Wedding Night

Keeping my composure was difficult, but to show any weakness was to show myself, and that would result in death for all of us.

Oh, how I hated the vile man I’d only just days before told the world I’d love until my dying day. What a joke.

He walked over to us and ordered Cynder and Daniel down from their horses. A quick glance at Cynder told me that he was going to comply with Luca’s orders.

I followed suit and jumped down, feeling terrified that I’d be recognized. Cynder had already explained that my magic make-over was fallible. He’d proved it himself by recognizing me straight away. Would Luca recognize me? We’d spent the best part of a year together. I held my breath as he walked over, his jovial veneer much more convincing than my own mask.

His lips pulled back into a grin I’d only ever seen on him on TV. It made me want to punch him in it.

“I hear that you have seen the queen,” he said, addressing us all.

“In the north,” I replied, trying to deepen my voice and change my accent so he wouldn’t recognize it. “It wasn’t the queen herself, but the man who kidnapped her.”

“I’d like you to come back to my palace, and we can discuss it,” he invited.

Daniel spoke for all of us. “I thought the palace had burnt down?”

“No,” laughed Luca. “Not that palace. I have another place in the capital, and I’d like you to be my guests.”

Cynder jumped in. “Actually, we were just going to tell the police and be on our way. We are busy merchants and cannot stay in town for too long.”

Luca looked him up and down wearily. His gaze then went to our horses which were not loaded with anything larger than a daypack with some food in them.

“Merchants?” he enquired, arching a brow.

“We were on our way to pick up our wares when we saw the kidnapper,” I stammered.

“Nevertheless, I’d like it if you came with me in my carriage. Your horses will be well looked after here.”

Luca left us no choice but to squeeze into his carriage between two armed guards, both of whom had golden roses pinned to their lapels.

“Thank you for your invitation,” I said, smiling through gritted teeth as Luca jumped into the carriage and shut the door behind him “Those rose pins are fascinating. Are they a police emblem?”

I tried to act as innocently as possible, but at the same time, I wanted to see him lie to me. I needed him to, to see if I would know.

“They are an emblem to remember our dear queen.”

My blood boiled. Ok, so I’d wanted him to lie to me, but to use me as an excuse for his emblem of hatred was too much.

“The queen isn’t dead,” I spat. Cynder who was sitting next to me squeezed my hand.

Luca’s smile didn’t drop. “No, and thanks to you fine people, I hope we will find her safe and sound.”

I didn’t say another word to him. I thought if I did, I’d do something stupid like hit him over the head...hard.

Instead, I elected to look out of the window as we headed into town. The closer we got to the center, the eerier it was. It looked so different from the Capital I knew and the difference from the day of the wedding was staggering. Gone were the cheering people and excited crowds. Now, the streets were empty, devoid of any kind of life.

“Where is everyone?” asked Daniel, who had obviously noticed the same thing out of the window at the other side.

“We are having a national week of mourning for the royal family,” replied Luca. I didn’t point out that the queen was still alive again. What was the point?

Fifteen minutes later we pulled up at a huge house with wrought iron gates. Where were we? I didn’t know this place at all. We were marched inside by the guards which made me feel nervous, but when we were shown to a large dining room and served tea and cakes, my nerves were beginning to dissipate. Maybe Luca thought feeding us was his way of thanking us for the information.

Still, nothing sat comfortably with me. Dean, Jenny, and Daniel’s father were here in the basement of this very building, and without Copper and some of the task force that we trusted, we were woefully underprepared. Getting into the building was one thing. Getting out alive would be a different matter entirely. I nibbled on a pretty pink cake as I tried to come up with something to say. Luca sat down at the head of the long table with Cynder, Daniel, and I at the other end.

“So,” began Luca, pouring himself a pot of tea from a silver teapot. “What exactly did you see?”

“I saw the man who took the queen,” I improvised, taking a sip of tea and trying not to choke on it. “I recognized him from the TV.”

“Where was he? Did you see where he was heading? Was he with anyone else?”

“Er...”

“Please may I use your bathroom?” interrupted Daniel. I glanced over at him. He didn’t need the bathroom. He wanted to scope the place out.

“Be my guest. First door on the right at the top of the stairs.” Luca indicated the door we had come through which led to the main entrance. Below the table, I crossed my fingers.

“Do you think we will be able to see the chief of police?” enquired Cynder. As we had not yet come up with a plan to get out of here, being in this house was only helpful in the sense we could see the layout. There was no way we could save Dean, Jenny, and Daniel’s father by ourselves.

