Dark Halls, Stone Walls

Chapter Twenty-Two

Without missing a beat, I nodded and offered a soft smile. "I've had a broken heart before, I'd think that I'd be the best person to comfort you."

She snorted. "You know who I am, right?"

"You, I suppose."

"You suppose?"

"I am you," I smirked. "Just the same in reverse. Though, I'd hoped that before all of this, I'd be as happy as can be... but if you remember everything and I was like this..."

She laughed, a bit sarcastically but still jovial. "We're both miserable, but I'd imagine we cry for different reasons."

I shook my head. "Not so."

"Oh?"

"Men."

"Oh, no." She giggled. "Wanna share stories? I'm sure we can work and help each other out."

I nodded furiously and sat down next to her and told her everything that happened up until this point. She listened intently, only speaking to inquire that I clarify certain parts that might have been confusing.

When I finished, she sat there for a long time, expression wistful before she spoke at last in a quiet whisper. "So... he's on the other side?"

"Yeah. A bit awkward."

She giggled. "You know, for as much as you claim to hate him, I simply adore him."

I gaped. "Really?"

"Uh-huh. Not that I agree with everything that he's done, but I think if you find the other versions of you and I, they might have an explanation."

I sighed. "You first. I desperately need something to cling onto."

She nodded. I noted how graceful she was compared to me and how her eyes practically glittered as she stared into mine.

"So, yes, it's true that Viscount Harlow and I had just broken our engagement after three years. Only I was... contented about the prospect, as you might have guessed." She bit her lip. "This room is where I stayed whenever there was a festival or a ball that required my family's attendance, but the mess that I am right now would have taken place in my actual room, where I'd been locked up in for about a month after I rejected Viscount Harlow so publicly."

I gasped. "A month?! Surely your... uh, our parents would have understood why we rejected him in the first place!"

She let out a long sigh. "You'd think. Unfortunately, his drinking problem was only viewed as a problem by me and a few others, as apparently it is commonplace to drink so much in this kingdom." She pursed her lips. "So, even the public thought me odd. Father was so furious that I thought he'd have me institutionalized!"

"No!"

"Oh, yes," She patted my hand. "But thankfully, Prince William came in and proposed to me instead, otherwise, I'd think my punishment would be much, much longer if not severe."

My face twisted in disgust and she laughed once again.

"Don't think of him as unkind if you can't grasp his genuine nature," She scolded me gently. "To me, he acts and sounds like he has his hands tied behind his back. If I had to guess, Her Majesty, the Queen and someone else must be twisting his arm, otherwise he'd talk more freely and perhaps be openly kinder to your position."

"Why her, though?" I frowned. "Does she hate me?"

She hesitated, "I-I'm not sure. I don't think she's the kind of person that is capable of properly hating someone, just as she can't properly love someone." Seeing my expression, she quickly explained herself. "Not that she doesn't feel those things, but her way of expressing them is... er, something else."