The Deck of Destiny - A Caraval Oneshot Collection

my golden princess

Inspo from Aloisiea

Scarlett always tried to be strong growing up. She always tried to be the mother Tella never had, and had always tried to shelter her from the atrocities that Marcello had committed. Now she had to be not only strong for her sister and fiancé, but an entire empire as well.

But sometimes, those support beams that Scarlett built over the years had a crack, causing her to tumble and spiral.

Sometimes, all it took was a common cold for that to happen.

Scarlett placed a distressed hand to her head and looked up from her bed to the vanity across her bedroom. Even from a distance, Scarlett looked like hell. Dark circles rested under her eyes, a red nose and frizzy hair adorned her usually well manicured self.

And while Scarlett told herself a million times that she was going to get out of bed, make herself look presentable and then conquer her duties for the day, exhaustion and sleep took her within the matter of minutes.

~~~

A gentle hand rubbed Scarlett's back, and she awoke slowly. His touch was tender and caring, softly and gingerly calming her.

"Crimson," Julian murmured quietly, and Scarlett recognized that there was a dip in the mattress beside her.

Scarlett replied with a tired 'hmph?'

He chuckled lightly. "You were out cold for a few hours. I was starting to worry."

Scarlett finally turned towards her fiancé, flipping herself over, a dizziness overcoming her head. "A few hours?"

Julian nodded while pressing the back of his hand against her forehead. "Dead saints, you're burning up."

"Don't say it," Scarlett groaned.

"You're-"

"Shhh."

"Sick."

Scarlett shut her eyes, trying to drown out reality. "The empress can't get sick, I have papers to sign, people to hear, things to fix-"

"Already done."

Scarlett paused. "What?"

"While you were taking a beauty nap, I was busy completing your royal majesty duties." Julian tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

Scarlett's heart warmed. "Thank you."

A smile played across his handsome face. "I'll be right back."

Scarlett frowned, tried to protest as he left, but quickly fell into a coughing fit. It was only a mere couple minutes before he returned with a warm cloth, and twisted it so it would lay across her forehead.

"I just rang for some tea and soup." Once again, his hand smoothed over her hair tenderly, and Scarlett had never been more proud of a choice than she was when she said yes to marry this man.

"If you come any closer I'm going to get you sick too."

"What a shame," Julian said before kissing her passionately. "I guess you'll just have to take care of me when the time comes."

"I'd try, but you'd be too stubborn to accept my help."

"Not when it involves you having your hands all over me."

If Scarlett wasn't heating up before, she was now.

A light knock on the door startled them both, and Julian quickly rushed to open the door. He came back to her with a tray of tea and soup as he promised.

"I'll drink the tea, but I'm not hungry."

"Have you eaten anything today?"

Scarlett took a moment to think before she realized the answer was no.

"That's what I thought, now open up."

Scarlett tried to fight against him, but he already had the spoon at her mouth and it did smell good. She alternated between the tea and soup, and sleep crept in once more.

She stifled a yawn, not wanting to give into sleep again. This was the most time they'd spent together since the wedding preparations, and Scarlett missed Julian dearly.

"Tell me a story." The words were out of her mouth before Scarlett could double think them.

He frowned, his scar pulling taut. "You need sleep."

"I'll sleep after you tell me a story."

Scarlett pushed over on the bed, giving Julian room to lay down beside her.

"How I give into you," Julian muttered, and Scarlett felt a wave of satisfaction roll over her. "Once upon a time, there were two boys who wandered the Southern Empire aimlessly."

Scarlett had a feeling he was telling her a story about his childhood, as every story he told, there was always a little blossom of truth weaved into it.

"Their father was a cheat and a clown, who lacked talent that actors much needed to require. The two boys, however, had enough talent for an entire family."

Cocky, but true.

"When the two boys finally made it on their own, life seemed to be a dazzling blur. They travelled from place to place, empire to empire, and the youngest would do anything to appease his older brother. After years of magic slowly plaguing into a nightmare, the youngest realized just how bad the nightmare he and his brother had caused was."

Scarlett's mouth tugged downwards.

"He also realized his life merely had no point, other than to fool the crowd into thinking him almost as spectacular as his brother. Just when his life seemed doomed beyond end, a princess came along with endless rays of light. She was the most selfless person the boy had ever met, and had the purest of heart.

"And for the first time in his many years, the boy had hope. The princess gave him purpose, a fire that would never die out, something to live for. Their romance story is a complicated one, full of ups and downs, rises and falls; but in the end, he asked her to marry him, and the princess said yes.

"And now he's trying to make the princess fall asleep so that she can recover from her cold."

Scarlett laughed before falling into another fit of coughs.

"Now sleep," Julian whispered in her ear, and sleep wanted to take her out nearly as bad as the man beside her.

But Scarlett refused. That would mean Julian would be leaving, and she didn't want him to go just yet.

"Only if you stay," Scarlett said stubbornly.

Julian leaned back, threw an arm around her, and Scarlett cuddled close. "If that's what it takes, then who am I to deny you?"

Scarlett's head felt a little clearer.

He closed his eyes himself, and Scarlett coughed again.

She quickly grabbed a tissue from her bed side, cleaning up the blood from her arm, hiding it from Julian's view.

The last rays of sun shone through Scarlett's window, reflecting the small specks of gold in the bloodied tissue.

Scarlett's heart stopped.

She never had a common cold after all.

Scarlett buried her head into Julian's neck. She focused on him, his scent, his breathing pattern. She prayed the the dreams that would play in her head would be about the sweetest man she had ever known that lay beside her, and not the nightmares of blood and gold that would be sure to follow.

A/N
Originally I was just gonna leave this fluffy and cute, but who am I kidding, did anyone actually expect that from me?