I went to talk to Murtagh. My son was not going to be a Rider. Well, at least not yet. I couldn't let that happen already, especially if Gerald thought it was wrong thing to do. Murtagh was probably in the throne room.
Throne room. Huh. I stopped in the middle of the hall. Was it right or left? I shook my head; this castle was freaking me out. Finally, I decided to go left. And yes, of course, it was the wrong one. When I finally reached the throne room, I was more than mad.
"Murtagh!" I entered the room, yelling and not caring who was there. Murtagh frowned and some unknown people were staring at me in surprise.
"Amarantha." Murtagh said through his teeth then smiled at the guests "This is my future wife."
"Yeah, whatever." I said "I need to talk to you now."
"My love, can't you see I'm busy?" I could feel the anger in his voice, but I was still more upset than him.
"No, I can't." I smiled bitterly "This can't wait. Now come with me."
"We'll talk about it later." he said.
"No." I looked at him carefully. We were making a nice show for our guests. Good. But I knew Murtagh must have read my mind by now. He knew exactly what I wanted to talk about, but he couldn't let others know everyone could read my mind.
He didn't say anything. We just stared at each other for a moment. I didn't move.
"Alright!" he rolled his eyes and got up from the chair. I didn't wait for him. I went out of the room, leaving him to say whatever he wanted to the people who came to see him. I didn't care.
"What is your problem?" Murtagh grabbed my arm painfully when we were in our room.
"Let go of me." I said "And I should ask you the same question."
"You can't just do that in front of people!" he yelled and let go of my arm.
"Oh, and you can't make my son a Rider tomorrow!" I said.
"Why not?" he said "I'll do whatever I want."
"He's my son." I said "I won't let you ruin his life."
"But this will be good for him." he said.
"You just don't get it, do you?" I said "It's not just because of me. Even Gerald says Max is too young for this."
"I don't care what Gerald says." he said "He wasn't supposed to tell you."
"You would really do that without telling me?" I yelled "You're crazy!"
"I knew it would upset you." he said "But you must admit I know more about this than you do."
"True." I said "But I still think you're stupid. Our son won't be safer or anything if he has a dragon. It will be more dangerous for him."
"But if something happens to me…" he said.
"No!" I said "Nothing will happen to you! But our son is not ready to have a dragon."
"Maybe you're right." he said "But he wants…"
"I know he wants a dragon. But he doesn't know what that means, right?" I sighed "Just tell me you won't give him the egg. Please."
"Alright." he said, but his voice sounded sad for some reason.
"Don't worry." I said, hugging him gently. He put his hands on my face, looking deep into my eyes.
"Amarantha…if something happens..." he was looking for the right thing to say "Just promise me…promise me our son will be safe."
I blinked at him. How could I promise that? And why? What was he suspecting that could happen? And what could I do even if there was a danger? And wasn't he supposed to promise me that? I was confused.
"I promise." I said "But why?"
"No reason." he smiled "It just makes me feel better, I guess."
Liar. I moved away from him, hugging myself. This was making me feel very uneasy. Something was wrong again. Maybe it was just my imagination, but maybe not. Whichever it was, it wasn't helping.
I just walked out of the room. I wanted to be with Max and Elisabeth.
My wedding day came too fast. I was nervous, which was strange because it wasn't the first time I was getting married. It made me sad a bit, because I remembered Dorian. I hadn't thought about him lately, but the wedding…
I wasn't sure would he ever forgive me. Probably not. After all, I was getting married to a man who killed him. I stared at the mirror in front of me, while maids and other women tried to make me look perfect. Maybe I should have told them it was impossible to make me look pretty. Ah, whatever.
My dress was white and long. I wanted to have a dress like the one I had on my first wedding, but I knew it would make it all worse. It made me think what kind of a monster I was. It was supposed to be a different wedding, because Dorian and I had the most beautiful one.
I wanted to marry Murtagh, but not like this. Not for whole world to see. But it was his choice and he said it was the only way. I was going to become a queen and I didn't care a bit about it. What was the whole point of it, if my power was fake? If someone dared to check my mind, it would all be over. People would know I wasn't up to it. They would know I wasn't a bit dangerous for them. But Murtagh was sure he could stop it. I believed him.
Elisabeth ran into the room, dressed in a beautiful dressed that was almost like mine. I felt tears coming to my eyes. She was so perfect. My little girl.
"Mommy?" she looked at me in surprise.
"Yes, honey?" I smiled at her.
"Your hair looks weird." she said.
"I know." I sighed. The maids did my hair in some strange way, lifting it up and putting some weird flowers and jewelry in it. I still remembered how my mum made my hair look perfect for the wedding. We were alone in the room that day and we did it all by ourselves. Today I was just standing here and letting unknown people do with me what they wanted.
