A Dance Of Twilight: (A Fae Dark Fantasy Romance Stand-Alone )

Chapter 23

The screams of my friend, someone I called my sister, could be heard throughout the entire castle. After a few hours I could no longer stand it. I had to leave. There was no way I would stomach any food as the pleas of help came flooding through the walls.

Morgana, April, and Vanessa tried their best to distract me with card games and even had the castle musician come in and play. Nothing helped.

I felt awful. Horrendous and sick to my stomach.

The man I had agreed to marry was somewhere torturing Kathlyn and most likely Hector was next.

“Perhaps some fresh air may help? We can take a wander down to the stables and maybe go for a ride?” Vanessa suggested.

“She can’t leave the grounds, Ness.” Morgana elbowed her only to receive a stinking look in response.

“I know that, but the grounds are vast. We could take her to the border where she won’t hear this.”

I would go anywhere, anywhere that took me away from the screams. I didn’t question it, only folded my cards, stood from the table and headed outside. Stepping over glass shards, as the castle staff were still cleaning up and a carpenter still had to come and repair the doors, I couldn”t get out of the room fast enough.

“Eh, your highness,” April called, “We must get you in some proper attire, you cannot go riding in that gown.”

I’d forgotten about my dress entirely—we would ride horses in dresses without question back home. I expected the same here, but they had different ideas. Nodding, I turned on my heel and followed the three women towards April’s quarters.

She along with her two sisters had the entire west wing of the castle to themselves. There were endless rooms for them to do with as they wished. A games room, an office or two, a walk-in dressing room as well as living quarters.

“Morgana, your clothes fit Ornella, go and fetch some stuff for her to wear and I will prepare her in here.”

April, the oldest out of the three women, took charge of everything whenever she was needed. She seemed incredibly headstrong and ready to take over at any given moment. I’d watched the last couple of days how she and Nicholas regarded each other, and how they spoke to one another. There seemed to be a lot of mutual respect and understanding between them.

She was still planning my wedding, but I was now wondering if I should regret my choices.

“Ornella, don”t be discouraged by my brother. He may seem like a tyrant on the outside but you and I both know he is soft at heart,” April spoke gently as she pulled at the ribbon that did the back of my dress up.

“I’m afraid I may anger him one day and he will hurt me, by accident, of course.” I didn’t mean to say my thoughts out loud, but hearing those screams made me want to run away in fear.

“He will never hurt you—he used to talk about you a lot when we were kids. I often caught him sneaking back into the castle after dark. It took months for him to finally admit where he was going.”

A blush rushed to my cheeks at the notion he even spoke of me. I longed for those memories to come back and wished Nicholas would return them to me, but what else was he hiding?

“Mother and Father never knew of it, well at the start at least,” Vanessa jumped in as she stared out the window of the dressing room. “Mother would sometimes play along, as if she had no clue where he’d been or who he saw.” Morgana then entered the room and threw a pile of clothes down on one of the armchairs.

“You didn’t have to bring everything.” April said as she wandered over to the pile and started pulling out pieces.

She selected a white blouse, a brown button-down vest, and a pair of black trousers. Along with a tidy, black, button up jacket. There were a lot of buttons.

“We will get you riding boots as well.”

“I’m surprised Nicholas didn’t order these kinds of things when the seamstress was here.” Morgan slumped down on one of the other chairs and started twirling at her hair.

I noticed then; they were all dressed in similar outfits. No gowns. No jewels. They didn’t look like princesses at all. I felt my shoulders relax at how comfortable they all seemed around me, perhaps we were becoming friends.

“I will get Nicholas to fetch her again. As Ornella will soon become queen, she will need a bigger wardrobe and will eventually be moved to the queen’s quarters.”

“Oh, I like the room I’m in.”

April helped me into the blouse then tied up the neckline, before having me shrug on the vest. She gave me a ‘don’t be stupid’ look at my words and rolled her eyes at me as she began doing up the buttons.

“Don’t be daft, this room is only temporary. You will have your own wing soon enough,” Morgan exclaimed.

“But I don’t need a wing and I am perfectly content to be next to the library.”

“There is another door to the library, so you will just use that one instead,” April interrupted as she began doing up the buttons of the jacket.

Sighing, there was clearly no changing April’s opinion or even the idea that I wanted to stay in that bedroom. I shut up while she finished helping me dress. Once Morgana’s boots slipped on to my feet and a cloak wrapped around my shoulders, we headed down towards the stables.

All three had such different personalities, it was interesting to watch them interact with each other.

Morgana practically skipped to the stables, April stomped forward ahead of us all, while Vanessa linked her arm into mine. “I’m sorry about when we met,” she whispered.

“It’s alright Vanessa, I understand you wanted to protect your kingdom and home. I would do the same.”

“Nicholas had a special horse brought in for you. She”s from another part of the valley. A beautiful mare, white as snow with gorgeous blue eyes.”

“Nicholas got me a horse?” I asked, a smile sweeping across my face. He kept to his word.

“Yes, and he said you may name the horse yourself.”

I’d been given a horse by my father when I turned of age. The mare and I did not get along at all, to the point I never was able to ride her. She ended up becoming a guard”s horse in the end.

I was grateful when we reached the stables, the sound of screams had died down. Either Nicholas had stopped for a break, or there was no life left to torture, neither of which I wanted to think about.

“He mentioned it”s part of your wedding gifts and there will be more arriving soon.” Vanessa smiled back at me, and my heart skipped a beat.