First of all:

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO READ THIS STORY BEFORE AND AFTER THIS WEEKEND!

I started last week with about 12K reads and then something happened last Friday and here we are at almost 35,5K ?!?!?! Craaaazy! I am sending each and everyone of you so much love, previous readers and new ones! You are amaaaazing!

Secondly:

I am so nervous about this chapter, I hope you like it!

-William-

Before he knew it, Jade was on her way down the steps which separated them from the guard and the innkeeper. For his whole life William had been forced to constrain himself from acting on instinct, and that was the only thing keeping him in his seat right now. He wanted nothing more than to throw himself after Jade, and stop her from going down there. She had no idea what that guard could possibly do to her.

What the hell is she doing?! He screamed in his mind. There was not a single part in his body that wasn't tense as she came closer and closer to the criminal in front of them.

As William watched Jade walk past Loren, his anxiousness was calmed instantly. Her guard followed her without missing a single step. As Jade passed Loren, he followed her like a shadow. William was so relieved that his heartbeat slowed down almost immediately. However, he was still anxious about the fact that he had no idea of what Jade was going to do.

Thank God.

"What is she doing?" His father asked, leaning down to him. William raised his brows and shook his head.

"I have no idea." He answered and kept his mask on. He couldn't let anyone know how struck with panic he was right now. Not even his own father.

The innkeeper stood next to the man who had raped his daughter. The large and callous hands were nervously twisting a rag. From the look of it, it was one he used to clean counters and tables with, because it was full of stains and frayed.

They don't have much... William deduced from the state of the rag and the innkeepers clothes. Maybe they barely made ends meet?

The man threw a quick glance at the guard and his eyes burned with hellfire as he studied him, but there was also sorrow in his face. It was clear his heart was breaking for his daughter. That what had happened to her was something he would have done anything to prevent.

The whole throne room held its breath as Jade placed herself in front of the innkeeper. The guard looked her up and down before looking the other way. She looked so beautifully authoritative and strong in her obsidian black dress.

"Where is your daughter?" Jade's voice suddenly filled the dead-silent throne room. It echoed softly against the walls but there was a certain sternness to it. She wasn't asking, she was demanding an answer. William leaned forward a little, his elbows resting against the armrests of his throne.

"Keep calm, son..." His father mumbled and signaled with a subtle wave with his index- and middle fingers for him to lean back. "I know it's hard." He added when William gave him a dark look. How could he know how hard this was for him? His mother had never done anything like this... she had never caused his father this sort of concern.

"She is not here, milady." The innkeeper answered Jade and stole William's attention from his father. As the man spoke, he bowed his head to Jade. She tilted her head slightly to the right and William knew exactly what she was thinking.

She doesn't like being called 'your grace' or 'milady', and she definitely didn't like that he just bowed for her... William thought amused and leaned to support his head in his right hand. With his heart in his throat he continued watching every move Jade made. It was so hard to just sit there, so close but still so far away from her. It was fortunate for his nerves that Loren stood just a step away from her. Otherwise, he would have been in absolute torment.

"Where is she then?" Jade asked. It woke William up and he reminded himself that he couldn't drift off into his thoughts like this anymore... He needed to be alert as long as Jade stood so close to the man who had destroyed a girl without thinking twice about it.

The innkeeper gave Jade an uncertain look and then glanced at William.

"Look at me." Jade told him calmly. "I am the one speaking to you."

William held his breath in anticipation. Every word leaving her mouth was brilliant and he couldn't wait for the next one. This was it. This was his first taste of Jade as queen. His queen. She was showing them all what type of ruler she was going to be, and he was on the edge of his seat to be part of it...

"She is outside." The man answered Jade. He twisted the dirty rag his hands and pressed it against his chest. He was clearly in agony from this whole thing. "It was too much for her to come herself." His eyes watered, and William noticed how Jade took a very deep and slow breath. His pain affected her. "She is outside, in the courtyard." He added and William could see tears fall down his face. "He destroyed my-" His voice broke before he reached the end of it. "He shattered her very soul for his own pleasure..."

