K*H*W* (go to my profile :)
Chapter Fifty Four Richard's Point of View
Richard eyed his father, who had been indiscreetly staring at him the whole time he tried to eat.
"Is there something you need, Father?" Richard asked, and his thoughts immediately went to Caroline. Her soft blue-green eyes. Her eyes reminded him of Anna-Beth sometimes.
He missed her.
Why had he tossed her to the curb like men do their bothersome chickens? She was good to him. He wondered for a moment if she kept the baby, but then the thought grew painful.
I'm married to Caroline now. The thought comforted them, though every time he thought of names, his mind jumped to Anna-Beth, and he grew guilty.
What could right such a thing?
He had been like his father in that moment. Being cruel to the woman he loved, and left her. And why? Because she had his child?
It was the worst thing he had ever done, and such a deed could not be righted.
The thought made him feel sorrowful, and that added to his longing for Caroline's shining eyes.
He peeked at his father again, and brought up what his father had been waiting for.
"The conference in a week or two, what is it about?" Richard asked, trying to making his voice sound like he cared. He did, too, but Caroline. . .
His father bounced in his seat. "I thought you'd never ask!" He grumbled, but otherwise started talking. "I'm going to try and see if noble Adam from Corona knows about the sun flower Caroline found in her bouquet."
"What if he does?"
"I'll ask him where they are. I'm sure he'll answer; Alistair will be there."
And that will be why his mouth will be quick with responses, Richard hummed exasperatedly. Poor Adam. He'll be in the dungeon for saying the wrong words.
"Why do we need the sun flower when we need a good trade?" Richard asked, dread in his voice.
Like Layla, one of Caroline's friends, Richard didn't care for what his father said at the moment.
His father grumbled again, and spoke, "The sun flower can be sold for gold. Gold will have Stador up and running-"
"'Stador'!" Richard's hand slammed on the table, and everyone in the Dining Hall jumped and went silent. "I hate that name! 'Conquistador' is what you mean, as if we're hardly into shape to conquer any kingdom around here."
"Darren's watching Corona, and once he finds a weakness, Corona will be ours." Frederick whispered to him, anger in his dark eyes, but said in a louder voice, "Richard, please! Do you need to see Ramon? Or are you having a temper?"
"'Stador' is wrong. I won't conquer any kingdom during my reign. We take away freewill when such a deed is done! Corona is our ally, a new ally, and we should not double cross them!" Richard hissed fiercely when the people in the Dining Hall started talking again. Layla, Luna, Owen, and Marlene and her older sister looked over at the king and prince worriedly.
"I won't take away any freewill," His father said harshly. "Only burn Corona to the ground. Stador will become new Corona, and then everyone we take will be maids and working men here. The royalty will be beheaded, and slowly, we conquer more and more kingdoms."
"You're a mad man! A mad man!" Richard hissed in his father's face. "Why don't we behead you?"
"Watch your mouth!" His father snarled, and Richard growled back.
"Beheading the ones who trust us is blasphemy!"
I hope you die, Richard thought cruelly. His father was always saying such vile, hateful things.
"Everything all right, sir?" Alistair asked from down the table. He got up once Frederick beckoned Alistair to them.
"Richard is feeling unwell. Can you take him to his room?" His Father said to Alistair, and to Richard he snarled the words, "I command you to be on bedrest for the next day or two. Ramon will be in your chambers in the afternoon tomorrow."
Richard bit his tongue to keep from snapping back, and followed Alistair to his room.
He will make an enemy of a mouse if he wishes.
He slammed the door when Alistair bowed and left.
I won't drink anything Ramon sends. The Devil made my father mad, and I won't let him do the same to me.
Rapunzel's Point of View
"What the hell is an overload?" Riley demanded, his eyes going to Rosemary's while his hands were unsure where to grab her.
"It's when something overwhelms the senses. For her, it would be too many emotions at once. Every memory has an emotion tied to it. She was here when Azalea came back, and that's probably why." Michael said in a focused voice.
I stared at Michael in confusion, and Caroline looked worriedly at Azalea and Rosemary. "What about Azalea? Is she having one, too?"
I let my gold eyes stare at Azalea. "She's in. . ." Too much pain to notice.
She hadn't stopped screaming.
"What's going on?" Dwayne, Adam, and Liam were in the room, Sage right behind them. I was impressed by how fast Dwayne seemed to come for Azalea's aid; how he seemed to hear her screams from wherever he was.
"Overload." Michael said, and Adam looked at Rosemary on the floor. Something in his eyes made me look at her too.
