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The last few days had been a bumpy ride for the older woman.
Once the rebels retreated Madeleine found herself struggling to get better. Ratano, of course went back to his duty before he was even perfectly well. Madeleine knew better than trying to reason with him, and instead lived her life trying to go back to normal, doing her job as well. 'Advising' the king though was hard to do when he was one, injured; and two, bombarded with too many decisions too quickly. She actually felt bad for him for a few days. The Mylan noblemen were relentless towards him, calling him many names, and trying to spark a civil war, which now seems to be working.
Though, maybe three days ago he got around to ordering some punishment where "punishment was due." He ordered that Ratano be publicly whipped for insubordination, and failing to protect the princess. Madeleine was shocked and rushed to try to convince the prince that it was not Ratano's fault at all, but hers. She told him everything she could, that she was distracting him and that she had a vision and didn't tell anyone about it, causing the incident to happen, that Ratano saved the princess. The king ended up ordering both of them the same punishment, infuriating Madeleine to no end.
The king set off to find his betrothed, as the father of the young lady was adamant that he find her. Madeleine didn't blame the father but hoped that Alex leaving would be the last thing she heard about the punishment. To no avail Alex simply laid the burden upon his younger brother to carry out. Madeleine was going to try to talk to him about it, but Marcus simply wouldn't see her, at all. He probably was too freaked out about the prospect of the civil war that he couldn't deal with trying to fix anything so low as a simple punishment.
The morning came, the public had already started wandering towards the capitol when Madeleine had awoken. The woman got out of bed, still sore from what happened last week. How could Alex think that such a punishment was okay for the two of them? They both almost lost their life saving his sister. It wasn't Ratano's fault that the girl ran off with some strange man when they were having a large party. A party that was strictly for everyone in the castle to celebrate. Madeleine shook her head slowly, to avoid a more painful headache and pulled on a green and gold frock that was in her chest, It fit loosely on her body, now much tinier due to her not eating as much from being injured.
The woman fixed her hair and face, refusing to not look at least a bit decent, even if she was going to her own whipping. Once she opened her door to walk out, two guards were waiting for her. They escorted her down, out of the castle walls to the capitol. Her lover already there, bound and ready. Madeleine glared at the men as they handled her so roughly, and pulling her dress down in the back, almost causing an inappropriate show of skin. "There is only one man aloud to handle me that way" she hissed at the men. One of them told her to shut up, and pushed her, causing her to loose her balance and get on her knees. She cringed, her wrists being jerked hard by the fall. "Do not act so uppity you son of a b***h" she snapped "you could easily be in my spot in a heartbeat, I am still the adviser, I can have you hanged."
As the town started to gather she heard Ano mention that it would be a good punishment for inhuman crimes. She sighed and resisted rolling her eyes at the situation. "Ah, but what 'inhuman' crime did we commit?" she asked, her voice heavy "Treason? No, All we did was save the princess from certain death." she added a little more quiet, seeing that Marcus had finally arrived. She glared at the prince. She considered him to be the good son, the one that deserved the crown more than Alex did, and here he was, giving them the punishment.
Madeleine cringed when she heard the order, before the whip even touched her skin.
Pain rattled every nerve ending in her body. Physical and mental, watching the whip that came across her lovers skin right before it came across her own. Fire. She felt like she was on fire. Her rage boiled inside her and she felt hot. The blood from the godawful welts appearing on her back felt like lava pouring down her back. Her eyes shifted to Marcus, a deep glare. Not just for him, but the whole damned Mylan family. If it wasn't for ANY of them, she would have had a perfect happy life. Everything was their fault. Her father wouldn't have died protecting that worthless king. There wouldn't have been a war. She would still be at home with her husband and daughters enjoying a peaceful existence.
She cried out, her eyes shut. Her mind faded into flames, fire was all around her. Marcus and Alex were there. What was this? It hurt, worse than anything.The scent of burning flesh strong against her nose, She screamed out, her body rattled, bringing her back to the real world.
Opening her eyes she gasped for breath. The whip hit her as soon as her mind returned from her vision, knocking the breath out of her. Soft tears flowed from her eyes.
Once the rebels retreated Madeleine found herself struggling to get better. Ratano, of course went back to his duty before he was even perfectly well. Madeleine knew better than trying to reason with him, and instead lived her life trying to go back to normal, doing her job as well. 'Advising' the king though was hard to do when he was one, injured; and two, bombarded with too many decisions too quickly. She actually felt bad for him for a few days. The Mylan noblemen were relentless towards him, calling him many names, and trying to spark a civil war, which now seems to be working.
