Kiss of Death

Prolouge

How did my life end up like this? Just a few weeks ago, I was the princess, and now I am stuck in a cell waiting to have my husband execute me for the exact crime he committed. I was never the nicest person in the world, but how did I end up deserving this?

I hear footsteps on the cold, wet cement steps that lead to my cell, and when I look up, it is her. "Hello, Angela. Sweetie, how are you? Oh, that was a dumb question. You probably feel horrible. I mean, I would if my husband were going to execute me for adultery." She said in her sickly sweet voice.

"Actually, I can't wait for Adrian to finish me off so I don't have to look at your face anymore. So, if you don't mind, Alexandra, please leave."

"Aww, don't be sour. It's not my fault your husband is going to cut your head off because of your crimes," She smiled, but her eyes were so empty anyone would shiver at the eeriness, "Don't worry, Adrian will be down here soon too... well, you know." We heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and then her smile fell, and she made her eyes sad. My ex-husband walked in front of my cell and unlocked it.

He takes a deep breath, "Come on, let's get this over with." He said harshly to me.

"Adrian, you don't have to do this. You know I didn't commit adultery, and I will look over yours if you jus--," I was cut off by him roughly throwing me at the wall.

"You really are stupid, aren't you? Do you think I can just take this back now? Even if I wanted to, I can't." He said while laughing at me and crouching down to meet my eyes.

Alexandra put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Adrian?!" faking concern for me.

"Let's go, Angela." When we walked out, I held my head high and didn't beg anymore. I wasn't going to give any of those people a show. We got out in front of everyone when my eyes met my stepmother, and she turned away with a look of disappointment on her face. I put my head down on the chopping block and moved my hair to the side. "What are your last words?" Adrian asks.

"I know this isn't how any of us wanted this to end, but just know I'm not mad and I love you and don't blame you... Father." With that, my father snaps his head in my direction. He gives me a bittersweet smile and nods as one tear leaves his eye. He's the man who set up this marriage and the only man who has the power to stop this, but in order to do that, he has to risk killing himself, my stepmother, and two half-sisters.

Adrian puts the blade against my neck, and it is as cold as ice, and I swear I can feel the sharpness of the blade. He raises the blade, and a single tear falls from my eye to mourn my life, and I smile because I know even if it was my last act, I got to bring a little peace to my father. When the blade comes back down, I don't feel any pain, and everything just goes black.

I shoot up and grab my neck to make sure it is still attached, and then I look around and realize I'm in the old room that I had back before I got married. I slowly rise from my bed and go to my vanity so I can wash my face. When I got to the mirror, my hair was no longer to my shoulders, but it was much longer. The door opened, and it was my head maid from when I was younger, Joyce. "Oh... you're already awake, good. We have to get you ready for your birthday celebration."

"Birthday celebration?" It was nowhere near my birthday.

"Yes, your twentieth birthday celebration is tonight. So, we have to get you all dressed up. Let's go." She pushes me towards the bath.

"Twenty?!" 'I'm twenty-five years old!' I scream in my head.

"Yes, twenty. I know it's hard to believe, myself. I can remember you being born like it was just yesterday." She says, reminiscing. I'm frozen in place as I realize that I'm five years in the past. 'Was it all a dream?' Well, even if it was, I'm going to do anything in my power to make sure none of that happens. I will not be the one on the chopping block this time around.

"Angela, what are you doing? We have to get moving." Joyce yells at me.

When the bath is done and I'm dressed, I sit in front of the mirror. I can't help but admire my face. My eyes shone bright blue and not my old dull blue, as if I hadn't just experienced my own personal hell, and my face and body were lean but fuller, showing that I had yet been deprived of food. I almost can't believe I ever looked like this after years of looking in the mirror and seeing someone who was on the verge of death. When I was finished getting ready, I looked at myself one last time, more determined than ever to get my revenge, dream or no dream.

Joyce looks at me and looks, and she starts crying, "You look so grown up, beautiful." She moves a piece of my hair.

"Thank you, Joyce." I smile at her. She is just as I remember. I walk out of my room, walk through the halls, and look around, feeling a calming air washing over me that I missed. I looked out the window at the garden and just stood there for a while, frozen, taking in all the flowers and patterns in the grass and the maze made by the bushes. I was so focused on the beautiful view that I didn't hear the two pairs of tiny footsteps running up to me. My twin little sisters jump on me.

"Angie!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" They yell and hug me, almost knocking me over.

"Sophia, Scarlett, get off your sister!" My father yells at them as he walks up to us. He has a smile on his face, and he shakes his head. "Happy Birthday, my little warrior. You look just like your mother."

"Thank you, Father." I smile and hug him.

"Oh, there you two are. Come here and put on your shoes." My stepmother comes up to us and grabs Sophia and Scarlett. I look down and notice that they are, in fact, not wearing shoes, and I laugh.

"Frederick, why didn't you stop them?! What if they got to the ballroom?" My stepmother yells at my father about his lack of help.

My father laughs, "Eleanor, calm down, we were going to come back to put shoes on after they said happy birthday. Right, my rascals?"

"Right, Daddy," Sophia says, smiling at their mother.

"Mmhmmm," Scarlett says, rocking back and forth on her heels, trying to seem like she is not the troublemaker she is. Their mother gets down on her knees and puts the shoes on Scarlett's feet. She shakes her head at my father's and twin sister's actions, as she is used to this. I kneel and grab Sophia's shoes and put them on her feet.

"Angela! What are you doing? You're going to ruin your gown." My father yells at me.

"Well, Father, I'm helping Mother with the twins' shoes. You look beautiful, by the way, Mother." My stepmother smiled at me. We stood up, and she smoothed out my dress and looked at me.

"Thank you, sweetheart, and you look.... Stunning. I can't believe you are twenty...... Well, let's get this party over with, shall we?" I laugh at her. She expects us to be perfect, but she is also not shy about her hatred for high society. My father and stepmother each grab one of my sisters' hands. We all head to the ballroom where I meet them, Alexandra, and Adrian. My family was always in business with Adrian's, but I hadn't met him until after his father's death, and he became Marquess. Alexandra had just turned eighteen, and so it was the first time her father let her out in high society. The closer we got to the ballroom, the more it felt like I could still feel the blade on my neck. Who would have guessed that my birthday was the reason I died in only five years?