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To make me happy
Ch.7: Confrontation
Dentwood felt Miranda tense beside him as Catspaw grew closer. He had a stormy look in his eyes and he was getting closer by the second.
Miranda skirted her way around Dentwood and was doing her best to stand behind him and out of sight. When he realized she was trying to hide from her ex-fiancé, he took her hand in his and stood tall. She still stood behind him, but his warm hand in hers gave her a small boost of confidence.
When Catspaw's stormy eyes finally landed on them, Dentwood felt Miranda flinch. He held her hand all the tighter as the dark clouded king attempted a tight smile and started towards them.
When Catspaw arrived near the young couple, he could visibly see that Miranda didn't want to talk to him. She was still afraid and most days, that would make him sad. But today, it just mad him angry.
He nodded as the two bowed. "Dentwood…Miranda. It's good to see you two doing so well. I trust your rooms are to your satisfaction?"
Dentwood nodded. "Yes your majesty. My wife and I thank you. The rooms are very nice indeed."
Catspaw nodded and looked over the Elvin man's shoulder towards his young, frightened wife.
"Miranda, it's so nice to see you. I hope you are happy with your arrangements?"
He had a hopeful look in his eyes, as if he wished she would say 'No, she wasn't happy, and would like to come back with him.'
But no such luck. She just nodded her head and looked at the ground as if it held the answers to all of life's questions.
He once again looked at her husband. "Dnetwood, would you mind giving Miranda and I a few moments alone to talk?" He looked hesitant. Catspaw sighed. "Just a few moments. I will return her to you directly." Dentwood glanced back at Miranda.
She knew he could not refuse a direct order from the king, so she nodded to him. He nodded back and gave her a small smile. She stepped from around him.
Catspaw smiled. "Good then! Miranda…" He offered his arm and she was very hesitant before taking it. It felt like poison to her and it took every ounce of self control she had not to pull away. She was scared to death he was going to take her somewhere where no one could hear her scream and hurt her again.
'He's probably enjoying this!' she thought with disgust. 'He probably gets a thrill out of frightening me half to death.' She was determined not to show any fear to him, yet se couldn't stop the way her hands trembled.
He made sure they were a good distance from Dentwood before he even talked. "So Miranda, I trust you are happy with Dentwood. Well, never mind that. It's only been one day."
Miranda gulped and did her best to keep walking. He sighed. "Miranda, the proper thing to do would be to ask after my health and well being."
'Why would I care?' she thought sourly. But instead, she asked in a shaky voice "How are you?"
He smiled. "That's better. I'm afraid not very well. My wife is near mad. She runs from me all the time. She manages to put sleep spells on me. I'm hoping to get her calmed down soon. Settled in. I have a sleep spell on her right now to keep her under control. But she definitely will make a powerful heir."
Miranda suppressed a shudder at the thought of them making an heir. "I'm sorry to hear that." She lied. Catspaw snorted in laughter. "No your not. Oh Miranda…Many a day when I wish I had married you instead."
Now it was her turn to snort in laughter. "But you choose the crazy elf girl who hates you with a passion and puts sleep spells on you so she can leave her awful prison." She slapped her hand to her mouth. She hadn't meant to say all that.
His eyes grew stormy again and he dropped her arm in a rather quick and rude manner. "You mind who you are speaking to. I am the king. You are my subject. I can have you punished."
Then, her anger got the best of her. "How dare you!" she cried. "As if refusing to marry me wasn't enough, you throw me in a tiny grimy cell for ten days, slice my arm open, bruise my other arm, then force me into a marriage! And to top it all off, you deny me my freedom! How much worse could the punishment be?"
At this, his eyes grew to full on tornados. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulder with his human hand and shoved her into a fake tree. He stepped close enough to crush her small frame even harder into the tree.
He put his face mere centimeters from hers.
"What's worse? What's worse?" he hissed in her ear. He put his sharp claws up to her neck. "I could cut your throat. Just enough that it's painful to breath. Painful to move your head. To do anything. But you won't die."
He moved his paw down in between their much to close bodies. "Or, I could let you know what a stomach wound feels like. It would be painful and slow. When my claw pierces you stomach, the acid and blood mixed would drive you crazy before I would even consider healing you. Then, when you're awake and alert, I would do it again so you could relive every moment."
