We are all entitled to be beautiful

Chapter Sixteen - Till Death

Eleanor

Tension coursed through my blood as I made my way towards the gold set doors of the courtroom. The old court room had adorned splashes of red and black emblems of the previous rulers but they had been pulled down either burnt of torn into a thousand pieces. The power of the clan that Kayden's father had built was growing  and it was becoming more concerning the amount of people that placed their trust in that despicable man.

He had pulled the wool over their eyes prying on the belief that he was appointed by Rose herself that in her absence he was to assume the throne. And they believed eating every word out of his callous hand. 

Part of me wanted to run out of this hell, but I knew he would catch me and if I was anywhere near Xavier or Kai they would be jeopardised by my stupid actions. Kayden trailed behind me, his jaw set firmly and a scowl on his features. He was paler than usual having lost so much blood from his fathers wrath.

"What does he want?" I bit out trying to hide the distaste in my voice but failing miserably. 

"Your guess is as good as mine," he responded curtly his voice clipped and measured missing the playfulness I had become accustomed to. 

"Any day now," he nodded towards the door, gesturing that I should open it, "I hate to think what he will do to us if we are even a minute late,"

"Yeah," I breathed out before pressing my palms against the smooth oak and pushing, the door freed itself swinging open with more force than I had anticipated.

There in front of us Kayden's father lounged on glistening golden throne dipped in every jewel imaginable, he appeared far too comfortable in that position and it made my skin crawl.

I tried to keep my head held high as I walked across the maroon carpet towards the smug king, oh what I would do to wipe that smirk off of his face. The self-important pompous look of glamour, what a pleasure it would be to tear that apart. 

There were a number of guards with armour embellished with the new crest of firewood and ash, it looked awful it didn't entice any fear in me, it looked more like a haphazard children's project rather than the emblem of a king to be feared. But I knew better than to express my opinions on the new rulers poor choice of advertisement. 

As I made my way closer to the throne I felt Kayden grab my arm, he encircled his sturdy fingers around my thin arm and pulled me back slightly. I felt his warm breath on my ear as he whispered, "Don't forget to curtsey,"

He then let go of my hand as though he had never touched it in the first place, and repositioned himself behind me. Just a few inches away even though he had been so close moments before. 

As much as I hated it, I swallowed my pride and dipped into a convincing enough curtsey, the glimmer of humour in the king's eyes was one I wouldn't forget. He seemed to enjoy my curtsey far too much, I presume he believed he was slowly witling me down into the perfect little piece in his plan. His face for revolution but he had another thing coming if he ever thought he could break me down into what he wanted. 

Kayden stepped forward so he was next to me, his shoulder slightly brushing mine as he too dipped into a deep bow. His seemed far more pronounced as mine and he had concealed the hatred in his eyes replacing it with the look of an ever obedient son.

"I see you managed to fix him," out of the corner of my eyes I saw Kayden tense and curl his hand into a fist at his side. 

"Yes," he rose an eyebrow at my response and it didn't take long for me to figure out that he wanted me to address him in what he thought was the proper manner.

"Yes sire," Again the wretched smirk on his face made me want to pull out my dagger and throw it at him. 

Kayden stayed absolutely silent but I could feel him seething next to her, the anger just simmering below the surface. 

"You must be wondering why I have called you here,"

I didn't respond as I didn't feel the need to entertain such an obvious question. He seemed to have expected that and continued speaking. 

"I have a proposition for you," more like a demand. I didn't dare say that out loud though. 

Instead I waited patiently for him to divulge whatever wicked plan he had in mind, "You and Kayden are to marry,"

My response was instantaneous, "Excuse me what?" my voice was punctuated by Kayden's sharp intake of breath. The look of shock just as evident on him as it was on me. 

"You heard what I said, I hate repeating myself,"

"I don't understand, what use is that to you? Why would you need us to marry? What makes you think I would ever agree to that?"

His eyes went icy cold, so very blue but dull with anger all at once, "You will do whatever I say you will."

"Father-" he immediately cut off Kayden before he could get more than one word out. 

"You will do what I say when I say. But if I must explain myself this is it, I've been looking into our dear Eleanor," my whole body cringed at the term of endearment, it felt so wrong falling from treacherous lips, "She was a friend of Rose our martyr. By you marrying it gives legitimacy to our claim that we were working with Rose that we were her intended successors if anything happened to her or Xavier. A union between you two will solidify my place as king and that is all that needs to be explained."

I was at a loss for words, the amount of manipulation this man was capable was astounding, he intended to use me to manipulate the message of my friends. He had already stolen my freedom and now he was stealing so much more. I had always envisioned my wedding day as the happiest day of my life one that was a far off dream not an impending doom. 

"Why do you do this?" there was hatred ablaze in my eyes, "You've already taken away my freedom."

He merely smiled that wiry smile of his, it curved and pressed against the aged lines on his face in an unnatural curl of the lips. 

Kayden was deathly quiet, the softness of his voice was unexpected when he finally spoke, "It shall be done,"

I looked at him incredulously, he couldn't have possible agreed so quickly. I snapped my gaze at him a flare of indecision in those so very green eyes, "Kayden what-"

He quickly grasped my arm and pulled me closer to him, the action was unsolicited and unexpected, he pulled me closer to him and softly whispered to me, "It will be ok,"

The false king laughed at the action, "Good you're already learning to control your wife,"

My blood boiled and I was ready to lunge forward and wipe that stupid smile off of his face, but Kayden stopped me. Still firmly grasping my arm, with heat pooling on the section of skin to skin contact, it felt uncomfortable and I didn't like being held back.

He swiftly turned us around as we were dismissed, as soon as we exited the doors, he dropped my arm, before I could even get another word out to shout about how infuriated I was and how I would never marry him he merely said:

"I have a plan."

He better have a good plan because this was not going to be till death do us part.