Title: Ever After & Then After
Author: BluMoonLeo
Genre: Romance (slight angst/action)
Rating: M
Warnings: Contains some mild violence, mild language, and adult situations
Synopsis: El's life consist of endless waves and every now and again she sees land. When she enters to France once more she is enchanted by the land and it's people. But what happens when she meets the princes' of the land and trouble starts.
Credits/Disclaimer: I don't own the 'Ever After' just the new characters.
A/N I know it's been a very long time but I decided to go over this story and try to give a bit more.
For anyone who has favorited or is following this story it has been revised and there is new content down there! If you want to see what's been added please have another look at it and leave a review! Let me know what you think, I'd appreciate it greatly!
Ever After
& Then After
Prologue
It was a quiet night and the stars were shining brightly in the blackness with no moon to break there twinkling. The whirling winds stirred only a little, breathing past the walls and in to the rich carpeting. Down the halls and past the paintings to a room decorated to fit a king or queen. It flowed toward drapes that enclosed a large bed, hiding a living and resting soul within, passing through to caress the feminine brow with its warm draft. She sighed in contentment, sleeping deeply…before awakening with a loud gasp. Everyone else who had been asleep was interrupted by her cries, as they filled the room and out into the halls of the castle. Awoken by the pained screaming that came from the queen's chamber, the halls filled with buzzing traffic, knowing what ailed her. People rushed to do their job quickly, bringing a bowl filled with hot water and towels, bringing anything and everything that was needed to add in Queen Danielle's child birth.
"Breathe Danielle!" said a voice; it was just barely registered by the laboring woman. A few other voices could be overheard out in the hall, their calls loud with furious endeavors, giving directions and then all went silent except for Danielle's heavy panting and moaning. She screamed once more but kept up her breathing as directed.
"Push now, push!" Danielle did as she was told. She was in labor for hours, delivering her child into this world. The pain was scorching in her stomach and her forehead was covered in sweat. It was not for another hour before she gave birth to the child. "It is a boy" they announced and you could hear the note of joy in their voice. "Bring in King Henry to see his son" the nursing maid said to another servant. A groan came from Danielle she was apparently still feeling pain. She turned her head into the pillow still breathing deeply.
King Henry came as a servant had fetched him from the hall. He had been up also during the whole thing and sitting on pens and needles as the dawn crawled upon the castle. His nerves were almost shot, as he worried for his wife and unborn child. After racing into the room so desperately wanting to see them both, he was over flowing with joy once he saw the brawling baby boy in the nursing maid's arms. It was a very joyous time to have a son born but having a daughter born wouldn't have made a difference to Danielle or Henry as their love for the child would be the same.
A large smile settled on Henry's face when the boy stopped wailing as he took him into his arms. These moments were to be treasured and he could not take his eyes off his son once he was given to him. Danielle breathlessly asked for her son, stretching out an arm in the direction of her husband but her hand fell and she turned her face. Henry looked to her in worry and he started forward but the nursing maid told him to not step closer as she needed to check Danielle. It was the sudden sound of Danielle crying out again that ripped the confidence from him. Henry did not understand anything about a woman's labor of giving birth to a child so he immediately went into panic and was removed from queen's delivery room, his son taken for the moment into steady capable hands. He was now in concern of his wife.
Danielle gripped the sheets, teeth tightly clenched. The nursemaid checked her for any signs of injury but there was none. "Oh my goodness, breathe mistress, and give another push!" Danielle heard before she exerted energy once more, feeling the slip and pull before falling to rest.
A servant left out to see to Henry to tell him the news. She walked briskly and stopped to watch him for a moment as he was pacing back and forth quite heavily, his features drawn down into concentration. It was when he took another turn to keep pacing that he noticed her. His face stricken "Yes…?" he asked, wanting to know what went wrong.
"You have twins your majesty" she said with a soft smile, happily relaying the news.
Ch1
"Nineteen years later"
The sea was peaceful, the voyage quiet at this late time of night but there was one soul wide awake though they should not be. Standing close to the banister of the ship's starboard side their eyes watched the glistening stars. The soft creaking of the boat made a lullaby against the lapping of the waves, as they gentle rocked the ship.
