The Sisters Of The Court

Chapter 25: Scarlett

My face flushed red I hated people staring at me. I quickly stood up and regained my composure acting as if nothing happened. I saw Alice was holding my son and I gestured to her that I wanted to hold him. As soon as he was in my arms I immediately calmed down. he smiled and gurgled at me and was reaching up to grab my hair as if he would recognize me from just the touch of it. "Thank you for watching him while I was gone." I said to Alice never once looking up from my darling son. "Of course anytime." She replied with a timid smile. I sat down in my armchair and George and Alice left the room. "What is your mama to do?" I whispered to my son. I hope to God that they weren't speaking about me I had no interest in getting married right now. I have everything I need it worked just fine for four months. Why now? Is all I could ask myself. I tried to think about something else anything else but I couldn't all my thoughts just circled back to that argument I had heard. A light knock on the door took me out of my fretful thoughts. "Come in!" I said pleasantly. Nicholas walked in and gave me a smile. "Nicholas how nice-" I stopped talking when I saw who had followed him in. The man he was arguing with. "Scarlett this is the grand duke Boris." He said tiredly. The grand duke was looking around the room as if inspecting it for any little sign of dust. "A pleasure to make your aquatince your grace." I grumbled I knew there was only one reason why they would both be here. "Miss Scarlett." He said through gritted teeth. I could tell he was angry I could see it behind his eyes and I could hear it in his voice. "Please sit." I said graciously to looking at Nicholas. I put George down in his crib so I could better pay attention to what I knew was coming. "I have come to a decision on who you are to marry." Nicholas started looking directly at me. "I did not know there was a decision to be made." I said glaring daggers at Boris. I knew what he was going to say he didn't even need to say it. "You and the grand duke will be married in a weeks time." He said. It was final. I couldn't get out of this not when the Tsar himself has ordered it. "You will become Grand Duchess Natasha Vladimirovich." He continued. I sat there gripping the arms of my chair and Boris rushed out of the room in a rage and slammed the door behind him. I jumped at the sound and George started to cry. I picked him up and rocked him I felt like crying too but I knew I couldn't I had to be strong for my son. All of a sudden a page ran into the room slamming the door open. Good Lord must we slam everything today? "Your majesty." He says out of breath and bowing low. "There's been an assasanation attempt." I could see that Nicholas was panicking thinking it was Alix. "On who?" I demanded. "The Grand Duke George and his wife." He bowed low and backed out of the room. I called a nurse over to watch after my son while I was gone. Then I raced down the halls my anxious thoughts running wild and thinking the worst. I breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw they alive and well in the corridor. I walked up to them and Alice was joking about how she just died. "Goodness must you always scare me like this?" I asked George smacking him on the arm with an annoyed look on my face. "Never." He said back to me with a smile. Must he be so reckless? His family needs him he shouldn't be risking whatever time he has left. I hadn't realized I was holding onto his arm and when he pulled it away I stumbled backwards into the empress. Oh gosh couldn't I do anything right today? "I deeply apologize your majesty." I said with a heartfelt tone I could feel my cheeks turning red by the second. "Must you be clumsy as well as a fool?" She said with ice in his voice. I don't what I had done to upset her so so I just stood there stupidly not saying anything. "Even more stupid then I thought." She grumbled as she walked off. My cheeks were as red as a tomato. What had I done to upset her so? Surely it couldn't be because of the rumors? I stood up from my curtsy and saw that Alice and George were leaving. "Where are you going?" I could hear the panic rising in my voice. I didn't like Boris but I shouldn't be panicking over it surely. "I'm going to spend time with my family." He chuckled at me. I heard Alice say something as well but I didn't hear it she talked so quietly and it felt like my stomach was in knots. I slowly walked back to my room trying to process how I was going to live the rest of my life with that man. Maybe he is not so bad? I tried to reassure myself but my stomach still felt as if it had butterflies in it. When I got back to my room I was exhausted all I wanted to do was sleep and not have to worry about all of this. I plopped down on my bed and my eyes started to close.
It was a warm sunny day and I was bathing in the sunlight while my son and husband were playing in the golden fields around me. "You'll never catch me papa!" Yelled my little son as my husband chased him around the fields. I wanted to play with them but I was stuck on the blanket due to my swollen belly from the child growing inside of me. My husband sat down on the blanket next to me out of breath from playing with our son. "How are you my love?" He asked and smiled at me. "I have a beautiful a son and a loving husband I couldn't ask for more." I smiled at my husband he was nothing like Boris. He didn't exist here in this perfect land. He started leaning towards me as if to kiss me but our son interrupted us. "Come on papa come on!"
I jerked up in the bed and the words were ringing in my ears. "Stop it. You must accept what you have." I tell myself firmly. I quickly got dressed and tried to push the dream from my mind but I couldn't it was if I were obsessed. I walked over to my sons crib to say goodbye before the christening. "Mama will be back soon my precious son." I smiled at him and gave him a kiss in between the eyes. I wish I could have taken him with me and not have to leave him with a nursemaid. As I opened the door I saw Boris behind it and rolled me eyes. "Are you ready?" He asked gruffly not even bothering to look at me. I wish that i could say no and stay here with my son forever. "Yes." I say with an edge in my voice. We both walked quickly in silence to the christening. "You talk to no one without my permission." He hissed at me. "Excuse me? I will speak to whomever I like." I started to walk off to go and talk to Katherine but he grabbed my arm. It wasn't to hard but I knew he could do it harder and that almost made my heart stop. We walked to our seats near the front and for two hours I had to sit there listening to Latin praying he would just let go of me. When the ceremony was finally over we stood up and he basically dragged me out of the room to the reception. I heard Katherine call out to me but I couldn't stop so I just flashed her a sympathetic smile at her over my shoulder. When we got to the reception I was exhausted again but he had finally let go of my arm. We were stood in silence by the punch bowl until finally Alice came over and started speaking to him. I tried to make my relief as visible as possible to her to show my thanks. "Who are you?" Boris snapped at her with his thick Russian accent and he put his hand on my shoulder. "That is my wife." George appeared behind Alice I could hear his anger at Boris in his voice. I zoned out of the conversation until George's voice jerked me back into reality. "Would you like to dance with me?" He said with a smile. "Anything to get me away from him." I sighed. Luckily Boris didn't hear my remark and we stride over to the dance floor. I loved to dance but I hardly ever got to show it since I was afraid everyone would judge me even more. "George what am I to do? How am I supposed to marry that horrid man?" I said with a pleading look in my eyes. He let out a sigh as if he were saddened by the whole situation. "He shouldn't be allowed to treat anyone the way he does." His mood instantly changing to being angry. "I will have to suffer through it I suppose." I said as I spun around. We danced the rest of the dance in silence lost in our thoughts. The dance was soon over and I could see Boris coming to collect me. I wanted to run and hide but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction I stood there bravely my heart beating wildly inside my chest. As he approached me he grabbed my arm again a lot harder then it was this morning. "Let me go!" I yelled but he wasn't listening to me. "Please you are hurting me!" I started hyperventilating it was to much it was all to much. Everything started going black and I collapsed into someone's arms.