"Are you two going to talk me to death or can we get this over with?" The guard suddenly snapped darkly at Jade. "Tie the noose and put me out of this misery."

William felt a spitting fury disturb the calm exterior he was trying to hold up for everyone. He was just about to get down there himself because he didn't care how it would look. That guard was going to get beaten half to death, and William was going to do the work all on his own... but Jade was too quick.

A ripping sound of a slap cut through the air and everyone gasped and stared in terror of what had just happened.

Jade stood, still facing the father, with her left arm stretched out. She slowly withdrew it after having struck the guard with the back of her hand. No one could have anticipated it nor the force she had used. Not even William, whom she actually had slapped before. Just from the sound of this one, he knew that she had not used all her strength when she had struck him in the past. The guard's cheek was screaming red already and his eyes were big and wide in shock. He let out a sudden and shocked gasp. With clenched jaws he tried his best to keep his eyes from watering as well.

William's eyes turned to watch Loren. He was gripping the handle of his sword tightly, ready for anything. It kept William in his seat.

"I love that girl." William's father chuckled very quietly. "I cannot express how much in words... but I do. I love every part of her."

The confession wasn't like his father. He did not to show his approval like this, but Jade seemed to have earned it by doing exactly what the old man had wanted to do himself. William didn't answer. He was too stressed about Jade being so close to the guard. With his heart still in his throat he watched the guard as he turned his gaze to Jade and then to the floor.

"I wasn't speaking to you." Jade remarked without looking at him.

"Kill me or let me go, there is no in between." The guard muttered furiously.

Jade slowly turned her face towards the guard. William wished he could know what was going on in that mind of hers. This time he couldn't read it. This cold and dark side of her was new to him. He wanted, no he needed, to be able to anticipate what she was going to do so he could know for sure it wouldn't endanger her life. Instead he was stuck where he was, forced to just watch. Then, to his surprise, Jade turned and faced him. The ice blue eyes were the coldest he had ever seen them.

"What, exactly, is the punishment for rape?" Jade asked without a tremor in her voice. Her chin was elevated a bit, giving her a very strong and powerful look.

Who is this person? William wondered to himself, exhilarated by this new side of his wife. His heart swelled because this was what he had always known but never seen. Witnessing her strike the guard because he talked down to her was exactly the type of thing he had expected she would be capable of. He just hadn't seen this side of her until now. Sure, he had seen her scream and scowl several times, mostly at him... but now she exuded power and justice. She is perfect... Think of the kingdom we can build together...! To reign with her by my side will be the greatest pleasure of my life.

Jade cleared her throat when she had waited some time for him to answer. He came back to reality and stared into her beautiful cold eyes.

"Execution, by hanging." He informed her equally as authoritatively as she sounded.

"What?" She breathed and finally showed some emotion. The blue eyes melted into two pits of fury. "That is useless!" William frowned in confusion. A low murmur erupted around them but he kept his stone mask on.

What did she want to hear? What does she want us to do with him? It is the law... She doesn't know it, she can't... that is it. Of course, she doesn't know the different kinds punishments, you idiot. William thought to himself.

"It's the law and it is fair." William informed her with clarity in his voice. His father nodded in agreement next to him. "He destroyed the girl's honor, and most likely the rest of her life as well... Punishment by death is the best we can do to restore that for her."

Jade turned swiftly, looked at the guard and then back at William. She then walked up to him and lowered her voice as she spoke;

"Killing him gives her no retribution!" She spat out, clearly upset. "It gives her nothing! He took something from her that she can never get back!"

"Then what do you want to do? Torture him before we hang him?" William asked her quietly. Offering her what he thought she wanted; a stricter punishment.

"No. I want more..." She breathed heavily and inhaled deeply. A small frown rested between the soft brown eyebrows as she thought about what it was she wanted.

