Wildfire

Nine

The faces that greet me when I finally find myself back inside standing at the front of the room in front of my Father as he pouts on his throne are all as confused as he is as they watch me come to a stop in front of them, the air so silent you could hear a hairpin shift itself out of place in one of the complicated updos gathered in the room before I take it upon myself to break the silence, a true smile gracing my face as my chest warms with pride in my choice, "I know many of you have traveled a great deal to be presented here tonight, your families escorting you and joining us on this wondrous evening... But sadly I must apologize to all of you for I have chosen my bride, and currently, he is resting in the garden waiting for me to return to him. Please, feel free to enjoy the rest of your evening! Eat and drink in our honor, and I truly enjoy extending the invitation to stay within the palace to those of you who do not wish to return home only to be called back for the wedding."

I make my address short and to the point, my manners stretched thin in my anxiousness to get back to the stunning jewel I had left in the garden, the afterimage of his brilliant hair shimmering to life in the moonlight haunting me every time I close my eyes no matter how briefly... But before I can make my exit, the room explodes into the thunderous roar I had expected when Rayne first made his elegant appearance, harsh words, and anger being thrown so casually in both my direction and that of the Cloud family where they had settled themselves back at the table to surely gossip over the sight of seeing their youngest in my arms. 

...

Rayne

...

"He said what?" The words are hissed as my the edges of my mind swim, the pain caused by breathing enough to make me want to stop altogether as the attack finally ceases, a message delivered by whatever daughter had been cruel enough to plead for this assault, my body screaming in protest when I force myself to curl up where I lay battered in the dust.

"Prince Emrys just announced that he's picked the runt for his bride! Papa, we must leave before he comes back! Our family will never withstand being shunned for accosting the next Queen!"

"Well, maybe the next Queen should have thought twice before showing up in places he doesn't belong!" The sneer is delivered with a swift kick to the back of my head that makes the splitting pain radiating inwards from my eyes and temples just that much worse, a croaked whimper leaving my swollen and split lips. 

"Enough! Come on Papa,  Uncle Shen!" The girl's cry reveals a name but nothing else as I watch their now blurry figures scurry away from me, one of the men pausing only long enough to spit on my now ruined dressing robes before finally departing and leaving me to bleed on the cold unforgiving ground... Finally alone, but nearly blinded and in so much agony I do not know how I will head the warnings that had been hurled at me with the fists that had caused my right eye to swell shut and broken my nose to leave and never show myself here again... To never look at Prince Emrys again for as long as I shall live... if I even survive what damage they've gifted to me...

I had told my parents this would happen... I told them that this court would deliver me unto my next life if I were to stand before the Prince as if I had a right to be amongst the children that could trace their lineages back hundreds of generations... The punishment had been brought down upon me with a vengeance I hadn't been prepared for, the sweetness that had been displayed when the Prince had asked me to dance the calm before the storm.

I don't know how long I lay on the hardened well-worn pathway before I am able to shift myself back and forth enough to gain enough momentum to force myself to roll onto my hands and knees, the last of my strength being used to drag myself to the nearest rose bush and shiver my way past its thorns until I can be sure that I am out of sight in case someone else decides to seek me out enraged over Prince Emrys's choice in bride. 

It is there that I finally allow my tears to fall as I lean myself against the strong roots of the painful bush, the imprints of the feet that had laid into me once I was knocked to the ground lining my spine and preventing me from being able to draw a proper breath while I weep for myself and for my misery.

...

Emrys

...

It takes much sweet talk and polite insistence that I will not apologize for staying true to my self and to my beast, my choice cementing even more in my mind as I watch the so-called noble families surrounding me turn on the Prince they had shown up hoping to woo and the family that will soon be my in-laws before I am finally allowed to take my leave of this tedious group of people, a long list forming in my head of who may keep their titles and land and who will be stripped of everything for their ignorance. Surely the best way to educate hate is to take away the very things that make them deem themselves so above the people we are charged to care for and keep safe. 

Too many of the families that my father had surrounded himself and his reign with had let themselves be corrupted by my Father's grief and hatred of the world now that his wife is no longer part of it that they had succumbed to the downfalls of greed and the most sour of dispositions towards those at lower stations of themselves. 

These are the thoughts that occupy my mind as I stroll through the garden, stopping only when I come to one of the first of many fountains that line the pathway knowing that the bench I had set Rayne on had not quite been this far, the heat rushing from my heart as I turn and spy the heavily carved stone resting place and find it empty, the dust at its base looking awfully disturbed, a liquid that looks darker than ink in the moons soft rays spilled and spattered in the surrounding area.