Anything For Rachel – Episode 16

[ S.v painter ]✔

 

 

 

 

 

Episode_16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Actually, yeah, I’m sure you do too.” She agreed. “Getting him to come back, to open back up to the people, and to rule his kingdom was hard. Pedro worried over him so long, but he finally was able to get through to him. I was in the room with him and Pedro when Calvin refused to speak to his people. He hadn’t eaten in days and he was becoming so frail.

 

Pedro grabbed him out of the bed and held him up and he yelled at him, ‘What kind of man do you want to be? One day, that little girl is going to come asking who her father is, and she is going to have a mother with her. What kind of man do you want them to find when they come looking for you? It’s time to grow up, and be the man you promised to be,’ He’d told him, and just like that, it was like a switch

 

 

flipped in Calvin.” She said. “He started doing what he needed to do, he got up, he made changes, and he tried to be a good ruler. You could still see the pain in his eyes, but he stopped letting it control him.” She finished off my makeup, then she came around to the front of the chair, looking down at me hard. “Are you ready to stop letting the pain control you ?” She asked and it took all of my fight not to burst into tears.

 

I stood up and put my arms around her neck. “Thank you.” I whispered and she hugged me back.

 

 

 

When she pulled away she looked at me seriously. “Since you’ve been back here, I see the same love-struck prince I used to watch on TV.” She told me. “I know he has made mistakes, and he knows it to, but girl, that man is in love with you.” She whispered.

 

 

 

There was a knock on the door and Cromley walked in carrying a covered dish. “You’ll have to eat quickly, the council is ready for you.” He said as he put the plate on the table.

 

 

 

Octavia fanned her hand in the air. “She’s the queen, they can wait.” She smiled at me.

 

 

 

I walked over to the table and lifted the lid.

 

 

 

Have some damn cobbler and try to relax…Also, I’m sorry. -Cal

 

 

 

I looked up from the plate and the note with tears in my eyes and Octavia grinned at me as she tilted her head.

 

 

 

“I told you so.”

 

 

 

Can I?

 

 

 

Of course I can. I don’t like to admit it, but it is completely possible that I never stopped loving him even though I’d convinced myself otherwise. I held his note in my hand and I was stuck in an awkward laugh/cry. I remember the first note I’d gotten from him. It was just like this one after he had saved me from that rogue guard on my first night. He’d found me and I had a total break down about being here, and even with all the stress I had been feeling, he was able to make me smile.

 

He always makes me smile.

 

 

 

The realization only made me cry a little harder. Tears that weren’t necessarily sad, but they weren’t happy either. Taking a step towards accepting my true feelings for Calvin and his feelings for me, was one thing, but it also left a lot of questions in my life now. What about Logan? What about Rose? What would it even mean if Calvin and I were to give in to our emotions?

 

 

 

They were all things I needed to talk to Calvin about.

 

Calvin.

 

 

 

Even just thinking his name anymore makes my heart do flips, like I’m a young girl again.

 

 

 

I found myself smiling as I ate the incredibly delicious cobbler in front of me. Cromley stood at the door checking the time over and over, but like Octavia has said, I am the queen for now, and I needed to get my head straight before I go see Calvin again.

 

 

 

After I’d stalled as long as possible, I finally rose from my seat and walked towards the door with Octavia. We walked quietly, Octavia was only a big talker when it was in her interest to be.

 

As we rounded the corner, and I could see where the guards were holding off a crowd of people, I finally remembered that I was supposed to be feeling nervous. I followed Octavia into the conference room quietly, and my eyes scanned looking for Calvin, but he wasn’t here yet.

 

 

 

Everyone else was still in the same place as they were the first time, and they hadn’t seemed to have even left the room since the first meeting.

 

 

 

“Welcome back, highness.” Master Marco greeted me, and the people all around the table stood to bow until I took my seat and they all followed suit. “We have come to decision.” He smiled warmly, his face creasing around his mouth.

 

 

 

I felt tense as I waited for him to say something, and the fact that Calvin still wasn’t here was only putting me even more on edge.

 

 

 

“Shouldn’t we wait for his Majesty?” Octavia chimed in what I was thinking.

 

 

Marco nodded his head to her. “Yes, well, he is in another meeting right now but said that he wouldn’t be too far behind and that he would be here as soon as possible. I see no reason why we can’t move forward with our proceedings with the queen.” He said as he smiled at me. I smiled back, not wanting to be rude, but I wish he didn’t always look at me so intensely.

 

 

 

I’m sure he, and everyone else in the room could hear how fast my heart was beating. “I’m pleased to tell you that we have found no fault in your case.” He told me. “I’m sorry for dragging you through all of this, and we are more than elated to have you back here with us.”

 

 

 

“Thank you so much.” I sighed, but I noticed Octavia go still beside me.