Her hair was crimson.
The blond had been leached away, and now red-velvet replaced it. Her eyes blinked as she came back to reality, and the honey was gone too.
"What happened?" Riley asked what I was thinking. He pulled her to him, laying her head on his chest, and stared down at her face. He looked at me, and then at Michael. "What happened?" he repeated.
Michael looked at Azalea the moment she stopped screaming, and his tense face relaxed. He looked over at Riley and went to his side. "An overload results in a temporary loss of powers. She's back to the way she was before, for a while."
"How long?" Riley asked while I and Caroline froze in shock.
"Until it's her time in the sky. The stars come out at twilight." Michael said, and Riley understood. He nodded, and glanced worriedly at Azalea, who looked disoriented.
"What happens to her?" Liam looked at Azalea.
"I don't know." Michael said, and he walked over to her. I went to Riley and Rosemary's side.
"Rosie?" Caroline was already there. Fernidia, Adam, and Liam clung to the walls, way over their heads.
Rosemary's hazel eyes looked around, and she gasped.
"Are you in pain?" I asked immediately, my hand reaching back for my braid.
Rosemary shook her head, and scowled. "Everything's so plain now."
"What do you mean?" Riley asked, muddled. I could see the tiniest fleck of white in his eyes as he held her.
"I could see the emotions in here; they looked like little gems everywhere I looked." Rosemary tried to sit up. "Now they're gone. Not that the room isn't beautiful," Rosemary looked at me.
I looked around, and saw little sun flowers in everyone's chests, by their hearts. I thought of what was happening, and watched the sun flowers fade away from view.
I think I found something new that Michael might want to know about, I thought, but my eyes went back to Azalea.
What happens to her? I bit my lip.
Azalea's Point of View
She heard voices, and she responded back hesitantly.
No, she wasn't looking for someone.
Was I? She asked herself, confused.
Then the voices were gone.
For a moment, it seemed like she was in purgatory again, and the darkness of the house had filled her vision.
Then her eyes opened.
At first, she could only see light.
As she blinked, she tried hard to see shapes, or faces. Anything.
"Anyone there?" She called hesitantly, and for a moment, she wasn't sure if she had called with her mouth or her mind.
The second 'there' left her mouth, the light faded, and she could see Rosemary, or a woman like her, staring at Azalea.
"R-Rosemary?" Azalea asked, feeling even more confused.
Rosemary's smile blessed the woman's face, and she spoke, "How was purgatory?"
Pain filled Azalea's body, starting from her hands and radiating out to the tips of her hair and down to her toes. Azalea had a second to wonder how Rosemary was wherever she was, and whether or not Azalea was dreaming, and then the pain swamped over her like a wave.
It burned through her body and she felt like her entire being was alit by flames. She screamed, and then Rosemary's pretty face was gone.
It was just her and the pain. And the memories that came with it.
Words on paper: 'You have to help me'.
"Do you remember?" Ava prods Azalea.
Azalea calls down the hall. "Avalyn? Or Ava?"
Avalyn's gray eyes glowed silver, and Avalyn steps on the hardwood floor of the dark hallway, making her way to Azalea.
"Sort of both. . ."
'Get away from Fernando'.
"Why didn't you go to them?" Ava asks innocently in the meadow.
"You're important to Mother too." Azalea says mildly, turning her head to see Ava's little face..
Ava stares at Azalea with sad eyes. "But he misses you." She squeaks. "They all do."
'Am really Weak-minded'.
"Remember me, and you'll remember yourself!" Avalyn screams, her gray eyes fierce.
I'm a fighter too. Avalyn's voice, her voice, fades into Azalea's mind.
Avalyn smirks on the way through the dark. "-But mostly Azalea, if anything."
'Trapped in Purgatory'.
She pulls the flower up gently by the stem and gets to her feet.
"Mother?" A voice calls. Azalea looks around.
'Make Nat kill Fernando for me'.
She glimpses a tall tower in the distance and turns to him.
"We don't live at the house?" She asks, confused.
Fernando catches her gaze with his dark gray eyes. "No. We live in the tower."
Azalea blinked hard, and then she could finally see.
And the first thing she saw was Nathan's brilliant green eyes staring down at her.
"Azalea?" Nathan asked softly, and she realized that she had stopped screaming, "Azalea?"
His hand went to her cheek, and through the fire, she could feel it.
She could feel him.
"Doll?" Nathan whispered.
Azalea looked up at him, and felt a tear land on her cheek.
She put her hands on both of his cheeks, pulled him to her, and kissed him.