More? William wondered to himself. What else could we do to him than torture him and hang him? What does she have in mind?

Suddenly, his wife's eyes lit up like beacons and she walked back down to the innkeeper. He looked at her with tears still flooding his eyes.

"What does your daughter want?" She asked in a sigh, her hands clasped in front of her bodice.

"What?" He asked in shock and looked at her with confusion radiating from his face. "What do you mean?"

"If your daughter could choose his punishment, what would it be?" Jade held her hand out towards the guard.

"I do not know, milady. I do not even know if she could think of anything. She is completely distraught and not herself any longer." The broken man in front of her answered and blinked before he lowered his gaze. "If she could wish for anything it would probably be that it had never happened. I wish it never happened. She is not the same young girl anymore. She hasn't smiled for days."

"I hope to God that you don't think of her lesser because of something she had no control of herself." Jade growled and the man shook his head, making new tears stream down his face. "Something was taken from her, remember that."

"I would never think of her as dirty or lesser because of what that animal did to her..." The innkeeper hissed and studied the guard as he spoke. "She is the only family I have left after her mother passed away. I worship her as I did her mother. My daughter's pain is as much my own as hers." He then sobbed and hid his face in the rag in his hands.

William's heart almost broke for the old man. He rarely felt sorry for those who came to him or his father for help, but this man... The way he had been broken, through his daughter... It just, it was too much.

Before Jade, he would never have thought of the old man like in this way. He wouldn't have felt sorry for him. Of course, he would have thought it sad, yes, but he wouldn't have let it get to him like he did now. This was all Jade's doing. This was what she had done to him; she had broken down the walls which he had kept up for all these years. And she had done it without even knowing it.

The thought of how feeling sorry for the innkeeper could make him look weak struck him, but the thought quickly disappeared as he took the sight of Jade in for the hundredth time; her hair neatly fell down her back in large soft curls. The way she carried herself and spoke to the man was proof that she would never ever do something that would make William look weak. Jade didn't weaken anyone. She built them up, just like she had with him. She never assumed anyone was lesser than the next because of their origin or heritage. She judged a person from their actions.

William was no exception when it came to this side of her. He wasn't better than her, in her eyes, he wasn't better than anyone in her eyes. He had had to earn her trust and her respect just like everyone else had and will have to in the future. Now, when he succeeded in this, he loved her even more for grounding him.

What was clearer than a cloud free summer day was that Jade judged the guard from the very pits of her darkest place.

-Jade-

She was so angry! Every single part of her body was boiling and she didn't know how to be free of it! She wanted to claw that indifferent look off of the guard's face.

Apart from the disgusting man in shackles before her, she could see the man who had tried to rape her as well. His voice echoed in her mind and she wished that she could have chosen his fate. She wasn't ungrateful for what William killed him, but it made her so furious that she had felt so helpless at the time. Fortunately for her, William had made it in time... but no one had been there for the innkeepers daughter. No one made it in time to save her.

Jade shuddered as the memory faded in her mind. She hadn't thought about that day since it had happened. She had pushed it away... Locking it deep inside of her, but now it had come back as if it had happened yesterday. The memory brought her so much anger and she remembered every second of it. Her fingers itched to strike the guard again, but she just clenched her fists instead.

"Loren." She sighed quietly. He appeared next to her. They were both standing with their backs to William and the king. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, your grace." He answered. Jade ignored the urge to correct him.

"Can I slit his throat? Here? Now?" She whispered so that only he could hear her. She wanted to hurt this man so badly. "Without any consequences?"

Loren didn't let the brutality of the question show in his face, but she knew he was shocked by it.

"No, your grace. If it is a death sentence, it must be delivered by the prince or the king, at least until you are officially royal. You cannot kill him now... It would probably only..."

"...damage William's future as king." Jade filled in quietly. "But I could, if William gave me permission?"