 

 

 

“I thought we discussed…” She started to say but Marco shook his head at her.

 

 

 

“We did discuss whether or not we were going to find any guilt in this case, but you were quick to chase the King out of here and didn’t bother to stick around for our deliberations on what to do about this.” He said less than enthusiastically, and I could sense some accusation in his voice as he spoke to her.

 

 

 

As outspoken as I have seen Octavia be, she dropped her gaze and looked down at the table until the door at the back of the room opened up and Calvin strode in, brushing through his hair and he smiled at everyone around the room until he got to Octavia and saw the strained look on her face.

 

 

 

❇

 

“What have I missed?” He asked the room, but only looking at her.

 

 

 

She sighed. “Only that Rachel has been found innocent and that she’ll be staying.”

 

 

 

“Wait.” I interjected, fear crippling me. “Staying?” I gasped.

 

Calvin’s eyes went big and his face looked pale. “I don’t understand.” He admitted and I noticed Miss Angela roll her eyes at him.

 

 

 

Master Marco gestured to an empty seat at the table and Calvin moved quickly to sit in it. “Your highness, I understand that you felt you were forced to marry this young lady, but the fact is that being a

 

 

royal, or even a high ranking official comes with sacrifices. The people want her back, we as a council want her back, and it is your duty to honor the commitment that you made to her.”

 

 

 

Calvin clinched his jaw and I could see the tension in his face as he tried to keep his cool and I did the same, begging myself to not lose control. Don’t cry. Don’t show emotion. “I know damn well what the responsibilities of being a royal are, Marco.” He said evenly but venomously. “I thought we were far enough along as a people to not still force our rulers into loveless marriages just because that’s what they want.” He looked around the room. “I have great respect for this girl, but to expect her to come back now is just Ludacris. She’s been away from here for five years for Christ’s sake. I’m sure she has already established a life for herself, and it would be very cruel of us to force her back here after everything she has been through.”

 

 

 

I was praying silently that they would see reason, but at the same time I knew where I was, and I knew this was the place that has no qualms about abducting small children to be raised in feeder schools to later be purchased as pets or meals. They don’t care about inconveniencing my life or whether or not they are being cruel to me.

 

 

 

“Funny that you should mention this other life that she has likely established.” Miss Angela grinned at Calvin then down the table to me. “As a council we decided to look into you just a little, and we found that you certainly had made a life for yourself.” She continued to smile and my heart sank at where this might be going. “Just a quick search of your name online brings us to your many pages about your books.” Calvin and I both glanced at each other, I knew now where this was going. “Lovely things it seems, but what we found the most interesting was the ending of your first book where the prince heroically gives up his human princess so that she might have a chance at life. Care to explain?” She asked. “Because your first book seems to read an awful lot like your time here.”

 

 

 

Calvin was staring at me, and I felt Octavia’s hand in my lap and I latched onto it, squeezing hard as I tried to gather my thoughts.

 

 

 

“Yes, well, I did base that first book off of my time here.” I admitted and everyone’s eyes widened, some nodding as well. “But the end that you are referring to, is obviously not how it happened.” I lied. “Calvin and I have both already told you all what happened that night.”

 

 

 

“Then why the false ending when there are very few differences in it otherwise?” Marco asked, placing his hands on the table slowly, smugly.

 

 

I sighed, looking him right in the eye. “That seems pretty obvious to me, but since you feel it needs explaining, I don’t mind dumbing it down for you.” I said just as smugly and I caught Calvin’s quick grin. “What person would want to read about the romance of two people that ends with the prince deciding he can’t stand her and would rather have her friend, and thus sending her away in secret?” I asked. “I can promise you, I would not have had near as much success as I have if I had ended the story with the truth.” I told them all, then I lowered my eyes to the table, putting on my sad face. “Plus, I just liked to romanticize what really happened in my head, that way the pain isn’t…the pain isn’t as bad when I would try to convince myself that what he did was for me, not for him.”

 

 

 

“I’m sorry to have brought it up again.” Master Marco said and I kept my face down to make sure the relief that he bought my lies wasn’t obvious. I was also thanking God that I had decided to leave Rose out of the books, and not having anything personal on my websites.

 

 

 

“This is just even more reason not to force her to stay here.” Calvin said. “She shouldn’t be forced to be with someone who she doesn’t want either. I think she has made enough sacrifices for our people. It’s time for us to let her go.”

 

 

 

Marco and the rest shook their heads lightly. “I’m sorry, to the both of you, but the council was formed by you so that we could make decisions together, and there are just more votes for her majesty to resume her reign than there are for her to be relieved of her duty.”

 

 

 

“She never even had a coronation!” Calvin snapped. “Why are you people so dead set on forcing a human girl to live out her life here?”

