Love Will Reign

Her hands shook. Her knees quaked. Her breathing quivered.

She saw the cheering people in the streets pass by, grand smiles and loud clapping. Flowers and flags and ribbons all waved about in the air.

The white fabric itched, her scalp hurt from all the pins and products, her face felt weird under all the makeup.

It all felt wrong.

This was meant to be the happiest day of her life; yet she sat picking at the soft rose petals and refusing to meet the eyes of those outside.

"Hey, come on, Adeline." the elbow to her side nudged her from her distant thoughts. "It's not that bad. How many people have their wedding and coronation at the same time?" She had known these girls since childhood, but she knew they weren't really her friends.

"How many people have a coronation?" laughed the other bridesmaid in the carriage. "I mean, really." A smile cracked on her face, but it didn't reach far and didn't stay long.

Within minutes the cathedral came into view. The high grand doors hiding all the guests that waited inside - and the lone man standing at the altar, eyes locked on the entrance. The three women sitting around her in their baby pink dresses grinned at each other and then at her.

"Here we go."

Stepping out of the vehicle, she didn't hear anything – the only thing she heard was a single droning pitch.

Up the stone steps - one shaking foot at a time - she brought herself closer and closer to her own infinite misery. Adeline blinked only once and the others were already gone, down the aisle. The soft pink fabric appearing to make them float the stretch of the cathedral.

She felt him draw closer long before she saw or heard him, she'd know his harrowing presence anywhere. His arm slinked around hers, standing as rigid and regal as ever. She still questioned to this day how this man could have ever been a father – let alone hers.

His touch alone repulsed her.

Those callused fingers against her skin – the itching crawl that stayed for days after. The fear and the pain of his wrath stay longer. The scars and memories of what he's done always lingers, like ghosts over her shoulder.

"For the sake of the people." His deep whisper barely reached her ears.

"For the sake of reputation." Before he could argue, the music doubled in volume – signifying her entrance.

Walking down, the old bastard at her side was as stone faced as any gargoyle. Adeline didn't feel any joy in this moment, and her heart probably feeling exactly how her father looked.

She was passed off from the ageing tyrant to the pudgy faced duke at the head of the cathedral, like some unwanted cow handed off to be another farmer's problem.

Words filtered through her mind, but nothing registered, it was all just minutes of time ticking by.

"- Princess Adeline Mary the Third, take Duke William Harry of Oxford to be your lawfully wedded husband, until death do you part?" Did she actually have a choice?

Her heart couldn't betray the one she loves like this, so her mind did the work for her, "I do."

The round red cheeks of the man clinging to her hands grinned in triumph of her words, a look screaming 'I won'.

Body beyond the call of control, a lone droplet fell from behind her mascara and trickled down her face. She could hear it now, 'Such happiness! A tear of joy' the press will cry in the papers for the next fortnight.

The ceremony fell back into silence in her mind, seeing and hearing nothing until required to. Gently tugged by her... husband, towards the register, she willed her fingers to stop trembling as she picked up the pen.

It was done. She did it.

She signed her life away.

...*...*...*...

Festivities often follow this kind of grand occasion. How she once loved them when she was young and had dreamt of her own. Now she prayed for the end of the reception, for the continuous faces of dignitaries and family and friends to simply disappear - and take that retched excuse of a husband with them.

Champagne flowed like rivers, feasts were consumed like these people were starving beggars, not making millions off the people of this kingdom. Music played but it was nothing compared to the thumping in Adeline's brain. People danced, but she kept herself away from the flow of the movement and rhythm.

"Come darling, our car is here. Everyone is going to wish us off." Hands gripped her as words from her new life partner poured into her mind. Pulled by the man in front of her, she was lead through the throngs of people like a prized pony being put on show.

Advice and well wishes were tossed to her, but Adeline wasn't catching any of it. Her focus was on getting into the car and going away from it all. Maybe she could convince him to sleep in a different bed during their marriage?

