Chapter 11 - A murderous plot!
2529 Words
On her way to see her son, the queen saw Julius leaving his room with that kitchen maid. Holding her hand! So, he was bedding her! She decided to turn around and return to her room. There was no reason for him to know that she had gotten rid of his guards yet, but this information might come in handy.
Emily
“And where the hell have you two been? Emily, I needed your help preparing the Queen’s tea tray!” Cook heard footsteps coming down the stairs and assumed it was the love-birds.
“I am sure mother didn’t die without her tea Cook.” Julius smiled brightly.
“Yes, but I might! But not to worry, I made sure she got it. And what is with this hand-holding? It will get tongues wagging!” She waved her spoon at us.
“Let them wag! I want the entire kingdom to know that this beautiful creature is soon to be my bride.” Julius pulled me closer, and I felt my cheeks turn bright red.
“A common kitchen-maid? Your bride? And Emily, you agreed to this?” Cook looked stumped.
“No, I did not Cook. He is lying.” I scowled at him.
“Okay, now I’m lost. Why the hand-holding?” Cook frowned.
“Because I’m going to marry her.” Julius smiled like an i***t.
“Ugh, brother!” I shouted. “Because he thinks he is going to convince me to marry him, and he won’t let go of my hand. See.” I lifted my hand, shaking it, but Julius was not letting go.
“Oh, yes I see. He can be a brat sometimes when he wants something. Now your highness, if you will kindly let go of the help, so she can return to work.” Cook raised a brow, making me laugh.
“No, I refuse.” He still stood there smiling like an i***t dragging it out, biting his tongue not to burst out laughing.
“JULIUS!” He couldn’t hold it back any longer and burst out laughing. Taking my face in his hands, he kissed me softly.
“I love you ladies.” He shouted over his shoulder on his way out and went back up the stairs.
“Emily?” Cook looked surprised.
“I don’t know. He says marriage, wedding. I see the hills! Cook, what do I do?” I sighed.
“Oh sweetheart, let’s get you some tea to calm those nerves first.” We had tea quietly waiting for the pie to cook for dinner. After tea, Cook looked directly at me.
“Now out with it girlie.” She frowned.
“I don’t know where to start.” I shrugged.
“At the beginning.” I looked at her, one eyebrow raised.
“Okay fine. I asked him to walk with me, so I could tell him that this thing between us would never work. That he please not come to my father’s funeral and that …” I hesitated. “That I would be leaving to look for work in another town.”
“What!? Another town?! Have you lost it, girlie?!” Cook waved her hands in the air.
“Cook, please, do you want to hear the entire story or not?” I rolled my eyes.
“Just tell me first, are you leaving?” She glared at me.
“No, I don’t know. No.” I shook my head.
“Okay, let's stick with no.” She continued cutting the potatoes.
“He kissed me.” I felt my cheeks turn bright red.
“Huh? When, where, what did I miss?” She looked stumped again.
“He kissed me, or at least I think he did, I don’t know, we ended up kissing.” I shrugged and walked around the table to help.
“Did I not tell you about royalty and commoners?” Cook walked around the kitchen, waving her arms in the air again.
“Cook!” I shouted and she stopped and looked at me. “We kissed, and then he took me to his room. That was after you saw us run past you.”
“Oh no, no, no. Tell me you didn’t!” Cook shook her head from side to side.
“We didn’t.” I grinned.
“Oh, thank the gods!” She threw her hands in the air. “Now you listen to me. You stay away from him, you hear. The Queen is going to marry that Princess's father. Things are going to go badly, and our servants need to keep a very low profile. The Queen might just have an eye on some of us when her soon-to-be husband becomes the new King.” Cook waved her spoon around again.
“What? When did this happen?” I felt utterly confused.
“One of the guards told me earlier today. The Queen told the prince at breakfast. He was so angry at her that he had her locked up in her room. She may not leave and is under the guard of his guards. Not allowed to leave or send any messages.” Cook walked back to the table and looked unhappy. “She won’t stay there for long, or at least not keep quiet for long. We both know she will find a way out or at least to get a message out.” We fell silent, thinking of the Queen …
Julius
A knock on the door.
“Enter.” My mother called out in her royal tone of voice.
“Mother.” I frowned.
“Oh, if it wasn’t my son who threw away his mother for a servant slut!” She sighed.
“I’m not here to fight with your mother.” I really didn’t want to.
“What are you here for then?” She raised a brow.
“I want to find out if you require anything. I am not the monster you are trying to make me out to be.” I shrugged.
“Oh, I need my freedom and a son to do what he is told.” She huffed.
“Mother! We have already discussed that!” I couldn’t understand why she was being so difficult about this.
“Yes, and still you disobey your mother, the Queen.” She threw her hands in the air.
“My inauguration is in three days, mother, a date you set, yet you have changed your mind, now?” I frowned.
“Yes, the arrangements have been changed. I have spoken to his excellency. I will be inaugurated as the reigning authority of the kingdom and not you. I have the support of the nobles.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“What?” I glared at her. “You would steal my inheritance from me? You, the one who trained me to be the future king?”
“I am stealing nothing from you. You caused this. If you did not run after that common wh@re, that would not be necessary!” She wouldn’t even look at me.
“You will not speak of her that way! Ever!” I stormed over to my mother, pulled her out of her chair as my hand gripped around her neck and I pushed her up against the wall.
“GUARD! GUARD!” She screamed, and they came running into the room, to find me trying to strangle my mother. “He is trying to kill me! Help me!” She fought to get it out while I was strangling her.
