Chapter 35: Evening in the Castle.

Since I feel bad for waiting so long before getting back to Varian, I'm gonna spoil all my followers with another chapter. Maybe a bit long, but... so what?

Varian is not the only one getting ready for bed. Warning! Hint of alcoholism! For those who need this.

In the royal bedroom, it had been normal the last year that it was Frederic who sat up and worried ever since his daughter returned. He would either express his constant concern in a long monologue or sit and ponder with his head in his hands, or walk back and forth without rest.

But now it was Arianna who had trouble getting rest. While Frederic were already in bed, Arianna walked across the floor all over the room, unable to calm down. Her arms were either flinging out in the air or wrapped around herself, if she wasn't grabbing her temples.

"Arianna, you're making me dizzy with this restless walking. Won't you come to bed?"

"How can I? When I know he's..." she flung out her arms towards the door, before she shook her head and kept walking.

"My dear, there's nothing to worry about. The Captain put out guards in front of the doors to the sick room, and outside the windows. You don't have to worry."

"That's easy for you to say! You haven't been..." Arianna replied, a bit crosser than she intended, and she had to stop and draw her breath. Realizing she was acting hysterical, she sighed and walked towards the balcony door. She stood there for moment, letting herself calm down before she spoke. "I'm sorry, Fred. I know you think I'm overreacting." She let her sight gaze at the night sky. The stars were already shining brightly along with the crescent moon, but the sight didn't please her.

"I know I sound like the cruelest woman in the world when I say that I don't want him near me. And I know you feel guilty about him, and I don't blame you for that. Don't get me wrong; he's young, and I know Lars is right. He needs help more than punishment, and I want to make sure he gets what he needs, but... I just wish there was another way we..."

She stopped herself in a loud gasp when she felt a sudden grip around her shoulders. With a quick move she spun around and held up her tied fists to defend herself, almost snarling. For a brief moment it was a huge black shadow she expected to see, with red eyes and an enormous metal claw for a hand ready to grab a hold on he, lift her up and squeeze her... And a young boy with black hair that would grin devilishly at her.

But when she looked up, she found only her husband, looking at her in confusion, his blue eyes wounded and worried at the same time. "Beloved...?"

The sore tone in his voice made her own lips quiver, and she covered her mouth with both hands. "I'm sorry, Fred... I'm sorry, but I can..." her voice chocked in a sob, and she turned around and ran towards the dressing screen near her closet and the mirror table.

Frederic didn't know where to put himself. It wouldn't have made a difference if she had slapped him in the face, he would have felt the same. But feeling concerned, he choose to ignore the growing pain inside and walked slowly towards the screen and carefully peeked around it. There he saw her leaning down on the chaise where she let out her tears and sobbed like it was for life. "Arianna, my dear..."

"DON'T! I can't help it, Fred..." she gasped. "I just... can't..." Her voice broke into another more violent fit of sobbing.

Fredric felt a sting in both eyes and blinked a few times. He pressed his lips tightly together to get his bottom lip under control as he turned around and walked back to the bed, listening to his wife's cries behind him. Laying down under the blankets, as far to the edge of his own side as he could come, he had one last look towards the dressing screen, before dimming the light out of the oil lamp on his bed stand and placed his head down on the pillow, where he finally allowed his own tears to fall.

"Forgive me, beloved. Please forgive me..."

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Nigel put the ribbon he used for his hair carefully in a white bowl on the dressing table before putting on a white night cap. As he walked towards the bed, he looked at the door, he listened to figure if anyone was there. Drawing his breath, he walked towards the door and pulled the key back and forth one last time to ensure the door was properly locked. After pulling the door hard to make himself certain again, he let out as a heavy sigh as he walked back to the bed where he crept underneath the blankets and tugged himself up before grabbing the book he had on his night stand.

But he wasn't able to find calmness. He kept looking at the door, then back at the book, then back at the door again. After doing this a couple of times, he let out a frustrated moan and leaned his head back on the pillow. "How am I supposed to stay calm when he's just underneath this floor?" He looked up towards the roof. "I sure hope the Captain put out enough men... I should have asked him to spare some... No that would only..." He sighed and put the book away on the night stand. "What a ghastly situation!"

He leaned down to open the door in his night stand. There he brought out a little bottle that he screwed up and had a sip from. Letting out a sigh, he was about to screw the cork back when he changed his mind and took another sip. Then he restrained himself and screwed it on before putting the bottle away. Then he laid his head down on the pillow with the intention of going to sleep, but he knew deep inside that wasn't going to happen at first.

