Dark Halls, Stone Walls

Chapter Twenty-Six

We were on the bed.

I sat with my back to him like a petulant child, unwilling to peep even so much as a breath too loud. He seemed to like that arrangement, because he helped himself to the left side of the bed and fell asleep on top of the quilt after a few minutes.

All he said was, "I'll be back," then started snoring.

I assumed he meant to the real world, and who was I to stop him from leaving a place he trespassed?

While he slept, I took a pen and paper out of the bedside drawer next to the scissors and started writing to organize my thoughts.

Trial of Doubt and Trial of Truth. P.W. (Prince William) hid truths from me because he wanted me to seem ignorant to help my case at the Trial of Truth, but also probably because he's scared of Her Majesty. H.R.M. probably doesn't like me.

People have been trying to find a way to discredit or kill me. People have been dying all around me. He hid both things.

Someone has been trying to sabotage his efforts to get me a Not Guilty verdict. Who?

My family might be involved in a plan to overthrow the royal family. I am supposedly involved.

My now husband swept me off of my feet after a terrible engagement failure with Viscount Harlow. Family didn't take it well. Might have been slapped(?)

I have nowhere else to go if P.W. abandons me or if I choose to leave.

I stared at that cursed word—nowhere.

My family may have accepted me back after my engagement with Prince William, but if he dissolved this marriage, the shame might be too much. That is, assuming that they are not involved in this dreadful affair. If they are, and he abandons me, then I can forget about going home since they'd all be executed and the properties may not end up in my name as a divorced woman.

Again, assuming that I 'only' get jailtime, not executed.

I will live, no matter what.

I will remember everything after making sure that I will live.

I let out a self-satisfied huff after I jotted that down. No matter the verdict, I will live. If I can't live here, I will live elsewhere, perhaps in the neighboring human kingdom—Foginland. Perhaps in the countryside where it'll be harder to find me.

I continued.

Since the Trial of Doubt has passed, I can learn about my past with P.W.'s help because I will not leave my head until I learn enough to contribute to the Trial of Truth. Remember to tell him this!

P.W. cares enough about me to protect me from an unseen threat, but H.R.M. seems to be the exception.

Then I remembered earlier and scribbled down,

P.W. earned the ire of a different woman. Who? Is she the reason why I have been put in this situation, or is it someone else entirely?

No, surely not. If she was angry at him, why take it out on me as a Princess, not when I was still a Duchess?

I grimaced. If a human can get married to a vampire and get one stuck in her head, anything was possible. Perhaps she hated me out of jealousy.

A sigh came from behind me. I ignored it and instead stared at the book's part, trying to seem busy.

If he cared, he certainly did not vocalize it. Instead, he took to the washroom and started drawing the bathwater.

Guess it has been awhile since he last took one. I took up my pen and continued writing.