The f*******n Crown

Chapter |6|

E M M E L I N E ‘ S P. O. V

“That bastard, that mother f*****g old wrinkle dick..."

"Ajax." My father snaps. "That is enough."

I glance up, the first time in what feels like hours. My red eyes burn from the bright light. "Personally, I'd like to hear more."

Ajax's lips quirk up, but it's Damien who says, "Huxley is a pretious, selfish, conniving...fuckface."

I can't help but laugh, and Ajax mirrors me. "You f*****g said it, I'm proud of you man." He slings his arm around Damien, who's lips tilt into a barely lit smile.

"Emmeline." My dad stresses. "I can't stop them all. Wyatt and I have discussed the possibility of using the army to force them out but Huxley has power, greater than we assumed, and with this current threat. I can't risk it, we can't. As a public servant, we have a duty to the people, even at the expense of our own principles."

"I know." I try to express a sense of clarity. "I know," I admit dejectedly.

"I will try and persuade them to increase the timeline." Of my inevitable marriage.

My dad kisses my forehead, squeezing my shoulders, before taking his leave. I love the way he simply trusts Ajax and Damien. Knowing that I need them now more than ever, as though they're a part of me, not simply detachable.

I wonder how my future husband would view our dynamic? Dante was obviously threatened and jealous, even though back then, I was utterly consumed by Dante. Okay, maybe I still fantasised about making out with them both, but I would never have acted on it.

Faith and loyalty is one thing I will always stand by. So when the time comes, my husband will have all of me but the only way to do that would be to...

"What are you thinking Princess?" I glance up at them both, concerned flares out of both their strong gazes pinned on me.

No, I couldn't give them up. Not so soon, but it's inevitable.

With that ticking clock looming over my head, I feel trapped. Forced into a corner that I can't escape.

"God, I am stupid. So stupid. I should have just kept quiet and obedient like a good little princess. To be seen and never heard. That's what he wants. Huxley. He wants my subservience so when the time comes for me to sit on the throne, he'll be the one pulling all the strings through my husband."

"We're not gonna let that happen." I let out a soft bitter laugh, angry tears stinging my skin.

Ajax kneels besides me. "Damien is right. There will be another way, there always is."

"Not this time. Not without causing the devastation of an entire kingdom. I can't. I can't fight anymore for it, not at the risk of losing."

"Emmeline," Damien breathes out, as though he's watching a stranger collapse before him and not the girl he has known for over two decades.

I smile, defeated and broken. "There is no more. I will marry soon, probably to another King which means I will have to leave and the council will govern Dahlia in my place." I look down at Ajax and cup his cheek. "You will have to stay here, you are going to be the general. And..." Damien is a blank slate, as expected, but I can sense his desolation that he buries deep down. "And you will stay too."

"As your personal advisor, I would go with you." We both know that isn't an option.

Ajax would be left alone, with neither of us, and he's more fragile than he lets the world see. He's dependent on us for stability. And for me, spending each day with Damien, knowing I would have to return to my husband's bedchambers at night, would destroy me.

It's better to be separate from the thing you can't have, or in my case people.

That's why this hurts so much.

It's the beginning of our goodbye.

"I want to be alone." I shift away from Ajax. The heat from his touch dissipates into icy coldness that stings.

I can feel them both, staring at me, waiting for me to plead them to stay, waiting for my inevitable break down to hold me. I'm ready to scream, to cry and shout and hurt, but I also know that my dark future is looming close and they won't be there to shield me from the agony anymore.

I must learn to suffer alone.

I wait until the door clicks shut before the first wave of tears arises. It's a tsunami of anger and resentment towards one man in particular.

My hands latch onto the first thing they can, a porcelain vase gifted to me by the Prime Minister of the southern states. It smashes into a million fragments of bleeding pain, but it isn't enough.

I throw the mantlepiece clock against the wall.

I rip open every pillow in sight, drowning in soft feathers tainted by b****y hate.

Then I scream, sinking to my knees in open anguish, I scream until there's no air left in my lungs that it burns to scream any longer.

My hands claw the carpets when I'm done, trying to remember to breathe, but all that comes out are short shallow breaths.

The door pushes open slightly, and a figure fills the open space. My eyes are blurred trying to look at them but only as they run closer and cup my cheeks do I recognise the soft touch.

"Mal, I can't..." It hits me again. Another wave of utter choking on every raw emotion that overspills from me.

"It's okay, breathe. Just breathe," I mimic her, or try to.

Minutes past before I can feel myself centering back to Earth. I slump down onto the carpet, still breathing from my very core.

"I'll grab you some water." I hear the gulp of a jug pouring. Then a glass presses against my lips.

Greedily, I savour every lasting drop, resting my head on Mal's comforting shoulder. "What happened?"

So the news hasn't reached the rest of the palace yet. Normally, all the maids would gossiping about it and Mal would act as a middle ground, telling me rumours that I would deny or accept for her to solidify.

"It failed. I failed. Huxley said I now have 8 months to marry, likely to a man of his choosing, and when that happens...I'll be nothing."

"Well, you'll be Queen."

I snort. "With what power. My plans to open litters of new schools, invest in public amusements, forge relationships with Kingdoms otherwise isolated and create that new deal to sign for more imports. It's all gone. Everything we ever hoped for is gone."

