Dawna: 17
Pixie: 14
All we are is guilty hearts in this sea of memories
The Faim; Make Believe
'Unbelievable, he wants me to marry the first man he was able to find on such a short notice! How can he call himself a father?' the Princes shouted angrily.
'Oh, please, do not act so surprised. Your father has never behaved like a father so do not think for a moment that he suddenly will,' her auntie spoke as she lit a cigarette on fire. She took one deep inhale before speaking again. 'Besides, this man is not the first man he could find, or have you forgotten about all those dreadful men you were forced to meet?'
'How could I?' she asked as she sat down; placing her pale pace in her hands. 'What do I do?'
'What was his name again?'
'It was a weird one,' the pale girl spoke as a frown appeared on her forehead. 'Rafferty, but he told me to call him Raff.'
'Are you calling him that?'
A smile crept upon her pink lips. 'Of course not.'
'That is my girl. Now tell me what happened after he introduced the two of you.'
Part of Dawna did not want to admit what had happened; part of her wanted to keep her anger a secret. It was not very Princes like to get angry, especially not if she was mad at her very own father.
'I just,' she started doubtfully. 'I got so mad at him. He is forcing me to marry this much older stranger for the good of his Kingdom, not even caring about my wellbeing. So, I told him that Damien would never do such thing and he lost it again, and so did I. It was like that night in the garden again when I killed all those men. I wanted to hurt him the way he is hurting me too. It is only fair. And eye for an eye.'
'Darling, he is your father. Do you not think that at least you should feel the need to talk to him about this matter? You have been fighting ever since-,'for a moment her auntie paused, looking outside the window to the garden. 'Since your brother died. Do you not think that it is time to at least talk? You do not have to be best friends, you just have to learn how to tolerate each other.'
'You do not actually agree with him auntie, now do you?' Dawna's concerned voice asked, causing Looky to look up with sleepy bright eyes.
The blonde woman simply shrugged, looked shortly at her niece and turned her attention to the world at the other side again.
'Come here for a second, will you?'
Dawna obeyed as she walked towards her aunt who was once again dressed in the most beautiful, dark green dress. 'What do you want me to see?'
'Right there,' her slim hands pointed. 'Can you see that?'
'The villages, you mean?'
Delphinium nodded, her amber eyes not leaving the beautiful sight. 'Do you have any idea how many children are playing in those streets right now? Do you have any idea how many children go to school every day, trying to create a better future for themselves?'
'No,' the young woman admitted shamefully. 'I do not.'
'Let me tell you a little secret then,' Delphi spoke. 'Around three thousand children go to school every day, they do everything in their power to make their parents proud. To create that better life for themselves. Do you have any idea what will happen to them if a civilian war would break out because you refuse to marry?'
Once again, the pale girl had to admit that she did not know the answer to her aunts question.
'Neither do I, not for sure at least. Most likely your father will kill all of them, a revenge for what they did to your brother all those years ago. Some wounds never heal, especially not if they are carved into a King.'
'If they die, would I be responsible?'
'Does it matter if you are? Death is death; no matter who is responsible. Sometimes you have every right to take a life and sometimes you simply do not. There is a very fine line between justified murder and cold blood murder. Find that line, test it out but do never cross it the way your father has. Unless, of course you want to end like him?'
To that question, the white-haired woman did know the answer.
'So, what do I do now?'
'Go to your blushing groom-to-be and try to get to know him a little. Who knows, perhaps you two can learn to love each other. Perhaps not. It does not really matter; your marriage will just be a formality. Nothing more and nothing less. You will have a few adorable children, but you are likely to raise them on your own. The people in the villages will calm down and they will accept you as their future Queen. It is a win-win situation really; for everyone except for you.'
'It is not fair.'
'Oh darling, whoever told you that life would be fair was either very drunk or out of his mind.'
***
Dawna had decided to follow her aunties advice and seek the company of her soon-to-be husband. Her father would never agree with her and let this go, so the only thing she could do was adjust to the situation. Much to her surprise, Rafferty was the first of the two to reach out. He did so by sending an invitation to her. He had asked her to meet him in the garden; she had to wear something comfortable and a jacket. The cat was invited too, if he felt like coming along at least.