"El" called a familiar voice. "What are you doing up here by yourself? You should be asleep" they said in a concerned whisper. The young soul El turned to see the man and addressed them "I could not sleep, uncle" El's voice softer and lighter than what was fit for the image that was portrayed by the small figure, clad in knee high breeches and a buttoned up loose flowing shirt with a tiny red scarf knotted around the neckline.
"You need your rest none the less…" the man said softly before continuing to say "Try sleeping once more; I will see you in the morning" the man ordered turning to leave. Tomorrow they would be docking off the coast of France, then adding and subtracting shipments. El turned from the endless sea to head to bed, tomorrow morning they'd see land.
X
Dawn hit the horizon with brilliant light and the sound of galloping hooves raced across an empty path as if in a wild chase. The horses turned as the rider's commanded it, going to jump over a bush that stood in their path. They were being ridden by two young men, racing across the lands to the edge where the earth met the seemingly endless sea. As they whisked past expanses of trees that lined a hidden trail, it was the one wearing a fresh autumn red cap that pulled a head, a smug grin on his face as he took a glance back. The one wearing a golden amber cloak returned it as he caught his companion's look and wished his steed to move faster, as they were nearing their finish. The ships and docks were coming into view.
The red cloak fled the trees first and claimed his victory by slowing to steer his steed down a makeshift path toward the shipping docks. His horse did a shuffle once they were on level ground and his rider wore a soft grin as he waited for his companion to gallop up next to him. While he waited he eyed the people further into the docks that were on the move, pushing around cargo with horses and chatting with each other about business. "You always win!" came the gentle, playful voice of the companion; its tone having deepened over the years, the baritone sound settling in his voice enough to fit a young man of nineteen years of age.
"You take your turns too slow, Lil' prince" said the young man in the red cape.
"You need to stop calling me that you know-" the one in the golden amber cloak was halted as their path was being blocked by the sudden appearance of a rundown carriage. Immediately the smiles fell from their faces, the one in red wore an intensely stern expression, the other simply puzzled.
"I'm terribly sorry, gentleman" the carriage driver said with a low casual voice, taking in who they were only after he's eyes turned to them and his eyes opened wider. "Oh-P-P-Prince Colin and Prince William" he stuttered and then nodded to them respectfully, "I'm sorry your highnesses, my horse is in a mood today" he said and urged his stubborn horse on. Both princes eyed the carriage before moving further.
"I can't believe you got me to ride out here…" Prince Colin finally said to his brother as they slowly rode closer to the ships at the docks.
"You can't deny you wanted to go for a ride with your brother and what's the harm in coming here" William responded while getting off his horse as they were now closing in on the cluster of working people. There were people heaving things around and others conducting different transactions all up and down the pier where the large ships stood watch. The two princes continued forward into the crowd of hard working people, walking their steeds instead of riding. Colin followed William along, watching him bee line for the ships.
"You know there's no problem coming here it's just that mother and father would be furious with us once they find out we went without escorts…" he reconsidered this for a moment, "well at least father will be."
"Yes, yes-but isn't it worth it! With the open fresh air in your face…" he turned to Colin, "and no one to bug you about what you can and can't do" he smiled.
Colin shook his head at this but allowed the faintest of smirks to show. If there was anyone who could get him to do something crazy it was William. He'd follow him though, if only to keep him out of trouble.
"Yes, the strong scent of sea and the busy people at the docks…Why was it again that you wanted to come here, exactly?" Colin asked sarcastically, playfulness edging his tone. Colin paused as he noticed his brother idly eying a ship in the distance, his own eyes guided to it by its red paint. Only a few feet away was the most beautiful ship they had ever seen. With gleaming white cotton sails and its red painted finish, it was the ship named the Katelina. It was magnificent and the most striking ship at the dock. Colin's eyes filled with mirth that this was undoubtedly what drew he's brother's attention. He agreed whole heartedly about its beauty. But while he wasn't paying attention William had taken to boarding the vessel to have a closer look and it was not until he boarded the ship that Colin noticed that his brother was now out of reach. Colin sighed out loud and immediately tied his horse to a post that William used to tie his own and made his way toward his brother.
