The Price of Love

Chapter 19

John's PoV

I go back to South Carolina. There's nothing for me here. It'll be a relief to return home to my normal life, free of whores and war. I ride my horse hard for two days, only stopping to let it rest and for myself to eat. Then I finally, finally am at my palace's doorstep. I walk in, back into the familiar clean whiteness of my palace. "John?" A voice calls.

"Dad?" He pulls me into a tight hug, much to my surprise.

"Where were you?" He demands. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Dad, just a little tired." I say.

"It was New York, hasn't it?" He suddenly growls. "They captured you."

"What?! No! Dad dad dad, no. New York wouldn't do that." He may be a whore, but he does have honor. "They wouldn't do that. I just... needed to go off on my own for a while. But I'm back, and I'm here to stay. I ain't leaving." I assure him.

"Alright. Well then, go up to your room and clean up, then go to sleep." I take a minute to process his words, then nod and go up to my room. I'll have to readjust to his thick South Carolina accent. Heh, only there for a week and I'm already used to hearing voices hard and fast. I think as I climb the stairs to the second story. I walk down the long hallway to my room.

"John!" Someone shrieks, throwing herself at me.

"Maria!" I catch her in a tight hug. "I missed you! How are you?"

"More importantly." She says. "How are you? What happened? I'm guessing you were in New York this past week?" I nod and sit on my bed. "Spill. You haven't told me anything about it."

"What if I told you that I had fought in a battle? And I met the King and the Prince? And I was pretty good friends with the Prince?" I ask. She gasps and mouths 'No way.' "Yes way." I laugh. "I fought in a battle with the General himself, that bastard. I didn't really meet the King, but I did see him on my first visit. But the Prince." I chuckle humorlessly. "He's something else. You'd think someone like him who gets such a good rep would be flawless, but nooo. He's a damn whore." I spit, thinking about what happened at the ball and all the times we would meet up when he would randomly casually flirt with one girl or another. "A fucking whore who tries to get in the pants of every girl he lays eyes on. Probably slept with most of them at some point, and I'm sure he was sleeping with one a few nights ago." I say bitterly. Then my anger twists my memories. "He refuses to eat normal food, saying the rations the army eats are better and won't listen to me when I try to explain how bad they are. He never stops writing and planning, and the sound of his quill on his paper is the most annoying thing you've ever heard. And then he sent me back here because I told him it's annoying!" I rant. "And he's so arrogant! He thinks that he's going to win his stupid little war single-handedly! He thinks he's sooooo smart that he's the only one who can bring them victory. He doesn't have any advisors, anyone to help him at all, he does it all himself." She rubs my back comfortingly.

"He sounds awful." She remarks.

"He is. And I should know. I was his best friend for those first three months." I pause. "Maria, you have to swear to tell no one, especially my father, this next part." She nods in agreement. "I was his lover." Her eyes widen. "And he manipulated me into being his lover, and then joining the war." I say, those events twisting to fit my distorted view of him. "And I actually fell in love with him. And then he cheated on me where he knew I could see. So I broke up with him. I'll admit, he put up quite the performance. Nearly convinced me to almost consider not breaking up with him and hearing him out. And he was kind of abusive. He encouraged me to hurt myself, then smiled and was proud when I did." I show her the small scar on my hand from the knife. She looks at me in horror. "He probably would have eventually raped me. But I left before that could happen."

"Wow." She says softly. "I'm glad you're back before anything else could happen to you John." She hugs me tightly. I hug her back.

"And I'm glad to be back."

---

A full month passes without incident. I stay in my palace, not wanting to go back to New York, should I run into Alexander. In that month, my anger that he 'cheated on me' twisted all the memories of our interactions beyond the point of recognition. I'll never know how it happened, and why I never tried to hear any other, more reasonable explanation. Me and my dad also grew closer, though I never told him what I really did that week I left. And then he gets the letter. The letter begging us to keep an eye out for Hamilton. The letter explaining that he got captured by the British. I scoff when I see it. You're not so invincible after all, are you Hamilton? How does it feel to be brought down to size? Bet it doesn't feel good. You deserve it, after everything you did to me. I think. The letter's written by Lafayette, and I feel a pang of sadness. I liked him, he was really cool. My father seems mildly concerned, but mostly uninterested. He discards the letter, and it's not mentioned again. And I'm fine with that. "Looks like the General isn't so invincible after all." I say smugly to Maria later. "He got captured by the British. Arrogant little brat."

"Really?" She asks.

"Yep! Oh, I wish I could see the look on his face when it happened." I chuckle. "It must have been hilarious."

Maria's PoV

I don't believe everything he's telling me. I know it's all a bunch of bullcrap. Not the part about him fighting and being the prince's lover, but everything he's said about the prince. Why don't I believe him? Because he's done this before. When his mother died. He started coming to me and telling me his father was abusing him. Hitting him, beating him, starving him, the works. But I never saw any evidence of it. He normally doesn't lie, and never on this level. Only when he's suffered something that's pushed him over the edge. He'll twist events to make them fit into his anger, rewrite his memories even. I just play along with him, secretly pitying the both of them.