That is why the young Princes found herself, minutes later, in the garden wearing a pair of silk, black trousers and the dark green jacket she had stolen from one of the guards. Looky, of course, was walking besides her. His yellowish eyes were scanning the environment. Every now and then he would purr softly; to let Dawna know that he was there with her.
'Princes Dawna,' the surprised voice of the older man spoke. 'What a pleasant surprise to see that you showed up for our little rendezvous.'
'A little bird told me that you wanted to take me out,' the girl replied, clearly not impressed with the man in front of her. 'I must warn you however, I have been taken on countless of these dates. Nothing really impresses me anymore.'
'I figured you would say that,' the man replied with a devilish smile. 'That is why I have not organised something too outrageous. Please follow me.'
Even though there was not a part of Dawna who trusted the man; she still followed him to wherever he was taking her.
'Alright, now, do you trust me?' he asked her.
'No,' she immediately spoke, causing a small laugh to escape his thin, red lips.
'I know you do not, yet, hopefully. That is why I asked you to bring Looky with you. You do trust him, right?'
'With all my heart.'
'Alright, so when you close your eyes, I will take your hand. Looky will be right there, walking between the two of us. That way he can protect you in case I try do to something wicked. Which, just to clarify myself, I am not.'
'Fine,' the girl with the white skin spoke. 'But only if he can walk between us, do not think for one second that I trust you.'
A genuine smile formed itself on his lips as he offered her his much bigger and muscular hand. 'Do not worry, I am not expectation anything from you. I just want to get to know you before we will be wed.'
The sudden reminder that the two of them would be wed in less than three weeks made her stomach twist, yet, she still managed to force herself to take his hand. His skin felt much warmer against her cold.
'You do now that I cannot stay in the sun for too long, right? Unless you want me to be as red as a ruby.'
'So I have been informed by your aunt. Please do not worry your pretty head about it, I want you to be my blushing bride, not a ruby bride. Now, please, close your eyes and focus on my voice. Looky is walking right beside you; protecting you. He will always be there to protect you.'
Dawna could hear the soft purring sound her cat made as she closed her beautiful bright eyes. for once, she had decided not to hit everything she could. Part of her trusted her father; he would never force her to marry a criminal, psychopath or murderer. Therefore, the man had to be trustworthy. Her father cared too much about his Kingdom to leave it in the hands of someone unworthy.
He silently took her for a short walk. Surrounded by darkness, the young woman had great difficulty to leave her eyes closed. The feeling of his skin on hers and the sound of her beloved pet next to her forced her to leave them closed, however.
'We are almost there, you are doing great,' she could hear his voice speak.
As his grip on her hand strengthened, they came to a halt. The soft spring breeze attacked her cheeks and neck gently, giving her some release from the heat of the sun.
'Alright, you may open your eyes now.'
He did not have to say that again. Her eyelids burst open immediately. They were greeted by a large rug that laid underneath her favourite cherry tree in the garden. A large basket stood in the middle of the nice, red rug that was completely covered in the shadow of the tree. There was no other living soul around them to watch them; no guards, no nobles and no maids.
'Are you going to murder me?' the pale girl blurted out once she realised that this was the perfect place for him to kill her silently. No one would hear, no one would see.
'That is a dumb question,' the man sneered with a smirk on his red lips. 'I am waiting until at least after the wedding to kill you, obviously. That way I will be King, and I will have the throne for myself.'
They both knew that he would not be King since her father still held that title. If she would die before the pair had access to the throne, the man would be replaced by some cousin of Dawna that lived in another part of the world. Knowing this, the young woman also figured that he was merely joking.
She could not prevent the small smile on her lips from breaking free.
'Is that there a smile?' Rafferty wondered out loud. 'For me? I must say that I am honoured Princes.'
'Do not ruin it now,' she warned him before pointing towards the rug. 'So, what is your genius master plan here? Have you just stolen a curtain from a poor window to look at?'
