What's Done In The Dark: The King's Concubine

Chapter 15

It's been five days since I left the palace. What an epic way to let someone go when you've imprisoned them for so long. But that was what he did. He finally granted me my freedom when I didn't want it. And where could I go? I couldn't exactly go back to Titans, everyone knew about the incident by now and I was afraid of the judgment that would be in their eyes and in their actions. I could have gone to Hotaru's family home but I after the trouble I brought to them the first time, I couldn't bother to burden them anymore. Or maybe the truth was that I was hoping to stay somewhere close to the palace so Darien will come for me. Lita offered to send me to where her family was but I didn't want to go outside the country, in the end I lonely wondered my way to the tree I had fallen asleep under and played with the kids. As before, they found me and in their eyes I saw the sadness they felt at the pain that I wasn't doing a good job in hiding.

Without question they took me to their home and sheltered me. Being here I've realized a lot of things. I had seen being with Darien as the worst thing possible before. Trapped. That was how I felt. Like a prisoner when it fact I was only being sheltered and protected. I had protested blindly and put him through emotionally crises out of selfishness and stupidity, out of blindness and I had been merciless in hurting him with my insensitive actions. But through it all he came for me. In the end he gave me all that I had wanted, even my freedom. But what is freedom exactly? Having not attachments to people or things? My own brother didn't even know me. the only one I had ever had a moment to call my own was Darien but I had thrown him away, I had pushed him so far until he could not take it anymore and now that I am alone again, I now know the only freedom I had ever experienced was being encased in his protective, possessive and loving arms.

I was a fool.

The lesson came too late. A mistake I could never take back. This was my punishment and I rightly deserved it.

The first day of my presence here, I was taken to explore this part of the city, it was filthy and dirty. The houses were broken, the ground was littered with disgusting left overs and their water was tainted and smelly. What had Darien and Hotaru been doing all this time? These people needed help!

Yet they lived in it so comfortable it amazed me. I suppose being born and raised in it makes one gets used to it or see nothing wrong with it. The family I am staying with is a close knit family. They are always laughing and hardly get upset. Apart from the three young girls whom I found out were cousins, the household contained two generations and four families. The husbands parents, the wife's parents, the married couple and of course, their children. The house was composed of three bedrooms and one bathroom. One bedroom for the four grandparents, one for the married couple and the last for the children. Seven children in one room, adding me to make eight. I wondered how in all the corners of the earth could such a feat be accomplished but it was done. They even gave me a little space of my own seeing my discomfort and on the floor on a wide bed, they all slept together. The oldest was a guy of 20 years whose name I could not pronounce so I called him big brother. The second was another guy of 19 and the third guy was 18. The next was a female of 16 years followed by the three little girls.

Their harmony in such a small confined space was miraculous to me and despite how disgusting the outside looked, the inside was fairly cleaned. In the morning the little girls and the 16 year old girl, Mary, would get up and sweep the whole house. The men would go like 3 miles away to fetch several gallons of water. The mother would cook breakfast while the father gets ready for work. The grandmothers, after breakfast would sit and knit clothing and fix any torn ones and the grandfathers would go in and out doing who knows what. While the husband is at work, the grandmothers sewing and the three children goes to play, the wife would spend the day baking breads and selling them at the market. She baked them at home and the sons would take it to the market and Marry would sell them. It was a unique system which took me three days to catch on. Whenever I offered to help they would say no and that I needed my rest. There were little things they would let me help with but other than that I was often left to watch or do as I please. On the third day, my thoughts of Darien were causing major headaches and heartaches and I needed to do something.

I grabbed some picking sticks, a bag and went at the edge of that part of the city and began to pick up the trash. Nobody noticed what I was doing until the fourth day and the children offered to help me. Which in turn brought out other children and we worked from morning till night, stopping to eat in the afternoon foods provided by anyone but mostly the woman who baked breads. In the evening they would light a bonfire and tell stories or sing and dance. I loved their folklores so I paid close attention.

Today was pretty much the same way though they allowed me to tell a story which they loved very much. So they made me promise to tell a story at every bonfire. It was like a ritual everyone in that part of town took part in. A night would not be complete without all of them gathering together to just be together.