As the young prince with the golden amber cloak stepped abroad the ship, no one seemed to pay him any mind even given his state of attire. It was glorious to him and made him stand in stunned stupor. This was his second time being abroad a floating vessel. The first time was something very much smaller. It was a present given to them as toddlers which was an extremely small sail boat that was big enough for two small boys. They'd take it out on a lake and sailed on the middle of it for a couple of hours pretending to be kings of the lake. Well William pretended to be the king of the lake anyway and they'd jump into the water after wards and swim around. Colin believed that this love for boats actually started when they were younger being given small wooden carved toys of different sorts, sail boats being one of them, but this particular memory served as the final settlement for William's love for boats and since then William was interested in ships which was a part of the reason they were here at the docks in the first place.
William turned and bumped into someone, his attention was so much on the ship that he hadn't been paying attention to anything. That included the loud voices of the working men and their foot falls against the wooden deck of the ship. The men were unloading and loading stuff on and off the ship and William accidentally stepped into someone's path. But luckily for him they were carrying nothing but a roped net. "You should watch where you're going…" they said as their sentence fell short as they took sight of him. The young lad looked as if to say something else when a voice called out in their direction. "William!" the voice was strong and gave hint to annoyance. Another well-dressed man followed soon after voice and emerged on the deck of the ship; he walked right up to William and grabbed him by the arm.
"Father's guards are here, we have to go" he said, looking steadily at William, his eyes intensely serious.
The shorter young lad stood there, rooted to the spot staring at the both of them, as he was seeing double. He blinked twice, three times, trying to make sure that what he saw was indeed what he saw, as the two well-dressed men were so a like yet different. William groaned because he actually wanted to talk to the young lad about the ship. Colin felt the eyes that were looking at them though and turned his eyes to stare back. His strained eyebrows made him look fierce and as they locked onto the young man who was staring he noticed the boy's cheeks flared red, flustered no doubt at having been caught. But there was a questioning in the lad's eyes as he himself wondered at the young man's blatant stare. This exchange ended when Colin decided that it wasn't important and turned back to William to escort him off the ship.
"El, what are you doing?" called another as William and Colin went to leave the ship. El turned sharply to the man after watching them leave.
"Sorry sir" El said before moving along to carry out his duties.
X
"What were you both doing at the docks and without escorts, not informing anyone of where you were going?" said Henry, a little upset that they left without saying anything, as he sat down in his chair to look at his two son who were back home safely now.
"It was my entire fault father as Colin didn't really…"
"Didn't really what?" Henry cut off.
"Both William and I wanted to go the docks to see the ships. We don't really need escorts." Colin supplied. Henry sighed as he looked at his sons further; they were so grown now and very much like their parents.
"Yes…I suppose not, as you both are nineteen now" Henry said in return. They were growing up so fast. Too fast for Henry's liking, he enjoyed them so much as children he wished they'd never get older but alas that isn't how it works.
Just then Danielle walked in and went up to both their sons and gave them kisses on the cheeks before going up to her husband. Both brothers took it as a dismissal and left the room.
"You don't know what do with them" she said quietly with a smirk. Henry was in a daze, only hearing the sound of her voice but not really comprehending what she said.
"What?" he looked up at her as she came closer to take his hand and made him stand with her.
"You don't know what to do with them because they are so much like the mixture of us both" she said once more but adding her meaning, the smile still there. Henry held her waist and sighed, this was his answer which was a yes.
"They will be alright" she said to him quietly in his ear.
"Yes and racing off whenever they get the chance" he supplied back, Danielle laughed. He smiled down at her and cupped her face lovingly before planting a kiss on her mouth.