“I’ll pass on any information you tell me,” smiled Luca. It was funny. In all the time I’d known him, I’d trusted him completely. Now, everything about him was so fake. “So you were just about to tell me what you’d seen.”

Luca turned to me leaving me with having to come up with something on the spot.

The door opened just as I opened my mouth to speak. I expected Daniel to come back through the door, but instead, an attractive blonde woman walked in. Ignoring us, she walked straight up to Luca and whispered something in his ear. Something about her familiarity with him told me that she was more than a servant. As she walked back past us, I realized I knew who she was. I’d seen her before, and back then, she’d looked a little too comfortable in Luca’s presence. She was the girl in the black dress from the ball his parents had thrown for me all those months ago.

So not only had he been planning to kill me, he was also cheating on me this whole time. Ok, I had no proof, but I knew.

I seethed in my chair, hating him more and more with each second that passed.

A noise outside the room made me jump. Seconds later Daniel was brought back into the room, his arms held behind his back by a guard.

“I caught this one snooping around on the cellar steps, your majesty.”

I thought he was talking to me for a second before realizing he was talking to Luca.

Luca didn’t look angry. If anything, he looked pleased with himself.

“I thought so. I don’t know who you people are, but I can hazard a guess. If you want to see the basement so much, please, let me show you.”

“I was lost,” shouted Daniel, but it was too late. Luca clicked his fingers, and two guards ran towards Cynder and I. I tried to fight back as one of them dragged me out of the chair and pinned my arms behind my back, but it was no use. He was much stronger than I was, and the effort I was making to thwart him was having little to no effect.

Luca stood up and walked over to us. Taking it in turns, he looked us all in the eye. When he got to me, I tried to look away, to his collar, to his hairline—anything but right into his eyes.

“Take those two,” he said, indicating Cynder and Daniel. I’ll take this one.”

“No!” shouted Cynder as he was dragged kicking and screaming through the door. The man who had hold of me, relinquished his hold to Luca and followed the others outside to help them.

Luca grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the dining room towards the main stairs. The last I saw of Daniel and Cynder was the three men pushing them down another set of stairs. I cried out as I heard the sound of them both hitting the stairs as they fell.

“You monster!” I screamed, but Luca paid no heed. Instead, he dragged me up the stairs to the first floor. Pulling me into a room, he threw me down on the bed.

“I knew you’d come back. My advisors told me to go out looking for you, but I knew if I waited long enough, you’d come running back to me.”

“I don’t know what you mean!” I spat.

“Really now? You might not look like you, but I know it’s you. Your boyfriend put a spell on your face did he, Charmaine?” His face contorted into a grimace. It was mean and ugly. He walked closer to the bed and began to unbuckle his belt.

“What are you doing?” I screamed, pulling myself further up the bed to get away from him.

“You wanted our first time to be after our wedding. Well here it is. You are my wife now, and I think it’s about time we consummated our marriage don’t you?”

“You can’t be serious!” The full horror of what he was about to do sank in, leaving me short of breath and petrified.

“I’d have preferred to do this with your real face to look at. The magic spell makes you look like a commoner, but beggars can’t be choosers, eh.”

I tried to hold my voice steady as he came closer.

“Don’t you dare,” I hissed, “or I’ll...”

“Or you’ll what?” he laughed. “Scream? Fight back? I think we both know that I’m stronger than you. And as for screaming, you wouldn’t be the first, and you certainly won’t be the last. I like to hear a little spirit in my ladies.”

Just listening to him brought bile to my throat. I glanced around me, looking for some kind of weapon, but the room was tidy. All I had at my disposal was a pillow.

He crawled onto the bed and then on top of me. His weight crushed me, leaving me breathless, but I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Pulling my legs up, I managed to leverage them into a position where I could push him off. It took every ounce of strength I had, but it made enough of a gap between us for me to bring my arms in and push. When there was enough of a gap, I kicked upwards as hard as I could, making him cry out in pain and roll to the side. Seizing the opportunity, I dashed to the door, but just as I got there, I felt my hair being tugged back, yanking my head back so roughly that I was looking towards the ceiling. Luca kept pulling, bringing my whole body backwards. As I fell to the floor, I could feel my hair being ripped out by the roots. I screamed as the burning sensation hit my brain, but Luca had been right. No one came running.

He dragged me onto the bed and, this time, pinned my arms to my sides. This time there was no escaping.

“Happy wedding night, honey,” he said.

I looked him in the eye and spit directly into his face.