Chapter 71.
Floria fed the children, the Alarea playing quietly by herself and she sat in a rocking chair near the fire. There was enough food to last them a few days, and she made sure to keep a close eye on her rambunctious daughter. She thought about taking the children, running further away and she worried at her thumb again. Her daughter stood up, the sound of horses approaching and she froze mid rock.
"Papa!" Alarea squealed, running toward the door and Flori bolted toward the child and caught her before she could open it. She barred it, backing away and shook as she heard an all too familiar voice outside.
"Princess Floria! I have come to take you back where you belong, the time for hiding is over and I want my children!" Loki shouted and Floria looked at the jar on the mantle. She walked over to it, taking it down and slipping the earrings and purse into her pocket. She picked up Falfar, kissing the child and took her daughter's small hand in hers. She heard the horses snort and stamp in the grass, wondering if they would kill her there or wait until they returned to the Palace execute her as the entire Court watched.
"Come out Nightengale, no harm will come to you. You have my word." She heard from the other side of the door, her heart pounding as she slid the bar back. The door opening and she meeting his eyes, she held the baby and she bit her lip as he stepped to the side. His eyes were on her as she stepped past him, and she did her best not to tremble in fear. She had done this to herself, and she could only plead mercy now. Her foot stumbled in the grass and she caught herself, two Guards walking to her and opening a carriage. The Nurses took the children and the door slammed again, the Guards taking her arms and she cried out.
"No! My children!" She cried, struggling and reaching for the carriage. "Please let me say goodbye to them! If I am to die, let me say goodbye!"
"Goodbye?" Loki said, gesturing to the Guards and they let her go. She fell to the grass and she wept, her fingers clutching at the ground. "You are so mistaken, you are lucky I do not charge you with treason for your actions."
"Show... please show mercy." She whimpered, laying her head on the grass and she sobbed. "Let them be loved, even if it is not I who care for them."
"Take her to my Chambers, ensure she does not leave." Loki said and she felt rough hands pull her to her feet like a rag doll. "Gently! Do not harm her!"
She barely registered being put in a plush Carriage, the doors sealing behind her and she lay on the floor. She did not know what her fate was, but it terrified her and she slipped into her own mind from the fear.
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She sat in the chair by the fire, not moving and she waited in silence to hear her fate. The door opened, Loki entering and he sat across from her silently. She did not react, her breathing the only motion as she folded her hands in her lap and let her hair fall over her face. He sat and watched her, leaning forward and handing her a letter. She turned it around to read it, her eyes and expression not changing as her eyes scanned the page.
"You found a new match already." She said, her heart not in her words and she let him take the offer from a Nobleman to marry his Daughter from her. He folded it, handing her another letter and he watched her read it.
"You may leave, Lady Floria. I cannot in good conscience keep you here against your will, but for the sacrifice you made to me, I will gift you an estate and lands." He said and she looked at him, blinking and she held the letter.
"My children will be declared Bastards, but we will live." She said and he nodded, his heart ached to touch her, to hold her in his arms but he could not bring himself to do it.
"They will, but they will still have you as their Mother. That is the only mercy I can offer them and you." He replied, leaning back and stepping his fingers. "Sari is dismissed, Thor restored and he and his Wife have left for his lands in the West. Your Father is angry with you, and refuses to see you right now. I have still given him his seat on the Council however, but your Mother is to remain away from Court."
"Will you see them?" She asked, and she shook. "Our children?"
"I do not know." He said and she nodded silently, she looked at another letter he handed her and he pointed at it. "You need to sign if you agree to the terms, if not, I will have to take you before the Council and they will judge you. I cannot guarantee you any mercy then, I do not wish you dead."
"I understand." She said and she stood, walking to the desk and taking a quill in her hand. She looked at it, remembering how she learned to write and read her own name under his instruction and she lay the page on the desk. She dipped the pen in the ink, her fingers trembling and she lay the nib on the page.
He watched her, and her fingers shook as she put the pen back in the cup and handed him the page. He looked at it, seeing that she had not signed it and she stood with her head hung. The brown dress was limp on her frame, and her shoes once again made of rough leather.
"I acted as my concience dictated, and I have judgeg myself to be of poor council." She said, and he closed his eyes in despair. He wanted her as his Queen, not as a woman stripped of any title and executed.
"Floria, please speak to me plainly, I cannot bear the thought of losing you. I love you as I have always, and do not want another wife." He said and she only stared at the floor. He felt tears fill his eyes and two of his Council entered, both of them sneering at Floria and bowing to him.
"My King, has she signed the agreement?" One asked, the other looking down his nose at Floria and he turned his back on her. Loki handed him the page, and he frowned at it. Regarding the woman as if she were a piece of dog feces in the street, his hands folding over it and he sighed.
"We have no choice then, she must be taken to the Dungeon and tried for treason." The other said and Loki stood as one grabbed her roughly, he shoved the men toward the door and growled. He would not see her treated poorly, and he vowed to not let them put another hand on her.
"Get out! I will speak to her now with no interruption! You fools think your word surpasses mine? She will not leave these chambers until I can hear what she has to say for her actions!" He said and the two men cowered away, bowing and begging his forgiveness. He turned back to Floria, and she stood as still as a statue with her head down still.
