W.I.T.C.H.: The Bloody Throne

Part 28

With dinner over and most of the guests dispersing to lounge rooms, the libraries, or their sleeping quarters to prepare for the morning, it was finally time for Will and Phobos to retreat to their rooms where the king knew his wife was going to interrogate him. Sure enough, the moment the heavy oak door closed behind them, she spun around to face him with full fury. During the dinner and for some time afterward, Will had managed to control her temper, but now she felt like a dam inside her burst. With a voice that was more of a hiss than a shout, since she didn't know how thick the walls of this castle were, she addressed her husband. "So, care to explain a few things?"

"Where would you like me to start?" asked Phobos in a calm manner with which he addressed all problems that faced him. Surely this had to be a case of misunderstanding.

"How about that argument I overheard you having with Cedric." Will snapped back, her husband's calm demeanor seeming to fuel the fires of her anger. "Did you honestly plan on stringing me along just so you could take the Heart from me? Were you really just using me?"

Protectively, she placed a hand over the Heart, which she always carried on her.

"If you had properly listened, you would have learned that I abandoned that plan long ago." Replied Phobos and tried to touch Will's shoulder to comfort her, but Will pulled further away from him when he tried.

"Is that so, well when exactly did you abandon that plan? Was it before or after we got married? Or, better yet, was it before or after I told you that I was pregnant? Furthermore, since you like to keep secrets, why should I believe you?" With every question, an odd pressure grew in Will's chest and she wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to scream at him or because she wanted to cry.

"Wilhelmina, if you can't trust me then why did you marry me? You know that there can't be love without trust." Phobos felt hurt, even if he didn't show it. The one person he cared for more than anyone else and he had broken their trust in him.

"I married you in the belief that I could trust you, but recently you, but recently you have been acting very shady." The pressure grew more and more and Will was certain that if she didn't scream at him that she was going to cry. At this, seeing how his wife was growing close to tears, Phobos could only sigh and hang his head; he was ashamed of his behavior.

"I am sorry, Wilhelmina." He took a breath to steady himself. "I never meant to upset you." He looked up and tried to keep his eye contact with Will steady. "I abandoned the original plan long before I married you. I abandoned it back when you took care of me in the Inbetween. You didn't have to and, moreover, you forgave and trusted me even when I did nothing to earn that trust. You saw something in me that was worthwhile and that was when I fell for you. Sure, the initial infatuation began with the poison, but I now count it as a blessing, since without it I would never have gotten the chance to know you better."

"So, when did you plan on telling Cedric? You clearly hadn't since he still thought-"

"I was hoping Cedric would forget about the old plan, once he saw how great Meridian was doing with you as its' queen. Given how devoted he could be, I figured it best not to immediately tell him; he would never have agreed to let you be queen if I had. I now see that my theory was wrong and I should have acted sooner" for a moment, it felt good to come clean to his wife, but he also knew that this was only the beginning and that there was still a lot he had to answer for.

"And what about your engagements to Myra and Isabella, when were you planning on tell me about those?" Will could feel her shoulders relax a little, now that she knew the heart wasn't in any danger from her husband anymore. Now, she just felt near tears because he could have ended up with either the intelligent Myra or the beautiful Isabella. Now, maybe it was because she was pregnant and her hormones were messing with her esteem and self-worth, or it was because she couldn't help but compare herself to them and, when she did, she saw nothing worthwhile. Compared to the others, Will was almost ashamed of what her husband had married.