On New Years' Day, the Queen allowed all of her servants an hour to do as they pleased. At 2pm I wrapped my cloak around my shoulders against the biting January cold and stepped out for a walk in the grounds. Without thought or premeditation, I found my legs taking me in the direction of Wilhelm's treehouse. It was only when I arrived at the base of the spiral stairs that I realised my unconscious mind had taken me there in order to feel closer to him. I took a deep breath of freezing cold air and sighed it out in a cloud of steam before beginning my ascent.
At the top, I looked out across the grounds towards the palace, admiring the beauty of it and mentally replaying the last time I had been here with Wilhelm at my side... I pressed a hand to my aching heart and a tear broke the confines of my eyelids and forged a hot path down my cheek.
"What are you doing up here?"
I gasped and whirled around, almost tripping over the fence surrounding the platform. Wilhelm darted towards me and grasped my waist to steady me as he had done the first time we met. My chest tightened and a sob tried to force its way up my throat. I pushed him away, angrily dashing tears from my cheeks.
"Evelyn-"
"What is going on with you?" I thundered. He stood before me, his lips trembling in shock. "I hardly think that I should be the one having to explain myself to you after your behaviour last night." He looked down at the floor ashamedly. My heart twinged with guilt but I stood my ground. "Well?" I demanded, folding my arms across my chest, hot breath rushing out of my lungs.
"My parents are sending me to my uncle's." Although his voice was tiny, his words stung like scalpels to my heart.
When I had gathered myself internally, I spoke again. "For how long?"
He glanced up at me but, unable to hold my fiery gaze, returned his eyes once again to the floor between us. "I don't know" his voice wavered with emotion on this last word and he raised a hand to cover his eyes. My resolve faltered and I went to him, putting my arms around his shoulders and pulling him into my chest where he shivered with silent sobs.
"Why didn't you just tell me?"
"I was worried about hurting you"
I raised his face up to mine and kissed away his tears, tasting their salty burn on my lips. "It hurts me more to see you suffering alone... Plus, I thought that you had... abandoned me."
It was his turn to put his arm around me and he led me into Fort Wilhelm where we lay together, surrounded by those curious notches. He kissed me over and over and before either of us knew what we were doing, he was buried inside me once more. We moved slowly, our eyes locked together, our mouths whispering truths to each other. His bare skin burned against my own in the freezing winter air.
"I don't want to lose you" he panted, his nostrils flaring with a concoction of arousal and anguish. I shushed him and drew him closer, pulling him deeper into me.
"I've got you" I told him. "Stay with me" I begged, not knowing whether I meant in this moment or forever.
When he finished inside me, he held his eyes open for every second, as if he couldn't bear to look away out of fear that I'd disappear.
~~~
Afterwards, he lay on his back, staring up at the lichen-spotted ceiling of the treehouse. I propped myself up on my elbow and he wrapped his arm around me, pulling my cape tighter around my shoulders.
"What are these for?" I asked, reaching across him and running my finger over a row of notches on the wall.
"Each notch" he reached up and took my finger between his, running it gently down the four vertical notches and then through the fifth horizontal one "represents a day".
"I know but... What were you waiting for?" He took my hand away from the wall and held it firmly on his chest, as if I'd overstepped some unspoken boundary.
I didn't expect him to answer until he finally murmured... "I don't know... Anything, I guess..."
I glanced at him to find his eyes fixed intently upon me. He slowly drew a finger over my forehead, brushing my hair out of my face before cupping his hand around my chin and drawing me into a tender kiss.
After a few minutes of silence, I spoke.
"We should probably talk about your uncle's" I said gently. He sighed and flung his free arm over his eyes. "Did she give you a reason?"
"His godson is visiting from South America... Something about company of my own age doing me good." He drew quotation marks in the air around this last sentence.
"Well... she's probably not wrong." I poked a finger into his ribcage playfully and he squirmed, caught my wrists in his hands, rolled on top of me and pinned me to the wooden floorboards.
"Hey" he laughed, his lips inches from mine. He bent his head and kissed me roughly, drawing my breath out of my lungs and lighting a fire between my legs.
"Take me with you" I pleaded as his lips moved towards my neck. He pulled away and stared at me square in the face, his eyebrows set over his eyes in a pained expression.
"I can't" he said sternly.
"You are Prince Wilhelm, Heir to the Throne of Ryder..." I pulled a hand free of his grasp and placed it on his cheek. "You can do fucking anything."
~~~
The next evening after my shift I flung off my work skirts and paced my room nervously. Every creak from the palace around me caused me to stop in my tracks, awaiting a knock at the door, before continuing with my pacing disappointedly when the knock did not come.
When the Prince and I had parted ways the previous day, I had made him promise to try and arrange for the support of at least one serving girl to be sent to his uncle's with him. Now I waited in quiet anticipation, internally preparing myself for the worst but hoping beyond all hope for the best.
When I finally heard the echo of footsteps in the corridor and a quiet knock, I flew to the door and wrenched it open. Wilhelm stood in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear.
"Pack your bags" he said "we're going to the seaside!". He slid his hands around to my rear and lifted me off my feet, stepped over the threshold and kicked the door shut behind him.
I kissed him passionately as he carried me over to the bed and laid me down gently before flopping down on top of me and plastering my neck and chest with kisses.
YOU ARE READING
Hung Royals
Fanfiction*Contains explicit sexual content and language* So I took the characters of Young Royals, sent them back 200 years, added in a fiery redhead housemaid and some Bridgerton-esque sex scenes and voila! I've never shared any of my work wider than a coup...