Though, maybe three days ago he got around to ordering some punishment where "punishment was due." He ordered that Ratano be publicly whipped for insubordination, and failing to protect the princess. Madeleine was shocked and rushed to try to convince the prince that it was not Ratano's fault at all, but hers. She told him everything she could, that she was distracting him and that she had a vision and didn't tell anyone about it, causing the incident to happen, that Ratano saved the princess. The king ended up ordering both of them the same punishment, infuriating Madeleine to no end.
The king set off to find his betrothed, as the father of the young lady was adamant that he find her. Madeleine didn't blame the father but hoped that Alex leaving would be the last thing she heard about the punishment. To no avail Alex simply laid the burden upon his younger brother to carry out. Madeleine was going to try to talk to him about it, but Marcus simply wouldn't see her, at all. He probably was too freaked out about the prospect of the civil war that he couldn't deal with trying to fix anything so low as a simple punishment.
The morning came, the public had already started wandering towards the capitol when Madeleine had awoken. The woman got out of bed, still sore from what happened last week. How could Alex think that such a punishment was okay for the two of them? They both almost lost their life saving his sister. It wasn't Ratano's fault that the girl ran off with some strange man when they were having a large party. A party that was strictly for everyone in the castle to celebrate. Madeleine shook her head slowly, to avoid a more painful headache and pulled on a green and gold frock that was in her chest, It fit loosely on her body, now much tinier due to her not eating as much from being injured.
The woman fixed her hair and face, refusing to not look at least a bit decent, even if she was going to her own whipping. Once she opened her door to walk out, two guards were waiting for her. They escorted her down, out of the castle walls to the capitol. Her lover already there, bound and ready. Madeleine glared at the men as they handled her so roughly, and pulling her dress down in the back, almost causing an inappropriate show of skin. "There is only one man aloud to handle me that way" she hissed at the men. One of them told her to shut up, and pushed her, causing her to loose her balance and get on her knees. She cringed, her wrists being jerked hard by the fall. "Do not act so uppity you son of a b***h" she snapped "you could easily be in my spot in a heartbeat, I am still the adviser, I can have you hanged."
As the town started to gather she heard Ano mention that it would be a good punishment for inhuman crimes. She sighed and resisted rolling her eyes at the situation. "Ah, but what 'inhuman' crime did we commit?" she asked, her voice heavy "Treason? No, All we did was save the princess from certain death." she added a little more quiet, seeing that Marcus had finally arrived. She glared at the prince. She considered him to be the good son, the one that deserved the crown more than Alex did, and here he was, giving them the punishment.
Madeleine cringed when she heard the order, before the whip even touched her skin.
Pain rattled every nerve ending in her body. Physical and mental, watching the whip that came across her lovers skin right before it came across her own. Fire. She felt like she was on fire. Her rage boiled inside her and she felt hot. The blood from the godawful welts appearing on her back felt like lava pouring down her back. Her eyes shifted to Marcus, a deep glare. Not just for him, but the whole damned Mylan family. If it wasn't for ANY of them, she would have had a perfect happy life. Everything was their fault. Her father wouldn't have died protecting that worthless king. There wouldn't have been a war. She would still be at home with her husband and daughters enjoying a peaceful existence.
She cried out, her eyes shut. Her mind faded into flames, fire was all around her. Marcus and Alex were there. What was this? It hurt, worse than anything.The scent of burning flesh strong against her nose, She screamed out, her body rattled, bringing her back to the real world.
Opening her eyes she gasped for breath. The whip hit her as soon as her mind returned from her vision, knocking the breath out of her. Soft tears flowed from her eyes.
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Madeleine was shocked when Ratano started giving out orders. "Please stay safe" She whispered as she scurried off, terrified as to what was going on in the castle. Her eyes filled with tears. Ana was missing. This was her fault. It was just like her father. She should have seen this coming. She should have had a vision. Now the girl she viewed as a daughter was missing, maybe dead. Her frail body couldn't handle much stress.
As she made it into a room she shut and locked the door, before falling to her knees, sobbing into her hands. If only Ratano hadn't have spent time with her, he could have been with Ana and none of this would have happened. Everything was always her fault. Why couldn't she control her power and just stay by herself? She only caused trouble. Why did the gods give her this power if she couldn't prevent things from happening? Her makeup ran down her cheeks as she sniffled in the darkened room.
After a few minutes she could finally see and breathe again. That's when she realized she was in Ratano's room, not her's. She must have took a wrong turn when she rushed off. She rubbed her eyes and sighed, looking around she realized it was pretty nice, well kept. She glanced under the bed and a shiny journal caught her eyes. She wondered if she should look at it. Madeleine was curious about him. He always acted so strange around her. It was only her she noted because she had watched him with other people around the castle.