"Yes." Loren sighed, sounding cautious of every word that left his lips. "But it would not be seen as just if you executed him. It would most likely spark some sort of anger with the people, be it because you carried out the execution yourself or that they then would think it fair that they themselves did the same to anyone who wronged them... since you are... "

"I am what?" Jade asked and narrowed her eyes. "One of them?" Loren swallowed and she didn't need an answer to know that it was exactly that he had meant. "If I kill him it will end in mayhem because I am a commoner. Very well. Give me your dagger." Jade said.

"Excuse me?" Loren asked, too surprised to keep his voice down.

"Give it to me and take him with you. I am taking him to her." She explained.

"Is that-"

"Do it!" Jade shouted and another silence spread in the throne room. "And so help me God, if you look back at William." She hissed quietly. Loren swallowed and it was obvious that he was not comfortable with doing what she said, but he nodded slowly at her and handed her his dagger. Afterwards he walked over to the guard.

"Turn around." He instructed the guard sternly and grabbed him by his neck before forcing him towards the double doors in the end of the throne room.

"Jade!" William suddenly shouted darkly after her as she had started walking. She stopped, turned around and clenched her hand around the handle of Loren's dagger.

The image that met her was her distraught husband standing up, next to his father. To everyone else, William's voice sounded cross with her, but she could hear the hint of nervousness in his voice. The two most powerful men had both walked to the first step of the platform which the throne rested upon.

Jade rolled her shoulders slowly in preparation to defend her actions if they were to confront her about them.

William's eyes were screaming with concern while his father's were examining her. The king almost looked like he was trying to stare into her very being to figure out what she was doing, but he didn't look angry either, just like his son, just perplexed.

From the look of it, William was going to join her any second. His left foot moved forward and he didn't even seem to notice it himself. Jade had expected him to be furious at her for taking the liberty of taking over the guard's hearing, but he wasn't, and she hadn't been able to control herself. It just happened.

"Yes, you grace?" She asked back and pressed her lips together. William searched her eyes for a long moment until he gathered himself and walked down the steps.

He walked so proudly and not at all rushed. It was almost impossible to detect his worry. His hands were neatly kept behind his back and his face was set in the stone mask he always wore around people.

Without letting her out of his sight he walked past the people surrounding them. Jade tried her very hardest to keep calm in all of this, but she still felt her heart start to pound even harder inside her chest. What if he would forbid her from doing what she was planning for the guard?

As he reached her, his eyes softened a bit.

"Jade, what are you doing?" William asked quietly.

"Making sure everyone knows what he was done." She answered simply.

"Everyone already knows." He countered instantly. "What more do you want us do to than execute him?" He whispered. She could see his right arm twitch as he restrained himself from touching her.

"Well, at least after this, everyone will remember it." She growled and locked eyes with him. William's eyes softened a bit more and he grabbed her face. The dark blue eyes looked into hers.

"Jade... I told you to let me know if this was going to be too much for you." he whispered. "I can take it from here if you-"

"It isn't too much." She interrupted him. "This is what I had wanted to do with the man who almost raped me."

"Are you saying I stole your revenge?" He asked confused.

"No." She muttered. "I just... William he is not even sorry. He is expecting that we execute him. The execution isn't something he fears..." William frowned in confusion but listened patiently.

"So... You mean that there is nothing we can take from him?" He asked.

"We can take the execution from him." Jade whispered. William looked even more confused. "Do you trust me?" She asked and straightened herself.

"Of course."

"Then why are you looking at me like you don't?" She asked and motioned him to join her with a discreet nod towards the double doors. He offered her his arm as he walked up to her right side.

"I do trust you, but can you please let me know what you are planning to do?" William asked quietly as they walked.

"Mark him."

A dark low chuckle left her husband and it caused her to look at him. Was he chuckling by the fact that she was going to hurt someone? He saw the slight confusion in her eyes.

"I love you." He whispered. "I love that this..." he nodded towards Loren and the guard. "... is the first proof of how excellent of a queen you will be."

"Proof that I am capable of hurting people?" She asked confused. William shook his head. "Please explain yourself." Jade frowned a little.

