by Marci Fawn
“Hi Faith, I wanted to meet you.”
“Why?” I can’t help but ask.
“Why do you want to meet me?”
“Silly,” she giggles loudly, acting as if we are best friends sharing a joke.
“I want to see the woman who for some reason has Edward – my fiancé – wrapped around her little finger. I wanted to work out just what is so special about you.”
“Right,” I drawl in a confused tone.
“Okay.”
“I am surprised though,” she drags her eyes up and down me, giving me a similar look that the queen did on our first meeting.
What is it with these women with titles thinking that they’re so much better than me? What gives them the right? Just because of the families that they’re born into…
“I thought that you would be so much prettier. I mean, you’re really plain, aren’t you? There isn’t anything about you that’s special?”
My eyes glare as I grow increasingly pissed off. I don’t care what she says about me, it just proves that I’ve gotten under her skin and that she’s jealous, but I don’t like her talking about me in that way in front of my daughter.
There is enough pressure on young girls to look a certain way these days, I don’t want this bitch to start my precious girl freaking out about the way she looks.
“Don’t speak to me like that,” I snap angrily.
“Aren’t you supposed to be some sort of princess? I expected nobility to know how to behave. I thought you went to etiquette schools and things like that.”
Her face turns red and she opens and closes her mouth a few times, while her brain tries to plan what to say. I smirk to myself as I have her flabbergasted – at least there’s that.
“Don’t you ever talk to me that way,” she steps closer to me, waving her arms around threateningly.
“Do you not understand who I am? I am fucking royalty,” she spits as she speaks because she’s in such a temper.
“I could have you killed if I wanted. I could have you thrown out of the country, I could…”
“Mummy?” Lily stands up and stares at me with tears in her eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry baby, just come here.” I want her to relax, to calm right down because I really don’t want either of us to get upset over this.
“I will marry Edward,” Kristine continues, completely ignoring Lily.
“You won’t get in the way of that, and if you really think that you can… you’re very much mistaken.”
I can tell that she can barely control herself with rage, but I’m not paying any attention. I’m too busy looking at my daughter, waiting for her to get to my side so that I know she can be safe.
Which is when I spot a glint of metal in the corner of my eye.
“What the…?” I gasp, as I see a knife in Kristine’s hands and her arms reaching out to my daughter.
“No chance!” I race forward and I grab my daughter, pulling her away from this bitch who has taken it up another notch of crazy.
“What the hell is your problem? Come on Lily, we’re going.”
I try to pull her from the room, but Kristine stands in the way, blocking the exit and brandishing the knife at us.
She starts waving it at us threateningly, with a weird smile on her face. Apart from the blatant finery that she’s wearing, she looks like a stereotypical crazy person – all wide eyed and insane, hair a mess, an odd aura about her.
She’s clearly insane and we’re trapped in here with her, and it doesn’t feel like anyone is coming to rescue us.
Come on Edward, I think to myself. Get here quickly, before anything bad happens to us.
“Mummy,” Lily whimpers, climbing behind me.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s okay sweetie,” I tell her, holding onto her tightly.
“It’ll be okay.” I don’t believe what I’m saying, my body is truly freaking out with what might happen to us, but I need her to think that I’m calm.
I don’t want my daughter to know that my heart is racing and my palms are sweating. I don’t want her to feel my trembling limbs, and the cold fear coursing through my veins. She needs me to be in control, to stop this.
But I’m not doing a very good job of getting us out of this situation. Kristine is walking us backwards, taking us into a corner, and I have never been more terrified in my entire life that I’m about to die.
Kristine could kill us in here, and because the queen hates me so much she will just cover it up and we will become nothing more than an unsolved mystery.
I wonder what my parents will think when they inevitably realize that we’re gone. I haven’t spoken to them for many years, but there must be some love there.
Surely they won’t like to know that I’m dead.
Oh God, as she comes in closer, I start to become more and more afraid.
This is it, this is the end…
“What the hell is going on here?” A male voice booms out, but it isn’t Edward’s.
“Marcus,” I cry out.
“Help us, she’s trying to kill us, she has a knife!” I call out panicked, wanting him to solve this before it takes another step.
Kristine doesn’t care about me screaming, she just keeps on coming, but luckily Marcus is so fast – a bit like lightening – and he grabs her quickly, yanking the knife from between her fingers.
“Hey!” She screams out angrily.
“Fuck you, give me that back. That’s mine.”
Now that she doesn’t have a weapon, Kristine is much less threatening, so Marcus speaks to her in a much calmer tone.
“Now, Miss Larson, I think that it’s best if you come with me, don’t you?”
“No, I…” She starts in a manic tone of voice.
She doesn’t even seem to know that she’s acting crazy, which proves to me that she has never been reined in during her entire life. She is nothing more than a spoiled brat who doesn’t know how to cope when she doesn’t get her own way.
