The Crown

Six.

The Crown

Four months ago. Isabella walked around the palace, day and night waiting for her husband Marcus' return. He had promised her that he would come back to her and it has been twelve days since that promise. "Isabella, will you not sleep?" Rita stood behind her daughter asking. "No, I will not. Not until I see his white horse, not until I see him on the palace grounds, not until I hear that he is safe." Isabella broke down in tears and her mother Rita, comforted her once again. "Do not worry Isabella. He will return. We must have hope." But Isabella found that very hard to believe. "What if he does not return ma? What if I am here, crying over a dead man? I cannot possibly think about this." Isabella shook her head, refusing to believe that her husband was dead. "Do not think about the negativity Isabella. Negativity and doubt are what have driven people away from trusting what they are supposed to do. Be positive Isabella. Trust and have hope that your beloved husband will return to his Kingdom and come back to his Kingdom and get back to you.

~*~

Twelve days have passed since prince Manuel ran out of the Royal Palace of Madrid and could not be found in all of Spain. The Queen sent out several searches but they had not returned. Isabella was tired of weeping. She just wanted to see her son's face again. Isabella stayed up day and night waiting for his arrival but he never showed up.

"Isabella, you are still awake my dear?" Rita stopped by her room to check on her again, this time she was crying on her bed. "It has been twelve days ma and I already grieved for the loss of Marcus, I do not want to grieve for the loss of my son, I do not want to lose him. I cannot, he is all I have left-

"We are not going to go through this again Isabella. We are going to sleep through the night and trust that everything will be alright. Now I am going to sleep here with you for the night." Rita said, walking up to her daughters King-sized bed and tucking herself in next to her.

'' Grace, the people of Spain are doubting your son's loyalty. They think he is a traitor and they do not want him as their King." The royal court said gently.

They were all seated in the throne room, Queen Isabella, her mother Rita, and her advisors.

"My son, a traitor? Never! He was doing what was right, it was just out of stupidity and anxiousness that is all, why should the people doubt him?"

"Your Grace, that is exactly why they doubt him because he was careless and naive so they say."

"That boy needs plenty of counselling and prayers." Rita, Isabella's mother, the Queen mother spoke with a sigh following after.

"Have you found the advisor Aaron who reported this news to my son?" Isabella asked them. ''Not in the slightest, he ran off the second he heard the prince was away, probably because he knew you would kill him."

"He was very clever to run away the second he had the chance to. I would have cut him up and hung him dry of blood." The Queen said bitterly out of anger. She knew that if she could she would not, Manuel would never forgive her. Aaron was Manuel's dearest advisor and only friend. Even though Manuel did not see him as one yet, Isabella and Rita saw it in every moment that they shared. Aaron was the brother Manuel never had.

As the hours passed by, the people of Spain mourned and complained. Declaring for a new king to sit on the throne and wear the crown. Some hated the prince and wanted him dead, some wished he had not been born. Some did not see him as the twenty-three-year-old prince that he was, but a baby that still needs to be cradled.

~*~

Queen Isabella and her mother, Rita sat outside on the balcony waiting for the news of Manuel's return when Rita saw a white horse, slowly walking towards the palace grounds from the gates up ahead. At first, she thought that the horse had travelled on its own but she was surprised to see a man, covered in a blanket on top of it. She called for her daughter, Isabella, to see who it was as she pointed to the man who was seventeen feet below them from up on their balcony.

"That is my son! It is Emmanuel my son, he has returned!" Isabella yelled, holding up her skirt and rushing downstairs. Isabella remembered playing this moment one hundred times in her head. Seeing her husband return on his white Arabian horse was all she had hoped to see four months ago but it never came to pass. But Manuel was finally back.

Minutes later, Aaron, his advisor, and several other soldiers helped him into his chamber and into bed. They took off his bloody shirt to reveal three deep, massive wolf scratches by the lower right abdomen near his hip bone. He also had several scratches on his face, ankles and knees.

The prince could not even speak, only panting out immense pain. He was slowly dying and could feel it. Isabella offered to clean the wounds and even started doing so when Manuel managed to say, "Do not. Touch. Me. Get out now."

Isabella has never seen such hatred on his face. He was her son and all she wanted to do was help him. She never had the opportunity with Marcus before his death because he never came back to her as she promised but Manuel came back even when he refused to be treated like her son, not after what she did to him. He had not forgotten what she had tried to hide from him. Isabella stepped out of his room in shock, leaving him with Aaron, his advisor. Manuel had not given her much of a choice. She quietly wept to sleep that night, hoping that today would not repeat itself tomorrow.

~*~

"You wounded the prince quite well, Jezebeth."

"He should not have to come looking for death. I would have ended his life if his men did not come to save him in time." The witch laughed along with her demons.

Jezebeth, the so-called witch and enemy of the Kingdom of Spain. Some people believed she works with spirit pain and death. Some think it is just a myth, no such thing could be real.

Nobody knew where her witchcraft manifested. She lived just beyond the borders of Spain, waiting to tempt and kill anyone who came near her.

Her so-called demons were ugly-looking dwarfs that did dirty deeds for her. They hid in the dark and hated anything pure and good. When they saw the prince of Spain approaching them, they were very surprised. Taking advantage of this, the evil witch commanded her wolves to attack him and his men, but some sacrificed their lives while the rest managed to run away. Jezebeth had taken over a thousand lives from the Kingdom just alone and she was not going to stop until every one of them was dead.

"Queen Isabella is stubborn and keeps sending her men to destroy me. She was foolish enough to send her son this time and I nearly killed him. I am coming to kill all their people, destroy their homes and villages, and steal their Kingdom. I will end their reign and take over their realm." Jezebeth laughed along with her demons. She was going to ruin the Reyes family one step at a time.

The Crown