The Lady Archer (Completed)

XVIII

Daniel stood before his father's room, contemplating whether to go in or not. He was still scared, frightened that something could have happened to him. He just wanted his father to be ok; maybe he would even stop the arranged marriage between him and the lousy lady.

He sighed before turning the knob and entering the room.  The room was dark with the black curtains covering the window. A cold breeze could be felt around the room even though the windows were closed. King Coldante's breathing was the only thing filling the silence of the room.

Daniel just stared at his father, watching him. He wanted to say something, anything but words couldn't come out of his mouth.

Mother wants me to marry someone related to the cause of this happening; she must be joking, he thought.

"Father, I know you can not hear me right now, or you most probably can but..... it's high time you woke up. Mother is trying to turn everyone's lives upside down. We need you; she needs you. I need you. I met a wonderful girl. I'm not sure if you would have loved her. She doesn't fit into society or status as you or mother do, but she makes me happy. I feel so content when I'm with her." He stopped talking for a moment and scoffed. 

"I don't know if you ever felt the way I felt with mother, but with her I want to give up this hierarchy and go, move in, just be me, marry her and have babies. It's easier to talk to you because somehow you might get it. You know she wanted to be around me because I was normal not because I was a damn prince. I know you wouldn't force me to marry a girl like Mary Anne. You would have just let me marry some other princess but not her. She has a mother under a rotten spell, I'm certain of it." He sighed, looking at the wall. 

"Look at me, just rambling on about my problems. Anyway father, I just came to check on you. I hope to the heavens each day that you can get better. Good day." He turned to the door to head out of the room.

However, as he was coming out, he came face to face with Derrick. He was walking with his mother, who was also heading out of her room. Daniel simply nodded at them both before heading downstairs.

When Derrick and Queen Coldante was sure that Daniel was out of ear reach, they proceeded to talk more about the Avery issue.

"You are sure there was no Avery in the records?" Queen Coldante asked, crossing her arms.

"Maybe Ms Smith was hallucinating again," Derrick said, with a shrug, hoping the queen couldn't see through his facade.

"Hmm maybe, anyway I'll leave you to go on with your work," The Queen said, opening the door to her room and entering.

As Derrick was descending the stairs, he was attacked all of a sudden. Prince Daniel was punching him. Even when his knuckles were bleeding, he didn't stop but continuously kept on hitting him. "This is for ruining the most beautiful companionship I had." He landed another punch. "And this is for always meddling in my affairs."

"WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE LET ME ENJOY THIS MOMENT?" Daniel shouted, his voice ringing through the walls of the castle.

"Instead of sulking like a baby *coughs* why don't you go out *coughs* and fight *coughs* for your lady!" Derrick tried to shout, but his voice seemed strained after all the punches that he had received.

"LIKE YOU WOULD HONESTLY LET ME HAVE MY MOMENT! YOU ARE SUCH A BASTARD!" Daniel said as he stood up. However a few minutes later, he began to pounce on him, landing another punch.

"We can not talk here," Derrick said, his voice shaky. "Let's talk somewhere private," Derrick whispered the last statement, if Daniel hadn't crouched down to his level, he wouldn't have heard what he said.