X
After the day died down and the night began to creep back in with the silence of crickets and twinkling stars, the docks were bare of life and hardly a soul stirred. El was situated in a personal part of the boat, as El did not bunk with the other shipmates or wherever among the ship. Instead El was given personal courters near the captain's log room. El sat in front of a dimly lit mirror with a hand creeping up to pull off the hat that covered up the soft dark limp curls underneath it. Short tendrils fell just around the ears, flicking about the cheeks and the nap of the neck...the removal of the hat immediately uncovered the soft features that hid under the shadow of the brim of the hat. The soft rosy cheeks and lips showed a feminine side to this individual but never gave away the fact that this young man was actually a young woman. El's wide eyes and thin eyebrows however showed much more, which is why the hat was needed even more. A hard knocked was heard and she turned to tell them it was fine to come in, knowing it could only be one person.
"Everything alright in here?" came the gruff voice after the person entered.
"Yes, just fine Uncle Ben" she said with a gentle smile, pulling out a hair brush from a bag on the floor and proceeded to brush her hair. Uncle Ben always came around to check on her. He stood there for a moment just staring at her before making a comment.
"You look so much like your mother…" he said then, a sad look almost reaching his eyes while a gentle smile graced his lips.
"But I still have a lot of my father in me" she said in reply with a warm smile which her uncle returned in kind. She put down the brush and walked over to her uncle and embraced him. "I love you uncle Ben" the older man embraced his niece, laying his head gently upon hers'. "I love you too, little heart. Get some good sleep tonight; I have an errand I need you to run tomorrow."
"An errand to where?" she asked excitedly, it was rare when she could leave the ship while it was docked.
"Now don't get too excited" Uncle Ben said with a chuckle, "I'll need you dressed in your best breeches and vest tomorrow though." She sat back down with a plop and a grin.
"Now you've said too much" El said continuing to grin.
"Ah well, might as well tell ya" he said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I need you to drop off an important package to the royals' home. I believe it isn't too far from here and you'll need to ride horse back." He sighed at the expression El gave him.
"Can't I just walk? I don't really know how to ride that well, you know that."
"It's important it gets there no later than the afternoon and I trust that you'll get there safely." El continued to look elsewhere, her expression grim, she was worried she'd fall the horse and break something. In any occasion where her uncle needed her to make an errand she would walk. Uncle Ben tried to teach her how to ride one time but she couldn't get the horse to listen to her commands and it constantly tugged on the reigns, only to eat grass where it could find it. It was a mess but at least it had never thrown her off.
Uncle Ben kneeled down in front of her and placed a hand on her knee. "You'll be alright, just it slow on your way there and on your way back" he patted her knee gently before going to walk out the room. El sighed once more before continuing to get ready for bed, she silently dreaded tomorrow's adventure.
El got up at the peak of dawn to wash up and dressed in her finest breeches which were grey, and put on a white shirt with heather brown vest. She was slipping on her black shoes when her uncle came knocking. He looked her up and down and patted her shoulders with a smile and walked her off the boat to where a large brown horse with black feet waited for her. She looked at the large stallion and immediately got intimated by it as it bobbed its head in impatience.
She slowed her pace and her uncle looked back at her. "Do I really have to ride a horse uncle?" He could see how frightened she was and went to her.
"I promise that it'll be safe for you, I got the most docile horse I could find. I know he's big, but believe him to be a good fine horse." He said as he embraced her shoulders.
She looked up at him in like he was crazy, "since when are you a good judge of horses?" she asked sarcastically. He gave her a look to pipe her down and walked up to the horse.
"Just give yourself a moment with the horse, I want to talk with the owner" He said before he walked off to the side with the owner. The horse made a nose that made her look at the animal and she began to inspect the saddle and the horse itself. She went to touch the shoulder of the horse and began petting it.
"You're not so bad are ya fella?" she said after a moment of further petting the mane. The horse turned its head to have a look at her, as if to say of course not. This quieted her fears and she felt more relaxed. The horse shook its head mane and it made her laughed softly. It wasn't long after that her uncle and the owner came back over.
"There's a good chap!" her uncle bellowed, he could tell she was getting comfortable with the horse. He then proceeded to strap the package to the horse's saddle before he turned to talk to her personally.
"The owner promised me the horse doesn't get difficult or spook easy, so you should be fine, just take it slow, alright lad?" he said, and El nodded, timidly licking her bottom lip as the nervousness came back a bit.
