The Fire Within (The Fire of The Soul Series) (7 page)

"Alright Mary,
I'll be careful," I reply as honestly as I can without bursting into
giggles at the concerned look on her face.

I turn around to find
that my mother and father have finished and that now Alfredo is guiding
Christian to stand beside the throne chair. Alfredo calls my name before I have
the chance to look for Victor. Fortunately for me, I don't have to sit in
Christian's lap for the two hours that it will take Alfredo to paint the
picture of us. I am glad when Alfredo says that we can move, after staying in
the same position for two hours it gives you a bit of a cramp.

"Go stretch your
Highness; I'll need you back in half an hour." Alfredo says to me. I grab
an apple off of the snack platter that a servant has brought out; obviously
under my parents - or Meg's - orders. My eyes look around the room for him but
they cannot find what they are looking for.

"Hello Anna,"
Victor says from behind me. He must have known that I have been looking for
him, or he wouldn't have had approached me.

"Hello Victor,"
I say my lips curling up into a small smile. I move to turn around, but his
hand clamps roughly down on my shoulder. Why isn't he allowing me to move?

He leans down close to
my ear, so close that I can feel his breath on my skin, raising little goose
bumps along my flesh "Guess again," He whispers kissing me on the
neck. I should have known by the sound of his voice, or even by the way he has
touched me, or even the fact that he has touched me at all, should have told me
that it isn't Victor. Now I am stuck in Christian's arms, and he won't let me
go. He keeps on kissing my neck, as if he enjoys the motion, to me it is just
revolting.

"Let go of
me," I try to scream but he clamps his other hand down on my mouth.

"Oh no you don't,
we don't want any unwanted company." He says, when no one comes rushing to
my help I realize that we are in the big throne room all by ourselves, with our
picture staring at me from its drying spot.

"What do you
want?" I ask when he has removed his hand from my mouth. I can feel him
smiling against my hair.

"I want you to
obey my every word. When I say jump you say how high, when I say sing you say
what tune, get it?" He asks, but he doesn't wait for an answer before he
continues "Or I will kill Victor while you watch and believe me, I will be
able to." He says, still smiling in my ear. He knows that I won't allow
Victor to be harmed. He knows that there is a connection between us, a
connection that even I don't completely understand. He knows what my words are
going to before I even know them. I have only one option.

"I'll do whatever
you want," I whisper, turning around so that I can meet his blue eyes.
"But if you hurt him, I swear you will regret it," I say making my
voice as menacing as I can.

"Then we are at an
agreement?" He asks, his smile is joyful as if he didn't really expect me
to agree so easily.

"Yes," I hiss
in annoyance. His eyes burn with a fiery hunger, as his arms snake around my
waist, I want to escape but I know that I cannot; I have agreed not to.

"Then kiss me,"
He says. I kiss him on the lips but there is no passion behind it, no emotion
at all in fact. He yanks my head back by my hair. "Like you mean it,"
he sneers before crashing my lips into his. He shoves his tongue into my mouth,
violating me. He enjoys it, I can tell by his growing arousal that presses
against my leg. "Good girl," He whispers into my ear before kissing
my neck.

"No," A voice
whispers behind me, but that one word breaks my world into pieces. When I turn
to meet Victor's eyes, I see more sorrow than I can bear. It is like he is
drowning in his misery.

"Yes,"
Christian hisses at Victor from beside my neck. I feel him kiss my neck again
but I know that he keeps his eyes on Victor. I try to tell him I am sorry with
my eyes but he won't meet them. I know that the next two hours will be painful;
to be beside him, to have to look like he loves me and that I love him - though
I don't know how much that would be of a lie on my part - as Alfredo paints our
picture. I cannot believe that I have agreed to this but I have agreed to it
for his sake, for him to be safe. However, now I am not so sure that what I
have done is the right thing after all. I guess I will find out in time.

Anna's P.O.V

Time passes slowly, as
Victor and I have our portrait painted; I am sitting in his lap, his arms are
wrapped around me but they feel dead, as if that connection between us is
completely gone. I cannot stand it. When Alfredo says that we can go, Victor
almost literally pushes me off his lap in his haste to get away from me. I do
not dare to look in his eyes in fear of what I might find there. Does he hate
me as much as it looks like he does? Or is he just hurt? I do not know. I run
for my room, before Christian can find me wandering around the halls. When I
get inside, I lock the door and throw myself onto the bed. I cry for hours and
I finally settle into a light doze. I am rudely awakened as somebody knocks at
my door. I hope as I make my way to open the door that it is Victor but to my
surprise I find Meg, her eyes bloodshot and her cheeks wet from shed tears.

"Meg what's
wrong?" I ask but she pulls me from my room and down the hall.

"I don't have time
to explain Anna but you're father, he's in the stables." Meg says her
words choked from her tears and the short air in her lungs as we ran to the
stables but she didn't need to say anymore, I know what she meant and whom was
in danger; Simon.

It doesn't take us very
long to get down there but the more time passes the less time we have a chance
of saving Simon.

"Simon," I
scream when we're not far from the stables. We are running as fast as we can go
but I can hear Simon's tortured screams and I know that father has already
started.

"Meg, stay here. I
don't want you to see this," I say, Meg's feelings for Simon present
within my mind. I have always known it, ever since we were children, that Meg
would one day fall for Simon and the other way around. She nods her head in
understanding, her love for Simon evident in her eyes.

I go into the stable
and see that Simon is tied up on a chair, his shirt removed and his chest and
face cut and bloody. My father stands before him, a knife in one hand a whip in
the other.

"You think you
could be sweet on my daughter and get away with it? I know what you've done and
you won’t be able to touch her or see her again." My father sneers.
Simon's eyes are no longer on my father, no they are on me now and there is a
broken and somewhat toothless smile spreading out on his face.

