In Your Dreams

Chapter 1

Picture, an expansive palace decorated richly in silks, marble, ebony, ivory, precious metals, and jewels as far as the eye can see. In this palace a king who was once a prince. A prince that fell in love with a commoner, but was forced to marry a princess that he held no feelings for. A prince that now had a queen, and a concubine that he had made many broken promises to. A concubine that once upon a time believed in him, supported his decisions, and was now carrying his illegitimate child. I say illegitimate only because she is not the queen and her children will never be recognized as royalty and the people will never recognize him as their father, even though at one point he'd promised her that would never happen. Ah, but I digress.

"You told me that you didn't love her."

"I don't. I only love you."

"Then why do you go to her each night? Why is she now carrying your royal heir?! You swore to me that you'd never touch another! You promised me!"

"It is my duty as the king to give a royal heir. You knew this!"

"Ah… I see. Your promises meant nothing. They were only the words of a spoiled boy that would say anything to have what he wanted. Now that you are king, I mean nothing to you. Our child will be nothing to you. We… are merely peasants, commoners. I apologize, Your Majesty, for my mistake."

He moved closer to caress her grief-stricken face. "You know that's not true."

"Is it not? Then why are you planning to send us away from here? Why do you celebrate her child with an announcement and not ours?" She placed a hand on her swollen belly. "Why is it that this one hasn't even been acknowledged? Is referred to as a bastard?! A NAMELESS BASTARD!"

"I… I can't. I just can't right now. Okay?" He told her tiredly.

"Fine…" She told him with a deceptively calm tone. "Very well… Choose."

"Wh-What?"

Golden teary eyes narrowed as hard as flint as they stared into green. "I said choose…" She answered quietly.

He sighed. "You know that I cannot do that."

She smiled sadly and nodded. "Yes… I knew that you wouldn't be able to." She told him before quickly pulling a small dagger from her bodice and dragging it across her own neck, as he watched in horror.

"NO! No, no, no! Why?!" He screamed out, catching her as she fell. "Why?" He asked repeatedly, tenderly caressing her face with his blood covered hand, as he watched the life begin to fade from her vibrant eyes.

Her last words as she weakly lifted her hand and wiped his tears were. "We're not wanted here." Her hand fell as she bled out onto the floor beneath her.

"GUARDS! Call the physician!… QUICKLY!" He screamed out in anguish.

~xoxo~

"What news?" He asked anxiously when the sterile garbed man exited the room.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. We were unable to save the lady." He told him quietly.

He closed his eyes and fought back the tears that came to him once again. "And the child? Were you able to save it?"

"The boy died shortly after we were able to remove him." He told him sadly.

"Not 'the boy'…" He ground out. "He was my son… My only son."

He turned to his trusted steward. "Find where that knife came from." He growled in a low menacing tone.

"Y-Yes, you highness."

~xoxo~

"Take him quickly. Take him far from here." She was told after the doctor had left the room. He had been paid handsomely with the little baubles that the concubine had accumulated from the king. Gems and jewels that the king had given her to assuage his own guilt. Arrangements had been made with her by the woman that now lay dead, her mistress, when the queen began to monopolize the king and he no longer cared to listen to her worries. He may be raised as a peasant in a far away land, but his mother would go to her grave knowing that her maid would keep him safe and a still-born peasant would be buried as a prince in his place.

CLANG…

"Oh? What is this, Your Highness?" Her soft voice lilted innocently into his ears.

He snorted in derision. "Your knife…"

She looked up at him with a look that could have fooled any other. "Really? I thought that one of the maids had misplaced it. Where was it found?"

He yanked her up from her cushion. "You know exactly where it was found, you soulless bitch. I will tell you this only once… Your child… will never sit on a throne."

With those words and a scant few months, a harem was filled and many concubines were given the favor of their king to spite a selfish woman. Three months after a royal princess was born to the queen, five princes and two princesses were born to the harem. Five princes and two princesses were bestowed their positions at the moment of birth. Their mothers were honored and their maternal families were granted land and positions regardless if they were nobility or not.

The king never again touched his queen, out of fear that he would kill her. He'd had the blood of his firstborn son and the match to his soul on his hands. Fourteen years later, the king would happily die in battle at the hands of a fifteen year old boy with golden eyes and hair that shimmered in the sun like diamonds, a feature known only to those of the royal family. The same young man would bring the end to a murderous, selfish queen and five royal male heirs. Three princesses were used to solidify alliances and given as tribute to foreign leaders.

He awakened feeling stifled, and heavyhearted. He hated these dreams, nightmares, call them what you may. They always ended the same, with life leaving her body and her eyes turning glassy and cold. He would always ask himself mentally: Why did I choose something else over her? Someone else over her? He'd had many of these dreams and they felt so incredibly realistic. They always portrayed his unwillingness to commit to her and how he would chase after a dream or ideal only to lose her in the end. Every time, hurting her in some way. Setting her aside and in the end, causing her pain and death due to his inability to give her what she deserved, but he didn't see it for what it was and he was doing it again… professing his love and setting her aside, high upon a shelf for later use. As if there would be a later this time around.

He glanced at his clock and noticed the time. He had a couple of more hours before his manager was coming to pick him up. Just enough time to shower, drink some coffee to clear the cobwebs, and catch the news before starting his daily grind.