I realise I'm not the only one with things to mourn. My mother and father have lost the heir of their choosing, instead forced to watch Huxley destroy the kingdom they fought so hard for. Damien made those plans with me, and Ajax would be ruling an army never fully obedient to him.

"Maybe he will be a nice man? Your husband." I smile at Mal's offering of hope, even though I know it's a long shot. Most men deem women unfit to rule, especially ones seated in power.

I will just be a child bearer to them. A vessel only to produce children and look pretty.

Mal gasps suddenly. "Oh, your bracelet." I quickly glance down.

It's broken. I almost laugh at the irony of indestructible diamonds being shattered today of all days.

The clasp is barely clinging together, and with a slight tug, it would collapse. I know one man who can fix this, unfortunately he is one of the very men I demanded to leave my room.

Like a brat, may I add.

Shit. I feel terrible about it, and there's this strange aching pain, almost longing to stretch out and comfort them, even though they would both probably comfort me instead.

I rise off the floor as graceful as can f*****g be. Stumbling a little, emotionally drained from today even though the clock is barely past four. "Do you need me to help you?"

My lips offer a half smile, and I shake my head. "Thanks for the offer. I think I can manage."

Mal checks the hallway first, before gesturing me forward. We part ways, her probably seeking to fulfil her daily duties, whereas I head towards the southern wing of the castle.

I just f*****g pray I don't encounter anyone on the way. Namely, Chloe. I'm sure her father has filled her in on my pathetic plan and they both laughed at my ridicule. I cannot handle her today. I might snap, forgetting the decorum instilled within my blood as royalty and punch her pretty lights out.

Now that sounds satisfying; the crunch of her nose bursting open, blood splattering freely and her cries of anguish and shock.

Maybe it would actually garner me some respect?

None of it actually matters I suppose since I'm already outside Damien's office, tucked away in the corner of the castle. He requested the room, even though it's sheltered from the rest of the busy palace, and one of the smallest working places on offer.

I guess it's closer to the library though, and a hidden passageway that we use frequently to avoid attention when leaving. His room however neighbours Ajax.

I am always jealous of that fact. Somehow I think it's what creates the slight rift between me and them, alongside our differing genders.

The fact their families would usually dine together for homemade meals, whereas I accompanied my parents to host grand dinners to whichever foreign officials were visiting.

I knock once, then twice, knowing Damien values privacy.

No reply so I use the spare key I know he hides behind the lamp just right to the door. Damien told me he doesn't mind me waiting in his office, rather than standing outside in the lurch.

You're one of the few I don't mind seeing what I keep locked away.

His desk fills most of the room, and I know he spent five paychecks on it. The grand mahogany still retains its glossy effect, stretching wide across the room. I sit on his leather chair, feeling dwarfed in comparison to its giant stance, but it suits Damien well.

He always looks like a king sat here. I feel like a child playing dress, an imposter to his superiority.

Ironic considering I'm ranked higher than him in station, but Damien was born into his rol in a way I never was. I adapt to survive, yet he's already dominating his position.

I notice a few documents on his desk, articles maybe he pulled from the library. My eyes skim the passage visible but I fixate on one word.

Polyamory.

A voice echo through the walls, growing louder as the footsteps creep closer. I shuffle the appears back in place, and try to fix my hair, my dress. Then I get a glance of my face in the computer screen.

Yikes, I look terrible, and that is an understatement. Mascara gloops thick under my eyes, and I know Damien will deduce that I had a breakdown from a mere glance at me.

I make a decision and quickly duck under the table, not wanting to appear even more pathetic than before. The voice duplicates. Ajax and Damien. Great just when I thought my luck couldn't be worse.

Maybe I should just come out? Face them. They're my best friends, I shouldn't be hiding like this.

Fuck. The door clicks open. Too late.

I shuffle in further, quickly stuffing the length of my dress under with me and try to soften my harsh breaths.

"What do you want to do?" Ajax asks, yet there's a strange urgency within his tone.

Damien lets out an exasperated sigh,"I don't f*****g know!"

"You don't know? This was your idea, your plan and we've got f*****g nowhere with it. Let's just tell her."

"We can't. Not yet, it's too soon." Me? They're discussing me? And what wouldn't I understand? What couldn't they tell me?

"Damien," I hear Ajax growl. His voice deepens to an almost seductive ripple. I peek around the side of the desk, and note their proximity. Ajax has his hands on either side of Damien's neck, but one slips up to cup his cheek. Affection...romantic.

"I can't keep f*****g Emmeline and pretend every time it's not killing me to do so."

He doesn't want to f**k me? s**t I...am I forcing him...no, no I asked

I said, the very first time, do you want to do this, and he looked at me with those perfect cappuccino eyes and said yes I want you Emmeline.

"No-one told you to f**k her." There's almost resent in his tone, anger that hits me sharply.

"I couldn't say no. She needed me."

"Yeah I know...I guess I'm just jealous."

"Then let's tell her. You and me, right now." He's not jealous because he wants me. He couldn't be, because the way he's looking at Ajax...

"Let's do it." He matches Ajax's stance, cradling his face in the same way. "God I love you,"

And then I watch as the distance between them disappears, their lips merging within the sanctity of love.

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A/N: Ahh!! I freaking love this scene and it's finally the blossoming of the triad.

Damien's pov is up next. Our first insight into his mind. ?