Chapter 33: Chapter 33

33 Chapter 33 : Silver

Ella gulped, Nathan would help her get ready? But didn’t that mean that he’d have to see her practically naked? The blue eyed woman was visibly shaking and her reaction brought a smile to the silver haired prince, her innocence was like an aphrodisiac to him.

“What’s wrong Ella?” The prince asked, his face indicating that he was taunting her, “in a few days you and I will, how did they put it again? Ah yes, churn the butter to consummate our marriage.”

Nathan walked behind Ella and undid the ribbons that where holding her dress, making the woman’s face the color of a tomato. “I promised you I wouldn’t touch you unless you ask me to so don’t worry, I’m merely helping you change.”

Ella gasped and instinctively cupped her chest when the dress loosened and was about to fall, “b- but Nathan..”

Nathaniel moved to Ella’s front and gave her the most adorable puppy eyes she’d ever seen, curse those beautiful pools of honey that were perfectly sculpted on his face.

“Am I not allowed to look as well?”

The girl turned her face away, the heat radiating from her cheeks would be enough to fry an egg. “You are,” she responded softly.

Nathan’s face was painted with shock, he was actually ready for rejection but Ella had just agreed to his silly request, oh what a great day it was indeed. “I am?” The prince asked the blushing woman once again, he really couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I mean, you are going to be my husband after all,” Ella responded, she turned to him and gave him a shy smile that made his throat go dry, “we’ll have to get used to seeing each other... you know.”

.....

Nathan flashed an amused smile, gosh this woman, how was she so damn cute. “Alright,” he responded softly as he lowered Ella’s arms from her chest, “let me help you dress up Mrs Aldos.”

The prince slipped off her dress letting it fall down to her feet, Ella lifted her arms to cover herself but Nathaniel grabbed them and placed them back on her sides.

“Good God Ella..” Nathan spoke in horse voice

Even though she was still covered in a sheer white chemise, the woman’s beautiful curves and silky smooth skin were all in full display. Nathan’s eyes moved rapidly over every inch of her body, as if wanting the image of her to be permanently seared into his retinas.

Nathaniel placed his hands on the woman’s shoulders and run them down her arms before planting a kiss on her forehead. The amount of self control he had to exhibit so as to not ravage her right there and then was out of this world.

“Let’s get you dressed before you run me mad shall we?”

Nathan’s warm breath blowing on her forehead earned a small squeak from Ella, much to the prince’s amusement, cheese and crackers this woman was so enticing.

The prince released Ella and walked to the bed to fetch her dress, all the while chanting ‘calm yourself’ repeatedly in his mind, the wedding couldn’t come soon enough.

*

The celebratory dinner only consisted of king Aldos and his wife, Mr and Mrs Morrell and Ella and Nathan. But despite it being a small dinner, there was enough food and drinks to feed over thirty people.

“To the new couple,” king Bradley exclaimed excitedly with his cup in the air, “the future king and queen of Meria, may they live long and give the kingdom many heirs!”

“Cheers!”

Ella blushed lightly when Nathan gently kissed her temple, for the first time in long time she felt genuinely happy. She had a man who loved her to death, a family who cared and a wedding to look forward to. And this time, she was sure she would never lose Nathan because they were destined to be together, she had no more doubts about that.

The woman sipped her wine and scratched her neck.

[argh when will this exasperating itching stop?!]

Nathan looked down at the woman concerned.

*are you alright my love?*

Ella nodded her head but kept scratching her neck, it’s like the itching was now turning into a tingling burning sensation.

*What’s wrong Ella, did something bite you?”

[No I’m fine, it’s just this necklace it’s a little uncomfortable]

*Let me have a look*

Nathaniel inspected her neck and noticed her skin was red and inflamed.

“Ella what happened?”

Ella stood up and shrieked when the burning sensation on her neck increased, causing the occupants of the table to drop what they were doing.

“It burns!” Ella shrieked.

She started yanking the necklace vigorously in an attempt to remove it.

Nathan rose from his seat, rushed behind Ella and started working on the clip of the necklace, luckily Ella’s hair was tied up so it didn’t take long for him to get it lose.

The redhead yanked the piece of jewelry off and tossed it to the floor. Nathan pulled Ella into his embrace and inspected her neck, his face darkened in anger when he saw the scorch marks on her delicate skin.

