The Silk Queen

I'm coming with you

It had been a few months since Carlos had arrived at Lavinia's palace. He had grown fond of the place. He liked it much better then the standing reminder of his first time meeting Lavinia. Plus, Lavinia's palace was much closer to the sea, so he could leave faster should something go wrong. 

  He loved the small differences in the palace, the gold lining of the walls, the small changes in the carvings personalized for Lavinia. Though he hated to admit it, he loved France. It was an escape from the war going on in Germany. He would go outside in the forest and the world would stop. The leaves forming a canopy, only letting in a small amount of sunlight to reflect off the clear water of the small stream that ran through. 

  Lavinia missed France more then ever, during those months at English court. She missed the servants little bow, the gold lining of the wall, dancing in the rain, going out for horse rides with Amaris, the way Freya would get so excited when she would come back from French court. She missed everything about France. 

   Italy had begun fighting against France, while Germany fought against England. But France was a strong country. As a result to Lavinia's well known kindness, France had many allies that were ready to step in to help at any moment. Scotland, Greece, Sweden, and many others. That was another thing Carlos hated about Lavinia, how much power she had over him. 

  Lavinia knew how easy it was to win, this put her mind at ease. Though France never lost any battles, worries flooded Lavinia's mind every time a spy was late to inform, it was unbearable.  Amaris hated watching Lavinia so upset, Lavinia's only way of coping was acting like her problems weren't there, she knew it worried Amaris and Andromeda, but sometimes she would go out into the forest for hours just dancing or wading in the water. 

One morning, As Lavinia was in the water of the stream, she got so caught up it took a few minutes to realize someone was saying her name, "Lavinia, what are you doing here?" The voice asked.

Lavinia turned to see Carlos standing there with an umbrella, she was in the stream in all her clothes, in a fancy ball gown as if it wasn't pouring down raining, "I'm enjoying the rain Menci," She said as she got out of the water.

"You're fully clothed, and must be freezing. Go inside," Carlos said, Stepping down to grab Lavinia's hand. He pulled her up onto dry land and held the umbrella over her, still keeping himself covered. 

"What are you doing out here anyway, Menci?" Lavinia asked, as she tried her best to stay as far away from him as possible. 

"Just like you, enjoying the rain," He replied. They just walked out of the tree line and into the pouring rain, the gold lining the walls were a odd brass color, and the marble looked darker then usual. 

   They both stayed silent and didn't interact other then the slight smile Lavinia gave before the walked into  a room. Lavinia loved rainy days. People often perceived them as sad, but Lavinia saw them as a beautiful day to dance. She had a certain gown, one she would wear every time it would rain, she would pop it on and than go dance in the rain for hours. The rain on her face, and her soaking wet hair made her feel free. 

  Carlos saw rainy days as a gloomy day to get everything out. All the anger that he had built up would be released into the rain, which would then clear the next day. Carlos was planning to leave that day. He wanted to find Ben, he needed to. He couldn't wait for a spy to tell him his brother was safe, he wanted to see himself. 

  So that night Carlos lay awake for hours until he felt the time was right. He grabbed the bag of things he had packed and dressed. He wore warm clothes that were flashy but not to important. He took after Lavinia and had a dagger strapped to his chest. He grabbed his sword and put it in the bag, and with that he was off. 

  He began running into the hallways until he stopped in his tracks at the sight of Lavinia, she faced the railing, the one Carlos planned to climb down. He stopped breathing, in order to hear the faint sounds of her sobs. 

"I just want him back," Lavinia cried, "I don't care what I have to do I just want my best friend back." 

For a moment carlos almost felt bad, then Lavinia turned and flinched. "Lavinia?" Carlos asked. 

Lavinia quickly wiped her tears and smiled as if nothing happened. Then she looked and saw him dressed, and the bag. "I'm fine, and where the hell do you think you're going?" 

"I'm finding my brother, Irvine," Carlos replied heading over to the railing. 

"Then I'm coming with you," Lavinia said, stepping aside to reveal a bag the same size if not bigger then Carlos'

"You were running away too, weren't you Irvine?" Carlos said as he rolled his eyes.

"You think I'd leave my best friend in Italy and not go and save him? I'm not waiting any longer. It's been a year," She said, putting the bag over her shoulder and starting to climb over the railing. 

"You're not coming with me you're going to get yourself killed," Carlos said, grabbing her arms and trying to pull her over the railing.

"I don't care, I'm going to get ben back," Lavinia said trying to get out of Carlos' grasp.

Carlos didn't budge, instead smirked at Lavinia, "Then you're going to do exactly what I tell you to do, I've been planning this all year, trust me for once Irvine."

"I don't listen to you, Menci," Lavinia said finally getting out of Carlos' grasp and jumping down the wall into the grass below, she fell and gave a slight grunt as she picked herself up and wiped the loose grass shreds off her white gown. 

Carlos jumped down after her, "You hear me princess? you want ben back, you'll listen to me," He said, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. 

"First, don't call me that, second, I'm only doing this shit for ben," Lavinia scoffed.

"Did you bring that pretty dagger of yours, darling?" Carlos said smirking at how mad Lavinia seemed to be. 

"Yes I did, also what's with the annoying pet names Menci," Lavinia responded, slinging her bag over her shoulder and lifting her head to meet Carlos' eyes.

"Just giving you a few less reasons to kill me," Carlos smirked.

"If anything it makes me want to kill you more," Lavinia said, hitting Carlos' shoulder and beginning to walk off to a white horse with a plain looking carriage. 

"Whatever you say Lavinia," Carlos said, he got on the horse and held his hand out for Lavinia to get on too.

"I'll get my own horse," She scoffed.

"You wanna do this with me or not? peasants in Italy can't afford horses usually," Carlos scoffed as he pulled Lavinia's wrist, grabbed her and pulled her onto the horse in front of him. 

"Don't ever do that again Menci," Lavinia scoffed.

"I thought I was supposed to be the one who took our rivalry seriously?" Carlos joked.

"Apologies for being mad that I'm doing this shit with you, Majesty," Lavinia replied sarcastically while moving her bag to the side of her and starting to ride the horse off.