Once more I will reiterate that THIS STORY ENDS WELL. Having said that, this is gonna be a bit of a darker time. However, remember what our wonderful guys told us in their bonus track "Irresistible":
🌑🌑"Midnight doesn't last forever. Dark turns to light"🌞🌞
There. Keep that in mind. Okay? Okay good. Now, RECAP, and goooo:
"Well,well, well, what have we here? A lover's tryst in the middle of a party? How rude!Why wasn't I invited?" Niall stepped in next, giving them a once over. "I never thought to see you this out of sortsuntil our wedding night, Princess," he said poisonously, "but it seems my dearbrother jumped at the chance to gain that courtesy himself."
Kalysta crouched and pulled her dress over to cover her body, continuing to hide behind Zayn. He stood in front of her and fixed his clothing as well.
"You know, I thought I saw something going on when you danced together, but I brushed it off," Niall pointed out. "Then I felt your hatred, Zayn, when I danced with her and held her so closely. Finally, the two of you disappear? Tell me, were you trying to be obvious?"
"Brother," Zayn said quietly.
"You are no brother to me!" the Prince hissed. "You. ruin. everything! You couldn't let me have this one thing! This one thing! I just wanted to get away from our father! Did you ever consider that? Did you ever stop to think about anyone but yourself? I hated being around a madman! You think you things were bad for you because you're Bradian, but I was the heir! You got to leave whenever you wanted, but I was trapped! Then, this one chance I get to escape and you try to ruin that too! By taking her maidenhood you've destroyed the chance of peace between our nations! All for your pitiful attempt at love. I can see it. I can see it in the way you hide her behind you. Oh, you always were the romantic, Zayn. Never had enough sense in your head to use women the way they're supposed to be used.
"Take him to the dungeons, men, and then come back here," he ordered next. "I expect you put the fear of my father into him on the way."
The guards moved forward and yanked Zayn away from her. He tried to stand, but one guard kicked him in the legs and another brought his knee up into Zayn's face as he fell. He dropped to his knees and they grabbed him under the arms and hauled him out of the room.
Kalysta watched all this in horror, feeling sick to her stomach and wishing she could fight back. But what would that accomplish? They'd been caught in the act, just as if her worst nightmares had come to life. She wished she were dreaming again.
"Princess Kalysta," the Prince sighed, "I am simply shocked that you'd be so selfish as to allow this. You were willing to suffer and give up your own happiness in marrying me, but then you go and throw all that out for a quick romp with a bastard?
"It's a good thing I'm more merciful than you realize," he added. "I'm choosing to ignore this. Am I not a merciful fiancée?"
What could she say?
"You'll learn that when I ask you something, I expect an immediate response," he threatened in a low voice, "but all in time."
The guards came back in a moment later and Niall sighed.
"I want you to watch this, Princess, and remember the next time you choose to defy me that I will get what I want, the difficult way or the easy way."
Without another word, the Prince whipped a sword out and killed the three men, right in front of her, a slice to the neck here, a slash there, a stab to the last. It was over quicker than she could believe. He was obviously an incredible swordsman, but having it displayed so brutally was beyond her realm of comprehension.
"Now see what you made me do?" he commented, not even a bit out of breath after the feat. He pulled out a cloth and wiped the blade before sheathing it again. "You made me kill some of my best men. They're dead because of you. I can't have this getting out. If someone knows my brother plucked you like a ripe plum then I have no way to take Elysium peacefully. I'd much rather rule a nest egg than a war-broken nation, you understand? I'll fix this. Think of it as a respite. Your pathetic little country won't be smeared from the maps, your family survives the year, my father gets a step closer to what he wants, and I get somewhere to rule away from him. Everyone's happy."
"Happy?" Kalysta asked, standing finally. "Your father threatens my family and my country, coerces me into marrying his putrid spawn and you think I'll ever be happy with that? You won't ever be worried about anyone's happiness but your own, you inbred pox."
