The King's Bride

Prologue

A/N: Little disclaimer: For this story, Jensen is the older brother.

***

Sunlight peers through the heavy curtains, the bedroom silent aside from the shaky breaths of Lord Williams and the soft crying of his daughter, Everleigh.

Lord Williams had been sick for a while, but his health took a turn for the worse in the later months, sending Everleigh into a frenzy, trying to find someone, anyone, who could heal her father. But that never happened and she is now faced with her father's last days on Earth.

Everleigh kneels next to her father's bed, holding his hand, his breath shaky. She knows he doesn't have a lot of time, as she quietly pleads with him not to leave her, with tears in her eyes as she watches him struggling to take a deep breath.

There's a knock on the door and Everleigh wipes the tears away, pulling herself together before telling whoever is knocking to come in. Shock races through her body when she sees the King walk in.

She quickly stands, curtsying to him and taking a step away from the bed. King Alan walks in, nodding at her as he makes his way to her father's bedside.

-"Long time no see, old friend." - The King greets, smiling softly at her father and grabbing his hand.

-"I thought you were too important to come see the riffraff."

There's a smirk on her father's lips, a smirk that suddenly disappears when he starts coughing. Everleigh rushes to his side, offering him some water. Her father takes it, drinking just enough to clear his throat, before asking her to give them some privacy.

Everleigh nods, placing the glass of water on his nightstand, as she tells him she will be right outside. She gives the King a small curtsy, before leaving the room, coming to stand in the corridor, next to the Royal Guards.

As she waits there, Everleigh wonders how does her father know the King and what could they possibly be talking about inside. She had never known her father and the King knew each other, and from the way they greeted one another, it seemed they knew each other well.

A few minutes pass and something happens that leaves Everleigh confused. The King sends for a scribe, the man arriving not long after being summoned, followed by a Royal Guard, and entering the room immediately, not sparing a look towards her. This confuses Everleigh, since she knows her father has already made a last will.

A full hour later and Everleigh is called back inside the room, seeing the scribe rolling up some papers before leaving, the Royal Guard following him close behind. Everleigh makes her way to her father's bed, standing next to it and holding his hand, watching him starting to fade away, and tears well up in her eyes again. She knows the moment she has been dreading is fast approaching and there's nothing she can do to stop it.

Her father looks up at her and gives her a small smile, telling her that everything's going to be alright, before looking back at the King and nodding at him, the King nodding back, taking a shaky breath in.

Everleigh feels his hand go limp between hers and fear fills her heart. She calls out to him, shaking his shoulder, praying that he has just fallen asleep, but quickly realizes he is gone. Everleigh can't stop the scream that tears through her throat, a scream that carries all her pain across the house, as she falls to her knees sobbing.

She can barely make out the King's voice as he tells her he is sorry, his voice slightly choked up with emotion. Everleigh loses herself in her pain, stopping paying attention to what surrounds her, sobs raking her body. Because of it, she misses it when the King says that they will speak soon, right before leaving her to grieve the loss of the last member of her family.