Chapter 10:

(Hugo POV)

I watched as Sofia stood up despite her injuries I helped her go to the middle of the room and someone put a chair down for her to sit down again. I stayed standing beside her the entire time she began to talk reliving everything once again talking about everything the other people had said. She relived everything and I kept my hand on her shoulder watching her get everything off her chest. She was now talking about what happened the night of the Ball, "I had begun the night dancing with my husband when Lady Eliza asked to cut in, I agreed and walked to the side of the dance floor. Countess Cunningham then told me that they should have gotten married instead and that it was not too late. I excused myself and went to look for a waiter, that is when I overheard people talking about Count Cunningham's proposal about annulling my marriage. This was the first I heard of this and I understandably became upset and wanted to leave. I left the estate and went outside, I was about to go back in when I heard people come from behind. I thought it was my husband, Prince Hugo but when I turned around I saw two hooded figures. I tried to go back to the ballroom but, they told me I had to go with them. They began to attacked me and eventually pulled a knife on me. Prince Hugo had come outside and instead of taking me they decided to kill me instead before they left a woman said, "Long live Queen Eliza." She stopped talking and stared at the floor. I went in front of her and kneeled down to look her in the eye, "Hey are you ok?" She nodded but, she leaned down into my arms.

"Thank you King Garrick, Prince Hugo, Princess Sofia, we would like to convene further and talk with your witnesses further before we take the vote." We nodded and left the meeting room. When we walked out of the room a figure ran past me and launched toward Sofia, "Sofia, oh my god are you ok?" I then realized it was Amber. I then saw James, King Rolland and Queen Miranda come closer. "Amber, you might want to be careful with Sofia" knowing how much pain she was in.

I bowed toward my in-laws. "Prince Hugo," King Rolland's voice commanded, my only hope right now was that he wasn't going to yell at me in front of his daughter. I stood up, "I would like to have a private audience with you later." I was a dead man walking. He turned his attention to Sofia, "How are you?" She didn't know how to respond I could see flashes of different emotions come across her face. I walked over to her and grabbed both her hands, "We are doing the right thing, this will stop her from doing something like this again." She nodded and I could see her family's confusion. "Perhaps we could go to my father's office to discuss this." King Rolland and James nodded in agreement. I turned back toward Sofia, "You should rest, we are going to talk to our sorcerer to heal you up sooner but, until then I don't want you pulling another stitch." I kissed her forehead and turned toward her mother and Amber, "I'll leave her in your hands." They nodded toward me.

I guided James and King Rolland to Dad's office and closed the door behind us. "HOW COULD YOU PUT MY DAUGHTER IN SUCH DANGER? I TRUSTED YOU WITH HER AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHAT A LITTLE OVER A MONTH INTO YOUR MARRIAGE." It had been a long day and having my father-in-law screaming at me pushed me toward my limit. I began to feel tears form, "In the past 24 hours I have almost lost my wife, uncovered a plot to take my throne, watched my wife breakdown and cry in front of me, listened her describe the terrible way she has been treated and had to testify in front of a bunch of people and make her relive it a third time. I know that you are angry with me, but just know it is nowhere near as angry as I am with myself." I wiped the tears from my face holding back any sobs that were trying to escape. James then came up to me, "How did things get this bad?" King Rolland was still steaming but he had calmed down when I had said my piece to him. "Honestly, I don't know. It was gradual but sudden at the same time. We were spending so much time apart because of our training and Sofia started acting differently but, it wasn't until one night when she was bawling into my chest that I was finally sure that something was wrong." I was running my hands through my hair honestly trying to think about how this happened, how had I let this happen. King Rolland and James sat down, "Tell us everything that happened to her." I sighed. I didn't want to think about it anymore and it made me feel physically ill but, they deserved to know the truth, "Well this all started long before either of us were born..."

(Sofia POV)

Amber and Mom helped me back to my suite and helped me get into bed. "Sofia, what happened?" Amber asked. I turned my head toward her, "I have already had to relive it twice today. I don't really want to talk about it anymore, just know that Hugo is taking care of it and we have a plan." This seemed to be enough for Amber but Mom was harder to convince. "Plus I am sure that Hugo is telling Dad and James you can talk to them about it too." This seemed to satisfy Mom. She then muttered, "I can't believe Hugo let this happen." I turned toward Mom, "It is my fault that this happened not Hugo's. He constantly asked me to tell him what was going on and was trying to help me. He even collected evidence without me knowing so that we would be prepared when we talked. It is my fault, I let it get this far and I was the one who was messing up all of her rules." "What rules Sofia?" Mom asked. "I don't want to talk about it," I said and Mom stopped not wanting to push me further.

