Despite my ghoulish reputation,
I have a heart of a small boy.
The deeply sleeping girl woke up to the sound of someone barging into her room. The curtains got pulled to each side of the windows. It was hurtful for her to open her eyes but she tried. Timotheé stood before her bed giving an icy stare at the girl. "Play." Diana was confused by what he was requesting. "Wake up and play the violin, I don't want to tell you twice." His bleak voice echoed in her ears. "No." She stated calmly. He gave her another chance, but his tolerance began to wane. "Don't play with my patience, Diana." His voice lowered trying to control his anger. "I said I won't." Timotheé poked the inside of his mouth with his tongue and started walking. Diana should have agreed because the next thing that happened shattered her heart to pieces. Timotheé opened the case throwing the violin to the floor with pure strength and breaking the bow into two. The sound of the strings snapping, with the wood being broken was a terrible sound for her to hear. Tears filled Diana's eyes at the sight. Something that she loved was destroyed in just a few seconds. She regretted not playing for him. "That was a gift from my father..." she uttered. "Next time do as I say." He walked out of the room.
She got out of bed and went towards what was left of her instrument. Diana lifted the violin by the neck and only a string held the pieces of it together. She felt like a part of her was torn from her body, which was unbearable pain.
The door was open so she exited the room.
She saw the king sitting at his table doing his daily work. She made her way up to him and slapped his face which almost left a mark. Timotheé stood from his desk with anger fuming in his eyes. He kept silent looking into the teary eyes of the person before him. "Take her to her room and don't let her leave!" He spoke with an empty voice although she sensed the fury behind it. A guard entered the workroom and escorted her out. Diana gave a stare to Timotheé which he could tell from, that she was deeply hurt, then left.
Her footsteps echoed through the corridor and the door shut behind her making a loud noise.
It was hard for Diana to admit that she was terrified of Thimotheé. He has hurt her in such a short period. Although it wasn't physical it diminished her mentally.
A few days passed Timotheé and Diana didn't speak, look, or glance at each other.
A maid entered her room with a message for the miss. "His majesty wants you to dress nicely, for your highness' brother will be visiting." Diana's eyes lit up at the news and quickly opened the door for the maid to enter. "When will he be arriving?" She asked curiously. "I'm sorry, miss I'm not allowed to say more." the maid stated. Diana left it at that, since knowing that he was coming was enough to excite her. She wore a dark blue off-shoulder nightdress, with small diamonds decorating it by the waist. The diamonds were so small they looked as if it was hinted with a little glitter. She let her wavy locks down and went outside the room.
The maid led the way into the dining room where she saw her older brother sitting still and silent while Timotheé was enjoying a cup of the finest red wine in the country.
Diana ran to her brother falling into his embrace. "I missed you so much!" She said full of love. Her brother didn't show any affection toward her confession. "Please sit down and have dinner." She felt like William was a different person, by the way, he was acting.
Diana kept silent and went towards her seat. "I will be going into battle a few weeks from now," William stated clearly, so there will be no misunderstandings. Diana's eyes widened hoping she heard incorrectly" Why? We have peace with all the kingdoms close by!" She raised her voice not wanting to let her brother go to war. William continued: "if I fall in battle then you will be marrying the son of king Corentin." Her heart felt heavy, and so she kept silent. Diana thought, her brother changed his mind about her staying and came to take her home, but she was wrong. She was so mistaken, this news was worse than what she had heard a few days ago.
She broke down in tears.
"Go." That was all she managed to say while staring at the plate before her. "Dia-" William tried to speak but Diana cut him off. "I said leave." She strained her voice. William was hurt by his younger sister's actions, but understood the reason and did as told. She sat there staring at her plate while Timotheé watched her brother leave the building. "You did this didn't you?" She asked almost in a whisper. He glanced at her and she lifted her head to look at him. "You didn't give him another choice only to die, didn't you?!" She shouted at the top of her lungs while standing up and slamming her fist on the table. What she didn't realize was that there was a knife next to the plate. She cut her skin open with warm liquid flowing from under it. Diana couldn't care less at the moment. She didn't even wince from the pain as rage built inside her. "I gave him two choices. It was his decision which to choose!" He raised his voice making it echo. Diana hurried to the north wing and shut her door. Timotheé sighed and ran his hand through his hair feeling guilty for shouting with her.
A few minutes into the darkest hours of the night the king went towards the girl's room. He pushed the handle down and opened it enough to see a figure sleeping peacefully. He went to her bedside and the mattress lowered as he took a seat next to the person laying in it. He lifted the hand she had cut earlier and saw, that it wasn't bandaged. Timotheé walked inside the bathroom trying not to make a sound for her to wake up. He took the bandage and wrapped it around her hand gently.
Diana woke up at his touch and moved back terrified at why he was in there, let alone sitting on her bed. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a shaky voice. "Next time take better care of yourself." The same icy tone she heard a few times before didn't change, only his words surprised her. "Why do you care if I'm hurt or not?" He leaned closer to her, their lips almost touching, as he glanced down at it, then back at Diana's dark brown orbs.
"Don't flatter yourself." He turned his head a little to the side staring at her lips. "No one wants to show off a broken, cut, or bruised princess to the other heirs, now do they?" He pulled back and left the room leaving her frozen, still trying to process what had happened at that very moment.
Timotheé closed the door leaning against it while taking a big sigh as tears filled his eyes.
