Royal Obligations

Chapter 52: Those Wedding Bells Ring

I had to be hallucinating. Yes, definitely. Just another problem of mine.

"Wait, why am I in here?" Nadia looks around the room. "Wasn't I just at the ball?" She then turns her attention to me. "I was yelling at you a few seconds ago..."

"You mean you don't remember what happened?" I ask her, pinching myself several times in the arm discreetly to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"Did I pass out or something?"

"No. More like you died." I say, confused. "Are you a part of my conscious that is going to give me advice? I saw that in a movie once."

"I'm not dead you idiot." Nadia snaps. "If you want proof come and feel my heart beat. What the hell kind of joke is this?"

"Maybe I should go get a doctor..." I trail off, wanting to make sure I wasn't having strange hallucinations. I probably was.

"Yeah, you should have a few minutes ago." Nadia shoots back and I quickly exit the room. I close the door behind me and take a deep breath.

"Are you alright?" Forrest cups my face. "I know it's hard-"

"Hey, um, can you do me a favor?" I cut him off.

"Do you really need to ask?" He questions me.

"Can you go in there and tell me what you see?"

Forrest gives me a confused look but I only shake my head. "Please?"

He nods before cracking the door open and slipping in. It's not long before I hear him yell in surprise and shoot out the bedroom door again.

"What the hell?" Forrest stares at me while shaking his head. "Is she supposed to be moving... And talking? Because last time I checked dead people typically don't do those things."

"Alright, wonderful." I nod to myself. "Glad to know I'm not going crazy."

"We need to go get a doctor," Forrest says as he runs down the hall. He was too fast for me to catch up with him.

Five minutes later he returned with the guard I recognized from the other night. Except now he was wearing a white lab coat... Like a typical doctor. I was amazed too, considering he only looked a couple years older than us. Was he not just a guard a couple nights ago?

He rushes in the room and we wait several seconds before he cheers happily. "Princess! How is this possible?" We hear him ask.

"How should I know?" She asks in her normal snarky tone.

Forrest smiles brightly at me while I see joy evident in his features. "She's alive."

I give him a smile of my own. "Go ahead, stay with her." I nod toward her room. He kisses me quickly on the lips before entering the room, closing the door all the way shut.

I begin to walk back to Forrest's room, but someone grabs me and pulls me into the hall where Harlan's room is.

"Hello again, Cordelia."

I can't help but snarl. "What the hell are you doing here? You want to go finish the job?"

Declan laughs. He laughs. "Please, it was never my intension to kill her."

"Then why did you poison her?" I clench my fists at my sides.

"Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet?" He asks out of the blue.

"Excuse me?" I ask, gritting my teeth.

"Answer the damn question." Declan rolls his eyes.

"Yes, of course I have. Who hasn't?" I say tightly. "Where are you going with this?"