The only bad thing was that the physical part of me which would always long for Darien's touch awakened with a vengeance and I had no idea how to stop it.

It's been ten days now. It seems I've been counting by fives. To keep from going mad by the desires that had woken up in me, I've been keeping myself very busy to the point where when I collapse I can think of nothing and sleep would immediately claim me. We have cleaned almost to half way of the place I was now starting to refer to as town as if it was its own place. It might as well be its own place. Everywhere we cleaned, they made sure to keep it clean and not through things about so I am really grateful for it. I've come to make a lot of friends and admirers. And finally I don't totally feel like a stranger. I dress in their brown clothing which at first shocked me. Not the color but the fact that ladies were dressed in pants. There were some pants that were so tight on them it might as well be a second skin! But after the initial shock, I had accepted that this was a town within the capital with its own rules and laws and its own ways of life. I have learned to wear these pants but I never was the ones so tight on the body. It wasn't because I was against it or anything, I just wasn't used to it and I felt really self conscious when I did try one on. The wife who I started to refer to as ma'am would always wash my hair for me every morning and night and braid it and hide it in a clean net so it would not get in my way. I offered to cut it but she would not hear of it. Instead she said something very odd.

"Be as you are, he will come for you."

I got that she was referring to Darien but why she would say that with so much assurity puzzled me. How could she sound so confident?

Of course I had earned a nick name.

"Pretty Lady."

That's what everyone calls me. They show me a respect that I am not deserving of and always smile or have a kind word for me. Whenever I got to the market, they are always offering me stuff. Ma'am and the family laughed and said because of me they would not be shop for a while. People would randomly send food and clothing for me. In return I organized a sort of study session with all the children and began to teach them the alphabets, numbers, general calculation and how to read and spell.

Lita often comes to visit me and when she saw what I was doing, she began to bring me books and writing utensils. I asked her where she got them all from and she said she was being paid well so the least she could do was help out where she could. I was not fooled one bit. Darien was providing all the supplies. Did he still care for me after all? If he did why wasn't he coming for me?

In the middle of schooling on the tenth day, I got a very surprise visitor. A coach rolled over and stepping out of it was Lita, Kakyuu and the rest of the four brothers. I screamed excitedly and rushed to them. Jadeite was the first to reach me and we embraced so tightly. Then one by one, I embraced everyone else. I was excited to see them.

"What are you guys doing here?!" I asked them after I had set the kids up on some multiplication assignment.

"To see you of course!" Kakyuu said as if that was all need be said.

"They came to the palace looking for you. So I brought them to you after I explained you no longer lived in the palace." Lita said and I nodded.

"But I don't get. If you had nowhere else to go, why didn't you come to us? If we had known that bastard of a king kicked you out, we would have come to get you sooner!" Jadeite said and I shook my head sadly.

"I'm sorry but after the trouble I put you guys through before, I could not do it again." I said.

"Oh please. He can't very well execute us for sheltering you if you had nowhere else to go." Kakyuu said, her face showing how upset she was.

"If he has let you go, why then is he still fighting with our sister? Why is he trying to get her off the throne then? I mean before I could understood that he needed her off for you but now you are no longer part of his life, so what is the benefit of trying to dethrone Hotaru?" Kunzite asked.

"I don't know. I don't hear news at all of what goes on in the palace." I answered which was half true half false. I do hear news, just not ones that make sense.

"I doubt the freedom he has given you is permanent." Zoisite said. We all looked at him.

"Why do you say that?" Nephrite asked.

"He brought a whole battalion to our house just to retrieve you and you think he would just let go with no kind of explanation? No…I think he wants to dethrone Hotaru first before seriously pursuing you." He explained his reasons.

"Well Lita? Does he talk about Rena at all?" Nephrite asked.

She sighed.

"Not a word and whenever I bring it up he will shush me."

"That king is pathetic!" Kakyuu said.

"I think I brought this on myself though." I admitted.