Of course that doesn’t make me feel any safer around her, since there’s no guarantee that she won’t take all of this one step too far, but it does make me see her in a very different light.
“I don’t want to…”
“I’m not asking,” Marcus replies firmly.
“I’m telling you. I don’t want to have to go and get security, and I really don’t think that Edward’s mother will want to hear about this. She will of course be compelled to tell your parents…”
“Alright, okay…” she concedes.
“I’ll come.” But before she allows Marcus to lead her away, she shoots me one extremely pissed off look as if she’s trying to tell me that she’s coming for me.
That she isn’t done with me just yet…
“I’m sorry,” Marcus says quietly to me.
“Please just wait here and I will send Edward to you.”
I sit on the bed, my emotions racing all over my body, and I pull Lily close to me.
Somehow we’ve just managed to survive the most horrendous ordeal of our entire lives, and it’s taking all that I have to keep it all inside.
By the time my ears stop buzzing with fear, I realize that I can actually hear a crying sound, but it isn’t coming from me.
“Oh Lily,” I pull her closer to me, wrapping all of my love around her.
“Don’t worry darling, that horrible woman is gone now, we’re okay. We can get out of here soon enough.”
“I don’t…” she sobbing now, a real state.
“I don’t like it here anymore.”
I want to tell her that I don’t either, but it doesn’t feel like the right thing to say, so I simply comfort her in the best way possible by hugging her tight and waiting.
Any minute now.
Edward will be here any moment now.
This mess will be sorted out once and for all.
20
Edward
I rapidly pack up all of o
ur belongings, before phoning up the nearest hotel that I can think of – one that my family won’t think to look in.
The entire time my mind is racing and my body is shaking with all that’s about to happen. I’m really and truly to put my whole life through an entire upheaval and I don’t know whether to feel scared or excited about it.
It’s huge, the biggest thing that I’ve ever done, and it’s incredibly intense too.
But just as I start to walk from my room, to really get the ball rolling, Marcus crashes into my room with a terrified look on his face.
“Whatever it is that you’re planning, I suggest that you do it right away,” he tells me in a terrified voice.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but Kristine has just gone after Faith and Lily with a knife…”
“What!” I yell, pushing past him.
“Are they okay?”
“Don’t worry,” he grabs onto my arm keeping me in position.
“They are safe, I’ve left them in Lily’s room. Kristine is in her chambers being watched – she can’t get to them, I promise you that much.”
I try to calm down my breathing, but my brain really is all over the place with this one. I knew that Kristine was crazy and kind of a bitch, but to try and kill someone, and a child too!
That’s something else. I can’t tolerate it.
“What shall I do?” I ask Marcus.
“Do you still think that I should go?”
“For sure,” he tells me, nodding furiously.
“I have been thinking about it too. I think that we should make out that you overpowered me and made me free Faith, then you get out of here. I’ve already buzzed the guy on the gate and told him to let you through, and there’s a car waiting too. Have you booked a hotel?”
“Yes,” I tell him.
“And I found a money stash that should keep us going for a few days.”
It’s such a good job that I’ve always known where mum keeps her extra cash just in case she needs it, and I have absolutely no guilt in taking some. I never have done before, and since it’s to keep my family alive, I figure that it’s worth it.
“Okay, well get going now. Go and grab Faith and Lily and get the hell out of here. You’re going to have to move quickly if you don’t want to attract any attention to yourselves.”
“Okay,” I agree, before shooting my old friend a grateful look.
“Thank you Marcus, I really do appreciate all that you’ve done for me.”
“I just…” he speaks out once more, looking a little embarrassed, and I start to suspect that he might be about to say something emotional about our relationship, something that might make me want to cry.
“I’m going to need you to punch me in the face.”
“What?” I gasp out, totally stunned. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say to that one. “What do you mean?”
“It’s to protect me,” he insists.
“To help me keep my job. It’ll make it more believable that you fought with me to get me to free Faith.” I shoot him a disbelieving look, but he isn’t ready to give it up just yet.
“If the queen doesn’t think that you got one over me, and that I just let you get out of here, then my life will be in danger.” He begins pleading with me.
“Please Edward, I really need this plan to go well.”
“I don’t like this,” I shake my head at him, really wishing that there was any other way around this, but I know that logically Marcus is right.
This really needs to look right if I don’t want anyone to get in trouble for my choices, and I really cannot stand the idea of anyone getting hurt.
“But I will… if you think that it’s the only way?”
His shoulders physically sag with relief as I agree with his plan.
“It is.” He stands firm, squeezing his eyes shut tight.
“Now, just… do it. Get it over with.”
I curl my fist around, feeling horrible about this. Why does everything have to be so awful? It feels like my life has been an entire confusing mess since I first met Faith, which is fine for me because I know that she’s totally worth it, but I’m not too sure about other people getting involved. It doesn’t feel right.
