One in a million (Prequel to 'Bad Blood')

Chapter 35: For James

Third person's POV

Carl took Cassandra with him on a walk back home. He didn't bring a horse, like Cassandra, he went on foot. He was on his way to talk to Cassandra at her castle but he spotted her at James's spot. Thankfully, he was on time.

As they arrived at the castle, he took her straight to his room. He had told Chandler to inform Louisa and Alden about Cassandra's presence but also to keep their distance as Cassandra was very emotional.

"Have a seat." Carl said as he sat down at the table.

Cassandra sat down and looked down, at her hands. She was fidgeting with them, she didn't know what else to do. Everything here reminded her of James, this was James's family. It was all too much for her.

"How are you doing?"

She looked down then.

"I'm sorry," He sighed. "Stupid question."

She kept looking down as she couldn't contain her tears anymore. And she didn't want to keep them in, she wanted to show everyone how much she had loved James.

"I know you're in pain," He said, gulping. He had a hard time keeping his tears in too. "When we heard about it," He gulped once more. "We were broken too."

"It's not fair," She sniffled. "Why? Why him? Why?"

Carl remained silent as he didn't know what to answer to that. Why did James leave them? Why did he go off the road? Why him? Those were all good questions.

Cassandra wiped away her tears. "I've always been told that life ruins people," She shook her head as more tears were forming in her eyes. "But it's people who ruin lives."

Carl gulped.

"All I wanted was to resign and live happily ever after with James," She cried before looking at Carl. "Why couldn't I have that?"

He looked down.

"He was my person," She sniffled, making Carl look up at her. "Now that he's gone..." She cried a bit before calming herself down. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Carl placed his hand on hers. "You do," He didn't hold back his tears anymore. He cried. "You are Cassandra, Queen of the Southern Kingdom, you do know what to do."

Cassandra shook her head and looked down. "I don't want to be the queen of the Southern Kingdom," She sniffled. "I just wanted to be James's queen." She then broke out crying. She pulled her hand back to cover her face.

Carl gulped as he tried to remain relatively calm. It was hard seeing Cassandra this way, it was difficult to see how unhappy she was. It hurt him as he knew James wouldn't want Cassandra to be like this. "Hey," He said. "You are still his queen," He gulped. "And he has left behind an amazing thing."

Cassandra followed Carl's gaze to her stomach, and she knew what he meant. "He'll never see his child grow up, Carl. He'll never see it get born."

"He will," Carl held on to Cassandra's hand again. "From up there."

"Who will help me during the delivery? Who will help me raise this child?"

"We will," Carl squeezed Cassandra's hand a bit. "We're here for you and the child," He paused. "You two are family."

Cassandra looked down.

Carl sighed but didn't say anything for a bit. He felt like silence was needed. He kept squeezing her hand though and then looked at it. He didn't see the ring anymore.

Cassandra saw Carl look at her finger and knew what he was looking for. "James wanted to have a daughter who looks like me," She said, gaining Carl's attention. "If I do have a daughter," She gulped, trying to remain calm. "I promise I'll call her after your wife."

Carl gulped then as it all got too much to handle. "You don't have to..."

"I know," Cassandra looked down then. "But I want to," She paused for a bit. "For James."

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"Come here," Louisa pulled Cassandra in for a very tight hug. She kept Cassandra close to her as she knew Cassandra was having a very hard time. She had heard from Chandler that Cassandra nearly jumped off the cliff. "You know I'm here for you."

"We are," Alden said and immediately joined in. He wrapped his arms around his wife and best friend. "We all are."

Louisa pulled back a bit to look at Cassandra. "You can still move here if you want."

"Of course," Alden agreed. "You can move here and be with your family."

Cassandra nodded.

Chandler and Carl, who were standing a bit further, immediately noticed just how distant Cassandra was with Louisa and Alden. And they sensed bad news was coming.

"Is there anything we can do for you right now?" Alden asked, he really was worried. He and  Louisa were broken by the news of James's passing. Perhaps more because of Cassandra than because of James. 

Cassandra shook her head. "I'm going back to the South."

Alden and Louisa's eyebrows raised. "Really?"

Cassandra nodded. She didn't wait for them to reply, she already made her way out of the living room.

"Cassandra," Louisa and Alden hurried after her, as did Chandler and Carl. "You'll get back soon, right?" Louisa asked. She sounded quite desperate as if all of them knew this would be the last time they'd meet this way.

Cassandra looked at them. "Yeah." She then entered her carriage and went back home.

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As she arrived at the castle, she went straight to her room. She closed her door and sat down on her bed. She let out a deep breath. She was so tired. She just wanted this nightmare to end.

"Hey Cas," Piers entered, his attitude a bit smug. "I saw you just came back from the North."

Cassandra sighed as she laid on her bed.

"A sad goodbye, I bet?"

She didn't reply.

"If only you did your task," He said, gaining her attention. "Than James would still be alive and my wife too."

Cassandra got up. "W-what have you done?" Tears already started forming in her eyes, as if she already knew what he was going to say.

"I warned you time and time again to fix the border, you refused and killed my wife."

Cassandra shook her head as tears started streaming down her face.

"If you kill my wife and happiness, it's only fair I return you the favor."

She looked down as more tears streamed down. "How could you?" She looked up at him. "He was the love of my life!"

"She was the love of my life too!"

Cassandra sniffled. "I never meant for your wife to get killed, I didn't even know about - "

"Quit with the excuses, Cassandra," Piers crossed his arms. "You were warned about that dangerous border, I told you about it too."

"I was going to fix it."

"But you were too busy with a poor, Northern butler..."

Cassandra's jaw dropped as she heard the hurtful words her brother was saying.

"But remember," He came closer to her. "He may not be here now but he can still see you from above." He mockingly reciting Cassandra's comforting words.

Cassandra was just shocked to hear this. It broke her heart even more.

He then handed her a glass of wine. He clicked both glasses together. "For James." He drank his glass before leaving the room, smirking.