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Violet felt like the corridor in the servant's quarters were longer than ever. And for some reason her feet were almost numb. No wonder really, she thought to herself, after all the running and worrying, not to mention how she had to rush with the dinner in the end. How in the world she had managed all day were a mystery, and the tension from the day's many events had worn her out beyond her experience.

As she reached her own door though, she stopped herself. There was nothing she wanted than to simply fall down on her bed and not wake up until the morning. But a thought kept chewing on her mind. She looked to her left, to the door at the end of the hall, just before the window.

Karen's bedroom.

Her heart sank as she thought of their depart earlier, how she had just ran off in tears. It wasn't the first time. It had been a day where the same thing happened. A bit over a month ago.

"Take that back! I don't care how true it is!" Karen had shouted furiously after her as she walked away. "You tell me that isn't really true, or I'll call you something worse than what Cassandra called you."

This had made Violet turn around and glare at her. "And what was that if I may ask?"

"An old lump of harsh meat that smelled like moth balls!" Karen replied dryly, but looked like she hadn't thought of actually say that out loud.

"Well, then I can tell you that what I said was true indeed. And so is this..."

Violet shook her head to prevent herself from thinking of what she said that day, chocking a sob with a hand on her mouth. Sniffing deeply, she walked towards the young girls bedroom door, and thought for a moment to knock it and see if she was awake, but she stopped her hand. Then she thought of it again, but she didn't raise her hand even half the way this time. All she was able to do was to let out a heavy sigh.

A movement on her leg made her look down, and she found the orange striped cat peeking up at her and meowed.

"Oh... Am I blocking your way, dearie?" She stepped away from the door and knelt down to give him a few pats on his back, something the cat welcomed warmly as it replied with purring.

"I don't know what to do now." she said to the cat. "I know we should just gather up and clear things out all three of us, but it's not as easy as one thinks. I don't know what came over me that day. I didn't even mean half the things I said that day; at least not the way it came out. But I wonder if any of them will forgive me right away."

The cat meowed again, and she realized he was impatient with her. So she smiled at it and cupped his little furry chin. "You better stay with her till the morning. Hevan knows she needs you now." Violet said before she rose and stepped out of the way so the cat could sneak in through the little crack in the door into Karen's room.

She carefully opened the door and peeked through. Karen was already fast asleep, and Violet watched as the cat made its way up towards the bed and curled itself up near her head. The old maid smiled slightly and closed the door.

But she had barely been able to turn around when she heard loud moaning behind her and turned around to find Millicent, supporting herself towards the wall as she closed into the bedroom she shared with her mother. She was having trouble walking, she looked all blushed and sweat, her hair was messy and her cap was pushed up at the bottom of her corset.

Violet could see how tired she was and hurried over to her aid. "Honey, what's happened? You look like you have been through a cyclone?!"

"Princess... Annabelle... not... satisfied..." she had to draw for air between the words, looking like she was going to pass out. "...with anything!"

Violet hurried to open the door and let her lean towards her, almost dragging her along inside the room like she and Karen had dragged Varian with them some hours earlier. She kicked the door to close itself with her foot once inside and let her sit down on her bed.

"First she was angry that I hadn't been there from the start. Then I hung up her clothes the wrong way... 'they're not washing cloths to curl up'." She made a face when she was mimicking the Princess. "Then she was angry about the dinner, 'waste dish for animals'... I'm sorry Mother, but what happened with... Oh, never mind! And then for this Jonas not to come and see to her, and this and that and this again and that agsin..." she let out a heavy sigh. "And apparently I hadn't washed my hair well enough, which she found insulting since I was attending to her, but how was I supposed to know?"

"Oh my... Wasn't she even satisfied with the room?" Violet asked as she found the brush on the dresser and begun tending to her daughter's messy hair.

"The room...?" Millicent mumbled, barely noticing her surroundings. "That was... about the only thing she wasn't complaining about! Except there weren't any macaroons waiting for her...'I should have macaroons to feel welcome, and that's not what I've been today!'" she mimicked again before she moaned and threw herself backwards across the bed and stared up in the ceiling without actually staring at anything. "I'm sorry mother, but I had to fetch her something else from the kitchen. And then I had to serve her as well..."

"So what happened with the stew I had sent up?" Violet asked.

"I ate it myself." Millicent mumbled. "On my way down... Or else I'd never gotten time to eat. Or had any strength to keep it going."

"Thank goodness." Violet said, taking her hand in hers. She thought for a moment Millicent had fallen asleep when suddenly she spoke up.

"And you, mother? Anything exiting happened after they caught the prisoner?"

Violet's relaxed smile quickly turned to a stiff face at sudden.

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"So, you forgive me?"

