Royal Obligations

Chapter 51: Walking Dead

Forrest held me in his arms while we lay in his bed. Crying was brand new to me so usually when I started I didn't exactly know how to stop. Every time I seemed to calm down Everly's screams would fill my brain or how Elijah's voice would surround the room as he yelled at everyone to get out.

The guilt that this was all my fault, that I had to watch parents lose a child firsthand had me puking the moment Forrest brought me into his room.

It's been three hours since we were ordered to leave the ballroom. I finally had stopped crying and just let nothingness consume my mind. Forrest was leaning against the headboard as I sit between his legs, head on his chest. It took me a while before I realized he was singing to me. He had such a soothing voice I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

But Everly's screams had me snapping my eyes open.

"Lila," Forrest whispers. "Calm down, love." He kisses my temple. "Please calm down."

"I can't take this anymore." I look up at him. "I can't take mourning anymore people, Forrest."

"You won't have to." Forrest says confidently. "Not anymore."

"I can't mourn you too." I say quietly, tears clouding my sore eyes. I felt like a vulnerable little girl. Although I was glad to have gotten rid of Cordelia, the part of myself that contained all my bitterness and loneliness about my life, I never wanted to become a useless girl who can't protect those she cares about.

Forrest takes my face in his hands and looks me in the eye. "I'm not going anywhere. Get that through your pretty little head."

A knock on the door causes me to jump. Forrest encircles his arms around my waist. "Come in," He calls out toward the door.

Hero pops her head in the door with a sad smile on her lips. "The King and Queen are having everyone pay their respects. It's a tradition in the Belitrov family where the last people who saw her alive, um, go talk to her fading spirit. Nadia is in her suite across the hall. When you're ready." Hero then goes as quickly as she came.

"Come on," I say roughly as I crawl off the bed.

"We don't have to go now, Lila. Get some rest. Please."

"I have to see her. It's my fault." I say briskly and go to jump off the bed but Forrest grabs my waist.

"Sleep, Lila. Say your goodbyes with a clear head."

Then I broke down and cried again. I wasn't even crying for just Nadia anymore. Forrest missed his dad so much. Even a stranger could see it. I missed my twin sister who never even knew we were related. I miss Elise and wish she didn't take that bullet because of me. I wish she wasn't in a coma, because of me. I wish Romeo was safe to go home or that it was safe for his parents to fly a plane whenever they want to see their son. I wish Valeriya was trustworthy and not playing us. I wish Shannon was still alive because I happened to love her endless stream of questions. I wish Taylor could be safe to go home.

I wish a lot of things, but simply wishing will not do me any good.

I hope when Forrest and I get married it's like a punch in the face to Dieter. I hope we ruin her plans.

Ruin her.

But simply hoping will not do me any good.

****

The palace has been so silent lately I have become used to it. Just when things seemed to be looking up The Mercenaries had to beat us down.

I was becoming clingy, but I didn't care. Over the passing days I never let Forrest leave my side because I was so afraid that something might happen to him. I took Declan's warning seriously. Hero kept reminding us to pay our respects in a couple days before they take her back to Russia. I even went as far as eating Forrest's breakfast and drinking his orange juice before he did. Of course he flipped out when I did, because he would rather die than watch me die, and I would rather die than watch him die. I kept bothering him to go visit Nadia but he said I needed to eat and rest some more. I couldn't deny how sore and tired my eyes were so I went as far as taking a nap.