He sat in his chair again, groaning into his hands and he gestured for her to sit down. She took small steps toward the chair, sitting and she looked at him. Her eyes glued to him, and he sighed and leaned forward.
"I would not have fought them, I will go quietly." She said, and he looked at her. "I have no will to be of an issue anymore."
"Why would you not sign the agreement? Why are you so stubborn when I offered you life, a chance to save yourself?" He asked her, his voice becoming thick and he swallowed as he looked at her.
"Because, you did not want it signed. You wanted some hope that I would still love you and I gave it to you, for if life is a nightmare of no waking, then what is hope but a dream. I acted not to save my life, but to bring it peace." She replied, and he sat back and stared at her. "But what is my life? But a small thing of little conquencence, and I can be extinguished so very easily. Like a bit of breath on the flame of a candle, and so easily forgotten about. For I am a small thing, a Slave brought to comfort and then of no use to anyone again. And now, I am but a speck of dust again."
"You are no longer a Slave Floria, you hold so much fear in you. It suffocates you, drowns you and makes you feel so very small." He replied and she looked at him, her eyes showing the confusion she felt. "I can see it on you, and I think now that I forgot how you needed me and I abandoned you for duty. I left you to yourself the day after Thor attacked you, I forgot how much you needed me when others ignored you, and I made you feel fear when you needed comfort."
"Why do you say these things now?" She asked him and her fingers gripped the arms of the chair she sat in. He looked at her, his heart wanting to touch her so much and she sat so very still.
"Because, I have failed you and owe you an apology." He said and she let out a breath. "Talk to me Floria, tell me all your fears as I told you mine."
"I have too many for the time we have. I am to be taken to the Dungeon, and then to trial, after that, beyond which I do not know what will happen to me." She said and a tear fell down her cheek. "You will remarry, and I will be but a faded portrait in storage and you will forget me."
"No, you are so wrong. I will never forget you, for you are the first woman I truly loved." He said and she closed her eyes, his words echoing in her mind and she shook.
"You say it in the past tense. I know now where I am." She said and he reached out and took her hand, he pulled her to him and he shook as he held her.
"I love you still Floria, and that love is keeping you in this room and from harsher men. I act as my conscience dictates as well, and I would become a traitor to my heart if I let you face death." He said, his tears falling freely. "I am a King with a crown made of stone, and that stone is the guilt I carry for what I did to you to make you hate me so."
"I do not hate you, I do love you but I also fear your anger. It frightens me that small things can make you so fierce, for you are so very strong, and I so weak." She said and his arms held her tighter. "We argued so, and I feared you would take my children from me and keep me from them. I fear that one day you would strike me, and not stop. I am so very afraid that your temper would get the better of you, and you would cast me away, never to find my way back. I felt left with so few options, and I was so alone in my fears. Now I am truly abandoned, and facing an execution by a King that claims to love me."
"I am still King, did you forget that? My word is all that is needed to spare you still, I only ask that you give me a chance to prove myself to you again. To win you back as I won you before." He said and let her stand and take a step away from him. She looked at him, her hands folding and she shook her head.
"What if I was never yours to win back?" She asked and stopped him. "What if you never lost me to start with, only started to push me away? What if there were too many outside persons involved in what we are, when it only should have been two?"
"Then... I would cast them all out, send them away from us. Make this a sanctuary where only we would be, and speak freely to one another. All you have to do is wish it so, wish it and I will make it yours. Command me, and I will cut my own hand from my body before I lay it on you in anything but kindness." He said and she looked at the crystal goblet in front of her. The light caught the facets, making rainbows dance across the floor and she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. A knock came from the door, and they both looked at it.
"What is it?" He asked and the door opened and the Councilman looked in. His eyes wide with fear, and Floria looked at Loki.
"My King, the Guards await your command. Do we take her away?" He asked and Floria took a step back. Loki walked over to the door, shoving the man by the head and slamming the door. He put his hand against it, and let out a long breath. She stood, folding her hands and she nodded her head.
"May the children marry for love, as we did?" She asked and Loki turned, his eyes wide and she stepped back. He nodded, walking toward her.
"They may, and we will not meddle in their affairs, for they are their own persons." He said and she looked at the floor again, her eyes low and she glanced at him. He opened his hand to her, waiting and she deliberated what to do.
"If I wish it?" She said, and the brown, wool made her itch. She scratched her neck near the wide collar, looking around her.
"Of course Floria, but only if you wish it." He said and she took her hair and curled it around her hands.
"Will this be a cage? Will I be free to choose my path, and express my desires?" She asked him and he nodded, his hand still open to her and she saw the ring she put on his finger glittering on it. Her heart felt lighter, amd she took a step forward as he stood patiently before her. She saw her Husband again in that patience, the gentle man who cared for her when she was injured and she remembered how kind he had always been to her despite her status.
"It never was a cage Floria, it was always your home." He said and she ran forward suddenly, her arms wrapping around him and she clung to him as if he would fly away from her. She sobbed into his chest, and his arms circled her and held her close. The both of them collapsing to the ground, she pushed back and kissed him. Her lips so very warm and he held her tighter to him, they parting and she looked in his eyes.
"I do so wish it, but do not strike off your hand, I like it where it is." She said and the knocking began again, they ignoring it to kiss again and he held her to him.