Now it was his turn to smile. 'You have truly missed your calling; instead of Queen you should have become a detective. Surely, the world would have been a much safer place with you as head-detective.'
Even though Dawna really did not want to, a laugh escaped her lips. It was a genuine one; one that surprised her too. Slowly, her cheeks burned up as her eyes looked down.
'Do not be embarrassed,' his deep voice sounded as he forced her eyes to look at his brown ones. 'I love to hear you laugh. It sounds like music in my ears. Please know that I will do whatever I can to hear it again.'
Next to her, Looky seemed to be in total peace. His calmness was a sign for the young woman that the man could be trusted indeed.
'Shall we sit? I have prepared the most delicious picnic for us to enjoy.'
The Princes raised her light eyebrows at him in suspicion.
'Alright, alright, I must confess that I did not make it myself. I had the maids do it for me, and I asked your aunt about all your favourites so I would not look too dumb. I can only make a second impression once.'
Dawna shook her head. 'No, that is not it. I truly appreciate this, but I must say that I find it quite odd that you are only taking me out for a picnic. My last date wanted to travel to the moon with me in order to impress me. How did you know that this would work?'
'Because you and I are a lot alike, Dawna. You might think differently now, however, I hope that you will realise someday that I only want to make you happy.'
The Princes rolled her beautiful blue eyes at those words. 'Be honest with me, you do not want to marry me to make me happy. You want power; you want to be King. Please, correct me if I am wrong on this one. My father approached you out of desperation, you are probably the son of a very rich noble who has great power in our Kingdom. You are a widower; I can tell because you are too old not to have married a woman at least once in your life. She must have died of a serious illness and you must miss her a lot. Yet, the thought of becoming King is appealing to you. You want the power your daddy never gave you. You probably have an older brother who walks away with not only all the power but all of your fathers love as well. This and the death of your wife has made your heart hallow. You are not seeking true love; you are seeking power. True power. The kind of power only a King has.'
Rafferty sat down on the rug and started to unload all the delicious looking treats he had the maids prepare for the afternoon. Once he was done, he took a small pastry between his teeth and chewed on his slowly. His voice only sounded again when he had whipped his mouth clean with a serviette.
'You are right about some things there, Princes,' he started looking her in the eye. 'I am a widower, my dear wife died of an awful lung disease three years ago. We never had any children, unfortunately. I do have an older brother, and two younger sisters for your information. However, my father loves us all equally as much. My older brother does have more power than I do, but lets be honest here, so did yours and you loved him despite that. So, what makes you think that I cannot?'
It was a rhetorical question, so the pale girl simply kept quiet while looking at the man in front of her with raised eyebrows. Her silence was a sign for him to continue talking.
'About that power craving phenomenon you so beautifully described; yes, I am seeking for more power. However, I do not think that you can find someone within fifteen days who can fall in love with your soul that quickly and who does not want power. I do not want to create a stereotype here, but most men nowadays would kill to be in my position. Only I want to really get to know you and see if we perhaps can actually fall in love. I crave love just as much as power, take that from me.'
The Princes looked suspiciously at the older man before looking at her cat who by that time lay curled up on the rug, sleeping like a little angel.
'At least you are honest,' she scoffed before letting go a sigh she had been holding for way too long.
'We will be wed very soon so why bother lying? If we have to do this quickly lets not lie to each other. The world is already filled with so many lies, so lets be honest. At least to each other.'
The idea of honesty seemed appealing to the young woman. Every other man had lied to her; hoping that their lies would wrap the Princes around their fingers. Lies, however, could not do such thing. Honesty might.
'Fine, I will sit with you and eat this picnic. It would be awful if all this deliciousness would go to waste.'
A genuine smile appeared on his thin lips again before he placed his hand on the blanket next to him.
'Then why waste even more time, Princes. Please sit with me and enjoy this beautiful afternoon with me.'
For the first time in a very long time; the Princes actually did enjoy her afternoon. Much to her surprise.