The Queen || ✔

Chapter 8: Stuck With The Prince

Hilary

I was stuck. He kept asking the same question again and again. Claudia didn't tell me what to say. I was desperate at the moment, so I accidentally told Zeus that his mother was protecting me from Charles because I was nervous and when I was nervous I just blurted things out.

I didn't know what to tell him, but I had to figure something out now. Anything for my son.

"Hilary..." He said, obviously sounding more and more irritated.

"... he threatened to take TsiTsi away." I blurted out, feeling my face go red, then the tears started building up in my eyes.

Guilt. I couldn't believe what I had just said. What did I just do? All of this was eating me up, and I was only getting started.

"What?!" He exclaimed, shaking me. I immediately put TsiTsi in his crib, completely scared that I'd drop him. I walked over to him and stopped in front of him. I started it and I definitely couldn't leave it unfinished.

"He told me that if your mother didn't accept us, he'd take TsiTsi away and have him raised by your mother as her own... and get rid of me." I lied bitterly.

"No, my father could never do that." He hesitated, obviously not willing to submit to my lies.

"He could and said he would. He said that if your mother kept being difficult, he'd take Mason and make it seem like he was her son. He said that she was a big baby lover, that she put her whole life on hold just for you and your siblings, so she wouldn't find it difficult in herself to do the same for Mason. He said that he'd get rid of me." I sobbed, feeling my throat dry up, maybe it was God preventing me from keeping on with my lies.

"Why would he do that to the same girl who he was willing to throw away his whole life to be with? My mother gave him four kids and he still turned his back on her. You gave him a son and he suddenly felt the idiotic urge to jump in front of one of my mother's bullets just to save you. Now suddenly, he told you that he wanted nothing to do with you."

"He didn't say that!" I screamed, feeling my chest heat up and my body numbing. The lies I was telling about my love burned me inside out. Anything for my son.

"Then what did he say?!" Zeus yelled, sounding childish and confused.

"He told me that he loved me!" I screamed out, finally being able to breath because what I had just said was actually true.

"What are you saying?!"

"But he also said that he loved Mason more!" I lied again, my pain coming back unapologetically and my nervous state going overboard.

"What?" He asked me, trying his hardest to understand me. What did I get myself into?

"He told me that if he had to choose between me and Mason, he'd pick Mason. He told me that he loved me, but Mason had his heart. Mason was his one and only. He told me that he was with me only because I was Mason's mother, making me important. But if all that was needed was a mother, he'd get Claudia to raise him. Claudia did a great job raising you and your siblings anyway."

"But he loves you."

"And he loves him more." I said, letting the tears roll down my eyes, almost forcing them out. He had to believe me.

"But not to the point where he'd want to kick you out." He wasn't buying it, I had to take it up a notch. Anything for my son.

"Your father is not a saint, and just like your mother, he'd do anything for his children." I said while he wiped the tears from my cheeks, I felt so sick inside. I loved Charles, but here I was, antagonising him. Anything for my son.

"No no no..." Zeus started stepping back and sat down to think it through. It was working. I sat next to him.

"Listen Zeus... Zeus..." I pulled his head in my direction just so that he would face me and we locked eyes. "You have to believe me." I said, then forced a tear down my right cheek. Anything for my son.

I was starting to sound hysterical inside. I was desperate now, just thinking about what Claudia told me this morning scared me into a morbid state. If she were to find out about Zeus thinking that I was a liar, she'd kill me.

"I-I believe you, but Hilary..."

"No buts. Please!" Since the tears weren't working, I would just have to scream at him. Anything for my son. "What don't you understand?! Your father is calling me his fucking liability and that his son is his only asset and he's willing to pay me off just to make me cut ties with my son as though a price can be put on motherhood! He wants my son, Zeus, HE WANTS MY SON! Not me!" I screamed.

I walked away and really started crying. Not crocodile tears, but tears from my deceit and betrayal. I wanted to cry because I felt so terrible inside for all the terrible things I was saying about the love of my life, to his own son.

I cried because Claudia put me in a situation so unbearable that there was nothing else I could do but pick her side. I cried because I was doing it all for my son.

"Please stop crying, I believe you!" He exclaimed, sounding so helpless. Then and there, I knew I had him right where I wanted him, but I still couldn't stop crying.

I walked towards the window to try and get some air into my now aching lungs.

While in despair, two large warm arms trailed around me and squeezed, giving me comfort. He leaned his head on my neck and shushed me while I wailed. He trailed down my hair towards my spine and back up again with his hand. He was giving me comfort, and I liked it. I really needed this right now.

I turned around to face him and he wiped my tears off my face, even though they just kept falling down, Zeus pulled me into a hug and I cuddled in, but I was still crying, in his warm and comforting arms.

"I believe you. I really do. Please don't cry. Please stop. I believe you." He whispered into my ear.

I loved that moment, in his arms. They were different from Charles'. Warn amd comforting. Zeus was the full package. Just how I liked it.

I felt myself numbing in his arms, but didn't want to take any advantage. If I crossed my limits, Claudia wouldn't spare me.