Caged Heart

Chapter 11

In the passing days, the kingdom went into mourning. The villages were filled with the cries and wails of sadness from the news that one of their princesses had passed, and the palace had become a place of desolation. It was silent for the most part unless the queen had nightmares, the king was distraught, burying himself in his work as the king, and Prince Godric had taken to trying to get Serenity—who had locked herself in her room—to come out and walk with him.

King Emerson had pledged to King Darius that the alliance he had made with them would stand in Genevieve's honor; although, many wondered if he had only done so to save his own skin. Prince Caleb was one of those people, and he made the decision to keep his loved ones close and his enemies closer.

"If you are so content as to truly keep the peace between our two kingdoms," he had said after Emerson made the pledge to his father, "then help us find her killer. You are so adamant to say that it wasn't you who ordered a hit on her, so prove it by helping us get the one who did."

"I intend to do just that, your highness," the king of Hallow answered, his tone conveying his determination.

"Then it is settled," King Darius said, "The two of you will start the interrogations tonight. I want the head of the one who killed my daughter, Emerson." His eyes turned murderous. "Am I clear?"

Emerson nodded, eyes first meeting with the king's before they slid over to his son's, "Crystal."

That night, the two men went down to the dungeons each wearing clothes that they didn't mind getting messy—a black button up shirt and pants for Emerson, and a white button up shirt with purple pants for Caleb—and entered the cell of the first prisoner they came across. Instead of the palace being deadly silent, it was now filled with blood-curdling screams of the prisoners whose lips would need to spill some form of information if they didn't want to endure the pain for long.

It was the following morning that Godric tried once more to get Serenity to come out of her room, but he had a feeling that it would be to no avail.

"Serenity," he said as he softly knocked on her door, "Serenity, please open the door. We don't have to do much of anything, but I..." his voice grew quieter as he put his forehead and hand on the door, "I miss you. So, please—please will you come out?"

He heard faint shuffling on the other side of the door, as if Serenity was truly about to open the door, but the sounds soon stilled. The girl in the room wanted so badly to open the door and let Godric in, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. The guilt she felt and the ever-present ring of her sister's last words to her—"The king would much rather be wed to you than me; Oh, please, everyone knows that— even Prince Godric knows that."—prevented her from reaching the door handle. She laid her head back on the door, closing her eyes tightly, a memory of Genevieve flooding through her mind.

"Bet you can't catch me!" Ten-year-old Genevieve stuck her tongue out at her twin brother as she stood outside in the snow.

The boy only smirked, forming a snowball in his small hands. He said nothing and only held up the ball as he began to chase his sister across the snow-covered backyard of the palace.

Fourteen-year-old Serenity stood at her balcony and watched them, a smile on her face. It was one of the few times that she had seen her siblings laugh and play together without truly fighting, and, even though she had studies to get back to, she was determined to commit this to her memory.

As she got hit with the snowball, Genevieve noticed Serenity standing on the balcony. She stopped Caleb's advances and then pointed up at her, whispering something to him, the both of them laughing as she ran to the doors that would let her back into the palace. Serenity raised her eyebrow, and only a few moments later did she hear the fast footsteps of her younger sister.