“No! That is not what is happening! Stand down!” I shouted as they grabbed hold of me, pulling me away from her. Holding my hands behind my back. My mother coughed, trying to catch her breath again. The guards were slightly confused as they held onto me.
“My son tried to strangle me! You saw it yourselves! Take him to the dungeons!” She ordered and they dragged me kicking and fighting.
“You will pay for this, mother! You are lying, you know I would never lay a hand on you!!” She coughed for extra effect. All the staff peeled out from all corners of the castle to see what the shouting was about, to find me being dragged off to the dungeons. The whispers filled the passages. The guards took me down the dark damp steps to the foul mould-smelling dungeons. Unlocking a cell, they shoved me inside, laughing at me. The sound of the steel door slamming shut, and the lock echoed through the cold passages.
“I will be your King soon, and I will remember your faces!” I screamed after them as they walked away, laughing.
“You will never be King.” One of them shouted back over his shoulder.
Emily
“Cook! The Queen had the prince locked up in the dungeons!” A cleaning girl ran down the stairs calling Cook.
“SHH you stupid girl! What happened?” Cook shushed her as her eyes scanned the room.
“Nobody knows for certain. Apparently, he is having a secret love affair with a girl in the castle. Paying her for favours, that is why he didn’t want to marry the Princess, he prefers this wh@re he has working here.” The girl scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something bad.
“What? First of all, get your facts straight! The prince does not need to pay for a girl! Secondly, there are no w****s in the castle! You girls add tails to the gossip! You make me so angry!” Cook reprimanded the girl.
“Sorry, Cook. Well, he attacked the Queen because of what she said. He strangled her and if her guards didn’t act so fast, he would have killed her!” The girl exclaimed and Cook rolled her eyes at the girl. Thank goodness she had sent me to my room early due to the funeral the next day. All this nonsense would just have upset me even more.
“I am sure he wouldn’t have killed his mother.” Cook rolled her eyes again.
“Well, that is what I heard.” The young girl said, sounding defensive.
“Aren’t you supposed to be cleaning somewhere or getting ready to go home?” Cook couldn’t stand their attitudes in general, not to mention having to deal with one of these little miss madams gossiping in her kitchen!
“Gmf!” The girl huffed and turned around, walking off up the stairs. I sat in my room, looking at the black band I would be wearing to my father’s funeral the next morning. He blamed me for not looking after him. What more was I to do? Sell my body as my mother did? Now I was going to give my body to a Prince and for what? He wasn’t going to pay me, saying he was in love with me. He could turn around and kill me at any time. It didn’t feel like he would, but then I didn’t know what real love looked like. I knew I felt something for him. My heart beat fast, my breath was short and shallow, shivering when I thought of how he touched me. His hot kisses touched my skin.
“EMILY!” I shouted at myself. “You are in mourning! You can’t be sitting around thinking about things like these!” I put the black band on my table. My dress was laid next to it. I only owned one dress, so it would have to do. Crawling into bed, I wished tomorrow was over already. I would rather be an orphan than be the daughter of my parents any longer. Knowing that I sounded silly, it was the thought I fell asleep with.
Third Person
“I want that little slut put in the dungeon! She seduced my boy. I can find her guilty of witchery and have her hung within the next day or two, then I will let Julius out of the dungeons.” The Queen said aloud, while her handmaiden brushed her long grey-white hair. “Yes, that is what I will do. I will call for the priest first thing in the morning.” Looking up at the girl with a scowl on her face. "If you repeat anything you hear in my chambers, I will have your tongue cut out! Do you understand me?” She glared at the girl.
“Yes, your Majesty.” The girl curtsied. She was one of the girls that arrived with Anna. A young girl but very efficient. Loyal and kept to herself, not mixing with the riff-raff from the castle staff. She was well-mannered and well-dressed.
“A companion.” Anna called her. “Sent by King Angus to be by her Majesty’s side until his arrival.” Silence fell over the land as night took over.
Emily
“Emily, Emily.” I heard a familiar voice calling my name. Waking to a dark room. It couldn’t be time to go to the funeral yet and that was not Cook’s voice.
“Yes?” I rubbed my eyes.
“You need to leave here, my child. With haste.” The voice spoke.
“Who are you?” I blinked once, then again for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, then realized it was the creator. “Why are you here? Why do I have to leave? My father’s funeral is tomorrow. I can’t leave. I have a job here …” Still trying to wake up, I felt confused.
“The Queen is planning to have you killed. Now get up and get ready. You have to trust me.” The creator sounded serious, but calm. “Your father has passed already. A funeral is for the living to give them closure. It will not make any difference if you are there or not.”
“Uhm, okay. I need to get dressed.” I rushed around the room.
“I will meet you outside.” He nodded and left.
“What about Cook? They will think she helped me!” I asked as I stepped out of my room, and he looked at me as if I asked too much.
“I will get her as well. Now hurry!”
“Mrs. Cook. Mrs. Cook.” I heard the creator calling for her. Just as she was about to scream, he put his hand over her mouth.
“Please don’t, Emily has sent me. Please. Her life is in danger, and she has asked that I ask you to join us. I am taking her away from the castle. She is worried about what might happen to you, should you stay behind. Hurry, please. Meet us outside.” The creator frowned and I felt my heart race.
“What? Who are you? What about Emily?” Cook sounded just as confused as I felt standing outside her room keeping watch.
“Please, Mrs. Cook, get dressed, make haste! Emily is waiting for you.”
- Writer