"You weren't sure of your feelings then though we all knew you were as crazy about him as he is about you." Jadeite said. I looked at him and tears formed at my eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not wrong to fall in love Serena. And we don't exactly support our sister after we've heard all she's done. To think Helios is the former king's soon. Diamond was an idiot but Hotaru is downright evil!" Kunzite said. I gasped.

"Where…"

"Where did we hear it from? Mom told us. She was the one who told us to come find you too. I guess Hotaru sent her a message that you were being thrown out the palace or something." Zoicite said.

"Oh."

"Lita…lets be properly introduced. Serena told me all about your amazing skills in the kitchen so now I have to surpass you no matter what." Nephrite said with a cat like grin. Lita blinked and chuckled.

"I await your challenge." She replied with a grin of her own. The others looked from one face to another.

"You two are too similar." Kakyuu voiced and we all nodded in agreement.

"So why are you staying in this commoners residential area? Couldn't he have found you a home or a place to live? Jeez!" Kakyuu said again.

"I like it here. It offers a certain kind of peace you will get nowhere else." They all looked around and even Lita had to give me a look that said I was crazy.

"Teacher!" before I could say anything, one of the children called me and I excused myself to go help them. They joined in my teachings and the kids had fun. I think they loved Jadeite the best.

After that Lita and Nephrite took to cooking and a lot of the town people came to get some of the food since it was a lot. Then we had the bonfire before they finally left.

Three weeks has passed since then. Lita has been keeping me updated with what's going on up the palace. All proofs were found against Hotaru but she was still proving to be a force to reconcile. She had supporters from other countries that supported the Kingdom as well as the nobles of the kingdom. Being that Darien wasn't familiar with them, only a few were on his side but still he continued to fight for his right. It had come down to two choices. Either dethrone him, the true heir, or Hotaru. Because he is of the royal blood line, he had rights to be on the throne but because he became king after Hotaru, it wasn't the same. It's like the royal bloodline had moved onto a different family.

The debate and arguments and fights were taking all over the kingdom but in that commoners place, there were no heated argument, no concern for who should or shouldn't run the country. After all, they'd been ignored for so long, why should they care?

As the third week rolled to an end, a horse came galloping to the commoner's community and was stopped by one of them. On the back of the horse was a letter addressed to me. I was found and brought to the horse and the letter given to me. I opened it up and began to read.

Please get on the horse and ride straight. Don't make any curves, I will join you shortly.

That was all it said. I blinked. Was this some sort of trap? Was someone trying to kill me? I looked closely at the horse. It was a stallion, dark black with intelligent eyes. It stared at me as if it knew who I was and I know it knew. This was Darien's personal Stallion. I had met it once, and that was when we were traveling from the forest to the capital.

"Labyrinth." I said its name and it bobbed its head in greeting. I turned back to the kids who had followed be. What was I to do? Was it Darien calling me and if it was him then I wanted to go. But I was in the middle of teaching! I looked up and Ma'am was there.

"Go." She simply said and smiled. I smiled gratefully at her.

"Thank you." I mouthed. "Ok everyone, I need to go for a sometime. Tomorrow we have a test so study hard tonight k?"

"Yes." They all said and big brother helped me climb on top of the big tall stallion.

Holding tightly to the saddle, I waved once and received lots of waves in return then the magnificent beast took off.

Butterflies danced in my stomach. I was scared, excited, nervous and happy. It was a nerve wracking ride. What would I say if I saw him? Had he changed? Does he look different? What could he want? Was he taking me back? Nervous questions run amuck in my head.

I was so lost in thought that I did not hear the approaching footsteps of a horse until it was right beside me. I turned around to look but the person on the horse was like a phantom, covered from head toe in all black. I couldn't see his face, any part of it. He whispered and my stallion slowed down a little to follow the hooded man. What if someone was taking me out to kill?! Why hadn't I thought before!? But despite how scared and worried I was, I could not for the life of me command the horse to stop. And silently we rode on. We didn't go a straight line when the man joined us. Instead we took complicated turns and rode through thick woods. In the heart of a very thick and dark forest just as the sun was setting, we came upon a cottage. Old with time but the cottage was beautiful and sturdy. I gasped in delight, rose bushes were everywhere, their vines embracing the building and flowers opened with welcome. The scent of the roses had filled my nose earlier back but now it was everywhere. It was a white cottage but the windows were golden in color. It looked like a cottage that could have popped up from any fairytale. I was so stunned that it took my hand being warmed in a body of heat before I could tear my eyes away from the enchanting building to an even more spell bounding sight.