Miranda's voice quivered and a single tear rolled down her cheek as she spoke. "Your father would be disappointed in you."
His eyes grew wide with shock for a moment before they narrowed back in on his prey. "Does it matter what my father would think? He's not here now, is he?" Miranda choked back a sob at the reminder that her beloved Marak was gone, and in his place was his temperamental son.
He laughed when he saw her fighting back tears. A cruel, cold, heartless laugh. "You still act like a little girl sometimes Miranda. I have no patience for little crying girls." He smirked and leaned close to her ear.
"I see now why your mother didn't want you. Why nobody wanted you. Not even my father." Miranda's whole body shook and she let out a heart wrenching sob. "I-it's not t-true…." She cried. He laughed his cruel laugh again. "Yes my dear, I'm afraid it is. You were never wanted. My father just took care of you because of a bargain he made with my mother."
Just for good effect, he shoved her hard against the tree and smirked when her body slid to the ground.
The smirk quickly faded when he saw her clutching her left shoulder and crying in pain. Both emotional and physical pain. He had done it again. He had hurt her. He hadn't meant to shove her that hard, but now her shoulder jutted out at a bit of an awkward angle, and blood was flowing from another large gash he had inflicted upon her.
"Miranda! I'm sorry. Let me help you. I didn't mean to, really, I was just upset over my wife and-"
"And so you take it out on me?!" she screamed. He stood in shocked silence when she swatted his offered hand away.
"Don't take it out on me because you made the wrong decisions! It's not my fault. I can't help who you choose. Haven't I suffered enough from you?" More tears spilled down her cheeks as she stumbled to her feet. Catspaw reached out a hand to steady her, but she swatted it away again. "Don't -touch-me." She said slowly. "Don't ever touch me again."
She was frightened of him now. It was o the point that she feared for her life in his presence. She ran around him as quick as possible and made her way to where they had left Dentwood. She could hear Catspaw calling her name and following her.
When she got to the spot where they had first been intercepted, she discovered Dentwood was gone. Her eyes grew wide with fright when she realized she was still being followed and her husband was nowhere to be seen.
The pain in her shoulder was getting worse. She glanced down again. The gash was deeper than she had originally thought. Blood was seeping out at a rate to fast for comfort. She stumbled towards the palace, calling out Dentwood's name in a desperate plea for help.
For some reason, the fact that she was calling out for Dentwood and not him made Catspaw even angrier. A whole new fury was building in him as he pursued her through the garden.
She was slowing down now and it wouldn't be very hard for him to catch her. She was stumbling and clearly dizzy from the loss of blood.
Finally, out of the corner of her eye, she saw two figures heading towards the palace, but she had no strength to scream. It was taking all of her energy to stumble away from the man pursuing her. When she got close enough, she could recognize the two figures.
It was Dentwood and her father-in-law. If she could just get to them. But she was getting dizzier by the second and her vision was blurring, much like the first time.
She stumbled forwards and fell onto her knees. "Dentwood!" she cried out weakly. The normal human's ear wouldn't have heard this faint cry, but the two pairs of sensitive elf ears picked up the faint noise.
Dentwood turned and surveyed the area from which the noise had come. His eyes finally landed on Miranda, kneeling down in the grass with blood protruding from her shoulder. Her face was pale and a faint sheen of sweat had broken out across her forehead.
Both Elvin men rushed to her side immediately. Dentwood caught her just as she fell backwards to the ground. He cradled her in his arms and looked up at his father, who had already begun the healing spell.
When he looked behind him, there was no one there, but he knew that Catspaw had done it. And he was furious. He turned back to Miranda just as the healing spell was taking effect. When the wound finally closed up and her shoulder was back in it's proper position, her eyes fluttered open.
When they landed on Dentwood, she let out a faint whimper and buried her face in his chest. He turned to his father. "He's done it again!" he hissed through clenched teeth.
END CHAPTER
So sorry for the super long wait. It takes me longer to write these stories than my Labyrinth ones. But I hope you like this chapter and pretty please review!
And thanks for my reviews from the last chapter! You guys are great!