Rosalie and I sit in our cells for most of the day, the passing hours marked by the changing of the guards down the stairs. The other prisoners pay no mind to us, gold galleons lining their pockets for their silence. Not that it would help them much if they are condemned to death.
A moldy piece of bread is thrown into my cell and I keep my head low so the guard does not catch onto the switch. Then, several hours later, they come to get us.
"You three!" The guard throws a black hunk of fabric into my cell, Rosalie's cell, and a cell beside me. "Over your heads."
I pull the hood over my head, but the fabric is thin enough I can still see. The guard opens our cells and all three of us step out. One by one, we are led down the stairs and to another guard.
My nerves start to get the best of me, and each and every step gets harder, heavier. I fear I may fall and expose my deception. I suppose it will not matter much at this point. Jacob is away and safe. But we will never be completely free. My father will hunt for us, hunt the people we know and love to get to us. It has to end now. Today.
I cannot help but imagine the worst outcome. What if something goes wrong? What if both my sister and I end up dead? Isabella will never forgive me and my dear niece would grow up without a mother. It's a future I cannot bear to face.
Before we step outside, we're led into a small room barely larger than a pantry. A chaplain awaits for us, clutching his cross hard in his hand.
"You may remove your hood for our meeting," he says.
"No thank you, Sir," I answer kindly. I am too close now to be discovered prematurely.
He brings out a Bible and begins to read us passages, showing us the way to repent and beg forgiveness for our sins.
"Would you like to confess any of your wrongdoings to me before we proceed?" He asks me.
"My sins shall be revealed in time. And for them, I have no regrets."
He looks at me with a strangely curious expression. I suppose that is the first time he's heard something of that nature. He speaks briefly to Rosalie and the third prisoner before leaving us alone. After a few moments, we are retrieved and led outside.
Even with the dark hood, the sunlight is blinding. We are loaded up onto a cart and carried down into the village, where the gallows await.
I hear the crowd before I see them, all gathered to witness the murder of one of their own. Usually a celebration, this day is anything but. Choruses of contempt and outrage from each corner of the crowd ring out against the hanging of an innocent man.
Rosalie is helped off before I am, and together we stumble up the steps of the gallows. I search the crowd for my parents, but instead I find the last person I want to see here.
Isabella hides around the corner of a building, joined by Jacob and Emmett. No doubt Jacob has filled them in on what he knows, which is not much and I cannot imagine helps ease their fears.
"Your Majesty," the guard calls out to my father, and I finally see him settled in a chair under the tree in front of us. My mother sits beside him, unaware that two of her children stand before her on the gallows. "I present to you Hebert Turner, convicted of rape and murder. Georgina Pintman, convicted of thievery. And the blacksmith's son, Jacob, convicted of treason against the Crown."
My father looks around, almost like he is expecting me to be here to contest.
I jump when the noose is placed around my neck and tightened. The rope is thick and frayed, scratching against my exposed skin.
My mouth goes dry and no matter how I try, I simply cannot swallow.
"Step to the edge, please," the executioner nudges us forward until my foot is half off. I start to sway back and forth, lightheaded from the stress of it all. One false move and I could die and this would be all for nothing.
"May God have mercy on your souls," my father says. He nods to the executioner, who removes the third prisoner's hood, then moves to remove mine and Rosalie's.
As soon as the sun hits my skin, the crowd gasps and then falls silent. I hear the executioner stumble back behind me, surprised to find his prisoners are not prisoners at all. We are royalty.
"Edward!" My mother jumps from her seat. "Rosalie!" She tugs at my father's arm. "Get them down from there, this instant. Carlisle!"
"Get them down!" Father orders.
Before the executioner can take one step toward us, Rosalie stops him.
"Not another step!" She warns, hovering closer to the edge of the platform. "We will jump, sir."
"What is this?!" My father yells. "What the hell is going on?"
"You have a choice, Father." I clear my throat and glance toward Isabella. "You can allow us to follow our hearts. You can support us. You can have us, well and alive and in your life."
"Or you will not have us at all." Rosalie looks at me and nods.
"So, what will it be, Sire? Kill your own children for your ego, or compromise for their lives? For their love?"
"Stop this, now, Edward!" Father stands and rushes toward the gallows, pushing his way through the crowd.
"We will not yield! Make your choice."
Sweat trickles down my forehead. I feel like I cannot breathe. Maybe I'm not.
Now that he's as close as he is, I see something in my Father's eyes that I don't know I've ever seen before. Absolute fear.
"I...I only wanted the best for you. For you both." He looks at Rosalie. "I am sorry if I strayed from that path in my own ignorance. May we speak in private? Please?"
I eye the crowd around us. Although there are many things to say, and would be best said behind closed doors, there is one thing I wish for the village to hear.
"We may. As soon as you revoke all charges against Jacob, and this poor soul here." I gesture to the third prisoner beside Rosalie.
"Done." Father nods, tears in his eyes.
