SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER- WHO ARE YOU, REALLY by MIKKI EKKO (Put it on replay if you want to, but this song is mostly for the first part)
WE MUST BE KILLERS by MIKKI EKKO
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C A R O L I N E
The dark room is small and tight, and the foul smell of smoke fills my lungs. My wrists ache from the friction of being tied up together. The ground beneath my feet is cold and stony, the wooden door across the room locked firmly. I am tied to an old rickety chair and utterly terrified.
"Help! Someone please help!" I cry out hopelessly, tearing streaming down my face. I repeat the same words over and over again, but no one hears my pleading cries. My ears pick up the intense murmurs from behind the door. The two voices both seem to belong to males, but one is oddly familiar.
"We need to end her. Now." The unfamiliar voice says lowly and my chest tightens immediately. The air in the room thickens with fear.
"B-But your highness, I thought you said we only needed her blood." The more familiar raspy voice says hesitantly. My heart thumps rapidly as I envision dark souls sucking the life out of me.
"Just do as I say. We have her parents waiting for their baby girl to come home." The unfamiliar voice commands, laughing evilly. "Only to find her dead body at their doorstep." There is a grim edge to his voice.
This isn't the end of me yet.
It just can't be.
My eyes search the room for some type of blade. With my arms wrapped behind the back of the chair, I drag myself to the old desk. The screeching of the chair legs causes me to cringe. I find a piece of broken glass from a shattered beer bottle hidden under piles of old parchment and my captive hands reach for it. It falls to the ground with a loud clang.
My blood goes cold when a tall figure bursts into the room through the darkness. His face is covered with a hood, but those hidden green eyes seem extremely familiar.
He comes up to me, clutching a knife in one hand. Trying to back away, I suddenly remember that I'm tied up to a chair. All I can do is beg for him to spare me. His sad eyes meet mine, cold fingers caressing my dirty, wounded cheek.
"I'm sorry, Caroline." He whispers apologetically, his fingers leaving my cheek. A single tear falls onto my face. But it isn't mine, it's his. Before I know it, I let out an ear splitting shriek in pain. I look down to find a long knob sticking out of my chest. The bloody spot blossoms like a rose.
I jolt up in bed, filling the room with my echoing pants and gasps. I swallow down on the trembling lump at the bottom of my dry, sore throat. My moist body lies still, wrapped between the good smelling, now sweaty bedsheets. I rake a clammy hand through my damp hair nervously and sweat trickles down my forehead. Looking around, I realize that I'm still in my room, safe and sound.
Not in some eerie dark room, being stabbed by a stranger.
My trembling fingers reach for the glass of water set down on top of the nightstand. I force it up to my lips and gulp it down. The faint ghosts of my nightmare appear in my mind time to time. I peer outside the window to see that it's still dark and the moon is set lower in the sky. Might as well go back to sleep.
It was just a nightmare. I repeat to myself like a mantra. But it felt so real.
Holding my body close, I force myself into sleep again.
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I wake in the morning, the gruesome nightmare still replaying itself inside my head. The second I start thinking about the knife piercing through my chest, chills creep up onto my spine again. My scalp starts to prickle, thinking about the mysterious green eyes and his apology. Sorry about what? What did it even mean?
I pull myself out of bed, trying to forget about the unpleasant dream. My eyes are heavy from the lack of sleep. On my desk, I find a steaming plate of poached eggs, grilled cherry tomatoes and polenta waiting to be dug into. Next to it, rests my usual cup of coffee.
There is a knock at my door and I expel exhaustedly. "Come in." Laura walks in, clutching a fancy pink dress and pearly bow.
"Her Royal Highness wants you dressed in this today. You have a special guest." Laura winks, and I wonder. "In fact, they're downstairs right now."
"Where's Harry?" I inquire. Harry is usually the one to greet me, so it's odd not seeing him first thing in the morning. I walk out to the doorway to see Harry not there.
"I don't know, maybe he's sick." Laura shrugs, smirking silently.
"What?" I raise my eyebrows, grabbing a clean towel from her basket. I shake my head frantically after remembering to ask an even more important question. "Who's the guest? And why do I have to wear this?"
"Surprise." Laura simply states, laying the frilly outfit down on my bed. God, I hate surprises, and I have a feeling this isn't a good one. I groan as I leave to the bathroom.
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After my shower, I unwilling throw on the stupid pink dress but chuck the bow under my bed. What am I, seven years old? Instead, I neatly pull my hair into a French braid. I quickly finish my breakfast and stumble down the stairs. When I reach the kitchen, I pop my head through the doorframe.
"Good morning, Niall." I greet him, my eyes taking in the gigantic platters of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, veal parmesan, angel food cake, berries and cream, and many other delicacies. Niall furious stirs something, which I assume is soup, and sprinkles a couple pinches of salt in.
"Didn't we just have breakfast?" I tease.
Niall chuckles."Well good morning to you, too." He says cheerfully, not looking up at me even once. When he finally glances up, his eyebrows crease in concern.
"Why do you look so tired?" I avoid his eye contact. "You have bags under your eyes." He points out, and I bring up my hand to feel the depth right above my cheekbones.
"Just a bad dream." I shrug lightly and the blurry scenes come back to haunt me. The dark room, the stabbing, the guy.
"Oh, well, do you want to talk about it?" Niall asks awkwardly and a small smile tugs at my lips. It was so typical of him to act as a therapist time to time. He cared about me, about my wellbeing. Not a day would pass by without him constantly asking if I was okay.
