Princess Lily

Chapter 49

All was silent in the wee hours of a beautiful summer morning except for a thunderous row taking place in James office.

"I can't you believe you called me that!" James bellowed. 

Sir Henry flew around him and before going to land on Lily's shoulder. 

"North!" squawked Sir Henry. 

James stared unblinkingly at Lily as Sir Henry left his perch, still squawking the word 'North', and flew up towards the ceiling. James was standing defiantly behind his desk with his arms crossed while Lily stood, equally defiant, in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. A pink tinge was appearing on both their faces from anger.

"I can't believe you called me THAT," Lily spat back. "Apologize. Apologize right now James. Go ahead, take it back. I'll forgive you."

"Take it back?" James asked incredulously. "It's you who started it."

"I started it?" Lily asked disbelievingly. "You're the one that started it. You should apologize!" 

James quietly crossed his arms. Sir Henry's squawks punctured the abrupt silence.

"I will not!" James snapped moving from his desk to come face to face with her. Both were red in the face by now from yelling at each other "You're the one that should apologize! Go ahead now," he said imperiously drawing himself up to his full height. 

As intimidating as he looked, he was no match for Lily who had a murderous glare on her face. Her eyes were alive with thunder in them.

"I'm not going to apologize," she said defiantly. There was a pause as the couple looked each other in the eye. Sir Henry flew between them squawking, "Go North!"

"Well then I guess there's nothing left to say," James finally replied with conviction in his voice. 

His face was oddly blank as he said this and his eyes seemed to hold a mask over them.

"I guess not," Lily said with a steely note to her voice. 

James's face contorted into rage.

"Fine!" he spat and let his arms drop to his sides as if he was throwing something to the ground.

"Fine!" Lily spat back she turned on her heel. Just before she shut the door she said, "Good-bye Prince James."

 The sound of the door slamming echoed throughout the palace. Sir Henry barely managed to squeeze out of the room squawking to follow Lily.

"What happened?" Georg asked as Lily bumped into him on her way downstairs.

"James is an illogical, selfish, arrogant, self-centered person!" Lily replied before brushing past him.

Georg gulped as he looked behind him to see Bertha washing the windows. She was one of the most notorious gossipers in the palace. He made his way to James office where Carl was already sitting. James was standing in the middle of the room, where Lily had stood moments before, fuming.

"Come on James tell me what she said, what did she say that got you so angry?" Carl pleaded from the chair in front of James's desk.

"She said horrible things," James said angrily sitting down. 

Edisson burst into the room at that moment. "Lily's leaving," he gasped out. "James what happened? Why'd you fight? Go stop her."

"Let her go," James said trying to maintain a cool façade. His face however had paled considerably. "It's her loss." His voice held a barely noticeable tremor in it.

*    *    *

"Please Princess-" Lady Molly said as Lily packed her bags. "-think this over. Don't do anything rash."

"I can't stay here anymore," Lily said angrily. She stared hesitantly at the ring James had given her before taking it off and giving it to Lady Molly. "Give this to James once I leave."

Lily walked out of the room and servants came to pick her bags up. She passed Anya on the way.

Stopping, Lily placed a gentle hand on her arm. 

"Anya, thank you so much for everything you have done to help me. I will miss you since I'm leaving for good," Lily said.

Anya paled and wrenched his arm away from Lily. "What? You're going back?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes" Lily said confidently before walking down the stairs.

"What about your engagement ball?" Anya queried, following her.

"There will never be an engagement ball! Everyone's been trying to delay it well, not it's cancelled. I hope they are happy!" Lily exclaimed viciously stepping onto the bottom landing.

Lady Molly appeared behind Anya.

"Please take a moment to calm down," Lady Molly pleaded.

Lily didn't reply. She turned a tearful gaze towards Lady Molly.

"I can't stay here," Lily croaked. "James said the most awful things to me and-and if he can't apologize then it's not meant to be." She wiped away two small tears and exited the palace. Anya and Lady Molly followed behind her.

"Good-bye." Lily sobbed and hugged Lady Molly and then Anya. She was going to miss them so much! As Lily looked up at the palace one last time, her heart gave an awful twang and she realized that she was going to miss being here. Lily quickly wiped away her tears and turned her back on the palace.