Against her better judgement she pulled the journal out from under the bed. That's when she noticed a framed portrait right underneath it, thinly layered with dust other than where it looked like a hand had recently rubbed part of the glass off. She picked it up to the candle light to have a better view. It was a wedding portrait of a young Ratano, in fine clothes, his hair neatly tied back; and his bride, a raven haired girl that had Madeleine's eyes. She blinked a few times, confused. The girl in the portrait looked exactly like her. "It couldn't be" she said softly her fingers gently touching the glass.
Madeleine set the portrait back down and quickly flipped open the journal. The very first entry was dated thirteen years ago. April Twenty-Third. 'Tis was the happiest day of my life, My dearest Maddie and I finally were married. Such a wonderful celebration, my beautiful rose, she was the most beautiful thing I have ever beheld' She frowned. Maddie? Her head hurt. She kept flipping through to about the middle. It was dated back to her accident. 'My dearest Rose has took the death of her father very hard.' he wrote 'She blames herself, and I fear is driving herself mad. I take care of the children while she mourns. Hopefully I can help her to heal during this hard time.' She closed her eyes. The date was the same as her fathers death. She could feel memories coming back to her. Tears fell on the pages, smudging the ink.
"June Fifth" she read out loud. "I found her near death in the back room, Dagger in her chest. She had left a note that she was terribly sorry but that she had to leave me that she had cause enough pain. Does she not realize this has only caused me more pain?! I rushed her to the doctors and they were barely able to save her. She had no recollection of me, or our daughters. I did not press her. Perhaps I wasn't good enough to get her out of her grief and this is a blessing in disguise for her. No matter, I will not hurt her further. I will keep our daughters and raise them. Madeleine, my sweet rose, will heal. If you love something... sometimes I guess its true, you must set them free"
Towards the end of the entry she was sobbing. She continued to flip through his journal, skimming through the pages. Every entry was about her. He was so miserable being so close to her yet not allowed to be with her. She remembered everything now. She was sad, sad that she had forgotten, sad for him. She was also angry that he had just given up on her, and worried. What was to happen now.
On the most recent page he had sketched a small picture of a rose inside the page. She ran her fingers over the ink. She needed to find him. To tell him she remembered, that she loved him...
Madeleine ripped out the page with the rose and folded it, placing it in her pocket. She needed to move. They needed all the help they could get out there, she wasn't going to cower in this room and feel sorry for herself. She had done enough of that for a lifetime. She stood up. Silently wondering, that if this was where Ratano lived. Where were their daughters? It worried her. She had read that one of their girls had ran off with the rebels. That only terrified her further. Shaking her head she looked out his window to see a horse with a mysterious man and a girl who looked like "Ana!" she gasped. They were almost to the village. She could only imagine what the man was going to do with her.
Madeleine ran. Ran down the halls, her dagger out, ready to slash anyone in her way. It seemed the guards had already killed all the rebels in this wing of the castle allowing Madeleine to slip into her room. She pulled the heels off that were given to her by the princess and quickly pulled her riding boots on, and grabbed her green cloak, pulling it around her, the hood hiding her face from any passerby's. Her dagger was easily hidden under her cloak as she walked quickly through the castle, only refraining from running just in case any rebels were near.
Almost out of the castle walls a rebel spotted her and ran up. She ducked when he tried to grab her and stabbed him right in the abdomen, then ripping the blade out, dripping with scarlet blood. She ran, leaving the bleeding rebel trying to scream over coughing up blood.
She finally reached the stables unscathed so far. She grabbed the reigns of the first horse she saw and hopped upon it. The king wouldn't be needing his filly right now. She hit the horses flanks with her heels, riding until the horse was going at full gallop. "Eh Good girl" she said to the animal who was obviously distressed by all the commotion going on. She gritted her teeth and held on as she stomped through rebels, getting her leg cut by a rebel with a sword. "Damn" she hissed as she raced toward the gate.
Her stomach lurched as she saw Ratano. He was on foot, ON FOOT, against these rebels, with nary a weapon on him. She slowed down just enough to get beside him "Get On!!" She yelled at him over the sounds of battle "I saw a horse heading for the Village with Ana!" she told him slashing a rebel's throat, who was trying to get the horse.
As she made it into a room she shut and locked the door, before falling to her knees, sobbing into her hands. If only Ratano hadn't have spent time with her, he could have been with Ana and none of this would have happened. Everything was always her fault. Why couldn't she control her power and just stay by herself? She only caused trouble. Why did the gods give her this power if she couldn't prevent things from happening? Her makeup ran down her cheeks as she sniffled in the darkened room.
