May Death Do Us Part

Chapter 16: Chapter 16 : Let us feast

Ella was practically shaking as she walked outside to the family carriage, was it too late for her to decline the prince’s invitation? She could say she had fallen ill, or stubbed her toe or something.

As she was about to get onto the carriage, her father stopped her and pointed to another carriage that was parked behind theirs.

“The prince requested that you use your own carriage today Ella, he wishes to enter the feast with you in hand.”

“But father..” Ella looked at her brother and mother who were sitting inside the carriage smiling at her. It seemed that to them, this whole situation was amusing, couldn’t they hear the silent screams of their introverted daughter.

Lord Morrell got onto the carriage and closed the door. “We’ll see you inside my princess, today is a good day for you.”

The family carriage rode away making room for the little white carriage that the prince had sent to pick Ella up. A carriage man opened the door for her and bowed. “We better be going my lady, the prince is already waiting for you.”

*

.....

Ella looked out the carriage window and saw the grand palace come into view. There was music and happy chattering coming from the inside indicating that many people had already arrived. It was quite lively for a feast that was being held in the middle of the day.

The redhead saw the family carriage parked outside the palace entrance and heard the distant announcement of the arrival of the Morrells.

She turned to the little window in front of the carriage wondering why they had bypassed the entrance. “Where are we going?” She questioned the horseman.

“The prince awaits you in the garden my lady.” The man responded.

Prince Nathan saw the little white carriage approaching and smiled widely. He fixed his clothes and walked over to it as it came to a stop.

He opened the door to the carriage and stretched his hand towards Ella. The girl took his hand and stepped out of the carriage, and the moment the prince caught site of her, all the air in Nathan’s lungs rushed out.

The girl was adorned in a scarlet bow gown that almost matched her reddish hair. Her feet were covered in silver shoes that matched the silver gloves and jewelry she wore. The colors she wore made her blue eyes even more vivid and very hard to not notice.

“Ella...” Prince Nathan’s eyes kept moving, inspecting every inch of the girl, not knowing which part to ogle over.

“You look beautiful.” He finally managed to speak.

“Thank you your grace.” Ella kept her eyes away from the young prince, for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to stop blushing at his compliment.

“Why aren’t we attending the feast?” Ella questioned Nathan. “Why did you bring me here?”

Nathan finally snapped back to reality when he heard Ella’s curious voice, he had lost himself quite a bit admiring the beauty in front of him.

“Oh yes..” Nathan began to speak. “Before we join everyone else, there’s something I wish the share with you.”

Nathan took Ella’s hand and led her into the vast palace garden that was filled with different types of flowers and vines. The place was as breathtaking now as it was the first time Ella seen it when having lunch with Nathan some time back.

“You’ll have to close your eyes.”

Ella looked at the prince, her eyes batting in surprise. “What?”

“Close your eyes Ella, it’s a surprise.” The silver haired prince repeated.

The girl hesitantly closed her eyes and felt Nathan’s hand hold hers and steadily led her forward. “Just a little further...”

Finally the prince stopped and let go of Ella’s hand leaving her in suspense. “Can I open my eyes now?”

Nathan stood behind Ella and placed his hands on her shoulders, he leaned towards her ear making little shivers go down Ella’s spine. “You can open them.”

Ella opened her eyes and blinked a few times to adjust her vision, in front of her was a patch of freshly planted flowers. Ella couldn’t help but feel an eerie connection to these flowers, she felt like she’d seen them somewhere before.

“These are called the wild Mirines” Nathan spoke in a faint whisper.

“Mirine..? That’s...”

“After our talk, I could tell that you had feelings and memories rooted in Mirine, so I wanted to bring part of those memories here in Meria.”

Ella turned to the silver haired prince who was looking down at her lovingly, his honey brown eyes glistening with care and adoration.

“But Mirine is so far down south, how did you..?”

