Page 16 of Seven Princes: A Very Dirty Fairtytale

The atmosphere continued to be awkward, especially with George at the castle. At dinner Isaac had asked George what he was doing at the castle and George asked the same question back. The only person I wasn’t suspicious of was George, for better or worse I believed him and his intentions.

All the men were carrying swords, and I always had a few guards very close to me carrying theirs. It felt as though tensions could boil over anytime, meanwhile guards were stationed on the walls of our castle in fear of us being attacked. Everyone was in standby expecting something to go wrong very quickly.

The next morning came and I awoke to a knock on my door and it was one of the servants with a plate of breakfast and a hot cup of tea. “Good morning” she said as she placed the tray on my bedside table. “These are compliments from the Sanyek brothers as an offering a friendship” she said as she delivered her message. It was a very nice gesture and hopefully a sign that castle life could be more peaceful than it was yesterday. We had a recruitment drive from the nearby villages for army members and numbers were increasing once more. Things were looking up.

George – The suspicion

I knew I was there through noble intentions, but I knew that the same couldn’t be said for the Sanyek brothers and I knew they were up to something. I had fought with my father to leave the castle. Our army was strong with the best weapons in the land. There was no reason for us to join any fight as my father was not power hungry. With our army we knew also that we had no fear of being attacked. My father may have hated Bella’s father, but he had no interest in starting a war. He also had no interest in taking advantage of Bella and her vulnerable situation, not that I would have let him.

I had requested that he let our army protect their castle, but he couldn’t see the point and he had little idea of my affection towards Bella. He refused to help, which was understandable, he had no reason to. I also refused to not help, which he found hard to understand. He desperately wanted me to stay at the castle and out of the battle, but I took my personal guard and made my way. He called it suicide; I knew it was for love. He didn’t want his only son to ride off into a situation that was so dangerous, but I had no doubt in my mind.

When I arrived at the castle, I was surprised to see the Sanyek brothers there. I thought they would have been preparing for an attack given how events have unfolded over the course of the last few weeks. May father had given me the news about the failed wedding and I knew the Sanyek king was a proud man.

Our relationship with them wasn’t the best and my father never trusted them. While my father wasn’t power hungry, he always was the sense that they were. They had not long invaded another smaller kingdom to their west and increased their numbers. Even if they did have a good relationship with Bella’s father, I didn’t think they’d be too sentimental if they could sense an opportunity.

I wondered why Isaac and Ralph had stuck around, Bella had told me about the deal that they had tried to make with her which was unbelievably cheeky and she was right to turn it down. For me it looked like a weak attempt to invade the castle whilst making it seem as though they were doing a good dead.

They tried to take the castle through fear, rather than through force. It would have been a smart move if Bella was stupid, but she was far from it. Also there was John; he was suspicious of me which I thought was fair enough. He didn’t like my father by association and therefore didn’t like my presence at the castle. I vowed to him that I was here to protect the princess, and I think he believed me. He was a wise man and a great fighter; we needed to be on the same page.

I woke up very early in the morning and was doing my patrol, walking though all areas of the castle and wondering what this day would bring. I walked into the kitchen and I saw the one of the Sanyek soldiers hurriedly packing away items into his back and clearing the kitchen. He took one look at me and quickened his pace, trying to leave as quickly as possible.

“What have you been doing?” I said to him apprehensively. He ignored me, and kept packing his things away. One of the castle servants was in the room and informed me that breakfast had been made for the princess as a peace offering, and had been sent up to her.

I drew my sword and held it to the soldiers throat “Give me the bag” I said aggressively. I didn’t know if I was being paranoid or overly suspicious, but his manner gave cause for me to doubt his intentions. I pressed the tip of the sword into his throat as blood started to be drawn. He finally handed over the bag and I gave instruction for the servant to empty the contents onto the floor and go through them. There were a few food items and cooking tools before the servant found a bottle and showed it to me, it was poison.

There was no time for an inquest and no time for a trial, I pushed my sword into the soldier’s throat and watched him drop to the ground. “Make sure no-one finds out about this until I get back” I instructed the maid, as I needed to make sure that no alarms were raised. I placed my blood-soaked sword back into my sheath and ran as fast as I could up to the princess’ room. Surely I was going to be too late, my heart was racing and I was in a panic trying to get there quickly enough.

That’s the reason they stayed at the castle. If they couldn’t get the princess to silently surrender her castle, they were going to make it look as though she had died by natural causes and then make claim to a defenceless castle. It probably would have been a good idea but I presume they hadn’t considered that I’d be there.

Even if I couldn’t get to the princess in time right now, their plan had been foiled. There was no way I was going to let them take over this castle. Her room seemed so far away, I had never been so desperate to get anywhere as quickly in my life. I got nearer and nearer as I was fighting though my breathlessness, fighting to save my loves life.

Bella – Breakfast was served

I was surprised at the breakfast, but appreciative of the gesture. I’d always be able to request breakfast in my room, but this had a few food items that we didn’t frequently have in the castle so I was happy for the change. I put my tea to the side and was enjoying the food, hoping that everyone in the castle would be able to work together. I knew I’d enjoyed my time with Isaac and Ralph, but I was still suspicious as to what their long term intentions were.

While I was enjoying my breakfast, there was a knock on the door and behind it was Isaac who asked to come into my room.

“Hi princess, I was just making sure you were enjoying your breakfast” he said with a smile on his face.

“Yes, very much thank you” I said, smiling back. He was fully dressed with his sword by his side which seemed odd for this time of a morning.

“Going somewhere?” I asked. He replied that he was going to go out hunting with Ralph shortly and wanted to see how I was before I left.

“Have you tried your tea?” asked George, “It’s a specialty from the castle, I’m sure you’ll love it” he continued.

“No, not yet, I’ll drink it in a moment” I replied. “Well I’m just about to head off, and I’d love to know what you think . . . drink some” he persisted. His persistence sparked a doubt in my mind as to why he wanted me to drink it so much.

“No, I’ll wait until I’ve eaten” I replied, cautiously. “Please try it, I insist” said Isaac, changing his tone slightly. At this stage there was no way I was going to drink it, he wasn’t a very good actor and there was clearly something awry.

“No” I said bluntly back towards him. At this point he drew his sword and pressed it in against my chest. That fake smile that was on his face had been replaced with a menacing look.

I wasn’t sure which option I was going to take. If I tried to escape I was surely going to be killed, if I drank the tea then I was now sure I was going to fall to the same fate. I reached over for the cup that was by my bedside table, and tentatively brought it to my lips, trying to buy more time as I tried to figure out what I was going to do.

It’s not as though I had anything in my room with which to protect myself, I didn’t know how to fight and was dressed in my night gown. I was no match for a fully dressed soldier. I wondered if I could try and escape after drinking the tea, make myself sick and try and survive. I also thought that it might be for the best to let him kill me, that way everyone would know exactly what happened.

I decided that I was going to drink the tea. I presumed that something was in there, but I wasn’t sure exactly what. Maybe it wouldn’t kill me. Maybe it would just knock me out. I thought that my odds were very grim as it was, maybe they were slightly better if I drunk the tea. In that moment I was scared, but I was calm. Here I was facing my own death and I was thinking clearly and straight.

I didn’t want Isaac to see the fear in my eyes. The man who not long ago I was fucking with all his brothers was now going to kill me. I bought the tea to my lips, Isaac was in desperation and reaffirmed once again that I had to drink it, or he would thrust his sword straight through my chest.

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