“Stop worrying,” Marcus insists.
“Just do it already. You know you have to.”
So I pull my hand back, I wince feeling more than a little upset, I take a few deep breaths, trying to steady myself for what’s about to come, and I swing my fist forward until it connects with a sickening crunch against his cheek.
Shit, that feels so weird! I shake my hand in shock. I’ve never ever hit anyone before in my life, and after that I really hope that I don’t ever have to again.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry!” I immediately feel dreadful, hating that I gave in and did that, but despite the pain that is plastered across Marcus’s face, he sends me a quick smile.
“I know,” he replies quickly.
“It’s honestly okay, I needed you to do that. Now go on, go!”
I race down the hallways, desperately praying that I don’t bump into anyone along the way. I really need this to run smoothly because if anything goes wrong, I risk losing all of the people that I love.
As I burst through the door, and see Faith sitting on the bed looking paler than I’ve ever seen before, cradling a sobbing Lily, and I quickly toss my arms around them.
“Oh my God,” I cry at them.
“I just heard, are you okay?”
“Yes,” Faith replies bravely, even though I know that she isn’t telling the truth.
“I… I think so.” I pull back to stare at her and I can see that she’s really upset and freaked out, which steels my resolve even further.
This is the right thing to do, the only way that we can make this work, and nothing else matters. These two people in this room mean so much more to me than money and titles.
“What is going to happen now? Do I have to go back into my cell? Will you protect Lily…?”
“We aren’t staying here,” I reassure her quickly.
Even Lily’s eyes snap up in relief at this statement. When I think back to how excited she was to come to the castle and act like a princess, it shows much just how much Kristine has freaked her out.
Damn her!
“I have a car waiting outside, and all of our stuff already packed, but we need to go right now.”
“Won’t this get you into trouble?” Faith asks, still concerned about me despite everything.
“I don’t even care if it does, I just need to get the hell out of here.”
Luckily, neither of them need telling again because they stand up quickly, and they cower behind me as we make our way to the outside of the palace.
There is no denying that I’m afraid, and that I really have no idea if this is going to work, but I keep that inside. I remain strong for Faith and Lily because I know that’s what they need me to be.
“Are you okay?” I whisper over and over again, wanting them to confirm that this is what they really want, and every time they agree, but the anxiousness is there in their tone, I can hear it clearly.
As we reach the cold, sharp fresh air, the panic sets in again. I know that Marcus said whoever is operating the gate knows to set me free, but can I really guarantee that?
What if there has been a shift change or it’s somehow all a plot?
But as we walk past the guards holdings, he only shoots me one quick glance before returning to his reading.
He’s pretending he hasn’t even seen us, which means that he’s definitely on board.
This is good, I think to myself. A good sign that everything is going to go to plan.
I spot the car quickly, and I usher Faith and Lily inside quickly and I tell the driver to speed off to the hotel that I’ve booked. As the car whizzes, I thank the man that’s taking us away from that nightmare, but he doesn’t answer me.
It’s almost as if he’s too scared to acknowledge me becau
se that will be like admitting guilt. Everyone is so afraid of the queen – and they have been my entire life – which I can now fully understand why. If she’s always treated them the way that she is me right now, it’s a miracle that we’ve ever managed to keep any staff.
It makes me wonder about all that I’ve missed out on whilst being so self involved. How many other lives have my family ruined?
After a while, my mind drifts and I turn to look at Faith, who is looking bewildered by absolutely everything that’s happened, and I feel the need to apologize to her. I feel so terrible for dragging her into this mess.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to her, trying to grab her hand, but she snatches it away and shoots me a look.
“I’m grateful that you got me and Lily out of there,” she replies, and I can detect a little sharpness in her tone.
“But I’ve been told a lot of things, and I’m really not sure what to believe.”
“Like what?” I ask, knowing that it could literally be anything.
“Like the fact that you’re engaged to that insane witch,” she hisses, trying not to attract Lily’s attention.
I glance over to my daughter who looks like she’s drifting in and out of sleep, much to my relief. She has been through a hell of a lot today, and I know that she really doesn’t need any more – especially not us arguing.
“She isn’t my fiancée,” I tell Faith.
“Mum wants us to get married because she wants me to wed into nobility, but I never had any intention of going through with it – which I told them both.”
I stare at her, wanting her to see the seriousness of my words. I know that it must be difficult for her to trust me after everything that she’s been through, but I really need her to rely on me. We only have each other now.
“I gave up everything so that I don’t have to…”
“I never wanted you to…”
“I know,” I interrupt her quickly, shaking my hands in front of my face.
“I didn’t just do it for you, I did it for me too. I’ve had my whole life controlled, but all of this is just too much. I don’t want any of it anymore. I want to be with you, and I want to be able to be a father to Lily.”
She opens her mouth to speak again, but I’m not done yet.