His slap sent her careening to the floor.
"I show you mercy, offer to save your country, and you insult me?!" he bellowed. "Let this be a warning. Keep your tongue inside your head like a good little moll. You have more loved ones than the Ambassador. Young Franklin has grown up under your father's misguidance. Perhaps he deserves some special training in the treatment of women? I could show him what a real man can do."
The slap was more painful than she could describe and at his words she couldn't keep in a cry of despair. He'd done more than threaten her family's safety; now he was threatening her brother's innocence. She couldn't fight him on this with so much at stake.
"Please no," she whispered. "I'll do as you say."
"Make yourself as presentable as possible," he ordered. "Go to your rooms and I'll send your maid to fix your appearance. You will tell her nothing of what's happened and when you look like you should, come back to the party. Do not take too long," he warned. "You are on shaky ground. One wrong move and everyone you love can be taken from you. Easily. Do not test me, do not rebel. You will behave like a doting fiancée, as you should have all along. Go."
She wouldn't try him. She simply left, tucking herself back into her dress as quickly as possible before exiting the room. It was blessedly deserted in the corridor and she knew that was Niall's doing. He hadn't wanted any witnesses when he caught them.
His threats loomed in her mind. If she thought about it too much her heart would burst and she'd break down. She couldn't do that. Not now.
Elysium was in a more precarious spot, and this time it was her fault. She couldn't blame her father, she couldn't truly blame deranged Murdoch. It had been in her mind from the start, the penalties she faced for her actions, but she'd been careless, idiotic to the extreme. By all rights, the treaty could be terminated. Niall, the Mullingan heir, couldn't marry a woman who was found to not be a maiden. It didn't matter who she'd been with.
But Niall was determined to rule away from his father, to escape the mad king. Perhaps she could gain some advantage from that, but her mind was too jumbled to sort through it all.
And the fear of Zayn's situation was incapacitating. She could barely breathe as she hastened back to her rooms.
The marriage was the least of her worries now. Niall's anger toward Zayn was formidable and the threat to her brother gut-wrenching. She was more indebted and chained to this man's whims than ever.
She reached her rooms and immediately sat in front of her mirror. She was a mess. It was good no one had seen her; there would be no way to disguise a problem when she looked like this.
Wearing the corset seemed ridiculous, and her dress was wrinkled and dirty from lying on the floor. There was no salvaging it for this evening, so she shed it and then began removing the pins from her hair. Knots and tangles would give her away. Her hair would have to be redone.
Delia let herself into the room at that moment.
"Milady!" she exclaimed. "What's happened? Your hair! And why is your lovely dress on the floor?"
"We need to hurry," Kalysta replied.
"Not until you tell me what's going on! You disappeared and then the Prince disappeared and... Oh!" This last was a horrified gasp. "He didn't... The Prince didn't...."
"No, Delia, the Prince did not have his way with me. He caught me and Zayn..." Kalysta didn't finish the sentence. "I need your help," she whispered next.
"Oh, Milady." Delia was distraught. "How did he react when he found you?"
"Zayn is in the dungeons and there's a lovely red hand-print on my face that needs covering up."
"He struck you?!"
"Delia we don't have time to talk about this. I need a new dress and to fix my hair."
"Very well."
Delia went to the cupboard where her dresses hung and got her another. "You won't be able to hide the fact that you've changed. I advise coming up with a valid excuse instead of avoiding the subject."
"I'll simply say that I didn't feel the red suited my coloring or the occasion," Kalysta answered. "I need a favor from you."
"And what is that?"
"When we return to the banquet, I need you to subtly make it known to the other maids that Niall sent you to fix me up and it was clear that more than talking had gone on."
"What purpose does that serve?"
"I know some of the castle maids have taken the Mullingan men to bed," Kalysta answered, wincing as Delia was particularly rough with her hair. "If we can undermine his standing with them, then at least that's something."
