Reasons for Silence

Crushing Power

Chapter Eighteen ~ Serefina

"Whatever I want?" I asked.

"Yes, whatever you want," Amador said kneeling down next to me.

With a wave of my hand I motioned for him to speak. He let out a breath.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to happen," he began running a hand through his hair.

"What?"

"How you were supposed to meet me."

Amador took my hand in his and seemed to deeply consider it. I stayed quiet despite the millions of butterflies that seemed to assault my stomach.

"See, I had this whole big plan. I was going to visit you in your village, you'd show me around, I'd meet your mother, your friends, and we'd get to know each other. It was how it was supposed to be; I'd come and visit you until you turned sixteen and you could come back to the Palace with me."

I let out a laugh. He gave me a look.

"I'm sorry," I said putting up a hand to my mouth, unable to stop the giggles.

"What's so funny?"

"Do you hear yourself?" I tried to take some deep breaths to calm myself down.

"I can't believe this, I'm trying to explain my hopes and dreams to you and you're laughing at me," he said shaking his head, though keeping hold on my hand.

"No, that's not what's funny," I said standing up, bringing Amador along with me, "do you see where your 'plan' was ridiculous? You wanted to come down to my village for a visit? Princes don't spend their free time in the slums."

He cracked a smile.

"That's what my parents said,"

I tried to ignore the fact that his parents were dictators. His voice became serious again.

"That's where the actual plan came into play."

He looked down at our hands.

"Go on," I said.

"To be fair," he said, playing with my fingertips, I had to bite my tongue after I felt my heart jump, "they, technically, had their plans first."

He shifted his weight and looked into my eyes.

"It wasn't my idea, but I'm glad they had it because I might never have met you, but it wasn't a totally honest plan."

"It's no secret that there has been a... rift, between the monarchy and the people. My parents are trying to avoid a revolt. They wanted the people to believe that the next generation, that I, would give them some hope. The only problem is that they don't actually want to change anything, they just want to trick people into thinking that there is going to be a change. They want to trick the kingdom into liking me."

"Trick them?" I said, making a face, taking a step back.

"Essentially,"

"How?"

"My parents thought that if I were to fall in love with someone from your village, they might look on me in a better light," he said with a tilt of his head.

I furrowed my eyebrows, that still didn't explain why he, apparently, had people keeping an eye on me since I was born.

"But you said that you've known about me since I was a baby...," I said, trailing off, letting him infer the question.

"Yes," he cleared his throat, "you have to understand, my parents are... meticulous, they wanted to make sure that whoever this girl was, that I was going to 'fall in love' with, that she didn't grow up with the wrong principles, that she came from a good line, that she didn't end up marrying someone before we had a chance to meet."

I made a face.

He took my family line into consideration? He spied on me to make sure I didn't have any major slip-ups? He prevented me from getting married?

I jerked my hand out of his. It was unbelievable how manipulated I felt, especially considering how I had only just recently met Amador.

He took a good long look at my face and his seemed to light up when he realized how I'd put the information together.

"No, it's not like that; that's just how my parents operated. It's never been that way for me. I saw you and I instantly knew that you were the one for me. Please, I know that this is a lot of information to take in, but, please, come back. Come back with me, I'm afraid that they'll set me up with someone else if you don't come back, and that would destroy me."

As he spoke to me I had a harder and harder time trying to meet his eyes. His words were very intense.

"You're exaggerating," I said shaking my head.

"I'm not, but I understand why you wouldn't believe me; you don't know what it was like for me, waiting for you, all these years."

"Don't act like you've lived through some kind of hardship, lounging around your Palace all day, being waited on hand and foot – you don't know anything about real suffering." I said, making Amador break his speech.

He paused a moment as though considering my words.

"Perhaps you're right."

"I am."

We paused, for much longer than I was comfortable with, just looking at each other, until Amador finally hung his head and ran his hands through his hair.

"Please, Serefina, I love you. Just come back with me, I'll make sure that you never suffer again, I'll give you every luxury, but please, I'm begging you, come back." When he looked up at me as he spoke I noticed his red tired eyes – he genuinely looked crushed.

I was the one crushing him.

I was crushing a Prince.

Talk about power.

"Okay," I said, pausing for a moment to see how his face lit up, "but you said you'd give me whatever I wanted."

"Yes, whatever you want," he said, taking my hands back in his, eyes sparkling.

"I want to see Kobe."

And just like that, Amador looked worse than he had before. He gently squeezed my hands and closed his eyes, as though summoning his strength. He opened his eyes as he let out a breath.

"You'll come back to the Palace with me if you get to see him?" he asked quietly.

"Yes,"

He made a face but nodded and brought my hand to his lips.

"Anything for you."

Author's Note: Hey, I'm sorry that it's been such a long time since I've updated. Two trees fell down on either side of my house (I'm not making this up). There wasn't any property damage and no one got hurt but it left a huge mess to clean up and we went on our vacation the next day. After that I went on a number of college visits, leaving no free time. 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think!

-Edna Mender