His eyes were so dark but his face was worn out. He stared at me and through his eyes he bared out his heart for me to see his pain, longing and love for me. Tears pooled at my eyes and without warning I fell toward him. I had no fear of hitting the ground, his arms, always strong and powerful pulled me into an embrace that was suffocating yet welcomed.

"Serena." The soft huskiness of his voice awakened all my sense and my body filled with desire. I clung to him like one would a rope if they were hanging and about to fall. The tears fell and I cried. Not soft noiseless tears, but sobs that came deep from my heart. Loudly I cried out all my frustration, my loneliness and the pain being separated from him had caused me. And though it all he let me cried but never lost contact with me. I don't know how long we stood out there but by the time my sobs turned to hiccups, and sniffles, I was spent and I used him as support or otherwise I would have fallen. He lifted me in his arms and off the ground and cushioned my head in the crook of his neck and I held on to him as he walked up the porch of the cottage.

I did not have time to investigate the cottage. As soon as we entered, his lips were on mine. Without any protest from me, my hands and the rest of my body soon became busy with his. Our passion rekindled, we moved with the beat of our pounding hearts, reconciling what had been so painfully torn apart. There was no stopping. The more we touched the more the need in us grew. We had no idea how to quench this demanding thirst for each other and in the dark, cold cottage; we made love through the entire night.

It's been three days since we've been in the cottage. When we woke up the next day after a full night of unquenching passion, we could only stare at each other. It all seemed unreal to me. I touched his face, every part of it to assure myself that he was real and we were together and had just had an amazing night together. There were no words to describe how I felt. The feeling of home is the only thing that comes close to explaining the feelings that has been wondering around in me. I could think of nothing else. The outside world was totally blocked from my mind. All I could focus on was the here and now, him. Only him. And that is how I want it to be.

Eventually nature called and we got up to bathe, heat up the place by burning the woods in the fire place. While I took a bathed, Darien took care of the fire and when I came out the heat was starting to warm up the cottage. He went to take a shower and I cooked something. While the cottage maintained a faced of age, the in was remodeled with modern day technology except for the fire. I hadn't realized when he had gotten out the bath, but obviously he had been standing there long enough staring at me as I fried some eggs and oatmeal and toasted some bread all the while humming a rather cheerful tune.

When I turned around, his gaze met mine and made my heart skip a beat. I don't know why but I was a bit nervous and bashful. I was blushing too.

"Breakfast is served my lord." I said to break the silence and an amused smile flipped his lips over. He walked over and took over from me the last dish I was holding to put on the table. He set the plate of toast on the table before coming back to me to wrap his arms around my waist and directing me to my chair. When I had sat down after her pulled my chair for me, he wrapped his arms around me from behind and laid his cheek against my own. The heat from his body was as always, enticing.

His lips roamed the side of my face and I closed my eyes feeling as content as a cat.

"The food is getting cold." I said eventually and he chuckled before planting one firm kiss on my neck and pulling back. I watched him take a seat across from me. We said our grace and began eating. He never once took his eyes from me which made me more embarrassed and bashful but then I couldn't stop staring at him either.

After the meal we cleaned up together and went out for a walk. We hardly talked but the peace that existed between us was so comfortable that speaking really was not necessary. We returned from our walk and made love over and over again. It was as if we were trying to make up the time we had lost. And that's how we've been for the past three days.

I was fine with not talking. Everything I felt I could show him in my actions and he did the same with me. Often times he could just sit and stare at me so passionately as I pick flowers or sniff the scent of the roses. But a lot of the time he always held me in his arms. Not often did he let a distance between us last. A part of us was always touching, whether it was holding hands, hugging or making love.

But all that is coming to an end. Tomorrow we return to reality. To the world that seemed to be against us. Lying in bed with him, he finally began to talk.

"I thought it was best this way. I had no intention of letting you go but I thought it was best this way since it would be killing two birds with one stone." He said.