Both the nephew and the uncle had changed to their bedclothes and robes Daniel sat upwards the pillows in the bed, half tugged up, while Jonas sat across him. They young boy's face still frowning a bit, but he slowly loosened up and broke into a half smile. "Alright then. But just this once!"

Jonas let out a sincerely relieved sigh. "Thanks, buddy."

"But you must come and see Varian in the morning." the boy said, with crossed arms in a strict manner.

"Of course I will." Jonas smiled. "I'm looking rather forward to it. And..."

"Am I interrupting?"

They both turned around to see Lars peek his head through the door. "I hope I don't interfere?"

"You are, Dad!" Daniel's frown returned on his freckled face.

Lars made his way into the room, giving his son an excusing look. "Oh, I'm sorry, Son. It's just that I..."

Jonas hurried to interfere and rose from the bed where he sat and grabbed the empty bowls on the left bed stand. "Brother, you're not going to believe..." He rose the bowls almost to his face. "Look who ate his WHOLE dinner tonight?!"

"What? You did?" For a moment, Lars forgot all about what he was doing there and smiled widely.

Jonas smiled back towards the young boy. "Even the vegetables? That's a good boy, Daniel. So good!"

"WHAT?" The freckled face went from frowned annoyance to shocked disbelief. "There were vegetables in it?"

"What?" Jonas broke into laughter. "Didn't you notice?"

The young boy didn't know what to think at first. Then his face went from shocked to angry. "I've been set up! Someone will pay for this!"

"Now now, son. Now you only sound just like Annabelle?" Lars said, unable not to chuckle. "You don't want that, do you?"

This comment made the words Daniel had intended as a spitting answer to die on his tongue before they came out, and instead he pouted and crossed his arms while he turned away from them.

"Okay, Daniel. I need to borrow your uncle moment, but you'll get him back quite soon." He dragged his younger brother along towards the door, leaving the boy alone, sulking in bed.

Lars didn't speak a word before they came to the next door where Lars had his bedroom. While inside, Lars hurried to lock the door. Jonas put the two bowls with spoons that he was still carrying on the closest table and, noticing his brother's sudden concern, walked over to him with slow steps.

"Lars... What's the trouble?"

Lars drew his breath and turned to face him, and got startled at once, as he saw his younger brother's face shaded at the moonlight behind him, giving him a rather frightful appearance at once. But moments later, he got used to the dark and his brother's features came back and made him relax. Then he cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

"We need to talk!"

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Arianna didn't know how long she had been lying on the chaise, but it felt almost like she must have cried herself to sleep, because she woke up from feeling cold, her eyes stiff from dried salt on her face and the back of the chaise still wet. It was all quiet in the room, and all of a sudden the fear returned. For a long moment she sat still, listening to the silence in the room, but then let out a sigh of her own ridiculous's behavior and rose, grabbing a hold on herself.

What must Frederic think of me?

She drew her breath as she summed up to herself all the reasons not to be afraid. She was up in her own bedroom and not in the laboratory of a desillutionated young boy. She had guards on the other side of the door, and Varian was heavily guarded inside medic's apartment where he was currently unable to even flee. There was nothing to be afraid of.

As she peeked from behind the dressing screen, she saw only the moon lightning up the room. She saw a lump on the bed, realizing it was her husband under the blanket. the oil lamp from her own bed stand hand most likely burned out.

She walked over to the bed, and stepped around to carefully see if he was asleep. She saw him lying on his left side, and when she got closer, she noticed the moonlight gave away a slight reflecting shine on the right side of his nose.

She felt how her heart sank. "Oh, Fred..." She led a hand towards his face and stroke away a bit of the leftover tear away with a slender finger. She touched the pillow underneath his face, and found it slightly damp. "Do forgive me, please? I'm so sorry." A lump in her throat prevented her from speaking before swallowing hard a couple of times. "I wish I could tell you what to do, but don't even know myself. Do forgive me, my love..."

She rose and walked with slow steps around the bed and over to her own side, where she grabbed a hold on the blanket to pull it over when something soft fell on her hand. When she grabbed a gentle hold on it, she recognized it as a silk handkerchief. Her heart skipped a beat when she discovered it was all dry.

Her Fred had been silently offering her this, while he himself had let his own tears fall freely. Her kind and gentle husband who suffered in silence and didn't show his pain to anyone because he needed to be strong. Strong for everyone, strong for a Kingdom who needed him to be so.

Strong for her.

Pressing her lips together, she slipped underneath the blankets at last, clenching the handkerchief close to her chest, when deep inside, there was another she really wanted to hold close, but weren't able to, no matter how much she tried.