Once she got her feet into the stirrups, she remembered how to brace her feet and get the horse to move forward. It really wasn't too difficult, she turned to her uncle as she moved away and he waved her off as she was on her way to drop off this package to the royals' estate.
X
El galloped slowly entering a valley just outside of the western woods. She had traveled through that dense forest first and now just past the low sloops of hills of green she could see the castle in the distance standing tall and beautiful. She stopped in amazement of it; it was a like dream against the morning blue of the sky. She glanced down just then to survey a map her uncle gave her, noting that place in the distance as her final destination.
From deep within the woods came the fluttering of wings, her horse rumbled at the sudden noise. She glanced over shoulder to see if anyone was there but noticed no one. Yet just as suddenly there was a loud sound that came out of forest and this noise made her horse rear up with fright and he started to run at a high pace. El was frightened, not just from the sound but the fact that her horse was running blindly because she knew he wouldn't stop at her command. The wind slapping her in the face and forest slipping far behind she tried her to calm the horse. Calling the stallons' name and tugging on the reigns, but to no avail his thundering hooves made no attempt at slowing.
Just within view of the scene was another horseback rider and he jolted his steed into a fierce gallop to catch the racing horse. His steed pushed hard at the command of his rider to catch up to the large brown horse that was running wildly. They heard the person on the back of the beast call for a stop and sure enough the horse did not stop. As they got closer and finally within eye sight of the animal and the rider they looked at each other.
The young lad held on fiercely, gripping the reigns as he took sight of the other rider. They were relief to see and El noticed they reached for the reigns of the horse but couldn't reach. Instead they got in front and made the brown horse notice the light beige stallion; he immediately slowed before coming to a halt.
The man on top of tan horse, watched as the brown horse rose up once more, fledging its fears and off dropped the rider, right onto the ground, bum first. The brown horse shook its head and looked back at the rider who fell.
"Ow" El bellowed, it definitely hurt falling off a horse, she was so certain this would not happen but she was apparently very wrong. The soreness radiating from her from lower back and butt were almost too much. She heard footsteps as the man who helped safe her came over to her side.
"Are you alright?" he asked, holding out a hand. She took it, was hauled up quickly but she couldn't stop rubbing her backside, trying to make the pain go away.
"Yeah I think I'm alright-" she slowed her words mid-sentence, noticing the person who helped her was the twin she had seen from yesterday. He was now clad in creamy white garments and other shades of brown of the finest make and she noticed the sigil on his chest. She made no hesitation in assuming he was the prince. El looked him in the face in stupor, noticing the soft shade of blue his eyes were. Quickly she bowed and regretted it because her back zing to life with that buzzing pain.
"Thank you, you're majesty" she said with some breathless pain in her voice before standing straight, hanging her head. "If it weren't for you-"
"It's not a problem." the young prince replied with a comforting smile. "I'm just glad to see you're alright."
Not a moment later did another rider stride up on a black horse, he sat silent for a moment taking in the scene.
"What happened?" his question was directed at the older lad but El made a move talk first. Still hanging her head she walked forward.
"Sorry" she looked up quickly and noticed that this one too was a prince; she hung her head low again. He was definitely the other man she saw form yesterday on the boat, uncanny likeness to each other, they were brothers and she never imagined that they'd both be princes. "Your majesty I was not in control of my horse and his majesty-" she jolted her head toward the one dressed in lighter colors. "-Helped me slow my horse." El nervously thumbed with her hands and shifted her feet.
"Where are you off to boy?" asked the prince on top of the horse.
"To the royals' estate, your majesty" she said a little nervously.
"You can ride with us then, we'll escort you there!" said the prince who stood near her with such enthusiasm. The one on the horse rolled his eyes but didn't say more.
"Please I don't need an escort, your majesties…" She went to refuse but he apparently would have none of it.
"Let us do it, please, we can show you around, it's not too often we have visitors"
"But I'm not visiting, I'm just a…" she tried to say but he walked off and got back on his horse. "Regular errand boy."