"Huh?" not intelligent, yes but that was all I could muster to say.

"I didn't want to let you go."

"Then why did you?" I asked quietly.

"Because you were unhappy." To this I had no response. I was unhappy because I made myself unhappy. It wasn't his fault.

"I thought that if I let you go, you would not hate me so much. I thought that once you've left, you would miss me and want to come back. So then when you are ready I would come get you. Another reason was because I wanted to solve the problem with Hotaru first. You shouldn't have to get involved in this battle. I wanted to protect you. I didn't want Hotaru to do anything to hurt you as she had been threatening your life to me. I thought by the time I got rid of her, you would be ready to return back to me." he said, tightening his grip on me.

"I thought it wouldn't be long and I could last. Then one day turned two, then a week and then more weeks and I was going insane. I missed you so much I could not control myself." he said, griping me as if I was his life line. "I started to throw things like a child, I would scream at the servants for no reason and my chest would hurt with every thought of you. Then I snapped and knew I wouldn't be able to maintain the distance much longer so I had Lita come here to clean up this cottage. This separation is too much for me Serena. I want you back. In every way I want you so badly. Please, please return back to me. There is no me without you!" he said. I shed silent tears and realized he was too. How could I back out now? I couldn't. It was hopeless, we were bounded and knitted so tightly together that there was no longer any space.

"I was in so much pain. I was scared you had abandoned me. I wanted to come back, I want to come back. Please take me back and don't ever leave me. it was so painful, it hurt so much. I love you, so so much. Please take me back and keep me. I don't want to be anywhere else anymore. You are my freedom." I lifted my face to stare into his dark eyes that was much darker than it had been before I left the palace.

"Please take me back."

"Oh Serena." That was all we said for a while and we held each other. The separation had caused some deep wounds in us, but has also made us, at least me; realize that there was no life outside for us if we weren't together.

"In two days time, there is going to be a meeting. The council have agreed to see you. They want you to come if you wish to be my wife and the future queen of this country. I stared at him with wide frightened eyes. He leaned up and kissed me gently on the forehead.

"You don't have to come love. I will make a future for us whether as rulers or otherwise. I will be with you and you alone." He held me close to him. Or otherwise, so he was planning on giving up his crown. I was happy that he would do that for me.

Happy, until an image of the commoner's community flashed through my head. If he stepped down we would be at the mercy of Hotaru. Hotaru who had ruled for several years had added to the wealth of the rich and abandoned those who needed help the most. Those children will be doomed to repeat the lives of their parents with no proper education. They will know nothing outside their group knitted community. And all those young ladies and young men, they would never be able to expand their capabilities. Their buildings would be in ruins as it already was. How long those buildings would stand was a worry as well. Who would be there for them if their last hope abandoned the throne into the hands of Hotaru?

I pulled back and stared into his eyes. He had already done so much for me. Given me so much and what had I ever done for him? All I've ever done is hurt and cause him problems. And still he continues to love me, to cherish me. I could do this one thing for him couldn't I? It would be scary, it would hurt and I might even be killed but if it was him he would still do it for me. It was time I stopped being a coward and fight for the man who had given me all, who had loved me despite all my flaws, who continues to fight for my sake. I could fight for him too. I wouldn't be alone.

I smiled. Having decided that, the fear was there but I had finally come unto my own. i felt strong and sure. I felt like me. This was who I am. The girl who fight for the right and truth. Not the cowardice I have been displaying.

"I'll come." He stared at me for a second before his eyes widened.

"Serena! You don't …"

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. This is our fight. Not yours alone anymore. I'm sorry for being such a coward and for running away and leaving you to go through all this by yourself. I will come to the meeting. I want to fight for you too Darien. No, it is my time to fight for you as you have been doing for me."

"Oh Serena."

"Help me?"

"Always love, always." That was all I needed to hear. No matter what, we would be together. With this conviction firmly rooted in my heart, I gave myself to him once more. We would worry about tomorrow's battle tomorrow, tonight was for us and nothing was going to change that.

A knock came at the door.

Sorry for the long wait!

Please Read and Review!^^