Fallen Hard

The Invitation

 If we could only have this life
For one more day
If we could only turn back time  

~~~

Liam woke up to the high pitched giggles of his sister as she tried to climb onto Liam's bed. He looked at her, squinting his eyes. "What's up, Ari?"

"You said you will spend today wid meeeee! So, here I am!"

"Yeah, right. Can you wait till I get dressed? Yeah?"

"Okieee!"

Liam went to the bathroom to get ready when he heard Narcissa enter his room. He thought of going out, but then turned on the bath. He could hear both his sisters laughing and giggling. That was when he thought he had the best family in the world. He wouldn't give it up for anything. When he got out of the bathroom, he was greeted by the sight of Aria and Narcissa cuddling on his bed.

"Cissa! Are you trying to steal away my sunshine?", Liam pouted.

"What can you do Li? Are you gonna fight your big sister?" Narcissa was mocking him.

"You know I will."

"C'mon then. Pillow fight. Whoever wins gets to have Aria for the next one week. Deal?"

"Don't you dare!"

"Try me." There was a smirk on Narcissa's face.

That's when all hell broke loose. Liam was on the bed with a pillow bashing Narcissa while she was hitting his stomach with her pillow. Soon there were pillow feathers floating everywhere. Meanwhile, Aria just stood there watching her siblings fight over her. She was quite proud that they were fighting for her, it made her feel important.

Neither of them were willing to give up. But both were dying of laughter. Finally, Liam pinned Narcissa down. She was giggling uncontrollably. "Gotcha", Liam was out of breath.

He slowly released her and looked at Aria triumphantly. But he didn't see Narcissa's hands sneak up to his waist as she started tickling him. He fell over laughing, trying to say something but she wouldn't stop.

"Cissa!... that's... against....God.... stop!... this is....cheating! you can't.... you never said... no... stop... how can... I make.... you... stop?"

"Accept your defeat, brother!"

"Okay! Fine. Stop. You can have her."

"That's my boy! I love you!"

They both sat up and saw the giggling mess that was Aria. She looked so adorable at that moment, with one hand covering her mouth as she laughed and the other hand on her belly. She was the most vulnerable of them all; she had to be protected at all costs.

"Yeah, yeah. You cheated anyway, you brat! I hate you!" Liam made a face at Narcissa.

"Awh. Don't be sad. You just gotta use your brain, honey. Good luck next time!" She hugged her little brother. He pushed her first, but then gave in to her hug, hugging her back. Liam's hugs were the best, he was like a teddy bear and he was much taller than Narcissa even though she was older than him. 

Aria came running to them, now both of them on the floor, and joined in the hug. That's when Aria's tummy grumbled and she looked at them sheepishly. All of them went down to the dining room. 

All the other family members were already seated at the table. 

When everyone was seated there was the loud ding of the front door bell that rang through out the manor.

"Evette, could you go get that please?" Astoria called out to the maid.

"It's a messenger from the Royal Palace, madam. Shall I send him in?" the maid asked. But both Astoria and Jonathan were too shocked to respond. It was not every day a messenger from the Royal Palace came. This must mean either it was a bad news or a good one. 

Astoria was the first one to respond, "Send him in."

The messenger came in, wearing the Royal uniform. "There is a message for you from the Royal Palace." He revealed a red scroll and started reading it. 

" The Lord Raynott of the House of Rothhall is commanded by His Majesty to request the presence of Mr. Jonathan Payne and his family at a Ball at the Eunice Eudora Hotel to celebrate the King's Birthday held tomorrow at 7 P.M."

When he finished, there was silence in the room. Everyone was shocked by the fact that they were invited for the King's birthday bash. Humans were never allowed to participate in these kind of events; it was only for the Royals and anyone related to them. How could they be invited to such an event? Breaking the silence, the messenger announced, "Since you are the only living relatives of the wife of Lord Lucas Raynott, you are invited to the Ball. It was a last minute decision made by Lord Raynott, hence the limited time. You are expected there with your whole family." With that, he was out of the door, on his way back to the Palace.

Adrienne. Adrienne Hilda Beddingfield.

Or more appropriately, Adrienne Hilda Beddingfield Raynott.

The Beddingfields and the Paynes were relatives. Ursula, Adrienne's mother was Astoria's elder sister. Ursula and her husand Joseph had had four children after Adrienne: Finlay, Judson and twins Dexter and Guinevere. Theirs was a happy family until Lord Raynott had laid eyes on Adrienne. He asked her hand in marriage and when her parents refused, he took her away to his manor. Two months later, there was a fire in the Beddingfield manor, which killed Ursula and Joseph but the children escaped with minor injuries. Five months after the fire, a grand wedding was held,  and Adrienne was married to Lucas. Her siblings went to live with her in Rothhall, but she had asked the Paynes to take care of them. They were supposed to arrive at the Payne Manor next week.

Rumor has it that Lord Raynott had deployed men to set fire to the house to kill Adrienne's parents but to save the children- it was his way of eliminating obstacles. The one time she was allowed to visit the Paynes she was reduced to a ghost of what she was- she had been a bubbly girl, ful of life and now she hardly smiled. She had been quiet throughout the visit, only asking the Paynes to take care of her siblings. She looked at everyone with sad eyes but they were hollow, without any light in them. Since her marriage, the Paynes had been recieving gifts from Lord Raynott, maybe he was trying to please Adrienne. But, this was something else. An invitation to the King's birthday party was something unimaginable.

Astoria spoke first, "We have to go."

Jonathan looked at her blankly and said, "Yes. We have to." But inside, he didn't want to go. He didn't want to expose his family to the monsters at the Palace. He couldn't think of the possibility that he would lose one or more of his children to the monsters.

The family finished the breakfast while Astoria was happily chattering away about how to dress each one of her children. But Jonathan was not paying attention. His mind was somewhere else. After breakfast, Astoria went to arrange for the dresses and all the girls went to help her while Jonathan went into the study. Liam asked Aria if she wanted to come with him, but she was too caught up in the dresses, so he went to the library while Edward and Aubrey went to do their homework. Since it was the King's birthday, the school had declared holiday for the whole week due to the celebrations.

Everyone was excited to attend the ball, except Jonathan, who was brooding in the study. He had to talk with Astoria once she becomes free.

He had no idea how true his fears would prove to be.

~~~

This chapter was probably shitty. I know. I didn't prepare a draft or anything. Just wrote it on the go. And sorry for any typos. I'm just sleepy and way too lazy. I'll try to update soon. Aaaand, did you see Harry perform on The Graham Norton Show? He just slayed it. And in France. My God, he just keeps getting better! :)

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All the love,

A