Chapter 25 #2
We left the Prime Minister’s suite and walked back down the grand corridor.
The air felt slightly lighter, but the cold stone walls still pressed in on us.
We were halfway to the entrance when Lady Beatrice appeared from an adjoining gallery.
She stood in the center of the hallway, blocking our path.
She wore a tailored crimson dress that looked stiff and uncomfortable.
Her blonde hair was pinned back in rigid waves.
She wore too much caked-on makeup, her skin looking like a plaster mask in the jaundiced light.
Around her neck hung an excessive display of diamonds, a loud statement of artificial status.
She smelled of cloying, artificial floral perfume and expensive hairspray, a sharp scent that failed to mask the stale smell of floor wax. She held a silver clutch bag in her hands, her knuckles tight. Her eyes locked onto Henrik, ignoring me completely.
“Henrik,” Beatrice said. Her voice was bright, carrying a high-society condescension that made my skin crawl. “You are finally back. We have been worried about you. The palace has been so quiet without you. You have been wasting your time in that dreadful little cottage in the country.”
Henrik stopped. He did not hesitate. He stepped slightly ahead of me, his body acting as a shield. I felt the tension radiating from him, a protective focus that was absolute. He looked at Beatrice with a expression of pure contempt.
“Lady Beatrice,” Henrik said. His voice was a low, gravelly register that rang down the corridor. “You are blocking our path. Move aside.”
Beatrice laughed, a brittle, sharp sound.
She took a step closer, reaching out a manicured finger toward his lapel.
“Oh, Henrik, don’t be so dramatic. We all know you belong here.
You cannot spend your life playing house with a commoner.
It is cute for a starter apartment, I suppose.
But you have a legacy to maintain. You belong with people of your own class. ”
Henrik caught her hand before her fingers could brush his suit, releasing it immediately with a look of quiet disgust. “My class is my choice, Beatrice. And I have chosen the woman standing beside me. You speak of legacy, but you have spent your entire life as a spectator to mine. You are not welcome in this corridor.”
Beatrice sneered, her gaze darting to me. “You are letting a vintner’s daughter dictate the future of the crown? She treats this palace like a tomb, Henrik.”
I stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with Henrik. I looked at the excessive diamond necklace resting against her collarbone, catching the dim light, and then at the thick layer of caked-on makeup failing to hide her desperation.
“It is a tomb, Beatrice,” I said, my voice steady.
“But a tomb only stays cold until someone brings the fire inside. I plan to bring a new warmth to this palace, starting by clearing out the dry rot. You speak of my class, but you are wearing a fortune in jewels just to stand in an empty hallway and beg for a man who does not even see you.”
Beatrice gasped, her face flushing red under her makeup. She looked at Henrik, her eyes wide with shock. “Henrik! Are you going to let her speak to me like this? We have known each other since childhood! My family has supported yours for generations!”
Henrik looked down at her, his gaze colder than the stone beneath our feet. “My wife speaks the truth, Beatrice. You are not family. You are merely an old court custom I forgot to abolish. You were banished from this court. Your presence here is a trespass and a violation of my direct decree.”
“You cannot simply discard me!” Beatrice shrieked, her voice losing its polished tone. “My family has a right to be here!”
“I am the crown,” Henrik said, his voice dropping to a gravelly, final register. “I can, and I have. You will be escorted off the grounds immediately.”
He turned to the two guards standing at the end of the corridor, his eyes flashing with ice-blue fire.
“Remove Lady Beatrice from the palace immediately. Take her to the perimeter gates. And inform the head of security that I will personally review the gate logs. If I find any staff negligent in their duties by allowing a banished person onto these grounds, they will be fired before nightfall.”
The guards marched forward, their boots clicking against the marble.
They took their positions on either side of Beatrice.
She looked between them, her jaw trembling.
Her eyes filled with tears of humiliation.
She realized that her status, her family name, and her expensive jewelry could not save her.
She turned and walked away, her heels clattering frantically as she fled down the corridor, escorted by the guards.
“I would have learned to love you!” Beatrice shouted as she walked away.
“Doubtful,” Henrik whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.
We stood alone in the hallway. The silence returned, but it no longer felt oppressive.
The air felt clean, the cloying scent of Beatrice’s perfume fading away.
Henrik turned to me. The harshness vanished from his face.
He reached out and cupped my cheek, his palm warm against my skin.
His thumb brushed across my cheekbone. His touch was gentle, a stark contrast to the prince who had just banished a noblewoman.
“Are you alright?” he asked softly.
“I’m fine,” I said, leaning into his touch. “You were ruthless.”
“She crossed a line she can never recross,” Henrik said. He looked at me with a deep, unwavering focus. “I will protect you, Natalie. Always. We are going to rebuild our life here, on our terms.”
“We will,” I agreed. “Our apartments will be our sanctuary. And the cottage will always wait for us when we need to escape the crown.”
Henrik smiled, a genuine expression that lit up his eyes. “The vineyard will be our escape. But tonight, we start here.”
He took my hand, his fingers locking with mine.
We turned away from the cold corridor and walked toward our private wing of the palace.
The grand portraits still hung on the walls, but their painted eyes no longer held any power over us.
As we walked hand in hand, victorious and unified, the stark silence of the stone halls felt lighter, as if the ancient building was already beginning to warm in response to the return of its prince and its future princess.