“Summon the royal jewelers immediately!” The prince roared in anger. The two men at the doorway bowed and ran out of the room to do as they were told.

Nathan took Ella in his arms and carried her out of the dining hall to her room, with everyone except queen Juliet following him behind.

The prince kicked the door open, lay Ella on the bed and turned to Maria, Ella’s right hand maid, “go get the physician, hurry!”

“Yes your grace.”

Nathan stroked Ella’s cheek in an attempt to calm the whimpering woman, “it’s alright my love, you’ll be okay,” he whispered lovingly, “I’ll make sure whoever is responsible for this is held accountable.”

The king and the Morrell’s could only watch in worry, the poor child, incurring such a nasty injury just a few days before her wedding. Even if it healed, it was sure to leave a scar, no bride wanted to be scarred on the one day she was supposed to look absolutely flawless.

*

Juliet walked towards the necklace on the floor and inspected it, wondering what had happened for it to burn Ella’s skin. She slowly reached for it and took it in her hand, but to her surprise she didn’t feel a thing. She lifted the piece of jewelry to her neck and still nothing happened, to her it seemed like just another ordinary silver necklace.

Suddenly a thought crossed Juliet’s mind, she remembered from the folklore stories she’d heard when she was younger that there was always mention of silver having an effect on unholy creatures, since silver was considered a pure metal. If silver was forged into a dagger or sword, it was potent enough to kill these unholy creatures.

The queen’s mouth curved into a wicked smile, the gods must have been showing her a sign on how to finally rid their kingdom of these two dark entities. She stood up and placed the necklace back on the floor where she found it, her brain working on how she would execute her plan.

It would be easier to kill the woman, she thought to herself, that way her son would not marry her and hopefully would grow weaker over time without her presence. And then one day when he was weak enough, she’d kill him too.

*

William sheathed his sword and waved to his fellow knights, “I’m taking five comrades, go on without me.”

He walked over to a log at the edge of the training course and sat down, it had been a long day of training the newly recruited knights, he couldn’t wait to just go home and lay down on Klaryssa’s lap.

“I hear the prince ran off for a woman, the talk is all over the castle.”

William’s ears perked up when he heard mention of the prince, he had noticed that prince Adam was rarely around these days, but he thought it was because he’d fallen ill or gone on a mission of some sort.

“Ay I can confirm,” one of the maids added on, “I was cleaning outside the prince’s room when I heard him telling the queen he was in love with another man’s wife.”

The maids all gasped in unison

“Don’t spout such nonsense Grace, they’ll have your head!”

“I’m not lying,” Grace continued in a hushed tone, “he said the woman he was in love with is prince Nathan’s wife.”

William knitted his brows at the mention of ‘prince Nathan’s wife’. Nathaniel didn’t have a wife, unless they were talking about-

“I actually saw the Merian prince speaking to his majesty,” another maid added on, “his majesty was begging for an audience with the woman but prince Nathaniel declined it, saying his wife was tired and stressed because she was with child.”

“Oh my what a scandal.”

“Oi! What are the lot of you doing lollygaging when there’s work to be done?!”

The little maids scampered towards the palace at the words of the head maid, leaving William in shock trying to process the information he’d just heard. Why would Nathan lie about the extent of his relationship with Ella to prince Adam? Was it because Adam was really in love with Ella and Nathan felt threatened by him?

William was awoken from his reverie when his friend Sir Richard sat down next to him, he looked angry. “I swear one of these days I’ll beat Louis to a pulp,” the man complained.

“Took the training too far again?” William responded with a chuckle

“Almost took my bloody eye out that bugger,” Richard snarled while rubbing his sore cheek, “just because he looks like the prince he thinks he’s royalty? I’ll knock him down a peg or two.”

William glanced at his friend, “he looks like the prince?”

“Aye, just put him in some fancy clothes and he could pass off as prince Adam.”

William squint his eyes suspiciously at Louis who was dueling with another knight, “he actually can.”

His mind went back to the day he saw Nathan and Louis exiting Ella’s cottage. Had Nathan asked Louis to dress up as prince Adam in order to deceive his sister? And if so, why? Could it all be because of insecurity or was there something else Nathaniel was up to? William needed to get to the bottom of this, he needed to question Louis Vandros.