Tainted | Maven Calore

Chapter 008.

*mentions of miscarriage, and cheating. as always, proceed with caution.*

The silver tea tray is the same one she's been bringing up to the prince. The tea set was pristine white china decorated with strips of gold on the edges and the handles. Streams of embossed decorations were carved into the cup, though not overwhelmingly so, curling to wrap around the length of the pieces of the set. The cup and the teapot sat adjacent to each other, separated by a small glass vase that bore a single flower situated at the center of the tray. All of this sat on top of a white doily that hung off the edges of the tray.

Every night, she polishes the tray, washes the set, and puts it away for the next time she would bring it up again. Usually, it would sit in front of the prince with Adelaide diligently waiting beside it. Usually, the tea inside the pot would subside with every time the cup would be filled. Usually, the cup would be lifted off its saucer, the contents within being drunk by the prince, an audience to the quiet, sometimes meaningful, sometimes idle, chatter between the two of them.

Today, however, the tea set was abandoned on top of the table, the two people that usually hovered over it locked in an embrace.

Pale, lithe fingers tangled themselves in Adelaide's messy blonde hair. Her own fingers, small, grubby, chipped off nails and all, enveloped a fistful of the prince's crisp shirt, sullying the clean fabric with the dirt that stuck to her fingers. His voice broke the silence, soft, quiet, unassuming, unobtrusive. "Do you want to talk about it...?"

She wanted to. She wanted to alleviate whatever she could of the constant pounding headaches, to relieve the burden that her visions gave her, to get what she saw off her chest. I saw your eyes, she wanted to say. His beautiful blue eyes.

His blindingly blue eyes.

His ice cold blue eyes.

[could you even trust him?]

But he was warm. She was wrapped in it, wrapped in his scent, in his kindness. He made her feel at home. He made her feel like she sitting in front of the crackling fire surrounded by her family, huddling together to beat the cold of winter and offer each other what little warmth they could give. He made her feel like she was listening to their voices talking all through the night, weaving a tale to escape reality. If she closed her eyes and stood still, she could feel it. It felt real. It was real.

If he made her feel like this, how could he ever hurt her?

"I..." Adelaide started, murmuring into his shoulder, "I... had a nightmare." She was uncertain on how to continue, on how to explain her supposed gift. She doesn't remember when she first got it or how it works. When she was aware of it, she didn't have the pounding headaches or the sensory visions; she just knew things before it happened. She knew what kind of Silvers would show up and who would triumph, even winning her brothers a few coins on the side.

She knew that the second time she saw Thomas Owen would be her last. When he left the courtyard with her brothers, she knew that when Thomas would be taken for conscription, the Owens would be ridden in debt, and one day killed by the many people they owed. She also knew that the next time she saw him, he would come in the form of a few buttons and an ear, packaged neatly into a shoebox and accompanied by a thank you note with no one to receive it.

She knew that Wisteria would never have children. One day, when Wisteria pointed out the boy she liked and whispered his name into her ear, Adelaide knew that their marriage would be a happy one, if not a fruitless one. Under the soft caress of her sister's hair on her face, she knew that when Wisteria was pregnant, she would lose the baby. And it would happen over and over again until they decided to stop trying.