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please comment xDPrologue
They said that a sin would earn you a passage to hell. But what if the only crime I committed was loving him? Did I deserve to go to hell? They said that nothing mattered, I could fight as much as I wanted but what’s done is done. I pay for my deeds and his deeds too…my sin won’t go unpunished.
Chapter 1
The Beginning
The Beginning
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
- - Matthew 26:41
1628
People say that life is precious but I realized that too late. I tried to enjoy my life before, I really did but I was tempted by things I could never have. I was never grateful for what I had before me. I never once stopped to think that maybe my life was meant to turn out like this, that there was a reason for my existence. I abused that existence.
Princess Victoria Edward- it was so cold. Beauty killed me.
I sat on the windowsill of my prison and stared out at the dense forest below me, the trees stretched out endlessly filling up my horizon and coloring it green. The sky looked dull and grey.
My room was too small, there was only enough room for a bed and a small wardrobe which was filled with some of my clothes. Ephraim respected me enough to let me bring my own clothes, he even installed a water fountain so I could bathe and clean myself. Every evening a basket of food was shoved in through a gap in the door and every evening it was always the same meal- a stale bread and thin soup filled with chunks of vegetables. It tasted horrible but I had no choice but to eat it.
I didn’t have enough room to pace around the room- I only had room to sit on the window sill and stare at the world below me. Soon enough I would forget how the free world looks like.
There was the sound of chirping and a small bird flew on the top of my window, rustling it’s wings and singing a song. I watched it for a second and felt a tear roll down my cheek, I wanted to be free so much.
I held out a hand to hold it but it suddenly flew away, then the sound I dreaded filled the air- a loud guttural rattle filled the air, followed by the sound of creaking. The raven perched itself on a branch and instantly I covered my ears, falling to the floor with a cry of fear- the visions came to me before I could stop them…and in it, I saw them dying.
1617
“Victoria,” said the voice of my tutor, Frederick, and I snapped my attention to the tall dark haired man in front of me. He was young- with a clean shaven tanned face and a shock of brown hair that hung wildly to his chin. I liked him because he was funny and because he taught me things that my mother would’ve disapproved of.
I sighed and looked away from the window to stare at the book in front of me.
“Did you ever want to travel?” I asked him curiously stroking back a strand of my auburn curly hair from my face.
Frederick smiled and leaned back in his chair, “I always did,” he said with a nod, “I never travelled though.”
“Why?” I asked, “I mean you have the opportunity. You’re a man.”
“Just because I’m a man doesn’t mean I can travel the world,” said Frederick with a snort, “Who told you that?”
“My mother.”
A look of understanding crossed his eyes and he opened the book, “This is the beauty of life,” he said, “One day you might think of your future and picture yourself in a foreign world but then the next day you picture yourself at home. In a stable life, a family, a happy home.”
“Is that why you never traveled?” I asked, “Because you wanted to teach?”
“I had a passion,” said Frederick, “I wanted to sail far and wide, to discover new worlds but then my father died and I had to stay back and help feed the family.”
I stared down at my book in disappointment, “So that’s life,” I said softly.
“You learn to love your life,” said Frederick, “I know I love my life now. I mean look at me now.”
“Poor and living in a manor,” I said jokingly, that was another reason why I liked him, he didn’t think I was rude when I told
him a joke.
He rolled his eyes and tapped his hand on the table, “Now come on, read the first line for me.”
I glanced up at him but he was smiling. I picked up the book and began to read the next passage.
For twelve years I lived a life of luxury. My father , Lord Edward, was a sailor and earned a lot of money from discovering new lands. He was favored by the English Queen and she didn’t fail to send our manor a carriage filled with the most beautiful dresses specially for me. I was flattered by such attention and my mother learned to take advantage of it.
Lady Mary Edwards wasn’t cruel, she was a loving mother. She was beautiful and I admired her. With a curtain of long brown hair and dark blue eyes, she was adored by everyone in the small village we lived in. But I knew one thing, she wanted to climb higher up the social ladder. She was always invited to major balls and didn’t fail to bring me with her- I was called a beauty just like her. That should’ve spoiled me but I never wanted all this.
When I was forced into pretty dresses and done up for the people I was thinking of other stuff- when I thought that my mother wasn’t looking I would run away from the ball and hide out in the corner of the garden and watch the stars.
My father found me like that one evening and brought me back into the house- my mother hated my obsession for the night sky and when Frederick found out he began to sneak me out of the manor at night to show me the different set of constellations in the night sky.
I remembered those nights clearly- like they were yesterday. Beauty captured my attention within seconds- I would cry over a fallen petal from a rose. I would pick up a small blade of grass that seemed to shine at me from the ground. I respected life even though in many ways it didn’t seem to respect me back.
The lesson passed in a blur and I watched Frederick out of the manor. He held my hand like a big brother would and laughed with my mother.
“Take care,” said Lady Mary Edwards as Frederick took her hand and kissed it.
“I will, my lady,” he said respectfully.
“Goodbye, my lover,” I quoted pretending to watch him with adoring eyes.
My mother made a noise of discontent from the back of her throat but Frederick laughed and gave me an exaggerated bow. “Goodbye my sweet,” he quoted back from a love poem, took my hand and kissed it.