"I didn't mean that your actions are proof that you are capable of hurting someone... That I already knew. I even know that you are capable of even killing." He said quietly and Jade shuddered at the memory from their wedding. "What I mean is that instead of executing him - which as you said; he expects - you decided to take the only certainty he has left, away from him. I am impressed by the fact that you thought out a way to punish him without killing him; by letting him live with what he has done for the rest of his life is brilliant." William's eyes were glowing with excitement as he spoke. "And this is exactly the type of thing the people need to see from you in order to know that they can trust that you will be fair. I can't think of anything fairer, and in the same time cruel, than to deprive him of his execution..."

"And mark him." Jade reminded William sternly. "I want people to be able to see what he has done just by looking at him."

"And mark him." William confirmed and drew her a little closer. "Either way, I wished I had thought of it."

. . .

When the double doors opened, an icy breeze hit Jade's face and she shuddered. The cold wind strengthened while they walked out from the stone castle's protective walls.

William led her to the first step of the enormous stone stairs leading down to the courtyard. They stood next to each other and took the scene in.

A sea of humans was standing below it. They were so many, and so different from each other. Rich men and poor farmers, workers or beggars. Old and young. The people beneath them was of all types. Jade inhaled in intimidation over that she and William was supposed to lead all of them. Not a soul knew who she was, nor had they ever seen her... and they just trusted her to lead them? Did they even trust her?

"Come back, love." William whispered in her ear and she shivered from his closeness.

"I am still here." She sighed. "I am just taking the view in."

Jade hadn't stepped foot outside the castle since the time they arrived. This was the first time she saw the courtyard from this view. It was spectacular. From here she could see almost perfect the snow-covered walls and down to the city resting beneath the the castle.

"You still owe me that tour..." Jade mumbled as she kept studying her new home, some of it buried deep in snow. A warm soothing chuckle erupted from her husband and it spread through her like sunshine, calming her tense muscles and nervousness.

"How about we do one thing at a time?" He suggested and handsomely raised one of his brows at her and shot her a crooked smile. "She is down there." He nodded down at the sea of people and the beautiful face Jade loved turned serious. Jade turned her gaze to where he nodded. By the foot of the steps a girl, looking broken and distraught was pacing back and forth.

That must be her. Jade thought.

"Now what?" William asked, sounding almost intrigued. He wanted to see what she was doing to do next.

"Are you really not going to stop me?" She asked.

"Why would I?" He asked and looked out at his people spreading out beneath them like the most calm and silent ocean she had ever seen. "I think that this is a perfect opportunity for you to show your future people what type of queen you will be." He sighed and looked at her.

Jade searched his eyes for a moment and saw nothing but pride and support. She inhaled deeply and looked out again.

"Give the prisoner to me." Jade ordered Loren. He walked up to her left side and took a step back. William did the same and left her alone at the top of the stairs with the guard for everyone to behold.

The silence surrounding them was thick enough to make her think she had gone deaf. Until the guard decided to break it.

"What now?" The guard asked. His tone wasn't so indifferent now. He sounded wary and confused. His eyes flickered between Jade and the ocean of people beneath them. "Are you going to let them rip me to pieces?"

"Do you want me to let them to rip you to pieces?" Jade asked back and clenched her jaws.

He shook his head.

"Get on your knees, facing them." She ordered him, pointing at the stone blocks under their feet with Loren's dagger still in her right hand. The guard slowly got on his knees in front of her, facing the crowd.

"Jade-" Loren stepped forward and reached for his dagger. She pulled it away from his reach and shot him a poisonous look.

"I am not going to kill him." She hissed. "Step back."

"Loren." She heard William call his friend and guard back. "It is fine."

"Your grace! Are you going to let her kill me like this?" The guard asked with a shiver in his voice. "This is out-"

"I'd be quiet if I were you." William growled behind Jade. "There is nothing 'outrages' about whatever punishment you will get... There is nothing coming your way which you do not deserve."