"Only problem is
your Majesty, your precious daughter has graced us with her presence."
Simon says, spiting out a mouthful of blood.

"What?" My
father sneers, turning around to spot me standing with them.

"Come to see your
lover die?" My father asks me, knife still in his hands.

"I love Simon like
a brother, father. Whatever you've heard, it is not true. Please spare Simon
father," I say trying to keep my calm about me.

Don't lie to me girl.
Victor told me of what he saw happen between Simon and yourself. What reason
would he have to lie to me?" Father says, viciously turning back to Simon.

"Anna, tell Meg.
Tell her every word I've told you in the past. Please as my dying wish, let her
know" Simon says, tears spilling from his eyes.

"Of course,"
I whisper and he smiles one last time. It is broken, and the teeth he has
remaining in his head are bloodstained. My father puts down the knife and the
whip and pulls his sleeves up one at a time. Walking over to Simon he puts his
hands on his neck and with one swift motion, he quickly snaps his neck. The
life in Simon, the beautiful, vibrant life vanishes in a split second, and
before I can look at Simon's dead face, I turn away from the stables and the
sight before me.

"Oh and Anna, you
will marry either Christian or Victor. I don't want to see you messing around
with other people, especially servants again," My Father spits, and I nod
my head in understanding. I have to make a choice soon, in case my father
decides to kill another to get the message across.

I find Meg waiting
outside. She is crying and I know that she heard everything that went on
inside. "Meg, I'm so sorry." I say and she throws her arms around me
as she sobs brokenly over her dead love. "He asked me to tell you
something Meg. I know he never had the chance to tell you himself, he never had
the courage to say it, he was afraid that you would call his words a bluff.
Simon loved you, with all of his heart and I think that if he had the courage
to open up to you he would have known that you felt the same." I say
softly and she nods her head in understanding as she pulls her head away from
my shoulder.

"I know he did,
the way he acted around me or the things he would say sometimes. Anna, I need a
few moments to myself. I will speak to you later." She says and she gets
up and walks inside. I wait on the steps until my father comes out, his hands
are dirty and I realize that he must have buried Simon to get rid of the
evidence. I give him a loathing look and he smiles as he waves to me. I get up
and go inside walking away from my father, who had just done the unthinkable.

When dinner comes
around that night everything seems as if nothing had happened at all. My mother
and father eat in silence, and stay out of Victor, Christian's and my
conversation if it were willing to become more than a silence battle. Christian
asks me the usual questions but my answers are less than responsive. I cannot
get past the death of my friend and although I am not completely disrupted
because of his death it doesn't mean that I do not grieve for Simon.

"Victor, I would
like to speak to you alone," I say, as I rise from the table, I can feel
his hesitance and after a few moments I can hear his footsteps following out
after me. I make my way to the balcony, where we shared our second memory. He
wraps his arms around me, and I let him, feeling how cold he is and sighing. At
least now we can be cold together.

"I'm sorry,"
He says, kissing the top of my head.

"I know," I
say pulling away from him so I can look him in the eyes but he won't let me
move. It worries me, and with enough force on my part, he lets me pull away. I
can see it in his eyes, the shame and anger and it strikes me as strange, as I
have never seen these emotions in him before. "Just tell me one thing
Victor. Why?" I ask, sitting down on one of the benches near the stone
railing itself.

"I was mad at you,
for letting Christian kiss you and I kind of bumped into your father on the way
back to my room. I told him that you needed to be punished for playing games
with Christian and I. I didn't know what he would do," Victor says, raking
his hands through his raven hair, I hate the fact that I watch him, curious as
to his behaviour, his actions. I hate that I am fascinated by everything he
does, and I loathe myself for it.

"He killed Simon,
Victor. He killed one of my closest friends," I whisper brokenly, and then
before I know it, tears are falling down my cheeks.

"I'm so sorry
Anna. I didn't know that he was capable of doing such a thing. Can you forgive
me?" He asks, he finally meets my eyes after a few minutes of silence. Can
I forgive him? It isn't like he has done the act himself, but he had planted
the idea of punishment into my father's head. He didn't know what my father
thought punishment meant. He couldn't have possibly known, that my father would
willingly kill someone, and enjoy it but could I forgive him?

"I don't know if I
can," I whisper brokenly. "I wanted to tell you why I let Christian
kiss me. He threatened me, actually he threatened you. He said that he would kill
you if I didn't do exactly what he said. I did it to protect you," I
whisper, looking into his eyes. I can see the surprise in them. He wasn't
expecting that explanation, and then I see pure hatred roll into his eyes. He
walks quickly across the balcony, and to a wall of the castle. I hear a loud
smash, followed by another and another as he bashes his head against the wall.
When he lifts his head to smash it into the wall again I see that in one spot
on the wall there is a dent, the stone cracked into pieces. I put myself
between Victor and the wall. That is when I can see the blood trickling down
the left side of his face, flowing freely from a gash upon his forehead.

"Are you insane?
You're going to kill yourself doing that!" I screech, partly in shock,
partly because I am horrified by the idea.

"That's kind of
the point Anna," He says with a grim smirk. His eyes are looking at me,
but I don't know if he is actually seeing me.

"Please Victor for
my sake; I don't want to be alone," I say, trying to get through to him. I
reach up and cup his head in my hands and then I kiss him. A soft light press
of my lips to his, but he responds instantly. His arms wrap around my lower
back, and he kisses me until I have to pull away for breath.

"Victor?" I
ask cautiously, scared that he is going to slip back into that scary split
personality, but instead he puts his bleeding forehead against mine and then he
stands very still. When his body starts shaking in my arms I realize that he is
crying.