The Bastard (Darling #2) [complete]

Prologue

BEFORE YOU READ: If you have not read Inside Darling yet, please go do so before reading this book. It will not make any sense as the story is continuing in this book.

T H E P R I N C E sprinted through corridor after corridor; every face of every servant walking the halls passing him in a blur. Every muscle in his body burned and he was aware he was exerting them past their limit, but he was uncaring. All that mattered to him in that moment of time was stopping the carriage readying for travel. Oh, how his lungs screamed desperately for air - yet, he pushed past the fire-like feeling building in his chest.

He needed to reach the carriage before it set off.

The child I bear is indeed yours, she had written in a letter meant to find him. I may have fibbed.

He was unsure if the ache in his chest was due to the cardio he was partaking in, or if it was the heartache he felt throughout the duration of the night: the surprising news of his pending doom of marrying a lady he did not love, the betrayal of his brother and the lady he did love... the letter disclosing he truth... It was a truth he should have known all along. He was just too ignorant to see it.

It was not ignorance, per say. He was blinded by the hatred and hurt he felt in the heat of the moment. Anyone else in his position would have been also if they were told the love of their life was bearing their brother's child, if they were led to believe there was a secret relation happening behind their backs. He knew what he felt was valid.

Yet, he still kicked himself. He should have known better.

Another thing fueling his energy to run so quickly was the rage he felt pooling in the pit of his stomach. The prince was made to believe his brother and the love of his life betrayed him. He was told so by Louelle, aforementioned love of his life - one of the people he trusted most in the world with his entire being. Because of his trust in her, he of course knew he should not have even suspected the possibility of it, but when his feelings were confirmed by her (fibbed by her, as he then knew it), his entire world came crashing down on him - the life they one day planned to have.

We do not have enough time to plan ways to end the arrangement, she continued to explain in her letter.

The bloody arrangement. Yet another thing to fuel his body with rage, further making him move as quickly as possible.

When it came to the arrangement, he had a bittersweet feeling towards it. He was angry with his father - the king who swore by ruining the prince's happiness - for creating such a wild plan to get in between the prince and Louelle. He threatened to take away the crown from the young heir; he threatened to beat him like he'd done many times before. All the prince received was endless threats. Many of which he was aware the king would follow through with.

On the other hand, he had the king to be grateful for. If it was not for the notions of the arrangement, the prince and his love would have never fallen into each other as they had. Confessions between the two would not have ever been made. Possibilities of a new and different life would not have ever been thought of. Growth of character and growth of wants and needs would not have ever been developed.

The gratefulness he felt for the arrangement caused him to pump his legs faster. He and Louelle still could have had that new and different life. He wanted them to have something new and different. Since she was then with child, with his child, he knew what they had to do. They needed to run away together - build a home in the seclusion of the woods, hidden away from everyone and everything they had always known - to raise their child together. To protect their child from the life they both had lived for far too long.

He only had to reach the carriage before then.

When I leave here tonight, I will never again return.

Where would she go? If he was too late, would he ever be able to find her? If she left before he reached the carriage, would he be able to round up enough guards to search for her? She would not be able to get too far.

It must be disposed of.

Oh, how reading that one line caused the room to spin and his stomach to knot. She was leaving to dispose of their child. A child only moments prior he believed to be his brother's.

He was not oblivious to what it meant for her as well. He'd heard plenty of stories of other ladies undergoing the same procedure she wished to - that she was going to undergo if he did not make it to her on time. Those ladies he heard of did not survive. The abortifacients they had ingested caused their own lives to terminate. Whatever was she thinking? Was risking her own life really worth ending another? Was it worth not fighting for them to have a chance at ending the arrangement? They did not have enough time to end it, she argued in her letter. But he strongly believed otherwise. If they truly put their minds and energies towards ending it, he knew they could have.

He began to slow his pace once he stepped foot in the quad, but picked it back up again when he spotted the carriage rolling away.

"Stop that carriage!" he shouted to no one in particular as he sprinted, his voice strained. "Close the gates! Stop the carriage!"

The distance between him and the carriage only grew greater and greater.

"Stop! -"

He fell to his knees just outside of the castle's gate, fully knowing he would not have been able to catch up to it. His body was growing tired. He was stubborn with wanting to continue chasing it - he attempted to continue even on his knees, but the stinging of the gravel cutting through his brais and rubbing against his skin forced him to stop.

He groaned out in pain.

Stop!

The prince stared after the carriage that appeared to grow smaller and smaller as it got farther away from him. His chest was tight with both lack of oxygen and heartache he felt. He felt as if he'd cry, but his body was in such a state of shock, he was unable to will himself to.

"Stop," he whispered in a broken voice. "Please... Stop..."

Word Count: 1,104