 

 

 

“Are you trying to imply that there is something wrong with this place?” A man at the end of the table demanded angrily.

 

 

 

“Or are you just trying to say that because she is a human that she is too good to be here with us?” Angela chimed in with a smile.

 

 

 

Calvin slammed his fist down on the table in frustration as he stood. “Of course I am not saying those things!” He said. “But think what you people are doing! I have told you I don’t want to be with her, she has told you how much pain being near me puts her in, and you all know the things she went through before coming here to be with us, only to end up back home at no fault of her own, and now she’s here again and you want to keep her. She isn’t a toy, she is person.”

 

“No.” Angela said. “She is a queen.”

 

 

 

“This is all a joke!” Calvin laughed angrily.

 

more interesting stories from TOPSTER STORIES APP

 

“With all due respect, you certainly sound like you care more about her than you are willing to let on.” Master Marco said lowly, hardly above a whisper.

 

 

 

I finally leaned back in my seat, crossing my arms over my chest. “I don’t get a say in this at all?” I asked.

 

“In my own life?” I looked around, looking each and every person in the eye. “I never wanted any of this.

 

 

 

I never asked to be here, I didn’t aspire to be a queen, not even after I was brought here for the competition. I was publicly shamed for saying exactly that, but then I fell for him.” I said, pointing in his direction without looking at him. “I thought I was in love, and I agreed to marry him, and in turn become your queen because I wanted to be with him, but that was before he threw me away like trash, and before he stood in front of all of you people to tell you that he didn’t want me and that he’d had an affair with one of my friends.”

 

 

 

I reminded them all. “How can you honestly expect us to just go back together like everything is fine? How do you expect me to just turn my back on the life I’ve been living the last five years?”

 

 

 

Octavia was nodding her head at my side, but the rest of the room seemed unmoved by my speech. “This is the decision that we’ve come to.” Marco said evenly, hands still folded on the table in front of him.

 

 

 

“This is bullshit!” Calvin yelled and he got s a few disapproving glances, but I wanted to agree with him.

 

 

 

“We can’t change it now.” Angela shrugged. “The people want a queen, and they loved you.”

 

 

 

“What if the people could have a queen they liked even more than me?” I asked suddenly, my own mind not even catching up to my mouth before the entire statement was already out and there was no taking it back.

 

 

 

 

“What do you mean?” Marco asked and I could feeling Octavia’s and Calvin’s gazes boring into me.

 

 

 

“Oh, um, I only meant…Well, I was found because of the competition.” I said.

 

 

 

“Rachel!” Calvin said my name but I couldn’t look at him.

 

 

 

“No, I think I might like this idea.” Marco smiled at me and I felt like garbage.

 

 

 

How could I have possibly suggested such a thing? I know for me to get Rose back I have to get out of here, but I never would have guessed that I would come up with something like that.

 

 

 

Angela looked incredulously at me. “You’re suggesting we hold another competition to find a replacement for you so that you might be absolved of your duty?”

 

 

 

“I, um…well, I-.” I began to stutter, my mouth refusing to work at all anymore. I am literally turning into the eighteen year old girl who was here before. I wanted to stand up and kick myself.

 

 

 

“That could work.” Marco nodded.

 

 

 

“You can’t be serious!” Calvin shouted. “You’re all mad, the lot of you!”

 

 

 

“I like the idea too.” Another woman agreed. “The highest all around moral we ever had was during the competition.” She said. “King Gordo may have been a lot of things, but he was a good entertainer, that is for sure.”

 

 

 

Marco nodded his head. “All those in agreement, raise a hand.” Everyone around the table expect for me, Calvin, and Octavia raised their hands. “Very well.” He smiled. “We will run the idea by the public and if they seem willing, we will go with your idea.

 

 

 

If not, then you will be resuming your rule.” He said plainly. I chanced a glance over at Calvin and he was sitting down again, his elbows on the table and his face in his hands. “I don’t want as long of a spectacle as last time though.” Macro said. “I think a three week period would work.”

 

“Three weeks to find a girl he wants to spend his life with?” Octavia asked.

 

 

 

“Oh, dear, I don’t plan to bring in new girls.” He smiled and Calvin shot his head up glaring at Marco with black eyes. “His majesty himself said he had feelings for another, and I do believe that she is still staying here, is she not?”

 

 

 

“She is.” Calvin spat and my stomach sank even lower than I had imagined possible. I wanted to scream, cry, and vomit all at once. What the hell have I done?

 

 

 

“Very good.” Marco smiled. “Then I will suggested the idea of a completion between Miss. Lexton and Queen Rachel for the heart of the king and the rule of the land.”

 

 

 

⬜

 

 

 

To_be_Continued

 

 

 

 

 

ANYTHING FOR RACHEL