"Mommy, I don't want you to marry Max's daddy." suddenly said Eli, looking hurt.
"Aww, honey." I bent down to hug her and one of the maids actually yelled at me for moving. I frowned at the maid and she backed away a bit. Good. Maybe they didn't believe I could hurt them, but Murtagh could. That was enough actually.
"Will you still love me, Mommy?" Eli looked at me.
"Of course I will, honey!" I said "I'll love you no matter what."
"But I don't like Murtagh!" Eli said "Don't marry him."
"I love him." I said "But nothing will change if we get married. I promise."
"But Max said…" she stopped in the middle of the sentence, looking away from me.
"What did Max say?" I was surprised. What could have Max possibly said to upset Eli?
"Nothing." she said "But don't marry Murtagh! He will hurt me."
"What? No, honey!" I said "Murtagh won't hurt you! Why do you think that?"
"I heard him." she whispered.
"You what?" I was surprised. Was Murtagh that stupid and Eli so smart, or this was all a misunderstanding?
"He said he doesn't want me here." said Eli.
"I'm sure you heard it wrong, honey." I said. I really really hoped it was like that. I wouldn't stand it if Murtagh really said something like that.
"Umm, I don't know." Eli said "Maybe I dreamed it…"
Oh, great. Not again. If it was a real vision, someone was going to die. If it was just Eli's dream, showing what she feared the most, then I still had to talk to Murtagh.
"Honey, when do you think you dreamed that?" I asked.
"I don't know." Eli frowned. Sure, she was still too young to know the difference between visions and dreams, or even maybe reality.
"Eli, honey, listen to me." I said "Everything is going to be alright. I love you and I won't let anything happen to you, alright?"
Eli nodded and I ran out of the room. The maids protested but I didn't give a damn. I had to find Murtagh.
"Amarantha!" Murtagh gasped in disbelief when he saw me "You look…"
"Not now." I said "There is again something we need to discuss. Something we talked about for thousands of times but still nothing happened."
"Yes?" he raised an eyebrow, probably realizing I was already too angry.
"Did you ever say you don't want my daughter here?" I stared into his eyes, waiting for some kind of a reaction. Or he would start denying it or he would at least flinch. But he's face remained a perfect mask, no emotions, no feelings, no nothing.
"No, as far as I know." he said calmly "Why are you asking me this?"
"Then Eli might have had a vision about you saying it." I said "Or it was just her dream."
"Your daughter has a wild imagination." he smiled "She just doesn't like me, so she's trying to ruin our wedding. You see?"
"Wait a second." I said "Are you saying my little daughter could be so mean?"
"She's young. But she's smart." he said "And she knows what she wants. Be careful around her."
"What?" I yelled "That's impossible! She's not your daughter!"
"Oh, so you would believe it if she were my daughter?" he said "That's a nice opinion you have of me, my love."
"I'm not…" I stared at him for a moment "I'm sorry. But I don't think Eli would lie…"
"Fine!" he tried to stay calm "She had a dream, so what?"
"You're right. It was a dream." I said "But you promised me too many times you would take care of her, but I see you're doing nothing."
"I can't get close to her. I'm sorry." he said, avoiding my look.
"Why not?" I frowned.
"I'm not her father." he said.
"But you will be!" I said and he looked at me, puzzled.
"I can't make her like me." he said.
"No, you can't." I said "But you haven't even tried! And you promised me! How can I believe you anything else if you lied to me about this one?"
"Alright! I'll try." he rolled his eyes "But I can't influence your daughter…or maybe you want me to…"
"Oh…!" I gasped "Don't you dare to use magic on my daughter!"
"Then be happy I didn't." he smiled suddenly "There were many things I could have done, and I didn't. Because I love you."
He was dangerously getting closer to me. Suddenly I felt so horribly helpless…he could have done anything he wanted with me. He was right; I should be happy he didn't. Scared of my future husband. Who, me?
"I love you too." I whispered as he kissed me.
"Now get back to your room and get ready." he said "The wedding will begin soon."
"Right." I said "See you at the wedding."
I went back to my room, but it was empty. The maids had left and Eli probably went back to Max or somewhere. I sat on the bed and stared at the wall in front of me.
I was going to become a queen. I was going to get away from normal people forever. My life would never get normal again. I had dreamed about being a princess, being pretty and admired, being loved…
But that just wasn't what this meant. Being a queen or a princess here meant that you could do whatever you wanted, people were afraid of you and there was always someone who wanted to kill you. Beautiful dream, huh?
I sighed. I really hoped no one would discover who I really was. I hoped no one was going to die today. But the wedding was a perfect opportunity for killing Murtagh, me or both…or even our kids. I shuddered. No, I couldn't think about it. We had protection. Monster…I mean, dragon would protect us. Great.
