Chapter 13: Chapter 11
As the weeks go by, Samuel's condition gets much better. He can finally sit up by himself and have a normal conversation.
Anything that happened between Ashton and I is gone. He acts as if nothing ever happened. In fact, he acts even more hostile towards me.
Zander and I have kind of an awkward and tense relationship. After I woke up that morning still in his arms, things weren't the same.
I finally got out of late night exercises. When this happened, a few of the men and I celebrated.
Today, we're working on our sword skills again. The prince, who is still my partner, is distracted today. I easily disarm him and he yells out in frustration. Finally, I can't handle it anymore.
"What is wrong? Ever since the attack on your birthday, you haven't been acting the same. Why won't you tell me anything?"
He looks at me with anger and sadness in his eyes. "You want to know what's wrong? My mother is dying. That same night, her drink was poisoned and ever since she's been deteriorating quickly. So I'm sorry I haven't been paying attention to some girl like you."
I back away, hurt and shocked by his outburst. "I'm so sorry," I whisper.
I take a seat as he walks away to cool down. I watch the other men swing their swords this and that way. I'm mesmerized by there movements and don't even notice when the prince comes back.
"I'm sorry Iris," he says.
Startled, I turn towards him and respond, "No I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"Let's just forget about it and fight."
With that, we fight for what seems like days. He swings I duck, I strike, he sidesteps. This continues on for awhile. Finally, he manages to get the best of me and I fall, disarmed. He stands above me and stares into my eyes. I stare right back, breathing heavily.
Getting up, I brush myself off. He hands me my sword and I say, "Good fight."
"Same."
Dinner is uneventful as usual. The prince makes his announcements and we head back to our rooms. On my way, a couple of figures in black grab me and cover my mouth as I try to scream. I kick and squirm but their hold on me is too great.
"Stop moving," one of them grunts and pushes me down. My head bangs against the ground and I see black spots for a minute.
The voice sounds familiar but I don't pay too much attention to that. Finally, I give up and slump onto the floor.
"What do you want?" I ask with tears in my eyes.
One of them silently hands me a note and then says, "This is to go to prince Ashton, but if you mention this occurrence to anyone, you're dead."
I begin to read it.
"Then what am I supposed to say about the note?"
"Say that you found it on the ground in a hallway." And with that, they were gone.
Sobbing, I sit there until I hear footsteps in the hall. Lifting my head out of my hands I see that it's the prince.
"Iris?" He asks cautiously.
My head drops back into my hands and tears continue to trickle down my face. He sits down next to me.
"Iris?" He says again in a gentle tone.
I hand him the note, still not looking up. I can feel him tense up next to me as he reads the note.
"How did you get this?"
Now I do look up and look around. "Not here," I whisper.
Standing, I pull him up too and we walk to my room. Then I begin my story.
"I w-was walking down the h-hall to my room when people in b-black grabbed me. They then s-said that if I tell anyone, they would k-kill me."
Infuriated, the prince starts pacing. After a couple of minutes, he stops and asks, "Did they hurt you?"
I just shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal about my throbbing head.
He just looks at me and asks, "Where?"
I sigh and respond in a tired tone, "They pushed me to the ground and my head hit the wall pretty hard."
"Are you okay?"
I shrug.
Once I'm situated and laying on my bed, the prince begins to talk on and on.
"Who are these people? I've never heard of the Blacks before. How could they do this? How did they get in?" He continues talking.
"Your highness," I say. "Your highness," I say a little bit louder. Still, he keeps talking to himself. "Ashton!" I finally yell.
He looks at me and a little smile tugs at the corner of his lip.
"That's the first time you've used my actual name."
"Well it was the only way to get your attention."
"What am I going to do?"
I remember the note and my stomach drops at the thought of the prince turning himself in.
"You should probably talk to your mother."
He nods and says, "We should probably go over there now."
"We?"
"I'm not leaving you alone."
"Ok."
We head to the king and queen's area of the castle. I've never been to this part of the castle and I'm a little nervous.
The prince knocks on a door surrounded by guards. Ever since the attack, security has been extremely tight. They let us in to a large room. In the center of the room, is a bed bigger than any bed I've ever seen. I see a slender figure lying in the bed and the prince leads me to her.
"Ashton," the queen says, surprised.
He shoves the note into her hand. Holding it close to her face, she gasps as she reads it.
"What is this?"
"Iris was attacked earlier this evening."
"Are you alright dear?"
It makes me sad at how weak the queen sounds but I respond, "I'm ok. Just a little bump on the head, that's all."
"What am I supposed to do mother?"
"Well you can't turn yourself in."
"But-"
"No. I will not allow my son to do anything like this. I'm going to die soon and I'm not going knowing that my son is in danger."
It's shocking how similar the prince and his mother look. With the same jet black hair and emerald green eyes, they could almost be twins.
The argument continues, but finally the prince gives in. Tears begin to trickle down his face. I feel like I shouldn't be here. I start to walk away but the queen calls out, "Iris, please wait and come here."
I head over to her and she hands me something. Looking down, I see that it's her ring. It's one that she always wears; a silver band set with an emerald and two little diamonds.
I gasp at how beautiful it is up close and breathe, "This is too precious for me to take."
The queen chuckles slightly, "It looks better on someone alive than someone dead."
We say our good nights and goodbyes and the prince takes me back to my room.
"I'll send a guard to stand outside of your room."
"And what are you going to go do now?"
"I'll need to talk to my father and have the guards alerted about everything."
"Well make sure you get some rest."
"You sound just like my mother."
I chuckle and he leaves quietly. I'm exhausted, but no matter what, I can't sleep. Finally, I doze in and out of a restless sleep until exhaustion takes over me completely and I fall asleep.
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