"I'd rather not." I admit, deciding that a change of topic is the best way to go. "So what are the goodies for?"
Niall ladles the thick soup into a big bowl, singing joyfully, "Today's a big day at the castle! Well, to His and Her Royal Highness at least."
"What? How?" I question further, but Niall shoos me out of the kitchen pantry.
"Get out there before the Queen comes over to hunt you down." He pushes me as I'm deep in thought. Something in me wonders how long I was asleep for. It feels as though I missed out on something, something I deserve to know. What's so big about today?
At first, I plan to go to the dining hall, but make time to visit the piano room. I take a look at the shiny, black grand piano and make my way towards it. I run my fingers over the white keys, randomly testing it out. It sounds extraordinary.
"You look lovely today, Princess Caroline." A familiar posh voice says from behind me and I turn around, startled to see Liam standing there with a big smirk on his face. He is dressed in a crisp black suit and an off-white shirt underneath with not even a single wrinkle clinging onto it. My mother and father are standing alongside him with beaming faces.
You've got to be kidding me.
"What are you doing here?" I croak, purely shocked. Liam steps back, my mother shooting me an angry look.
"Caroline, now is that the proper way to greet a guest?" She presses and I internally roll my eyes and groan.
"Curtsy." She commands but I ignore her.
"I thought I told you to call off the alliance!" I argue, crossing my arms over my chest. Both my parents' faces turn crimson red. I shoot a poisonous glare at Liam, who stands there innocently. "And I told you, that I don't want to see your face ever again!" I prod my pointer finger at Liam's chest with every other syllable.
My mother backs me away from Liam and I aggressively loosen myself from her grip. "Behave yourself, Caroline Ann." She warns, leaving me to scowl at her.
"Tell this creep to leave!" I hiss, but only to have my father shushing me.
"My sincerest and deepest apologies Prince Liam, she's just a little surprised to see you again, that's all." My father reassures the two-faced prince, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay, I truly understand. You sure have a feisty daughter," Liam smirks, causing my blood to boil. "I like it."
My mother smiles ever so slightly and Liam stuffs his hands into his suede pockets. I try to leave the room, but my mother holds me back.
"I want you two to get to know each other." My father coughs and I look over at Liam, who amusingly catches my eyes and winks. I cringe. This is like something out of a horror movie.
"Before all that, I need to speak to my parents. Alone." I speak harshly, glaring at Liam and waiting for him to leave. He nods casually before leaving the piano room.
"I don't like the way you're treating Liam." My father shakes his head, scratching his bald spot.
"And I don't like the way you're pushing this marriage onto me even though I don't want it!" I fire back loudly.
"Hush, lower your voice, young lady." My mother says, "And that's not the right way to speak to your father."
"Look. I'm sick and tired of you two thinking my world revolves around being a royal and learning etiquette. I hate how you make all my decisions for me. Jesus Christ, I hope you noticed that I'm an adult too!" I cry out.
"Don't bring the Lord into this." My father grumbles sternly, "The decisions we make are for your own good."
"Well, doesn't my input matter?" I ask in disbelief, "Am I just flesh and bones with no purpose?"
My father snaps his mouth shut, pursing his lips into a thin line. "I'm going to leave you ladies to this. I'll go keep Liam company." He leaves the room with that. My mother's expression lightens as she steps closer to me. I don't move- just think about what a wonderful mother she would have been if she didn't bug me about royalty all the time.
"When you have a daughter, you'll know how it feels. You'd be like us too. Trying to protect her from sorrows and miseries. Trying to keep her safe." My mother says softly, smoothing out my hair.
"I'm already in sorrow! The sorrow of not being who you want to be."
"You're too young to know the ways of the world, child. This is a dangerous place. Evil eyes are always laid on beautiful young maidens."
"I may be too young, but what makes you think I'm not too young to marry Liam? I'm not ready!" I spit out, tears threatening to spill any moment now.
"Well, the Courageous Kingdom isn't safe right now. There are a lot of issues rising and simmering down at the moment, and if anything happens to you, your father and I will be at blame. That's why if Prince Liam takes you back to Stockholm, you'll be safe there." My mother says, and it all suddenly starts to make sense. Why the door to my room is always open, why Harry was hired to be my guardian.
I sigh hopelessly, closing my eyes. "Please mum, is marriage the only way?" My mother looks at me sadly, and for the first time in a while, I see her as a human being who feels misery. Who feels happiness. Who feels confused. Who feels insecure.
A human being who masks it all with a brave face.
"What if I ever fall in love?" I finally ask, making her immediately turn away.
"No parent wants to see their child fall and break their heart. That's exactly what love brings. There are worthless scumbags out there who only use young women like you as a toy for pleasure. There is no such thing as true love!" My mother says darkly, but her voice trembles. She turns back to me with desperate eyes.
"I fell in love once. It was with a man whom I thought was the only man for me. Months and years of roses at my doorstep and midnight serenades. Only to find out that he was only using me and was already married to another woman. People had to pick up my broken pieces, and no one wants to be in that state. " My mother says, cupping my cheek in an almost pressured way. "That's why I'm warning you now, Caroline. Love is dangerous."
"Mum, love isn't dangerous. Yes, it could end in broken hearts, but its not certain that mine will end in the same way." I try to convince her and with every word I speak, my eyebrows crease a little deeper. Finally I put my hand in hers in attempt to prove my point.
My mother is silent for a few minutes, deep in thought. She lets out a wary sigh."Fine. I'm giving you two days to find true love. If you don't within those two days, you'll have no choice but to marry Prince Liam of Stockholm."