17: Stuck with me

~Laith~

"Don't go," he whispered. My heart jumped in shock. 

The second prince was holding onto me. In the presence of the ton, he was pleading with me not to take off. 

I was tight-lipped. My body froze, my feet glued to the spot. Their was nothing that I could do to combat the wonderment brought on by his stance. 

My heart missed a few beats. The span between us bridged by his actions. I felt faint as though floating and not standing on my two feet. The utterances I always wanted to hear flowed from his lips without any difficulty. 

Prince Caelan swerved his body around me without allowing his hand drop from my rear. He stood in front of me with my back turned to him. 

My cheeks had turned crimson, from the blood that pulsed in my veins. The moment was nothing short of astounding. I wished time would stand still so I could marvel in this moment longer. 

"I won't let you go to him," Prince Caelan's voice boomed in the room. "You are of the crown and have no right getting close to the deposed crown prince," he added taking a defensive pose. 

The light ignited in my eyes by his actions that had a while back dimmed out. Tears well up in my eyes. 

How easy it was for me to fall for his words. The nerve of him to play with the strings of my heart stunned me. 

"I belong to the goddess not to the crown. Staying by the crown is a choice I made," I spoke up in anger. "I now wonder if that choice was right," I summed up. 

"Huh!" shocked gasps echoed from all corners of the room. 

"The crown treats me like a statue to serve it's purpose. I'm A PERSON WITH A HEART THAT FEELS AND A MIND THATS THINKS!" I cried out at the top of my voice. 

A shimmering light escaped from the bracelets, temporarily blinding everyone in the room. My heart cold and dark. The second prince was unbelievable. I was a bigger fool for trusting deep down in my heart that he could ever be just for me. 

"The day that the crowns understands this, they can look for me," I marched away from the stage. Racing down the aisle to reach prince Zephirin. Without thinking much of it, I grabbed his hand and pulled him along with me. 

My blood was boiling. The beat of my heart was scaringly fast. Like I had ran a marathon. 

Heaven only knows why the stars were aligned against me. The last twenty four hours had been nothing but a nightmare. Jumping from one boiling pan to another. 

In all my years, I never got the chance to feel so much dark feelings. To have dark lingering thoughts in my heart. 

"Pack my belongings and his, Rhon. We are leaving the palace," I ordered. 

"Wait," Prince Zephirin pulled me to a stop. "What do you mean we? When did I express that I wanted to leave the palace with you?" he asked. 

"Did I not make myself clear?" I asked him. Black veins forming in my face. As I invoked the dark energy in my body and his. Connected by the bracelet that helps to give him my darkness and me his light and vice versa. 

I simply rewrote the setting of the bracelet and opened a narrow window that grants me access to his power. The pure dark energy flowing in him was addictive and compelling. A dazing feeling that overpowered every other emotion in me. 

"Let me make myself clear then," I paused and took a step closer to him. My eyes darkening, an endless darkness taking over every corner of my eyes. Prince Zephirin gasped. "You are the only one on the surface of this earth that I want by my side. I love everything about you and I'm not leaving you here. Come what may, I have no intentions of ever leaving your side," my dark devilish voice made into words. 

Rhon stepped back, terrified of the aura I was emitting. I could see fear in his eyes and feel the dark emotions resonating in his body without looking past prince Zephirin. 

The darkness in my eyes was illuminating. It was the clearest I've seen in ages. "Read my glossed lips, Zephevi. You are stuck with me for eternity and the only way that will change is if either you leave the world forever or I do," my dark desires knew no limits. 

Prince Zephirin glanced at me with an expressionless face. It was impossible to make out what was in his mind. 

"A penny for your thoughts," my curiosity got the better of me. "Before you speak, be sure to note that my offer isn't up for debate," I stubbornly spoke out. 

He remained silent. 

Caught off guard by my dark confession. My choice of words terrified me too, it was thrilling to take things in my hands and get what I want. 

"I have lived my life being told how to live, what to say and what I can or can not do, no more. I am tired of people writing my story for me," I cried out. I gently clutched his hand. Caressed my way up to his shoulders. "I'm not so helpless that I can't have a voice of my own. It's time I started writing the chapters of my story but I can't do that here. Which is why we have to leave this place. And no way in hell, I'm leaving without you," I declared openly. 

"Laith!" 

Prince Caelan appeared from the shadows. He shouted my name angrily. 

"Do you think I won't be able to hear you if you don't shout or did someone tell you that your voice is sweeter when its raised?" I asked sarcastically. 

"How could you turn your back from the crown? From me?!" he barked. 

"I.turned.my.back.on.you?" I gritted my teeth in anger. "I turned my back on you?!" I laughed out. Tears of betrayal flowing down my eyes. "Did any of it ever mean anything to you? Did I ever mean anything to you?"

"My brother is fooling you, whatever it is that he's promised is a lie. He only wants you to forsake your duties as his revenge to the crown of Liradia," the fool dared to say. He stepped forward and reached forth his hand to me. "Take my hand and I will save you from him," he added. He sounded like a hero. 

The lawn of the palace was dimly lit, with my face turned from his, the second prince couldn't see my face. He was blinded to the situation. Unable to see who needed saving from whom between me and prince Zephirin. 

My eyes darted to Zephirin's. He was calm and unbothered by the drama going on with me and Caelan. He stayed put silently. 

"You will save me?" I mocked. "Why do those words sound funny to me?" I posed a rhetorical question. 

"My brother has poisoned your mind from me and the kingdom. You mustn't listen to him, Laith. You should listen..."

"To you?" I cut him short. "Should I trust you?"

I sucked more and more dark energy from prince Zephirin as my anger grew. A dark killing intent playing at my eyes. I wanted to stain my hands with his blood. To end the drowning pain once and for all.

Prince Caelan took another step forward. Prince Zephirin snapped his finger, his sword appeared out of thin air. He grabbed it and raised it to my neck. The sharp cold edges of the sword kissing my skin. Forcing me to glance at him in shock and shudder from the chill in my bones. 

"Take another step and he dies," prince Zephirin threatened. He pulled me into his arms and pointed the sword at my back.