A carriage stood ready for her with her own horse and another horse next to it to run the carriage. Lily got into the driver's seat, refusing to use any of the groomsmen that belonged to the palace. 

"Anya, quick, go with her," Lady Molly whispered and Anya barely managed to sit down beside Lily before she gave the reigns a tug and the carriage went zooming away. 

"I thought I'd keep you company on your journey, after all someone needs to bring the carriage back," Anya exclaimed cheerfully to Lily. 

Lily simply swallowed convulsively and kept on driving her carriage. 

*    *    *

"There's still time," Georg spoke up as James watched, from his office window, Lily ride away and past the palace gates.

"It's her loss," James said again as if he was trying to convince himself. 

His eyes never wavered from the small dot that was Lily.

Edisson snorted. "James I think you got it all wrong. It's your loss. Tell us what happened? What did she say that got you so angry?"

"She said horrible things." James said clenching his fist. "Such horrible things..." he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "Things I never imagined someone could say to me." He turned his back on the window as the dot that was Lily's carriage disappeared from sight.

*    *    *

"Is she gone?" Sasha asked frantically coming towards Lady Molly. "Is she really gone?" Sasha asked excitedly and smiled.

"The Princess-has left," Lady Molly said and bowed her head.

Sasha looked at Lily's room door suspiciously.

 "You never know," she muttered and walked past Lady Molly. "She could be up to one of her tricks," Sasha spat snidely and opened Lily's room. Her features lit with excitement as she spotted the room empty with no trace that Lily had ever been there.

"She's gone! She's actually gone!" Sasha squealed turning to face Lady Molly who was now looking quite miffed. Lady Molly's eyebrows had snapped together and her cheeks were gaining a red tinge to them. 

Sasha however, took no notice and went on.

"She's left for good! Now James will be mine. All mine," Sasha cackled.

Lady Molly's temper finally reached its boiling point. "You horrible, horrible girl!" she shrieked towards Sasha. She rounded on Sasha and began to advance on her, making Sasha walk backwards and out the door to Lily's room. "You horrible girl! Princess Lily is so sweet. She's better than you. You-you-egotistic, you selfish girl, you-you Blattodea!" she shrieked and Sasha suddenly found the door slammed into her face.

"What's Blattodea?" Sasha asked the now shut door with bewilderment.

She turned on her heel and left unable to keep fantasies of her and James out of her mind.

*    *    *

"The problem is-"Georg said from his position against the wall in his room. "-how do we get them back together?"

Edisson shook his head. "Both are too hotheaded to forgive each other or ask for an apology right now. Give them time to cool down."

"I agree with Edisson," Carl spoke up from his seat. "We should give James at least a day to cool down. From the way he talked, they had a pretty big argument. He'll cool down after today though."

"Right," Said Georg flicking hair out of his eyes. "Well what do we do tomorrow?"

"I guess try to convince him to go after her," Carl mumbled.

Georg snorted. "I bet he'll be on his way by tomorrow afternoon."

"Maybe or maybe not. It seems that whatever they fought about was pretty big," Carl replied. 

"You should have never told him Alexei kissed her!" Edisson exploded. "I bet they argued about that."

Georg shrugged helplessly, worried he'd been the cause of a rift. 

*    *    *

"She's gone," Empress Sophia said, her voice dripping with relish from behind her desk. Counselor Vesky smiled shrewdly.

"Looks like we never had to interfere in the first place," He replied from his position behind Sophia's desk. "We just had to let everything runs a natural course."

"Yes, I suppose so," Sophia muttered,ruffling through her papers. "I knew she'd never be able to survive here. Better now than later that she left."

"Your majesty there's just one thing that confuses me," Counselor Vesky said with furrowed eyebrows.

"What is it Counselor?" Empress Sophia asked looking up from her papers.

"Why did they have a row in the first place?"

Empress Sophia looked taken aback. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "Though Bertha was on about how Lily was having an affair with Baron Rotherbeg," Empress Sophia shuddered. "Even that Leal bumpkin has standards."