CAPTIVE by the Prince

Chapter Twenty Seven

He is dead.

Ana's knees gave in and she fell into a heap on the floor. Tears flowed in her eyes and she began to wail for her loss.

Ivan. Dead.

How could it be? How could he be dead?

She slammed her fist on the carpeted floor and cried her heart out, ignoring Lucya who tried to comfort her.

Ivan was really dead? The news pierced her heart like a sharp knife. It felt as if the world has fallen upon her and she wanted to fall herself into an everlasting oblivion to escape the pain.

Ivan had tried to kill her. He had never really loved her. But why did the news of his death brought great pain to her? Why did she feel as if she wanted to die herself? Why was she feeling a great despair?

The doors swung open and the queen ran towards her and she, too, tried to calm her. It took the efforts of Lucya and Queen Talya to drag a hysterical Ana to the chair.

"Calm down, daughter," her mother tried to soothe her.

"He is dead!" she wailed. "He is dead! Dead!"

The queen perched at the chair's armrest and cradled her daughter in her arms. "Hush now, dear. Hush."

Ana's cries turned into silent sobs several minutes later, her mother's voice lulling her to calm down. She choked back a sob and spoke softly. "How... how did he die?"

"He was killed by the guards when he tried to attack your brother in the dungeons," the queen replied. "They had no choice -the guards needed to protect their crowned prince."

"How can I go on after this?" Ana asked, more to herself than to her mother. "I don't understand... He tried to kill me, and it hurts to know that he tried to take my life. I was hurt, but I don't know why I did not feel any anger towards him for what he did. Did that make any sense?"

Her mother only continued to cradle her in her arms.

"Maybe because I tried so hard to deny that it was him who tried to kill me," she continued. "Maybe because I wanted it so hard to believe that I still have a future with him. I love him... Oh, why did I ever fall in love with him?"

She continued to sob silently within her mother's tight embrace. What would happen to her now? How could everything turn so bad like this? She never wished for him to die... He never wanted him dead. A part of her still tried to deny that Ivan was her attacker. Now, she would never know the truth for Ivan was no longer alive to confess the truth or clear his name.

Shouldn't she feel relieved and safe now that the threat to her life would stop? But everything felt wrong, as if there was something off with her situation. Her heart was grieving with Ivan's passing, and that gnawing feeling that tugged her heart was very difficult to ignore.

Why did she still love him? After all that he had done? After all the hurt that he had caused her from the very beginning? If Tadhana was making her feel like this, then cursed that fucking Tadhana! Destiny made her Ivan's eternal match, and the same destiny took him away from her. Why the world was full of crazy crap like Tadhana and destiny and... love, she would never understand.

"Tadhana works in many mysterious ways, child," her mother told her. "There's a reason for everything."

But what was the reason? To stir another conflict between the two kingdoms? Why?

"Your Majesty!" The door burst open and a tall man stepped forward. "Your presence is needed by the king."

"What is it this time, Marcus?" the queen asked the general.