Soon there was plush leather under her, and the sounds of cheers was blocked by metal and glass.

Then everything fell away. It was only passing trees under the night sky.

Neither the man beside her nor their driver bothered to disturb the settled silence. Even the stars frowned down at her, hiding their bright faces behind clouds in disappointment.

She let the world and its people slip away from her consciousness.

First it was ten minutes. Then it was half an hour. Still there were a few other cars that passed on occasion, despite the late time.

An hour slowly drained by. The odd little car or bike. Mostly just a flash of distant headlights in the rear-view mirror that quickly disappeared again.

The silence turned icy by the second hour. Nothing, they were alone on this desolate road.

She didn't know where they were going and - quite frankly - she didn't care. All she wanted was for this all to be over.

A single gunshot did just that.

...*...*...*...

"How did the attacker get away?"

"Do you remember the vehicle the killer was driving?"

"What time did this take place?"

Too many questions. Too many questions.

Air. Silence. Stop. Adeline needed it to stop.

Sobs erupted from her. Tears swam down her face. Makeup smeared and hair unclipped.

"Take her to bed. We'll do the rest of the questioning in the morning – when things are... Um, well, calmer."

Arms of officers helped her to her feet. Another body used their own weight to get her up the stairs to her room.

"Guards at every door. No one goes in and no one goes out without first checking with the General."

It was like she felt everything yet was no longer connected to her body. She could do nothing, but feel it all. Someone laid her down on her bed. The soft blankets encase her in their safety and acceptance. Her shoes were removed from her sore feet.

The bedroom door opened and closed – then locked.

Alone.

She was finally alone.

At last.

Alone.

Stinging eyelids begged her to close them and let sleep heal any wounds; but then something creaked. Teenage years spent sneaking around taught her what that sound was, weight shifting on wood.

She wasn't alone.

Someone hid in the room before she arrived. Someone else was here. Waiting.

Another creak, and the squeak of old closet hinges opening.

Adeline sealed her eyes shut, feigning sleep in the desperate attempt of somehow keeping the darkness at bay. Footsteps on the floor with minimal sound, calculated steps – gentle but sure and muffled by boots.

"I know you're awake."

She knew that voice. She knew that voice better than all others – better than her own. This was not the voice of a killer. This was not the voice of any man she knew.

"Odelia?" So quiet, her whimper, it almost went unheard by the cloaked woman.

"Is there any other that has loved you all these years?" Adeline could have sobbed in joy, she threw off her covers and launched herself at her lover.

Bodies blended together in a tangle of arms and hushed promises of love.

"You? You killed your own brother for me?"

Her love, her one; a murderer? No. No – she can't have. She can't have.

"Oddie, no. No, please, Oddie. You'll be hanged! I can't lose you."

The shine in Adeline's eyes was more than just the moon and stars that were dancing above them through the curtains. She had shed enough tears today, no more.

"To get away from your father you had to marry someone you didn't even love? To hell with that! And we both know how my brother would have treated you, if he even acknowledged you over his many whores."

"But to kill someone, Odelia?"

"I wasn't going to let you be used anymore. Never to be hurt by him again,". Odelia pulled the love of her life tight against her chest. "I promised to never let you go, Addie. I will always keep to that."

"I don-," She breathed deeply, pushing past the rush of emotions.

"I wasn't going to let your bastard father hold himself like a dictator over you anymore. Now he can't do anything to stop you." The bright grin on the face of the love of her life almost completely reassured her.

"Bu- "

"You're Queen now, Addie. You married and became ruler. Yes, your husband is now dead, but you will still remain the Queen." She was right. Regardless now of her marital status, she was the reigning monarch.

Nothing stopped the smile that blossomed onto her features.

Holding just that bit tighter to her saviour, she said. "I love you, Oddie."

"I've always loved you, my darling Adeline." A kiss, one of true love – on her wedding day - as any little girl dreams of having.

Her hands shook. Her knees quaked. Her breathing quivered.

Pulling back from her lover she looked into her eyes like never before.