Rosalie and I exchange a look, wondering if we trust our own father when he's done nothing to earn that trust. She concedes and steps back from the edge. I follow.
The crowd erupts in applause, like they were watching the drama of the tournament again.
I remove the noose from my neck and make my way down into the crowd to find Isabella. I do not find her standing where she was before and I begin to worry.
"Edward." Rosalie tugs on my shirt and points. Isabella is walking toward me, her step hurried and a joyous smile on her face.
"You are in so much trouble for what you just did." She jumps into my arms and kisses my neck. "But I'm so glad you did it."
"Rosalie! Edward!" Mother comes rushing toward us, her guards flanking either side. "My babies!"
"Mother!" Rosalie hugs her for a long moment before I get my turn.
"You scared your mother half to death..." She whispers in my ear.
"I'm sorry. I love you, so much." I hug her tighter. "Do you think he means it?" I say, low enough for only us to hear.
"If the man I married is still inside him, he means it with his whole heart." She smiles and turns to Isabella, enveloping her in her arms. "Hello, sweetheart."
"Your Majesty." Isabella laughs, unsure of the propriety of the situation.
"None of that. You may call me Mother or Esme." She laughs. "Come. Let us go home." She glances between us. Isabella. Emmett. Jacob. Me and my sister. "All of us."
The ride back to the castle is strange at best. Mother talks non-stop, asking Rosalie and I questions about our travels and about her granddaughter. Father sits silently in his seat, a pensive expression on his face as he keeps his eyes on the passing trees.
Alice is, of course, thrilled to see us. Her swollen belly is just enough that I feel it against my own when we embrace.
"Did not waste any time, did we?" I jest.
After the celebration has calmed, I excuse myself to the study and wait for the inevitable conversation with my Father and wonder how it will unfold.
When the door creaks open, I hold my breath, only to find Isabella poking her head inside.
"Are you alright?" She asks.
"I do not know." I smile anxiously.
She sits beside me and takes my hand in hers. And we wait.
Nearly an hour later, the door opens again and my father steps in.
Isabella stands and starts to leave. "I will give you your privacy."
"No, please stay, Isabella. I would like to speak to you as well." Father offers his arm to her and escorts her back to a chair.
"I...I uhhh." He sighs. "I have never been so terrified in my life as when I saw you and Rosalie up there. Your entire life flashed through my mind, when you were born, when we used to play out in the courtyard, when I gave you your first riding lesson. Those were the happiest times of my life, son." He takes my hand. "And I have disgraced those memories, haven't I?"
"Yes." I tell the truth because right now I cannot afford not to.
"I do not know where I lost my way as a father or as a King, Edward. But when I realized how much you and this girl love each other, enough that both of you were willing to die for your love if that's what it took. It reminded me of the love I have for your mother and for you and your sisters. I do not know why it has come out in the harshest of ways, but I was wrong. I was so wrong, Edward. I don't want to lose you. I don't want to not have you or my grandchildren in my life."
He slides from his seat to the floor, onto his knees, in a place beneath his station in his eyes. And he pleads with me to forgive him. He pleads with Isabella to forgive him.
I struggle with the words. With telling him that I forgive him, because I do not know if I can truly say them right now and mean it. I may in time, I hope.
"I forgive you," Isabella says, joining him on the floor. She surprises me when she wraps her arms around him and cries with him.
After they pull themselves from the floor, I hug my father, still unsure of my feelings toward him or this whole thing. I feel in my heart that what he says is true, that it comes from that person my mother talked about. The real him. But it also doesn't erase all of the terrible things he's done.
"I love you, Father." I nod. "That's all I can give you right now."
"That's all I need, son. Much more than your sister could right now, and I do not blame her."
Rosalie isn't one to calmly talk about her feelings when she is angry, so I can only imagine how this conversation went with her. She will make him suffer for awhile, but I know deep down, Rosalie loves our family, every member of it, fiercely. Even if she hates them at the same time.
After he leaves, I watch Isabella pull herself back together, wiping at her eyes.
"How did you do it?" I ask.
"Do what?"
"Forgive him so easily."
"It was not easy, Edward. Forgiveness is one of the most difficult and rewarding gifts we give in this life." She sits on my lap and wraps her arms around my neck. "But I just know that I'd give anything to have my father here with us right now, and I do not want you to regret not giving this a shot. Forgiveness does not mean that it erases everything your Father has done, but it allows us to hope for better future. I want that future for us."
I smile and kiss her. "As do I, my beautiful knight. As do I."
A/N: Helllllo, everyone! It's been awhile, I know. I hope you enjoyed this sometimes nail-biting chapter and I just want to let all of you know how much I appreciate all of you reading, following, reviewing, everything. You mean the world to me and I feel so lucky that I get to share my worlds with you!
What do you think about Isabella's view on forgiveness? Would you have been able to forgive the King and try to start over?
How will it play out as Isabella and Edward start their life together back home? The next and last chapter will hold all of the answers :)