After a few minutes she could finally see and breathe again. That's when she realized she was in Ratano's room, not her's. She must have took a wrong turn when she rushed off. She rubbed her eyes and sighed, looking around she realized it was pretty nice, well kept. She glanced under the bed and a shiny journal caught her eyes. She wondered if she should look at it. Madeleine was curious about him. He always acted so strange around her. It was only her she noted because she had watched him with other people around the castle.
Against her better judgement she pulled the journal out from under the bed. That's when she noticed a framed portrait right underneath it, thinly layered with dust other than where it looked like a hand had recently rubbed part of the glass off. She picked it up to the candle light to have a better view. It was a wedding portrait of a young Ratano, in fine clothes, his hair neatly tied back; and his bride, a raven haired girl that had Madeleine's eyes. She blinked a few times, confused. The girl in the portrait looked exactly like her. "It couldn't be" she said softly her fingers gently touching the glass.
Madeleine set the portrait back down and quickly flipped open the journal. The very first entry was dated thirteen years ago. April Twenty-Third. 'Tis was the happiest day of my life, My dearest Maddie and I finally were married. Such a wonderful celebration, my beautiful rose, she was the most beautiful thing I have ever beheld' She frowned. Maddie? Her head hurt. She kept flipping through to about the middle. It was dated back to her accident. 'My dearest Rose has took the death of her father very hard.' he wrote 'She blames herself, and I fear is driving herself mad. I take care of the children while she mourns. Hopefully I can help her to heal during this hard time.' She closed her eyes. The date was the same as her fathers death. She could feel memories coming back to her. Tears fell on the pages, smudging the ink.
"June Fifth" she read out loud. "I found her near death in the back room, Dagger in her chest. She had left a note that she was terribly sorry but that she had to leave me that she had cause enough pain. Does she not realize this has only caused me more pain?! I rushed her to the doctors and they were barely able to save her. She had no recollection of me, or our daughters. I did not press her. Perhaps I wasn't good enough to get her out of her grief and this is a blessing in disguise for her. No matter, I will not hurt her further. I will keep our daughters and raise them. Madeleine, my sweet rose, will heal. If you love something... sometimes I guess its true, you must set them free"
Towards the end of the entry she was sobbing. She continued to flip through his journal, skimming through the pages. Every entry was about her. He was so miserable being so close to her yet not allowed to be with her. She remembered everything now. She was sad, sad that she had forgotten, sad for him. She was also angry that he had just given up on her, and worried. What was to happen now.
On the most recent page he had sketched a small picture of a rose inside the page. She ran her fingers over the ink. She needed to find him. To tell him she remembered, that she loved him...
Madeleine ripped out the page with the rose and folded it, placing it in her pocket. She needed to move. They needed all the help they could get out there, she wasn't going to cower in this room and feel sorry for herself. She had done enough of that for a lifetime. She stood up. Silently wondering, that if this was where Ratano lived. Where were their daughters? It worried her. She had read that one of their girls had ran off with the rebels. That only terrified her further. Shaking her head she looked out his window to see a horse with a mysterious man and a girl who looked like "Ana!" she gasped. They were almost to the village. She could only imagine what the man was going to do with her.
Madeleine ran. Ran down the halls, her dagger out, ready to slash anyone in her way. It seemed the guards had already killed all the rebels in this wing of the castle allowing Madeleine to slip into her room. She pulled the heels off that were given to her by the princess and quickly pulled her riding boots on, and grabbed her green cloak, pulling it around her, the hood hiding her face from any passerby's. Her dagger was easily hidden under her cloak as she walked quickly through the castle, only refraining from running just in case any rebels were near.
Almost out of the castle walls a rebel spotted her and ran up. She ducked when he tried to grab her and stabbed him right in the abdomen, then ripping the blade out, dripping with scarlet blood. She ran, leaving the bleeding rebel trying to scream over coughing up blood.
She finally reached the stables unscathed so far. She grabbed the reigns of the first horse she saw and hopped upon it. The king wouldn't be needing his filly right now. She hit the horses flanks with her heels, riding until the horse was going at full gallop. "Eh Good girl" she said to the animal who was obviously distressed by all the commotion going on. She gritted her teeth and held on as she stomped through rebels, getting her leg cut by a rebel with a sword. "Damn" she hissed as she raced toward the gate.
Her stomach lurched as she saw Ratano. He was on foot, ON FOOT, against these rebels, with nary a weapon on him. She slowed down just enough to get beside him "Get On!!" She yelled at him over the sounds of battle "I saw a horse heading for the Village with Ana!" she told him slashing a rebel's throat, who was trying to get the horse.
