Hawthorne

48 - No charity case

"I'm fine," I half lie.

Physically, I truly am. The recovery is going well and as expected, despite the pain which is slowly wearing off. But the rest? I am mentally destroyed. My soul is shattered.

"You can lie to yourself and everyone else. But not to me," he tuts. 

My mouth opens to fight him on it but the maid stops abruptly before turning around and announcing, "Here." 

Then she knocks and a strong "Come in" is heard.

When the double doors open and the hall comes into view, my step falters upon the sight. The silence is deafening as the only heard sound is the creaking of the doors. My mother is sitting on a single chair with three guards surrounding her. One on each side and one behind. In the far back, on her right-hand side is a hand-cuffed man with two other guards on his flanks.

"Vincent!" My mother calls, a tinge of panic present in it. "What is this? What is happening?"

I focus on Camilla. Seeing her properly for the first time since she left my hospital room. The first thing I notice is the breach in protocol clothing. She is wearing a black suit, no crown or the honour staches and medals. Which is unheard of, but then again, besides a handful of people, there aren't media, or outsiders here. And this feels awfully like a closed door even than a public one.

In the end, my mind goes back to my mother's presence in this room. Camilla had vowed to find the one to blame and watching her here... It confirms my suspicions.

"Duke," Camilla's cold and detached voice reverberates through the room. "Come here."

I obey, Edgar on my tail, awfully silent and bow as soon as I reach the allowed distance to greet her.

"As promised." She ignores all formalities. "Inside this room, you'll be face to face with the man who fired the gun and almost killed you. And the woman who ordered the coup."

"Nonsense," My mother shrieks.

"He admitted everything. He used to work here in the Palace and you bribed him for information ever since the previous King was still alive. And you hired him to kill me."

Edgar gasps, maybe for the first time in his life, a real and surprised one. He's been more in touch with our mother's cruelty but I think he had hoped it wasn't her in the end... Even I did, when deep down I knew she was the one to blame.

"Fucking hell," I breathe out, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"He lies!" 

"Does he?" Camilla prompts, motioning her hand. 

Joshua, King Charle's mains counsellor and closest confident and apparently, Camilla's too shows up with a few papers in his hand. 

"Here," he hands them to me.

In my only good hand, I make sense of the papers. The payments are the one on top and when Edgar takes that one from my hands I see the proof that my mother has been in contact with him on multiple occasions. When my brother takes those too,  I see the Police's report on how the gun who fired is... Fucking hell!

"There you can see all bank transfers, pictures of the public places they met... Even the gun has the same serial number registered in your late father's name."

"And," the Queen chimes in, "Unless he left the grave on his own, I doubt he was the one to hand that man the gun."

"How sensitive of you to mention my dead Father," I can't help but snark.

"Sir," Joshua warns. "Please address Her Majesty with full formality."

"It's alright," She cuts him off. "I was out of line."