A Royal Mess - 18+

Please - smut warning

June's POV:

Normally, my room is as cold as ice but as I stare out the window, I can feel the dying heat from the kingdom that has now turned to ash. I watch the faint red and orange glow through the thick clouds of smoke and the tears in my eyes.

After I pulled the ring off of Juliette's finger, she told me Hayden had visited my past palace to interrogate and torture the remaining staff until he found a woman with a close connection to me. 

Juliette wasn't a princess at all, she'd been set up to seem as one, and after Hayden's and my wedding, she was to be exposed and Abe as well as her would be sent to the dungeons for fraudery. 

Since he's not king until we are married, there has to be a legal reason for imprisonment.

"June?" 

My heart stops.

I turn my head to see Abe standing at the foot of my bed, staring at the space where I should be sleeping. 

"What are you doing?" I say, my voice cracking as I try to locate the ring on his hand. He limps towards me and I take a step back, my quick inhale echos through the room and I see his eyes fill with hurt. 

I scan his body as he now stands in the orange light passing through the window. His hair is tangled in a sleepy yet extreme way, his eyes are red and watery, his clothes are covered in dirt and....

...and blood. 

Lots of blood. 

My eyes travel down to his left hand and the bare finger that should have a ring around it. 

"Oh Abe," I say opening my arm as he falls into them, "what happened?" I whisper, my fingers running through his hair as he slides his body down mine until he is at his knees. 

"I didn't want to do it," he cries into my stomach. "I'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm so sorry." 

I place my hands on either side of his face, gently tilting his head up so his shiny eyes meet mine. I recognize the look of horror that he wears since I so vividly remember that same expression staring back at me in the bathroom. 

"What did you see?" I whisper. 

"I- I don't know," his grip on the back of my thighs tighten, "flowers? a-and my mother was there but Hayden and I were younger and s-she," he moved closer to my body, "she was hurting us June." 

He buried his head into my lower stomach as his hands move up my legs sending a familiar warmth through my veins. 

****

"Odium means disgust and hatred in Latin. The only time that the flower does not perform correctly on someone is when they hate themselves so much that the feeling of disgust is beyond comprehension for people." Juliette explains.

"I don't hate myself," I insist. 

My heart pounds against my rib cage.

Juliette moves closer to me, placing her hand in mine. 

"Who do you blame for your sister's and mother's death?" 

I inhale sharply. 

"Who do you blame for Abe's and my imprisonment?

Who do you blame for Hayden's action of controlling the kingdom 

and for leaving your own kingdom behind to fall apart without a king?"

I'm frozen in place, unable to respond as she whispers.