They Were Expecting A Lady, Instead They Met Me (Part II)

Chapter Twenty Six

            I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “He was mean to me sometimes, and I didn’t like him very much at all, but he didn’t steal my ribbon.” He did somehow manage to steal my heart though…

            We sat in silence for a little while, and that creepy coldness waved over me again. There was definitely something wrong. This wasn’t just the castle grieving over the queen’s horrible death. This was more than that.

            “Did you at least have fun staying with Aqua, her mommy and the baby?” I asked to fill in the freaky silence.

            “It was okay,” Tayla said quietly. “I didn’t like it that much though. I missed you a lot, Sissy, and they always play family games that I don’t understand. Sapphy does Aqua’s hair every morning for school, but I have to have a nanny to do mine. I want a mommy to do my hair too though!”

            I gulped at this, realizing that maybe everything wasn’t sunshine and daisies in Tayla’s life like I thought it was. Obviously she would be missing our mother like crazy, but I couldn’t bring back the dead.

            “Well, after all this is done I promise to make your hair pretty for you every morning. But, for now, we just have to cope with what’s happening, my love. I can’t have you in danger, so after Christmas you’re going to go back with Aqua and her mommy, okay?”

            “Edith and Ellen too?”

            “Mhm…” I ran my fingers through her curly pale blonde hair and hummed softly. “Now, how about we freshen up and eat something, and then play our own special family game?”

            “Yay!”

I waited until Tayla fell asleep in our bedroom- I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t put back into the room I shared with Christopher, another mystery- before I went out seeking answers. The castle was quiet and eerie, like how I would have imagined a vampire castle to be. The usual hustle and bustle was completely nonexistent.

            “Emilee?” a voice whispered. I whirled around to see James, my gay friend who worked as a cook in the kitchens, leaning against a wall behind me. He beckoned me towards him.

            “James!” I murmured. “What on earth is going on here? Where is everyone?”

            He looked around worriedly. “Go back to your room. I’ll meet you there and explain everything.”

            I did as I was told and used my vampire speed to practically teleport back into the bedroom. Tayla was still fast asleep in the middle of the sheets. I decided to just sit myself down on the floor patiently.

            It didn’t take long for James to come and join me. He sat across from me with a sad smile.

            “First,” he began, “I would like to offer my condolences. You must be traumatized from what happened to the queen.”

            “I’m… I’m managing it.”

            “Yes, well, ever since news of her death reached the public there have been riots throughout the country, especially in the capitol and in front of the palace. The king is inconsolable, as well as the rest of the Nyxs, and they’ve shut themselves up in a private grieving room with her body…”

            So that explained where Christopher was. I should have known that he wouldn’t want to see me. His mother pretty much died trying to stop me from being captured. She could have left me and fled instead- she was fast enough to do so while I was not in my current state- but she chose to die for me. I would be feeling a bit of turmoil too.

            “Faelin has withdrawn from the war now that it has become this serious, but PURE is stilling causing anarchy. They’ve started to be more direct with their attacks on towns and cities, and they’re drawing closer and closer to here. King Edward has ordered that PURE soldiers must be tortured then killed on sight.” James looked down, fear obvious on his face. “He really has gone insane because of Queen Madeleine’s death. No one can get him to think straight. He just wants to kill every rebel he can find to avenge her, and then die.”

            “But if he dies then…”

            “Then Christopher will be king,” he finished for me.

            “No,” I gasped. “Not now! This is all happening so fast! Christopher wasn’t meant to take the throne until at least ten more years!”

            “The king won’t die until Benjamin Ivory’s blood is on his hands, but after that you are expected to lead the country into peace.”

            “This is crazy!” I freaked out. “Me? Lead a country? Nuh uh. You got the wrong girl for that job!”

            “You were born to be the queen,” James argued. “It’s a position made for you. Not the other way around. I have faith that you’ll be fine.”

            “Sure.” I still sounded doubtful. “Do you know how long the royal family will be in mourning for?”

            “It can be anything from a week to a whole month. They’ll lock themselves up for as long as it takes for their hearts to heal.”

            I bit my lip and sighed. “So they’ll be in there a while.”

            “I predict that they will be.” James stood up. “I have to go and prepare your dinner, Princess. Was there anything you wanted in particular?”

            “Hmm…” I thought, leaning back on my hands. “Gnocci with cream sauce and a tall glass of blood. O+ please.”

            “Blood?” he sounded surprised. “You never drink blood with meals. You only have it twice a week at the most.”

            “Times change.” He still looked confused, but accepted my answer. “I’ll talk to you later.”

            “Stay safe, Emilee.” And then he was gone.

A week passed like this, with me only interacting with James during his frequent visits and Tayla who never left my side. I came to the easy conclusion that we were being completely excluded from the family. We were the only two who weren’t allowed in the room where they were mourning for the queen- even Sapphire, Aqua and little Jade were in there, and they weren’t even directly in line- and we were pretty much isolated. The servants stared at Tayla like she had the plague, but I knew it was because she was a human like the rest of PURE. And I was treated like I didn’t even exist.

            It was horrible, and I just wanted to go back to the US and forget this ever happened.

            I also never saw that strange white haired man again.

            Maybe I just dreamed him up or something? I was probably going insane from seeing the… incident.

            Not being around Christopher, but being ‘home’, was strange and I didn’t like it. Every night I hoped that he’d suddenly turn up and hold me as I woke up from nightmare after nightmare (I was sleeping a lot more now that I was preggers) but he never showed.

            This is what Bella must have felt like in Twilight when Eddy left her? It kind of sucks. I want a hot werewolf on a motorbike to console me now too.

            Nah, I’d never be able to do that to Christopher, no matter how much he was ignoring me.

            Either way I felt like my life, and me with it, was falling to pieces. 

            Merry Christmas to me.