Hey!

This took a little too long to write, but I guess I just needed to get used to a new story. :)

This is the third and final installment to the Courage, My Love trilogy.

Enjoy!


Poppy's blue-green eyes squinted against the morning sun pouring through her bedroom window. The light caused her head to pound, and for a moment, she considered going back to sleep. But she forced herself to sit up. Her chamber maids rushed in to help her dress, giving short answers to any question she had before scurrying out of the room silently.

Poppy brushed off the strange way the maids were acting and left her room, floating down to her father's study. She knocked on the door gently. "Daddy, would you like to go riding with me before breakfast?"

When he didn't reply, she pushed the door open and peeked into the room. It was empty. She sighed in slight annoyance and swept a strand of her hair out of her face. She decided to find her mother instead and hurried up to the sewing room. But that room was empty as well.

Now she was going to have to search for them, Poppy realized tiredly. She popped into room after room, checking their bedchambers, the library, the throne room, the ballroom, the gardens, the stables, and even the kitchen, but her parents were nowhere to be found.

Where on Earth could they be?

As Poppy rounded a corner, wracking her brain for a place she might have forgotten, she bumped into someone.

"Poppy," Jerome acknowledged stiffly. "Are you all right?"

Poppy looked up at her older brother curiously. "Gerbil, are you all right? You look like you've been crying – Mara's okay, isn't she?"

Jerome's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Why would…? Poppy, what are you talking about?"

"You look awfully upset—"

"And you don't. Why is that?" Jerome snapped.

Poppy took a step away from him, fiddling with the end of one of the sleeves of her light green dress. "Why should I be upset? Look, I'm sorry you woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Let's start over: Good morning, Jerome, do you know where Mum and Dad are?"

Jerome gripped her shoulders and met her eyes sadly, saying softly, "Poppy, Mum and Dad are dead."

Poppy stared at him in stunned silence, her mouth opening and closing, trying to form a coherent sentence.

"Don't you remember? You were there."

Poppy shook her head violently, tears stinging her eyes at the thought of never seeing her parents again. "No, this…this is a bad dream. I'll wake up and Mum will be at my bedside and Dad and I will go riding like we always do."

"Pops, this isn't a nightmare," Jerome whispered, wrapping his arms around her when she tried to push away from him. He held her tightly as she sobbed into his chest.


"It was a beautiful wedding," Joan commented from her side of the carriage, across from her husband.

"Indeed it was," John nodded.

"Not as beautiful as Gerbil and Mara's," Poppy shrugged from between Joan and Mara.

"Patricia and Eddie's wedding could beat ours. You never know." Mara teased.

Jerome gasped jokingly. "Never."

Mara laughed lightly, linking her arm with Poppy's when they passed over a rough patch in the road.

"These roads need to be fixed, don't they?" Jerome mumbled.

"A job for you when you're king, Son." John replied.

"Thanks for leaving me all the hard—Why are we stopping?" He demanded, looking out the window.

"Driver, why did we stop?" John asked.

He was about to speak up again when he didn't receive an answer, but the whole group froze when a sword stabbed right through the wood between Jerome and John. Poppy shrieked in fright and John and Jerome drew their swords.

"Guards?" John called.

Another sword speared the carriage right above Mara's head.

"Come out, drop yours swords, cooperate, and I won't harm your children." A man's voice came from outside the carriage.

Jerome met his father's eyes. He nodded once and Jerome followed him out of the carriage. They dropped their swords and helped the women out onto solid ground. Two men stepped forward to pick up their swords while two more came up behind John and Jerome to bound their hands with rope, and then moved on to do the same to the queen and princesses.

"Wonderful, let us be on our way," the man that must've been the leader sheathed his own sword and began walking into the forest.

When they reached a clearing, the man ordered for them to be lined up on their knees before him.

"What is it you want?" John asked calmly.

The man sighed heavily, keeping his back to them, running a hand through his long black hair. "I don't want anything from you."

"Then why are we being held hostage?"

"Hostage?" The man laughed deeply. "I'm not holding you hostage."

"Why else would we be here?"

"Can I not kidnap you simply for the fun of it?" He finally turned to them, surprising the family with his bright red eyes.

"Azazel of Krodel," John murmured in realization.

"Oh, you've heard of me?"

John didn't reply.

"I admit that I did bring you here for a reason." He stopped in front of Jerome. "Although, I wasn't told that your son would be with you. This is a treat." He gripped Jerome's chin, keeping his eyes focused on his. "You look ravishing on your knees, Prince."

