The Inner Circle | A Midnight Quartet

Chapter 21 | Aspen Cooper

 Aspen stumbles back into Miles, who's standing behind her and catches her by the elbows. "You filthy liar." She says, shaking her head.

Irving stands up from his throne and crosses the room to where the group is standing, grasping Aspen's chin and jerking it upwards, sneering into her face. "You stupid child. Yes, you are my daughter. Your mother thought she could hide you from me but you look so much like her that I knew you were one of mine the moment you showed up."

"Are you admitting to having multiple illegitimate kids just running around?" Aspen asks, glaring up into his face and eyes; eyes that look exactly like her own.

"As long as they stay away and don't ruin my life like you have, then I can have as many kids as I want." His smile twists deviously as he throws her down on the ground in a pile of fabric and fake flowers and Miles rushes down to meet her, checking to see if she's alright. She's shaking but still looks up with venom in her eyes at her newfound father. He settles back into his chair, a manic state coming over his features. "But alas! You decided to come into the world and Margaret snatched you up when no one else offered to take you. She must've been on something that night for her to convince herself that she could take care of a newborn child! I'm sure that once I get rid of you, I'll find a way to repay her for raising my child. I'm sure banishment from my kingdom is a nice vacation to get away from you, wouldn't you think?"

"Do not talk about my mother like that." Aspen growls, standing up again and glaring at Irving with the fury of 10 suns.

"Which one? The temptress from Shira or the old hag that works in the medical wing?" Aspen tucks that piece of information into the back of her brain while the rest of her still reels from everything else said.

Miles takes his turn to step up. "Enough!"

Irving angrily turns to look at the newcomer to the conversation. "Ah, if it isn't my future son-in-law. Who are you to talk back to a king? Especially the king to the kingdom you live in?"

Both Aspen and Miles blush at the bold title he has thrown at them, but Miles doesn't back down. "I'm doing what few other people would be brave enough to do. You are heartless and only care about yourself. You hate your people and cause them to suffer just so you can indulge yourself with fancy parties. You don't care about your wife and have affairs when you feel like it, as we have seen from your most recent confession." Aspen grabs his hand and squeezes his fingers. He clings right back to her.

"Your real name is Ernest, isn't it? After your father?" The King cringes as Carmen asks, stepping forward to where Miles and Aspen already are. Darcy comes forward seconds later as Carmen continues. "I have heard numerous things about Ernest the First and every account assured me that he was a great leader. Yet he didn't like that you didn't follow in his righteous footsteps, so before you became King, you were renamed to something that wouldn't tarnish the great name he had made."

"And to make matters even worse," Darcy steps in, holding her head high. "you destroyed most of the beautiful laws he had made to protect the citizens of Derowen from a rogue ruler. You knew that somewhere down the road, you would want to go against your kingdom's own laws, so you had to get rid of them before you were caught breaking them."

King Irving stands up from his throne, steam practically spewing from his ears. "Guards! Seize these traitors!"

Before anyone can move, Aspen holds up her hand. The raucous crowd of the Court takes a few moments to fall silent once again, overcome with all of the information being tossed around. "Wait! I request a final word to say to the Queen."

"You will be granted no such thing-" Irving starts.

"I will let her speak. I have to give one courtesy to my illegitimate child before we throw her in jail, wouldn't you think?" Odessa interrupts her husband, allowing Aspen to talk.