress and to my skin, but I didn’t care.
I wrapped my arms around my brother, my twin… the family I had just met. All of a sudden, I felt sad that I had spent the bulk of our time together hating him. Yes, he had killed the parents I never was able to come to know, but there was so much more to the situation I didn’t understand.
What Gerald did was wrong, but as I held him in my arms and watched the color drain from his face, I was able to forgive him.
“Ellie,” he croaked, then he coughed up a few dribbles of blood onto my arm.
“Don’t talk,” I said through my tears.
He shook his head, then grimaced at the pain it caused him. “No, this is important.” His eyelids fluttered quickly, and he clenched his jaw with the effort to focus on me. “I never loved our parents. I blamed them for what happened to you, but—” He coughed again. “But I know that killing them was not the right thing to do. I’m sorry.”
My hands trembled, not only from the weight of Gerald in my arms but also from the overwhelming emotions I felt. I didn’t want my brother to die.
Prince Gerald gave me a half-smile. “You’ll be a good queen, Princess Ellianne.”
And with those last words, I heard him take a final, jagged breath and fall limp against me.
Chapter 25
Coronation day came and went, even before my royal training started. My advisors felt it essential that Greriveth have a monarch right away, regardless of my naivety and immense lack of knowledge.
My coronation happened even before Prince Gerald’s funeral, and then I presided over all of the proceedings at the event. It was incredibly overwhelming, and I had a difficult time keeping myself composed.
Many weeks had gone by after the fateful couple weeks of attending the ball, learning of my true identity, becoming Queen, then burying my twin brother. I was still slightly shaken up by the entire ordeal, but I was relieved to find that I was beginning to get the hang of things. I relished in the distraction my training and tutoring gave me. I found that I even enjoyed reading piles of books on politics, history, etiquette… The one thing I wasn’t particularly fond of was all the public appearances I had to make. I knew I was being judged by every single person I met or was seen by, but little by little, I was starting to conquer my debilitating timidity.
I sat alone in the castle gardens, finally having escaped an afternoon tea with about a dozen dull noblewomen. The gardens were more like a well-groomed field with a few strategically placed rows of tulips and a line of rose bushes circling the space, but it was beautiful all the same.
There was a bench directly behind me, but I had disregarded it and spread my lacey, cream gown into the grass in a circle around me and closed my eyes against the cool breeze. I welcomed the wind as the sun sat high in the sky and beat upon me with its brutal heat. Though it was slowly creeping into the fall season, the weather was still blistering hot. I smiled as I looked at the subtle change of color in the trees’ leaves, and at the thought of one of my lady maids finding me lounging in the grass and staining my beautiful skirts.
In about two hours, I had another dinner event I was expected to attend, but I chose not to think about that for the time being. Right now, I was just Ellie in a pretty dress, sitting in a field.
Granted, being Queen wasn’t so bad, especially with a team of advisors behind me to help with the difficult things. And I found I liked wearing pretty things and being waited upon. Though, I did sneak down to the kitchens at night and swept the floors every once in a while. It made me feel helpful. But my queenly responsibilities were extensive, and I rarely was able to see Harry anymore.
I opened my eyes and stared into the distance. It had been three weeks since Harry told me he loved me, and I had only seen him four or five times since, and we were never alone. He was staying in Newvein for the time being— I was paying for his accommodations— but we never found the chance to discuss our relationship.
I thought back to the kiss we had shared and smiled to myself. I knew I loved Harry, and I knew he loved me. At least there was that. We were bound to have time together at some point.
“Your Majesty?”
&nbs
p; My smile grew at the sound of Harry’s voice, and I craned my neck around to find him standing behind me.
“I was just thinking about you! And why so formal?”
Harry was wringing his hands together and avoided meeting my gaze.
I frowned. “What is it?”
“Well, first of all, I’m here to relay a message from Lucinda. She asks after your health and wants you to know that Jared’s wedding went well.”
“Oh.”
I hadn’t thought about Lucinda and my cousins for days. A debate started in my mind about whether or not I should reach out to them and try to build a healthy relationship. They were my only family, after all.
“Secondly, I think I should leave.”
My heart dropped to my stomach with a thud. I leapt from my position and quickly moved to stand in front of him.
“What are you talking about?”
Harry brought a hand to my cheek and caressed it gently. “I love you so much, Ellie. But I don’t think I should be here to distract you.”
“What do you mean?”
He brought his forehead to mine and exhaled. I felt his warm breath against my lips and closed my eyes.
“A lot of people have been commenting on how our match isn’t a good one.”
My eyes flew open, and I pulled away from him. “Who?”
Harry chuckled slightly and began kicking at the grass under his boots. “Pretty much everybody.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Your advisors, and everybody else, I’m sure, want you to marry some foreign prince or nobleman. Not someone like me.”
“Who cares what people think?” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “I’m the Queen, aren’t I? I can choose who I want!”
Harry bit his lip and shifted his gaze back to his feet. We were silent for a long moment. I stared at him— I stared at the man I loved and studied the curve of his lips and the sharp angles in his cheeks. I smiled at the way a few of his blond locks curled on top of his forehead.
“Harry?” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Kiss me.”
His eyes widened, and he ran his fingers through his hair with a nervous chuckle. “What? I—”
“Kiss me.”
Harry dropped his hands to his sides and gazed at me with longing. I held my breath as he strode over to me, determined, and urgently pressed his lips against mine. I relaxed into him and pulled his face into my hands. The kiss was even better than the first one— if that was possible.
“Harry,” I whispered as we broke apart. “I command you to marry me.”
He tightened his grip around my waist. “Are you serious? But the people—”
“Leave them to me. Besides, I could have you arrested for not listening to your Queen.”
Harry threw his head back and laughed. “At the risk of becoming a victim to this ‘queenly wrath’ of yours, I accept your strange proposal.” He kissed the top of my head. “I love you.”
I flashed him a brilliant smile and felt tears of joy begin to fill my eyes. “And I love you.”
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About the Author
More by Aleese Hughes
The Tales and Princesses Series
Book 1: Peas and Princesses
Book 2: Apples and Princesses
Book 3: Pumpkins and Princesses
Book 4: Beasts and Princesses: The Story of Bavmorda (Coming in 2020)
Book 5: Beauties and Princesses (Coming in 2020)
After the Tales and Princesses— A Set of Novellas
Janice Wallander: A Novella Retelling the Tale of Rumpelstiltskin
Queen Dalia Char: A Novella Retelling the Tale of Rose Red (Coming Soon)
Pumpkins and Princesses (The Tales and Princesses Series Book 3) Page 14