Love, A Strange Affliction

Nathaniel

I stormed out of the orchard, hell- bent on finding my father. I stormed into the palace and straight to his rooms. I slammed the door open without knocking and found him sitting at his desk, writing a letter. I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. He looked at me, shocked. "You are a monster! In what part of your sick brain did you think that kidnapping and trying to-assault- the princess of the country that gives you money was okay?" I looked at him, breathing hard as I had screamed at the top of my lungs at him. He looked at me, then slapped me across the face so hard that I fell to the ground. He stood over me, heaving, then said "Who told you that?! Who told you, I'll kill them!" I stood and looked him in the eye. "My fiance. My fiance told me. And if you hurt a hair on her head, I swear that there will be hell to pay." I stormed out of the room, fuming. I hurried back to the orchard in the hopes of finding Rebekah. I hurried into the orchard, looking around. I saw one of the groundskeepers, and asked "Where is the princess?" The groundskeeper looked at me, shocked. "She took a horse and is heading towards the forest." I hurried to the stables, and grabbed the fastest horse that they had. I spurred the horse on in the directions of the woods. I followed the path of broken branches and found my seemingly harmless fiance hacking at a tree. I slid off the horse and went to her. She whirled when she heard me coming and dropped the sword. She took a deep breath, as if to center herself, and asked, "What did you say to him?" "I pushed him against the wall and screamed at him." She gently touched the growing bruise on my cheek and said, "And he hit you." I nodded. She turned away and stood, gazing at the gathering dusk. I stepped closer and put my hand on the small of her back. Without moving, she said "He will kill me. I will be dead within the day. As I escaped, he told me that if I ever told anyone, I would be dead within a day." I turned her around and pulled her into my arms. "He will not touch you. I will kill him if he even looks at you the wrong way. I promise." That was when all hell broke loose.