Violet
The wedding was in a few days and my doubts were growing. I pushed them aside. I loved Louie and I wanted this wedding to happen. Isla's baby now had a name - Lile. It was a bit too human, for me, but then, so was he. His legs grew rapidly and so did his cuteness. Little Lile was starting to grow on me.
6 Months later
The first month of marriage had flown by, the second, Louie started becoming manipulative and by the third, well, he was outright abusive. I should have seen it coming. Why didn't I trust my first instinct? Well, I was regretting it by month three. Now six months in, I placed a gentle hand on my growing stomach and looked in the mirror at a reflection I didn't recognise. What had happened to that strong queen? She had gotten swept away by a man, once again. He had never hit me, but he had pushed me to boundaries mentally that I didn't think I'd ever let anyone cross. He stole Esmeralda's necklace and mine and was using them against me. He had started out by watching me do magic with them and at first, pretended to be intrigued because of it. Then he asked me to show him how it worked. After that, he took them from me - first in my sleep and would lie about it, and then openly, and would ridicule me if I tried to stand against him. He would tell me that he was the king now and I had to do as he said. He completely flipped my life around on me. And right now, I didn't know anything I could do about it.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I cried as Louie swam in, both necklaces around his neck. It was morning and he always wore my necklaces at night. He would give me one in the day so as to not alert anyone, and would keep the other as collateral, but now he had something else to use as collateral too, our child that was growing deep within me. "Because I need to make sure I am ensured a place in this kingdom. It's nothing personal, Violet, as I have told you many times before." He was never loud or rude with his words, just deceptive and Trivializing. "Is this why none of your family came to the wedding?" I shouted at him, tears spitting out of my eyes, which were now swollen from crying. "Oh, did I never tell you?" he laughed off the fact like it was nothing, "I don't have any." I stared at him blankly, blinking in confusion.
He waited not nearly long enough for me to answer, before leaving, "Where did you come from?" I screamed, but got no reply. I fell onto my bed, heaving in anguish. How was I going to explain to my child that their father was the most loathed thing in my life?
**
That night I waited until he thought I was sleeping. He had taken the necklaces from me and had left by boat like he had every night. Only tonight, I decided to follow him. He swam fast and far and so did I, with careful consideration of him seeing me. It was the first time I had left my kingdom unattended since becoming queen and I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't suspected something sinister was going on outside its gates. He halted, breathing deeply. I had to think fast to stop in time, to not bump into him. We were outside tall teal gates, guarding another kingdom. A thousand things went through my mind - was he a royal? was he setting up a kingdom elsewhere? Was he having an affair?. And that's when I saw what was keeping him coming back night after night... Esmeralda.
I crashed backward into a large wall of brick, my insides crumbling and my throat closing. I gasped for air as I tried to process what he was doing here. I gathered myself the best I could and crept forward, just enough to see what was going on. They were talking. He was openly wearing both necklaces around his neck. She had been seated on a throne but was now standing. She looked like she was back to her normal self - no red glow. They were smiling and laughing. What was he doing here? It was clear what she was doing... she had started her own kingdom, but him? Was he working for her? He had to be. Which meant, she had sent him to spy on me... to torture me... but why? Okay, I knew why, but why make him take it this far? Far enough to marry me and have a baby with me? Unless, that wasn't her plan... he did have her necklace after all... maybe he was manipulating her too.
I fell back against the wall, trying to take it all in. Watching him float there, enjoying her company, was like watching someone I didn't know. I shook my head to rid the fog that was inside it, but it only made it worse. I had to leave. I fled back to Islanda and cried myself to sleep. I would need to process this in the light of a new day.
Night after night I followed him - finding out more secrets along the way. My husband was not at all who he represented himself as. That was now clear, but I had the upper hand now. I learnt that he had been promised a seat by Esmeralda's side and that he had somehow been able to convince Esmeralda to give him her necklace as confirmation. She asked him about it every time he visited however, so she was definitely worried about him having it. Isla's father had been faerie - a sailor in fact. A detail that Neither Isla, nor Esmeralda, who had discovered the fact, had ever shared with me. Aalton was the father of Isla's baby, which meant she had done nothing wrong apart from trusting a loser and that her baby's little feet were genetic. I had a lot to process and a lot to talk about, but I couldn't do any of that without exposing Louie, and therefore exposing myself. I needed a plan and I needed one fast.