“I’m a prince,” Nathan responded, he wiped a stray tear that had escaped her beautiful eye. “Things like this are nothing so long as they make you feel more comfortable in this place... more comfortable with me.”

Ella wiped her misty eyes, worried she’d smudged her makeup. “Thank you.” She responded.

“Anything for you..”

Nathan ran his hands through Ella’s red locks and cupped her cheek in his hand. His pulse quickened as he fell deeper and deeper into those bewitching blue orbs. His eyes then trailed down to her full lips, painted red and looking so alluring. Oh how he wished he could claim those luscious lips for his own, could he? Would Ella deny him access to just have a small taste of them? Should he try?

“Your grace..”

Nathan turned to look at the butler who was bowing beside him.

“The king requests your presence at the feast your grace.” The well dressed butler spoke.

“Oh yes thank you Jeffrey.” Nathan spoke between nervous coughs. “We’ll be right there.”

*

“The crowned prince his royal highness, prince Nathaniel Aldos, and his guest of honor, lady Ella Morrell!”

The walk from the entrance to the high table was excruciatingly slow, Ella could physically feel the daunting eyes of the people, especially the females in the room piercing her slightly exposed back. It’s like someone had passes a royal decree that everyone should drop what they were doing and stare at her.

The room around felt like it was closing in on her, the floor was spinning and her breathing now felt forced.

“Relax Ella, I’m here.”

Ella looked up at the prince who smiled at her, keeping his face forward and head up like the prince he was. She gripped his arm tightly and took a deep breath, focusing on the high table that was inching closer way too bloody slow.

The two finally reached the high table and bowed and curtsied simultaneously.

“Welcome lady Ella.” King Bradley Aldos spoke as he smiled at the beautiful girl on his son’s arm. “Good to see you again.”

“Pleasure is all mine your grace.” Ella curtsied.

The girl’s eyes then darted over to the tall dark haired man who was sitting to the left of king Bradley, and curtsied to him too.

“Welcome to our land King Burchard.” She spoke.

“You’re a lucky man my boy!” Kind Burchard spoke to Nathan, “beautiful respectful girls like this are hard to come by these days. Keep her safe.”

“I will your grace.” Nathan spoke with a respectful bow.

“I wish my son would settle down and find a woman as well.” The dark haired king spoke with a chuckle. “He’s a good son, competent and hardworking but sometimes I wish he could calm down and give me grandchildren before I kick the bucket.”

The two kings laughed and sent the children their seats. Ella sat nervously next to Nathan, wondering why he hadn’t corrected the king and told them that were just friends. Was it because he didn’t want to be disrespectful?

Seated on the right hand of king Bradley, Nathan’s mother took side glances at her son and his guest and trembled in her seat.

It seemed that ever since the two beings had started spending time together, their inhuman aura had intensified so much that it was chilling to the bone.

What did these beings want? And why had she been cursed with birthing one of them? If it hadn’t been for her gift, the queen would have been as clueless as lady Morrell, the poor woman, she had raised a devil and had completely no idea.

If it wasn’t for her husband who was always hovering around her, she would have killed Nathan as soon as he had left her womb. And now it seemed it was too late, his power grew everyday in the presence of this girl. What would happen when he reached his peak? The queen didn’t even want to think about it, but she knew it in her bones that whatever it was these creatures had planned was utterly evil.

Since she couldn’t kill her son, she could at least try keep him away from the girl, prevent him from growing stronger. But how was she going to do it? Would she have to kill Ella?

“My wife?”

The queen startled when she heard her husband’s voice calling to her.

“Yes your highness.” The woman answered, her voice strained and her breathing heavy.

“Are you alright?”

The king had noticed his wife tensing up from the moment their son had walked in.

“I’m fine my king, just felt a little light headed.”

“Isn’t she beautiful?” The king spoke proudly. “Our boy has quite the eye.”

The queen glanced at Nathan and Ella who were nodding and laughing with each other without saying a word. As if reading each other’s minds.

“Yes my king, he has quite the eye.”