I then turned towards Amber, "So, on top of everything else that is happening today it's Hugo's Birthday and I kind of forgot." Amber let out a small laugh, "Understandably given everything else that went on." I laughed a little too but it began to hurt, "Laughing bad idea." This got a laugh out of both Mom and Amber. "I need some help, I want to do something for him tonight just the two of us." Mom put her hand to her chin, "Do you have any ideas Sofia?" "I have one but, it does require me being able to walk around later. Do you think you can look into something for me?" They both nodded and we developed a plan for tonight.

(Hugo POV)

I finished explaining everything to King Rolland and James. The both looked as disgusted and enraged as I felt when I first heard about what was happening to Sofia, "WHY ARE THEY STILL IN POWER? WHY HAVEN'T YOU AND YOUR FATHER TAKEN THEIR TITLES AND STUFF AWAY?" King Rolland began yelling again as James sat thinking over everything in his mind, "They are on the advisory counsel, we can't remove them from power until the other advisors remove them from the counsel. It is to make sure that we are acting justly and not in our own self-interest." "THAT IS COMPLETELY IDIOTIC!" King Rolland continued to yell, "I agree." I muttered. James then spoke, "How long until they are off the advisors?" He somehow remained calm and I was thankful, "We are just waiting on them to finish up voting, that is what we were doing in the other room." He nodded and so did King Rolland who was starting to calm down. "When this is over, I am going to talk to Sofia and if she wants to leave she will have my full support," King Rolland finished before leaving the room.

I slid down on the wall and brought my hands to my face. James came and sat down next to me as I began tearing up, "He is just mad because of what happened. Believe me I am too but, it is not your fault." I shook my head, "No, it is. She is my wife, it is my job to keep her safe and I failed." James sat beside me, "When Princess Clio and I started dating we were attacked and she got hurt. I had recently finished my knight training and went on my first mission, there was this monster, called a Roc, was running rampant in a village right on the border of Enchancia and Corinthia. I thought that the situation was under control, I got the Roc away from the village and took it far away, I didn't want to kill it or anything I just had to protect those people. I ran into Clio and there were feelings there, heck there has always been feeling there and we began courting. One day I was taking her for a picnic in that same village that the Roc had attacked in when it came back. I was taken off-guard but, began fighting it yelling at Clio to run away but, the Roc grabbed her with its talons and flew away with her. It took me days to find her and when I did she was in bad shape. I defeated the Roc and killed it this time and brought Clio home. When she got back I told her that I understood if she didn't want to continue courting me but, she cut me off and thanked me for saving her. I explained to her that it was my fault that she got captured in the first place, if I had killed the monster when I first saw it, it never would have got to her, if I had never taken her on the picnic she wouldn't have gotten hurt. For some reason she never blamed me for it, I still think it is my fault..." I cut James off, "You couldn't have known that the Roc would come back or that Princess Clio would get hurt. You made the best decision in the moment and then did everything you could to save her, it isn't your fault that the monster was evil." James then gave me a knowing look, "You couldn't have know that Countess Cunningham was some psychotic, revenge seeking maniac that would hurt Sofia?" I sat dumbfounded, "You are not accountable for the actions of others." I nodded.

(Sofia POV)

Amber helped me as I made my way to King Garrick's office. I wanted to be with Hugo and I knew that the verdict would come soon enough. We knocked on the door and when no one answered we opened the door a crack. I saw Hugo and James sitting on the floor, "Hugo," He looked up and saw me and immediately rushed over and I saw that his eyes were red. "What are you doing out of bed Sofia? Is everything alright?" He began to look over me and I sighed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held onto him. He was stunned for a moment but quickly held onto me. I whispered in his ear, "I know that you have been trying to be strong for me through all of this, but you need me too. Let's just hold each other right now while we both fall apart." He squeezed me tighter and although it hurt my stomach I made sure he couldn't tell. This dull ache was worth it as I held Hugo tighter.

I don't know when but Amber and James had left the room, while we continued to hold each other. We stood in complete silence but, right now we just needed to know that the other person was there. I could feel Hugo's tears hit my shoulder and I was sure that I had completely soaked the front of his shirt but, this felt therapeutic for both of us. "I'm so sorry," I heard him whisper. "I'm sorry too," I mumbled. He separated from me a little, "Why are you sorry?" He asked. I looked up at him, "You asked me to talk, no begged me to talk to you for so long and I didn't. If I would have then maybe it wouldn't have gotten to the point where I got hurt." Hugo had this look on his face like he was reminded of something before looking at me, "It is not your fault. It is not my fault. The only people at fault are Count and Countess Cunningham. We need to stop blaming ourselves." It made sense and I started to nod. We then heard a knock on the door. Garrick walked in, "They have reached a verdict..."