Chapitre 20: Chapter 18
Later that week, I hear word that the queen is dead. When I get the news, I sob my heart out for the woman who treated me like family. The prince stops visiting after that day. Zander and Juliana also make it to the castle. Juliana decided to come and stay here for a while.
I heal up enough to start walking around. When the funeral comes around, a new black dress is made for me. It has half sleeves and is covered in lace. The dress looks beautiful and I think the queen would've loved it in a brighter color.
At the funeral, the prince stares into my eyes so that he has something to hold onto to. It breaks my heart that he has to go through this.
The night of the funeral, I'm moved from the hospital wing of the castle back to my own room. As I lay there in my dress, there's a soft knock on the door. Slowly, I push myself up and limp to the door. When I open it, I'm surprised to find the prince there.
"Hi," I say.
"Hey, can I come in?" He asks kind of awkwardly.
"Sure."
He comes in and I sit back on the bed so that there's no pressure on my leg.
"How's your arm and leg?" He asks.
"They're pretty good, but the doctor fears that my limp won't go away."
Saying this brings tears to my eyes.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm sure you'll fight through it and be fine."
"Sorry. I shouldn't be crying about something so stupid with all that's going on. So what are you doing later today?"
He rubs the back of his neck and looks embarrassed. "Actually, I um... Am having dinner with Juliana," he says sheepishly. "Just Juliana."
"Oh," I say, trying not to sound upset. "That should be fun for you."
"Yeah..." he says looking at me suspiciously.
"Anyways, I should probably get some more rest," I say as I lay down.
"Do you want me to stay?"
"I'm good, thanks."
With that he sighs and walks out.
Stupid! I'm so stupid. I actually thought that he might like me. Why did I let this happen to me? I've got to do something about this. My heart needs to close back up. Now I have a new fire in me that is fueled by determination. I won't let this happen again.
Weeks pass and finally I'm allowed to ease into fighting again. Just as the doctor feared, I still walk with a limp. But this doesn't stop me.
I avoid the prince by fighting with Zander. He helps me get back into fighting. As I progress, my walking gets better. I've regained most of my balance, and my arm only hurts a little while I fight. We keep doing this until I'm able to fight like before. The limp never completely goes away, but it no longer interferes with my sword skills.
One day, as Zander and I are practicing, Juliana joins the prince. As she fights with him, I can't help but feel the jealousy come back to me. That used to be me fighting with him. I think the prince was wrong when he said that she was in love with Zander. If she ever was, times have changed.
We head back to the castle and the prince calls out my name. I turn around and there the prince is with Juliana clinging to his arm.
"Yes, your highness?" I ask coolly.
He frowns and says, "You know I don't like it when you call me that. Anyways, I was wondering how you're healing up."
"I'm doing just fine, your highness. Thank you for asking."
He throws his arms up in frustration.
"I'll see you later tonight," Juliana says, winking at the prince. I glare at her and she smirks at me, holding her head high. Then she walks away.
"What have I done?" The prince asks.
I just shake my head and try to walk away. Instead, he grabs my arm and pulls me back.
"No. I command you to answer me."
I just stare at the ground and suddenly hear him inhale quickly.
"It's Juliana isn't it?" He says. "It may not seem like it, but the only feelings that I have for her are friendly ones. She may be madly in love with me, but I on the other hand, am not in love with her. In fact, my feelings lie somewhere else." Then he tilts my chin up and leans in. As he's about to kiss me, I jerk back.
"No! You can't just expect to make everything better with a kiss. You hurt me Ashton. It's going to take time for that wound to heal. I'll see you later, " And with that I stalk off.
Instead of going to dinner that night, I stay in my room. Late that night, there's a knock on my door.
"I don't want to talk to you!" I yell out.
"Why not?" Zander asks as he opens the door.
Quickly I sit up and say, "Sorry! I thought you were the prince."
"I just came to bring you some food."
He hands me two rolls and a piece of some kind of meat. I devour them and he laughs. "If you were so hungry, why didn't you come to dinner?"
"I wasn't hungry then," I lie.
He looks at me doubtfully but doesn't say anything else.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah."
And with that he leaves. But right as he leaves, I hear voices in the hall.
"She doesn't want to see you right now," I hear Zander say.
"Too bad. I'm the prince and she'll do what I say."
"Do you really think that saying that will make her happier? If anything, she'll be even angrier at you for bossing her around."
I tune out their conversation and change for bed. I'm trying to go to sleep when there's a soft knock on the door. I sigh and get up to open it. As I suspected, it's the prince.
"Yes?" I ask.
"Can we talk?"
I sigh again and hold the door open wider. He walks in and stands their awkwardly. "About today..." He starts.
"Let's just forget about it," I cut in.
"Okay."
"Why act like you're in love with her?"
"Because of my father. He still has that ball planned for me. I guess I was mad so I decided to make it look like I already had someone. It didn't work because her family isn't noble or rich enough."
"Oh. I guess I didn't realize that all of this was happening."
"Well, I don't usually let people in on my personal life. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight."
Finally, I'm alone.
The next morning, I feel much better. My thoughts are no longer confused. When I get to breakfast, the prince begins sitting with me again. He had stopped and had used to be sitting with Juliana everyday.
I couldn't help but smirk when I saw the look on Juliana's face as he sat down right next to me.
He was also my fighting partner that day. Juliana had to fight with some other guy who was creepily flirting with her. Once, she tries to come over and flirt with the prince.
"Let's go for a walk in the garden honey," she says in a singsong voice.
He just shrugs her off and says, "Sorry, Iris and I are fighting together and we were going to go on a walk later."
I can't help but have a smug look as she stomps her foot and walks away. The prince and I both laugh and I ask, "Walk?"
"Sure why not. After we're done, you can go and change into something nice."
The rest of the training hour seems to take forever. But finally it's over. I practically skip into my room and decide what to wear. I pick a dress that is a light purple color with tiny white flowers throughout. Then I braid my hair into a crown on my head. Once I think I'm ready, I head out to meet the prince.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone