Never Forgotten- When love is destined, is it future or danger?

never forgotten- chapter eleven

Chapter Eleven

That night, I cried myself to sleep. I had had a beautiful childhood full of fairytales and magic. Now look what I had. Destruction, hurt and loneliness. It was cruel to even let me live. To even think of sparing my life made me so angry, it was like killing a child and not even caring. Just like my poor little baby who I would never have, not even for one small second. 

The night remained peaceful once I had fallen into a deep sleep. I did not dream of anything, just black shadows swimming in front of my eyes like the closing of curtains. When I awoke, it was still the night and yet I could not fall back into sleep. My mind was still analysing, thinking about what happened and what could have happened if nothing had been the same. I lay there in the dark for quite a while in a dream-like state, staring into my thoughts, until there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I croaked feebly.

"Elizabeth, it's Frederick. Please..come out of your room. We need to talk". Frederick sounded like he was in great earnest.

"Frederick, it is late at night. I must try to sleep" I replied weakly. There was a pause.

"Elizabeth, it is morning! Early hours, but there is some light". I sighed as his voice pulled me into his offer and I had nothing to do but allow myself to follow it. I slid out of my bed weakly and pulled my shawl around my shoulders. I opened my chamber door to see Frederick standing there, concealed in his riding cape. His eyes were a very deep blue, almost black. He looked like he was hungry, battling against himself to even be able to stand near me. I presumed he had only just arrived at court.

"Frederick, you haven't drank recently have you?" I whispered, stroking his cheek.

"No matter, I can withstand" Frederick stubbornly replied. He looked at me curiously. "I heard you could not walk. Is this remedied?"

I automatically shot my hands towards my stomach and sighed sadly as I realised there was nothing there. I shifted from foot to foot and my mood rose slightly as I found that I could hold my own weight. I looked back up at Frederick carefully observing me and nodded in reply. He returned with a small smile. Gently, he took my hand and led me down to the pantry where we walked out through the back door- the very door leading to the gardens where we first began to court. Frederick pulled me through the gardens to the gazebo and memories of a beautiful picnic came flooding back into my mind. 

Frederick took both my hands and stared hard into my eyes, I could have sworn he could see my thoughts.

"Elizabeth, there are two horses waiting at the carriage house for us. Run away with me now as far as we can so that we can be together..." I was amazed at this statement. Did he not realise the trauma that had occurred?

"Do you not know what has happened Frederick?  Did the King not tell you?" I asked, stunned.He merely took me in his arms and pulled me to my feet.

"No, Jane pulled me aside and told me. She doesn't know that we are running away though my dear. This...this is up to us. So tell me now, are you coming?" Frederick begged me with his eyes and I found myself turning away. Hpwever, he pulled me back to face him. He grasped my hands tighter and I pulled away sharply. 

"Frederick, you are in earnest." I exclaimed.  "Where would we go? I love you so much but I cannot betray the king like this and become his enemy. That is the last thing I want to do. What about Jane? What about me? I have lost a child Frederick! Our child! Do you want to push me closer to my death anymore?" My heart poured out, expressing the hurt and terror I felt in my soul. I noticed the glint of anger and confusion in Frederick's eyes but I couldn't help it. I had to tell him how I felt.  "I cannot bear any of this!" I said, tears beginning to fall. "My life is moving too quick. I'm not even twenty years of age and yet I have already lost a child! I could lose another! Why can't you just care for me and let me decide where I want to go from here?" I realised I was shouting at him.

We stood for a few moments, fists clenched, staring at one another in desperation. Then I saw it as if a light had been snuffed out. Frederick had snapped. His eyes grew dark with malice, his fists balling up tighter and tighter.

"ELIZABETH!" he shouted at me, shaking me hard until I felt I could break.  "DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? WE MUST LEAVE! RIGHT NOW!" I stared back at him in fear as he pushed and pulled me around like a ragdoll. "OBEY ME, I AM YOUR HUSBAND AND YOU MUST OBEY ME!"

