Queen Raeanne

"Caroline wait!" Michael calls out for the poor girl.

I stop him. "I'll go. You have done enough." I hand him our child.

Following Caroline through the castle as she sobs is surprisingly harder than I initially thought it would be.

Finally I find her beneath a curtain, trying to contain her tears. "Come on dear," I pull the curtain back. "This is no place to cry." I take her to the throne room for us to be in private. This way no one can hear or see her in this vulnerable state.

"I am such a fool. All this time I knew how close you two were and I still fell for him." She cries into her hands.

"If you are a fool for loving him then we are both fools. He has a magical way of making every girl feel special." I hold her close to me, hoping that she can feel I am with her. I am on her side.

"He also has a way of knocking them all up too apparently." Her tone turns angry.

"What?" I shake my head. She does not yet look like she is with child.

"The physician confirmed it a few months ago. I am due in the spring, a girl." She wipes some of her tears away.

"Well, congratulations. Though I am sure that is not what you are looking to hear from me." I laugh to break up some of the tension.

She nods. "No offense." She continues crying.

"Michael is a dreamer. He has this silly idea in his head that we are the storybook ending. He sees past my title and all of the other obstacles and thinks we can run away together. Just the three of us in the woods in a stupid little treehouse he will somehow build without tools or money." I shake my head just thinking about it. "But the reality is, that can never happen. Not for us."

"Would you give up the throne for him?"

"I thought about it. I really did. For a while it was all I could think about. But I couldn't leave my country in that position. With no one to take my place." I shake my head. "It just isn't realistic."

"What if you did have someone to take your place? Someone close to you." She asks. "Someone you can trust with your secrets."

I shake my head. "I wouldn't wish the burden of the crown on anyone else."

"I see. Did you mean what you said back there?" She lifts her head.

"What about?"

"About not loving him anymore."

I sigh. She deserves the truth. "Truthfully, no. It hurt my soul to lie to him about that. But you two are meant to be."

She stands up. "I am really sorry Rae. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. We were supposed to have more time to prepare."

"Sorry?" I laugh. "What for? I am the one you found out your boyfriend is still in love with. I am the one who should be apologizing, not you."

Caroline paces the area in front of me. I stand, noting the obvious shift in emotion in her. "There was a time where I was opposed to this plan."

"What plan?" I ask. "Caroline? What plan?"

Caroline lifts a blade from the display on the wall and turns towards me, plunging it deep in my stomach. I gasp for air and crumple to the floor. "That one. I wasn't supposed to do that for a few more months! You-you were supposed to send Henry to Spain where they would kill him and then I was supposed to do that and then they'd somehow put me at the top and- what have I done?"

"It- it's okay Caroline. Go get help."

"Help. Right. Help. Help." She walks slowly towards the double doors.

"And get Michael." I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to figure out how it all came to this.

She turns back towards me and kneels beside my head. "Michael is mine."

"He's all yours." I groan, the blade causing an immense amount of pressure in my abdomen.

"Do you take me for stupid?" She laughs. "I heard the stories you tell me about the mysterious father of your son. I hear the love in your voice. Do you think I am dumb enough to believe that all of that has just vanished?"

"Caroline, this is not you. Go get help. Please." I beg.

She shakes her head. "Maybe you are right. This isn't me. This isn't the naive kitchen girl you hired to be your day nurse. This is a woman scorned. A woman who is going to get her time to shine on the throne. A woman who lost both of her parents because of you!" She takes the blade from my stomach and holds it high above her head. With the removal of the blade, blood begins exiting me at a rapid pace.

"The crown is the only thing I have ever wanted. Now, Michael is on that list. I am not going to let you or anyone else take him away from me." She drops the blade and grabs the doors. "Henry either."

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