Dalliance

Chapter Fifty Nine

Dawson lunged out of bed and knocked Holly to the ground, the dagger falling from her hand and sliding across the floor. Just as he had held her, Vera moved from the bed, a long white nightgown gently hugging her figure, as she leaned towards Holly.

"You are terribly ill, Holly. I tried to save you from a horrid reputation of being sick with madness...but now you leave me no choice."

"No! This is what you wanted! You got everything! Why not just let me go?"

"You could have left...but you came back. You had your chance at freedom. But I would be no just ruler if I let you leave without consequence."

"What was my crime?"

"Murder. The dagger soaked in blood that was in the chest of your previous husband."

"I do not-"

"Save your lies." Vera whistled as the sound of heavy boots rushed down the hall. Guards stood in the doorway as they gave wide eyes to Holly-surprised to see her. By the order of the queen, she was drug to the dungeons once more, this time, shackled to the wall and watched so she could not escape.

In the early hours of the morning, she rose from the wall upon hearing footsteps approaching. With a heavy rock in her palm, she was prepared to do whatever in order to escape. The fear of dying in this place lingered and she refused to let her legacy end in a damp corner. Therefore, she gripped tight onto her only weapon.

Finding the guards to leave their posts, she figured it must be Vera and squeezed the rock tight enough to begin to shake. But to her surprise, it was Dawson. He entered cautiously, as they both analyzed one another. He saw a physical change in her; her figure had been more slender then before and her eyes were seemingly always heavy. She saw how he had slightly aged-not enough to count specific time, but enough to see that they had been apart for some time. Half a year to be exact.  Two seasons had come and gone, but their connection did not.

He reached towards the bars, resting his fingers on them as he looked down in shame.

"How are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling? I had everything I have ever known ripped from me. You were the only thing I had and yet...you do this to me...Even though I loathed that you were going to bare a child with her...I held the smallest crumb of a hope for us." Tears formed in her eyes as she spoke. "But I see now that there is nothing but hate and resentment-and I realize I have spoken those words before, but there is nothing you can say or do that will change that this time."

"I do not blame you for your anger and I will not ask anything of you such as forgiveness. But I ask that you make a promise to yourself. To be thoughtful when it comes to your future-because Holly, she is waiting for a reason to kill you. Luckily, no one else saw you dangling over her, and no matter what she does, she will not get me place my words against you. Not again."

"Again?"

The door came open once more, this time, it had been Vera. Seeing Dawson looking to Holly, she began to chuckle.

"Of course you would be here..I did promise you a reunion-but I also told you to wait for my agreement of one." She moved her gaze from Holly to Dawson. "GO." She said sternly as Dawson gave an apologetic look to Vera before replacing Dawson's space. She now stood with her fingers on the bars, staring at Holly-who only glared in return.

"What am I to do with you? I have more than enough reason to have you publicly executed..."

"Then do it. I am done living under your rules."

"You forget that I am THE most powerful woman in the world. Men desire me and women envy me...you are among them...and yet, you cannot comprehend the fact that I want nothing but pain for you."

"What is it that I have done to make you loathe me so greatly?"

She smiled. "I suppose telling you the truth now will make it understandable...but it is just brings me too much joy to see you squirm."

"Who was he to you?"

"Who?" Vera asked as she had prepared her step to leave, before turning back to face Holly once more.

"The previous king. He's the reason you are doing this...his death. So tell me...I will never get out of here, and Dawson will never see me alive again...so tell me...what is it? Are you a mistress? A concubine of his?"

"Ha...you are truly mad...It must eat you inside to know that Dawson sleeps beside me each night. His bare chest begging to be scratched by my nails and my waist moving back and forth with his."

"Do you think it bothers me? Your confession of being a whore?"

Vera clenched her teeth. "It bothers you to know I got the ONE thing you thought that you would never lose."

"You forget something, Vera-"

"It's your highness-"

"You have already punished me enough...there is nothing more you could do to me. I will call you what I please."

"What is it I have seemingly forgotten-as you seem to have forgotten your place?"

"You forget that Dawson has loved me his entire life. I was his first love and the woman who captured him in every way that a person can be. Love is not broken by distance or time, or other people...or deception...it is broken when you give up on it. And him defying you to see me, him stopping me from killing you-were both actions of his feelings that still linger for me."

"How do you see that?"

"If he would have let me kill you, I would have been put to death. I took a life once, and I was haunted by it. I did it to save him...to save Nicholas-"

"Ah...Nicholas...the one ally you thought you had."

"You do not know the truth of Nicholas. He is not a kind or good man. He will do anything to attain what he desires. He had me and I ran...he is running everything and you are too blinded by pride and planning to see it."

"And why would I believe you?"

"Because I have nothing left to lose. You, have an entire kingdom staring at you for what to do next."

"You walk a thin line, Holly. You once reigned this place with grace and honor and I admired it. But you did not have backbone, the ability to put someone to death when they deserved it. I will speak to everyone about your fate...about hiding you away to save your legacy-but you escaped and nearly killed me. But Dawson had to put an end to you...in order to save me. Because he loves me. And all the while, you will be locked down here with the rats and the murders-just like you are."

"He was a wicked man...putting good people to death out of sport."

"He had his faults...but he was better than you will ever be."

"True. Because he was honest with his intentions. Forcing me to undergo a surgery that nearly killed me to dispose of the child I was having with Dawson. Drugging me until I nearly died so I would forget what he did. Dawson made me remember and there is NOTHING that can be done that will change that. So tell everyone what you desire to. Dawson knows the truth, and for me, that's enough!"

"I am done with you!" Vera snapped. "I had to sit there and pretend to smile and obey you and become your handmaiden-wash your linens and brush your hair-watch someone YOU didn't deserve drool over you! I have been waiting so very long to kill you, and instead of doing it quick, I have taken everything from you, and now, you will sit there and know how it feels to be truly alone."

"He was your father."

She paused in the threshold of the door, glancing back.

"And you killed the only relative I had. This all should have been mine, so I am only doing what's right." The door shut as Holly finally realized why Vera had done all of this-for revenge on Holly killing Vera's father.