"No!" I cried in anguish, tears choking my cries. "You cannot treat me like this! No! I refuse!"

Frederick pushed me hard against the gazebo beam, so hard I knocked the back of my head and the warmth of blood began to trickle down my neck. He pushed his arm agressively into my neck and used his other arm to hold my hair, so that I was looking directly at him. His temper did not settle.

"You say that one more time Elizabeth" he snarled  "and you'll be sorry". He pushed his arm against my neck further, causing me to make a horrible, strangled noise.  "Now...will you go with me?" Frederick whispered menacingly. I glared into his eyes with hate. Instead, he pushed his lips against mine with a crushing voice, biting my lip and pulling back to look at me again. "You love me, I know you do!"

"Frederick, don't do this please." I whispered, my breathing beginning to hasten. " I'm sorry. I can't love you like this" I replied, black dots from the loss of blood covering my eyes.

Frederick pushed even harder into my throat until I felt breath of life begin to leave me. I used what little strength I had to grasp his shoulders.

"You have not drunk, you are sick, you need blood Frederick" I whispered, trying to reason with him. Whether the real Frederick heard me or not, the one I loved deep down, at that moment he did not hear me. Instead he leaned into my face, glaring viciously into my eyes.

"Well Elizabeth" Frederick whispered with a voice that made shivers crawl down my spine.  "You are not the perfect girl I expected". I whimpered as he pushed the hair away from my neck, almost gently. He leant in closer to whisper in my ear, his breath smelling like whisky.

The last words I heard were "be careful what you wish for, because it all ends now". Then suddenly,  I felt a burn in my neck and the slow pull of life being dragged out of my scarred body.

It felt like centuries had passed before I realised I was on the floor- Frederick's lips against my neck and the pain beginning to finally reside. I watched him from my half-alive, half-dead eyes as I began to slip away.

 Frederick pulled away from me, tasting the warmth of the blood in his mouth as he stood up. The sky was beginning to grow lighter, but it was still dark. Slowly, I watched his face as his thoughts began to make logic and he realised what he had done. His anger had controlled him and his hunger was too great. He had murdered me, the girl he loved. He dropped to his knees beside me in despair and put his hand under my head. I tried to pull away but I couldn't. Instead, I waited until he put his head near mine and I whispered slowly, "I will never forget...murderer". Frederick pulled away horrified and shuddered as he felt my body growing colder.  He wept silent tears, cursing himself for what he had done. He reached out to pull at my dress, obviously trying to release my dress so that any little molecule of air could reach my lungs. He soon stopped when I felt my body convulse and I coughed blood onto his face.There was no time for forgiveness. There was no time for mercy. He had already crossed the line.

That night, he mounted his horse and took off into the woods, thinking that he was leaving me to die. But I wasn't dying, I was being reborn. Frederick should have known that revenge was sweeter than love. There was no way I would have let him go that easily. I smiled as I felt the new energy begin to surge through my veins...then darkness.

 Jane told me that when the sun began to rise the next morning, my body was still laying across the gazebo, my blood poured out around me. It could have been a nice day for her if she had not walked through the gardens and found my body. The whole court grieved over my supposed death, stating that it was a terrible accident. They said I had walked into the beam of the gazebo and hit my head so hard it killed me. Still, that didn't explain the bruises around my neck.  Everyone believed it except Jane, for she saw the bite marks on my neck and noticed how pale I was. She covered them up and placed me on a dark slab, covered in blankets and shawls in the darkest room of the palace, for she hoped that I would reawaken. She dressed me in a deep scarlet ball gown and let my hair loose. Finally, she vowed over my body that she would avenge my death and hunt down Frederick secretly. After she had found him, she would cut off his head. However, I had already vowed myself that I would be the one to get my revenge.

Be careful what you wish for Frederick, because it all ends now...