Jerome jerked his chin out of Azazel's hand, receiving a delighted laugh from the man.

"Feisty and defiant. I'll bet you like it rough." He remarked, slipping his fingers into Jerome's blond hair to give the ends a tug. His next statement caused Mara's cheeks to redden in embarrassment and possessiveness, "I can guarantee that I can satisfy you better than your wife—"

"What do you want, Azazel?" John pressed, jerking the criminal out of his fantasies.

Azazel reluctantly took a step away from Jerome to stand in front of John and Joan. "I told you: nothing. This isn't a robbery or a random act of violence." He removed the necklace that hung around his pale neck and wrapped it around one of his hands. The diamond in the necklace flushed red and as he focused on the king and queen, his eyes began to glow. "Your Majesties, this is an assassination."

When he said this, Poppy and Mara screamed and Jerome cried out for him to stop. The king and queen choked out gasps in sudden pain when their chests were torn open, blood pouring from the wounds. They collapsed onto the forest floor and Azazel gazed in sick pleasure at the blood that had appeared on his hands.

Azazel took a deep breath as if to savor the moment and then returned his attention to Jerome. "Until we meet again, Prince."

Poppy sobbed violently, laying on the ground beside her mother's lifeless body.


Nina, Queen of Sirius, jerked awake when her carriage bumped violently on the road. She straightened and directed her attention to her bodyguard. She noted his troubled expression as he gazed out the window. "What's wrong?"

Mick's blue eyes darted to her briefly. "We're in the Glyphwood Forest."

Nina's eyebrows furrowed. "Glyphwood…isn't that—"

"Overrun with criminals? Yes."

"Did we take a wrong turn? Does the driver know?"

Mick didn't get a chance to reply. Dirt, rocks and wood flew from the ground as the carriage flipped onto its side. Mick's head smacked against the door as he fell and he groaned in pain before coming to his senses. He reached over to Nina's side of the carriage and gripped her arm. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay. What was that?"

"Catapult. We need to move, now."

"Are they trying to rob us? Did they recognize the carriage?"

"I'm sure it's more serious than that," Mick said, lifting himself out of the coach through the door on the upturned side. He helped Nina climbed through it next and wrapped his hand around her wrist, pulling her into the woods. "The driver's gone. I'm betting that he was paid to drive us through here so you could be kidnapped or assassinated."

Nina struggled with the skirt of her dress, picking it up off the forest floor, and trying to avoid all the obstacles among the trees.

"There should be a village just a mile or so ahead." Mick notified her and looking back for a moment before he suddenly jerked her forward roughly, pushed her to the ground, and covered her body with his protectively right before another bolder landed feet away from them. The bellowing thud caused their ears to ring, but Mick shot right back up, sliding his hand from her wrist and into her hand.

Nina blinked at Mick's back and reached for him when he pulled her to a stop. "You're hurt—"

"It's nothing I can't handle," Mick assured her quietly, hearing men running and shouting through the trees around them, and pointed to the distance. "Run that way, toward the village. Do not stop for anything. I'm going to lead them away from you."

"But—" She began.

Mick gave her a gentle push in the direction. "I'll be right behind you. Go!"

Nina watched him run off, and then took off herself. Her skirt caught on bushes and low hanging tree branches scratched her arms. She made the mistake of looking back, hoping to see Mick, and she tripped over a large rock. She grunted in pain as she landed on dirt and fallen leaves. Huffing in aggravation at her dress, she rolled over and sat up. She pulled at the fabric, trying to rip it and give her legs more freedom so she could run faster, but her green eyes caught something moving among the trees.

As the large man stalked toward her with his sword unsheathed, Nina's heart pounded in her chest and she looked around for something to defend herself with as she scrambled back to her aching feet.

But just as the man raised his sword to smite her, another sword pierced his chest and he fell, dead, on the ground.

Mick rushed forward. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she panted, "How—?"

"You didn't lose faith in me, did you, Highness?" He grinned, leading her through the woods again.

"Never."


Yeah, my summary was just a bunch of lines from the first chapter. :P

"Your finger tips across my skin, the palm trees swaying in the wind, in my chest. You sang me Spanish lullabies, the sweetest sadness in your eyes. Clever trick. But I never wanna see you unhappy. I thought you'd want the same for me." -Almost Lover, A Fine Frenzy

-Rachel