Jade had her eyes on Loren who in turn watched her. He then slowly took a step back again, doing as William had told him.

She watched as the crowd made her the center of their attention. One by one, they turned their gazes up at them. Some of them pointed and whispered while some only stared in suspense. A part of Jade wanted to know what they were saying... what they whispered when she couldn't hear.

She waited patiently until everyone's eyes was on her. Even the girl was looking at her by now. From where they stood, she could see her drenched cheeks and swollen red eyes. The poor thing looked like she had been crying without stopping since the rape had taken place.

"Where is the father?" Jade asked, still looking at the girl. Her heart pounded so hard inside her chest that it felt like it was going to crush her rib cage. The speed of her blood rushing in her arms made it feel like it throbbed

"I am here, milady." The man answered her and stepped up next to her.

"Go to your daughter and tell her that her attacker will not be executed."

"What?" The man gasped in shock. "Please-"

"Tell her that he will be marked and will not be allowed to slip away so easily by getting hanged." Jade turned her face to the man and inhaled deeply. "Tell her that he will be seen for what he is for the rest of his miserable life, and he will not be able to hide it. And if she wishes, she can move into the castle for as long as she wants to... until she feels remotely healed."

"I need her at the inn..." The man shamefully admitted. "I depend on her to work in order to make the coin we need to survive."

Jade clenched her jaws and turned her eyes down to the man with his back to her. He had ruined so much for this family. The thought of killing him right here and now was so tempting... but it was too good for a swine like him.

In pure fury she grabbed his hair on the top of his head and pulled it back hard, exposing his throat to the people.

"Please, your grace! I beg of you! Please, do not slaughter me like a common pig." He whimpered when she placed the tip of the dagger against his left cheek. With force she pressed it so hard against his skin that it almost ripped, but hesitated.

Is this right? Is it even fair? Shouldn't it be someone else doing this? The questions swirled in her mind as she felt the guard shiver in her hands.

Out of nowhere she felt a hand on the right side of her bodice. The scent of William reached her in seconds, and she felt his presence behind her. He must have noticed her hesitation.

"Jade." He said her name quietly. "If you changed your mind, you can just let Loren do it, or I can do it."

"No..." Jade whispered and turned her the side of her face towards him. "It needs to be me... it needs to be a woman who does this to him." She continued. "Just... give me a moment."

"Very well then." He said and pressed his lips against her temple. "Do not worry, I am right behind you."

William's words calmed her down, it calmed her soul as well somehow. To know that he supported her and what she was going to do was exactly what she needed.

Jade tugged at his hair and exposed his face below her. With one and swift motion she cut the guard's cheek from just below his cheekbone all the way down to the right side of his chin. A dark roar erupted from him as she did it and blood poured out of the cut. Before he could breathe in to scream again, she did the same thing to his left cheek. He was too shocked and in pain to scream this time. Instead he just shivered in her hands as she gave him his mark with the dagger.

The crowd was still dead silent when Jade threw the dagger to her right. Blood splashed off of it when it hit the stone blocks and the sound of metal meeting stone almost echoed throughout the whole courtyard.

Jade stared down at the girl and tried to make out if she was the least happy about her attacker's punishment, but she just looked as shocked as the others.

Feeling exhausted and drained Jade turned around and looked at her husband and Loren; William looked serious but also very proud. Loren in the other hand had the same expression on his face as the girl. Pure shock.

"Do you need anything, Jade?" William asked with a darkly.

"No..." She sighed. "Loren."

"Yes?" He asked clear as day.

"Kick him down the stairs so she can see him." Jade ordered her guard and walked up to William. As she placed her hands in William's she heard the metallic sound of Loren's armor and the thud of his boot hitting the guard in his back.

-------------------------------

AAaaaaah! I can't believe the next chapter will be the LAST! I don't want to!! The only positive thing about it is that I get to start on the sequel (lol).

ANYWAY!

I hoped you liked this chapter!

Love Jenny