Eternity

13.

All the ships docked in the port at Dakragh, on the edge of the market square that was overlooked by the palace. As I stepped off the ship with my son in my arms, the crowd that had gathered in the market square cheered.

I was always known as the people’s princess as I talked to my people would walk among them and not separate myself from them like so many noble that I knew.

The crowd began to cheer ‘ Long Live the Queen’ I smiled and waved with my free hand. They will all be glad when my father’s reign of terror is shortly over. He was a crurl man and a cruel king who paid no affection towards his subjects, only thought of them as a burden.

I stood at the other end of the market square, the edge closest to the palace and decided to make a speech. ‘ I am glad to be home with my people once again, even if it is on such tragic circumstances. On the journey here, I lost my husband,pray for his soul and mourn him as if he were your oen prince.  Through the tragedy I gained a son and he is to be your son also, the people’s prince.’

The crowd roars with delight, and cheers louder as Cesare grabs my hand and walks me to the castle. As I walk through the crowd I see the faces of people I know, I do not know their names but I know who they are, I know their story.

As we walk through the palace gates, Luca runs toward me. As the gates are shut I hand Miles to Cesare and reach down to Luca, I pick him up and squeeze him as hard as I possibly can. I then embrace Rodrigo who plants a kiss on my head causing me to squeeze him harder. As I hug Torrance he tells me my father is on his last breaths, I go to visit him alone with my newborn son.

I enter his chambers, the room smells of death, the curtains are closed and my father is fading away as the minutes pass. I gently rouse him before his eternal slumber sets in.

He seems shocked as I sit there with my son. ‘What’s his name?’ croakily slips out of my father’s dry mouth.

As I tell him he clutches my wrist, his emaciated fingers cold as ice, ‘Where is your husband, I want to meet him once more?’

I tell him of Edward’s death but he nonchalantly said ‘I expect Rodrigo will find you a new husband’.

Rage fills my eyes. 'You Father are a monster, a vindictive, evil monster and I am glad to be here to see  you perish along with your  reign of terror. I am glad that my sons will have barely any recollection of the man I called Father.'

The frail man just stared blankly at me, the whistling of breathe through his nose is silent. I check his pulse to find that he is no longer with us. Finally.

I take Miles with me as I walk out the door, Rodrigo was waiting for me. ‘Father is now dead.’ His emotion does not change as I tell him. He escorts me through the dark hallways that lead to my mother.

I gently creak open the wooden door, as my mother looks over her face lights up as she sees Miles. I hand him over for her to hold, I tell her his name and she strokes the head of the sleeping child.

She looks up at me, her face still smiling but her tone was not a happy one ‘Please tell me Catalina that this child is a legitimate heir.’ I assure her it is, I am offended that she thinks of me as a common whore. She did not understand that i commited a simple crime of passion, that I do not regret a single second of it.

Rodrigo then informs her of Edward’s and my Father’s passing, she is jubilant. I offer her a new room, one where she can feel less imprisoned, but she declines, her excuse being that she has lived in her cave for too long to be parted from it.

I now feel awkward around my mother, she has never felt love like the type I feel, she doesn’t understand what it makes you do. I leave my brother alone with my mother as they chat about what only god knows.