May Death Do Us Part

42 Chapter 42 : How did he know that name?

*What in the world had happened last night?*

The silver haired prince looked down at his palm, slowly turning it from side to side as if expectating a set of sharp claws to protrude from his fingers like they had the previous night.

Nathan was sure he was not dreaming, and he knew it wasn’t a hallucination either, the torn clothes that he had been wearing and the claw marks on the library balcony railing was proof enough.

The prince had read about this in books when he was younger, folklore books of people who would turn into monsters, they would grow fur, claws and a tail and would take the form of giant wolves. He thought those were just made up stories but after seeing his reflection last night, he was sure that he had turned into a some sort of ware wolf.

The door of his room swung open abruptly, much to Nathan’s displeasure, “Who dares enter my chambers unannounced!”

“Settle down little brother, I came to insure you’re still alive.”

Nathan turned around and saw a tall man with honey brown eyes and dark hair standing at the doorway, it was Jeffery Aldos, second son of Juliet and Bradley Aldos and Nathan’s older brother.

Growing up, the three sons of king Bradley Aldos had never really gotten along, mostly due to their varying personalities. Nathan was a sharp, goal oriented perferct child, Jeffery on the other hand was the trouble maker, smart but very mischievous, and the oldest of the brothers, Clovis was the quiet reserved type who really didn’t care about anything or anyone.

“Jeffery, are there no doors in Dale? Or do you just not understand the concept of knocking or privacy?”

.....

Jeffrey chuckled and made his way to Nathan’s bed, jumping on it with his legs crossed over each other and his hands behind his head, “oh don’t be so cross, you’re getting married in a few days, and I hear she’s a head turner, you should be in a good mood.”

Nathan made his way to the sofa adjacent to his fireplace and sat down, “forgive me, I’ve just had a lot going on with the wedding preparation and it’s a bit stressful.”

“Stressful?” Jeffery sat up and pushed back his soft locks of hair, “you’ve been involved in politics since you were ten, studied warfare your whole life and ruled besides father since you were sixteen, and a wedding is what’s stressing you out? You must really have a thing for her huh?”

A faint smile painted Nathan’s face, Jeffery did have a point, the only moments he’d experience stress was when Ella was involved, if anything, he would actually almost lose his mind because of her. Maybe he had not obtained her love through the most truthful means but he did love her, he loved her so much it was a bit worrying, the amount of care he had for her had made her his greatest weakness.

“She’s a special woman,” Nathaniel responded, “you’ll understand when you meet her.”

Jeffrey grinned at his brother, noticing the sparkle in his eyes whenever he talked about his bride. Who knew he’d ever see the day when Nathaniel Aldos would care for something more than he did the throne.

“I see.”

Jeffrey got up and stood over his younger brother, “the reason I came here was to let you know that everyone is ready for you in the study.”

“Alright thank you Jeffery,” Nathan responded, “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

*

“oh my they’re all so beautiful,” Maria cooed in amazement as her eyes moved over the four beautiful betrothal necklaces that had been displayed in front of Ella and her. “You’re so lucky to have a prince you spoils you rotten like this my lady.”

Ella looked at the pieces, one thing was for sure, they were all stunning and looked incredibly expensive, but she couldn’t help but feel that this was another ploy by the prince to win her affection.

“We worked very hard to make these my lady as per the prince’s instructions,” the jeweler explained, “you won’t find any pieces like this on all the four kingdoms, each is very unique, two are made of the finest silver and two with the purest gold, you can take your pick my lady.”

Ella studied the necklaces sternly, the silver ones immediately caught her eye, one was encrusted with blue sapphire stones and the other with beautiful amethyst, she reached towards the one with blue stones and immediately pulled back and rubbed her fingers.

“My lady is anything wrong?” Maria asked Ella in a concerned tone.

“No nothing,” she lied, she could feel the tips of her fingers cracking in pain as if she had drawn them towards a flame.

She then looked at the silver necklace adorned with amethyst and picked it up, but the burning sensation it gave her fingers made her drop it back down instantly. This time Maria hadn’t failed to notice the wince on her lady’s face and the burn marks on the tip of her fingers.

