Kingdom Come

Chapter Twenty Two: Zack

I sit up in my room, blushing slightly.

"Guess 'I'll be right here with you' means nothing," a calm voice growls. My muscles turn rigid. "Well, your highness?" the person practically spits. I can't help it...

I smile.

"ZACK!" I shout, turning and launching myself toward him. His eyes widen slightly in shock as I wrap my arms around his torso, burying my nose into his chest, "It's been so awful here! My mother keeps trying to force me into marriages, and there's not really anything to do except worry about your wound and feel guilty," I shout into his chest. The mention of his wound makes me remember. My eyes snap open widening. "Your wound!" I shout, looking straight toward his shoulder, "let me see?" I ask hurriedly. He lets out an annoyed growl, shoving me slightly away, and swinging his scythe around to have the tin digging into my back. Oh... right... I- I forgot...

"I'm going to kill you," he mutters darkly.

A soft realization bleeds into me then. It doesn't matter if I live or die. Not really... I will have to marry to become Queen... and whoever I marry will take charge... NOT me.

"Okay," I whisper softly, my eyes closing tightly, it's better than being helpless forever.

"Are you really just gonna give up?!" Zack suddenly shouts, grabbing my chin roughly. His eyes are angrier than I've ever seen them before. "ARE YOU?!" he shouts again. "You said you'd stay with me!" he adds, my lips part slightly,

"I did." I whisper, "but... I couldn't. I knew you were going to kill me, and I forgot how it felt to be in this place," I say softly. His hand moves from my chin to my shoulder, shaking me.

"YOU'RE THE FUCKING PRINCESS! YOU CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE!" he bellows angrily. I can't stop my own words,

"No! I can't! I can't do anything here! The most I can do is make TINY changes through a lot of effort! And if I make even ONE TINY mistake I can't even do that anymore! And even once I become Queen, I'll have been married off to some Prince, and I won't be able to help my own kingdom anymore! And even if they settled on a noble, then that noble would control me! It might be even worse then! There might be MORE rules or even LESS changes I can make!" I shout, tears gathering in the corner of my eyes at my own helplessness. He stays silent for a moment.

He suddenly pulls me tightly into his arms. I sob into his chest, pouring all my rage and hatred of this damn life into a single, simple action. Hugging him and crying.

He holds me with a single arm, his other one holding onto his scythe. He doesn't say anything, just letting me exhaust myself.

I finally run out of tears,

"S-sorry," I whisper, pulling back.

"It's fine," he mutters. I look away slightly, nervous. My eyes catch him rubbing his shoulder slightly, and my eyes instantly widen.

"Your wound!" I shout, grabbing his uninjured arm. I drag him into the bathroom and go straight to the small medicine cabinet. "Sit down and please let me see?" I beg him, he's gawking at the size of the bathroom. "Please?" I beg, and his eyes flick to mine,

"Fine," he mumbles, pulling off his hoodie. My eyes widen.

"YOUR STITCHES!" I shout, my hand wrapping around his neck to pull him closer, my eyes are glued to the large, bloody, raw wound.

"It's... not that bad. It doesn't hurt," he shrugs,

"That's not a good thing!" I snap, "If it doesn't hurt that means your body's in shock," I grab the medicine.

I carefully spread ointment over his wound, and then I gently stitch it up. I wrap it up, and then I hold him down by keeping my hand around the back of his neck.

"DO NOT PULL THEM OUT AGAIN!" I shout, he growls slightly in anger,

"It's not my fault!" he bellows.

"Just don't pull them out, please? It's only going to get worse if you do!" I tell him, "Please, just stay here until it heals? I'll get some money for the treasury so you stay somewhere else if you want. Just let me check on it?" I plead hopefully.

"Fine," he mumbles, though the edges of his mouth tilt up as he looks around. I roll my eyes slightly,

"Go ahead and swim in the pool," I tell him with a chuckle. I slip out, "See you soon Zack," I tell him with a soft smile before I close the door.

The second the door closes, I hear the water turn on. I chuckle softly, at least no one will bother me today.

I grab the work I have to do and start working. My pencil works across the paper steadily, making notes and annotations. I know, deep down, that it won't do anything. But... at least... I'm going to make the notes and the annotations. I WILL continue, I will NOT stop until I am able to ENFORCE the notes and annotations.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zack growls from behind me,

"Working," I mumble softly,

"On?" he prompts again,

"Royalty crap," I grumble, "I go through and make notes and annotate. If I'm lucky... they use some of the notes and annotations. If I'm not they simply won't. I've found that the more notes and annotations I make, the more likely they are to be accepted," I tell him, turning over the paper I'd been working on.

I glance up at Zack,

"Did you enjoy your bath?" I ask politely, he ignores the question,

"Aren't you supposed to have maids or something?" he asks,

"Yup. But it's still early. Everyone's slept in today, except for the guards and the necessary staff, so the maids won't have to get to work for a while. When they come, I'll just tell them I'm working and send them away. They'll leave me alone, at least until tomorrow," I tell him with a small shrug.

"Oh," he mutters, "I knew that," he adds, I chuckle. I smile at him,

"There are many other nobles here, and none of the servants or guards know them all. I'll get you some clothes, and help you look like a proper nobleman," I tell him, and I stand. "I'll be right back," I add with a smile.