"How will that undermine him? They're all animals that are more likely to act on their basic instincts. They'll probably congratulate him on getting the prize early."
"Not all of them, though. If there's one thing I learned from all that dancing and posing in Mullingar, it's that there are at least some men who are sane, self-thinking people. The entire country doesn't take after the mad king, even if Harden and Niall did. Some probably do care about tradition and the laws set up. If we can get just one to question his loyalty to Niall then we weaken him."
"I'll do it if you really think it will help."
"Anything helps when you have nothing."
"What is he going to say about Zayn being arrested?"
"I have no idea."
Delia put the last touches on Kalysta's hair and then used some of the powders to disguise the red mark on her face.
Again, Kalysta was reminded that she wouldn't function nearly as well without Delia. This was just another example of how Delia did a lot more for her than anyone would realize.
Kalysta returned to the banquet hall and the dancing and drinking were still in full swing. The entire hall noticed her entrance and she knew there would be speculation as to why she'd been gone for so long. Again, she had to face the realization of how stupid she'd been to disappear, get into a compromising situation with Zayn, and then expect to not be caught. That man made her forget reason. Before any other thoughts about him could manage to surface, she forced the issue from her mind, focusing on the task ahead. She had to behave as if nothing was wrong, even if everything was wrong.
Niall was in his seat at the royal table and, when he caught sight of her, he rose to greet her in the middle of the floor. Her chest hurt as he approached and held out his hand in a motion to dance with him once more. He was testing her.
"I'm glad to see your return so quickly," he said, taking her hand in a fierce grip and leading her farther out among the dancers.
They danced for a moment, and he was once more the gentleman, keeping her at an appropriate distance and his hands in the proper place.
"I want to take this time to thank you for not destroying Elysium in the face of my... indiscretion."
He bared his teeth in a semblance of a grin. "Oh, Princess, it's too late to make a good impression. I know who you are and I do not forgive."
Kalysta kept her face impassive and replied, "Then I won't hold to pleasantries, Prince, not that you would appreciate them."
"Now, that's where you're wrong," he murmured, his grip on her waist tightening, "because it still hold every source of power in this situation, so no matter what I say, you'll stick to being pleasant or I will make good on every threat I've made thus far. Your one goal now is to make me happy enough that I choose to ignore what has happened."
Kalysta took a faltering breath through her nose. "Very well, Prince." She left it at that.
--- --- --- --- ---
It took her hours to fall asleep that night and when she did she was haunted by images of Zayn dying, in horrific ways. He dueled Niall in one and she watched him get stabbed in the chest. In another, Niall had him hung. The second was the worst for the image grew bigger in her mind, taking over her mental image, Zayn swinging from a rope, his head at an odd angle, his face blank, his eyes lifeless.
She woke early in the morning after the dreams and didn't go back to sleep. Instead, she chased her options around in her mind, each one more fantastical and impossible than the last. To comfort herself, she imagined freeing Zayn and running away with him on the Partheos to lands unknown across the sea.
When the sun had risen, Delia got her out of bed and ready for the day. They'd just finished when a servant came with a message from Niall.
"Good morning, Highness," the servant greeted. "Prince Niall bid that I bring this message to the royal family and all the advisors of the Elysian counsel. He will be holding the trial of a traitor and summons you to the proceedings at midday. Your presence is... er... is required."
Kalysta wanted to throw up. Niall was going to try Zayn as a traitor. What evidence would he use?
"I will be there." Her voice remained steady as her body trembled in fear.
What would be the verdict of this? Surely, Niall couldn't just order a member of the royal family executed when he had no proof and no eye-witness beside himself. She wasn't sure, though. Mullingan justice was different from her own.
A/N: The trial is in the next one! How do you all think it will go? Make predictions, and remember that I love you all too much to lie to you. Happy ending, I promise! 😘
❤️Love you all, and all the love,❤️
~Kari~