“My lady maybe you should go with one of the gold ones,” Maria suggested politely, “silver is overrated anyway.”

The maid picked up the gold necklace that was adorned with beautiful red rubies that matched Ella’s hair, “try this one on.”

Ella was a bit hesitant but eventually nodded, the maid pulled Ella’s hair to the side and locked the necklace in place on her beautiful neck.

“It looks amazing on you.” Maria commented.

The two jewelers who had been holding their breaths the entire time heaved sighs of relief, thank the gods they could keep their heads right where they were supposed to be, on their necks.

Ella turned to look at herself in the mirror that was mounted on the wall behind her and nodded, “this will do just fine.” She then turned to the jewelers and gave them each a gold coin.

“No my lady, we can’t take this.” One of the Jewlers spoke out

“His majesty has already paid for these pieces my lady.” The second man added on

“I’m aware of that,” Ella responded with a sweet smile, “this is a token of my appreciation.”

When Ella and Maria turned to leave the two jewelers both looked at each other with shock written all over their faces, how did a prince so sour end up with a woman so sweet?

*

Outside the jewelry store, riding along the paved road in a wagon with his men, with his hood over his head, prince Adam Burchard was scouting the areas around the royal palace.

“I’ve taken note of ten gaurds in total around the palace your grace,” Ozias spoke, “it seems that most of the security is concentrated within the palace itself.”

“Making it very difficult for someone to get in without being spotted,” Adam added on

“But very easy to get out,” Roland pitched in with a smirk. “It means once we have lady Guinevere, getting her out of there will be a piece of fruit cake.”

“Keep it down Roland you want the entire kingdom to know of our plan?” Ivan scolded his friend. He then turned to Adam and questioned him, “your grace how do you plan on infiltrating the palace on the wedding day? Under a disguise?”

“After thinking about it long and hard,” Adam responded, “a disguise will only slow me down, I’m sure the guest list is under lock and key, so I’ve decided I will attend the wedding as prince Adam Burchard, I doubt Nathaniel will be able to turn away the prince of their alliance kingdom.”

Adam’s eyes continued scouting the area when they suddenly fell on a red headed woman walking out of a jewelry store.

~it can’t be.. could it be, Guinevere..~

Without warning, the prince jumped off the moving wagon and hurriedly walked towards the carriage Ella was preparing to get into. He shoved his way though the crowded street, desperately wanting to reach her.

“Guinevere!”

“Your gra- I mean my lord! Stop!”

Beric and Zander jumped off the wagon as well, chasing after Adam in an attempt to stop him, if he got caught now, their entire plan would go up in flames.

“Guinevere!”

Ella halted in her steps and looked around.

“Is anything the matter my lady?” Maria asked the woman.

“I though I heard someone calling me.” Ella scanned the area and saw three men rushing towards the carriage.

“Guine- argh let go of me!”

The two knights who were guarding the carriage grabbed Adam, stopping him from proceeding any further.

“Let go of me! I need to speak with her!” Adam yelled as he desperately tried to pry the knights off his body.

Ella and Maria watched the whole scene in confusion, but Ella couldn’t help but feel a familiarity to the man the gaurds were apprehending.

Beric and Zander rushed to the knights and pleaded for them to let Adam go, “please forgive our lord he has a bit of a drinking problem.” Beric explained.

“And it doesn’t help that he sees his dead wife in every beautiful woman he sees,” Zander added on, “please pity the poor chap.”

The two knights nodded and released Adam, “get him under control before he’s arrested for disturbing the peace and harassing the prince’s wife.”

“Of course.”

Beric and Zander dragged Adam away with him still kicking and screaming.

“Wait! Guinevere it’s me!”

“Your grace I’m so sorry but this is for your own good.” Zander smacked Adam on the head rendering him unconscious, the two men then proceeded to carry him back towards their wagon.

Ella stood there wide eyed, watching the three men disappear into the crowd, that stranger had called her Guinevere, how did he know that name?