I giggled, he ruffled my hair and got into the carriage. I watched him leave with a big smile on my face. Lady Mary sighed and walked back inside, “Come inside,” she called after me, “We need to prepare for your father’s arrival.”
I felt my spirits soar at the thought of my father coming back. I missed him in many ways, it wasn’t because he brought me gifts but because he brought me stories. I lived for stories- while every girl I knew asked for gifts and jewelry I asked for stories, tales from the new lands and his voyage.
My mother ordered maids to clean up the house, the chandeliers were polished, the marble floors were washed, the windows were opened to let in the fresh Autumn breeze, the horses were groomed and tied in their stables. The courtyard was cleaned off hay and the enormous fields that surrounded our house were groomed and fixed to look as good as new.
I waltzed around my room, trying on various necklaces to match the scarlet dress that I was wearing. I fixed my auburn hair back with a white ribbon and dabbed a bit of pink powder on my pale cheeks. My bright blue eyes stared back at me- curious and sparkled with happiness.
I finally picked up a small gold chain and fixed it around my neck, then ran to my window sill and climbed up on it and stared out of the window at the dark courtyard below me. I didn’t like the view outside my window- suddenly I spotted a flag in the distance- it was torn into pieces waving around in the wind. A bad feeling filled my chest and I jumped off and ran out of my room.
I found my mother was in the kitchen talking to our cook and making the final preparations for our dinner, “Mother,” I said in panic, “Father is back. But something’s wrong.”
Lady Mary looked surprised for a second then her eyes narrowed and she got out of the kitchen with a last order, “Victoria stay here.”
I ignored her order and found myself following after her. She was running across the courtyard. It didn’t take us long to reach the harbor. It was filled with a crowd of panicked villagers. Most of them had their children with them and were holding them back. I gasped- the ship that looked so magnificent a month ago looked like a wreck. Most of it was burnt except for the ragged flag and one mast. The ropes were swinging off the side and sailors were climbing down sporting enormous cuts on their skins and bloody shirts.
“What’s going on?” came murmurs from the crowd.
“Edward,” shouted Mary pushing through the crowd. I watched her from the back my heart filled with dread. I was scared to think that maybe my father had died. It would kill me.
He wasn’t dead, I saw his muscular figure from the top of the ship. He looked angry, his dark eyes narrowed in fury, his shirt was torn and bloody. I didn’t notice what he was holding in his hands until the bundle moved.
I gasped, moving forward to reach him, “Father,” I cried out.
Edward gazed down until his eyes found me. Then he hauled himself down still holding the bundle.
“Mary,” he said in a panicked voice, “We need to get him home. He’s injured.”
Mary looked at him once and nodded in understanding. A carriage was sent out to collect us and we all got in followed by the village doctor, there was no conversation. My mother gave my father meaningful looks but he only shook his head, trying to give her the message- he couldn't talk about it in front of me. When we arrived, Mary ordered the maids to tend to a fire in one of the spare rooms. The bundle was brought upstairs into one of the rooms and the doors were slammed shut. i wasn't allowed to come in.
I waited patiently for the doctor to leave. I was curious to see who the new arrival was. I could hear the screams from the hallway where I was sitting on the stairs, a book clamped between my hands. Then the sound of my mother’s soothing voice.
The screams would subside followed by a string of conversation. I picked up the words, “Fever- injured- arms- death-”
Finally the voices died down and the doctor walked out of the room looking grim followed by both my parents.
“You’ll need to look after him well,” said the doctor, an elderly man with a dark goatee and a wrinkled face, “He’s going to be unstable for a week. He might get a fever every now and again but just give him the herbs that I prescribed and he will get better.”
Edward smiled at me as the three of them walked past me. I waited for them to leave then stowed away into the bedroom where the new guest was staying.
I didn’t know what I was expecting to see but I didn’t expect to see him. The boy was only a few years older then me, lying on his back, his chest wrapped with a lot of bandages. His arms were wrapped in bandages as well. His legs were covered by a red blanket. His hands gripped the side of the bed in a tight fist. His skin looked pale and seemed to glow in the dull light of the fireplace. His white blond hair hung down to his chin in wet strands. And his perfect face looked pained. His breathing came out in fast shallow heaves.
I walked into the room filled with curiosity. I saw a gold chain around his neck, it seemed to dig into his skin. I walked over, closer to him and slowly extended my hand forward. Brushing my finger tips across the chain- the pendant was a gold wing. I suddenly gasped, he was lying on what seemed to be wings- they looked broken and the feathers were falling on the floor beneath me. I took a sudden step back just as his eyes flew open- they were a deep luminous green.
“Father,” he shouted then his eyes fell on me and instantly his eyes flashed.
I stepped back again driven by fear. There was something strange about him, his eyes looked dangerous- lethal- hungry- he fixed me with a look of a predator.
“Who are you?” I gasped.
The boy didn’t answer me, instead he hissed under his breath, “It’s you!”
I took another step back, “I don’t know you.”
“It was you!” he shouted and began to rise from the bed, “It was you!”
I made a move to walk out of the room, my heart thudding furiously in my chest. I didn’t know how it happened, almost instantly in a flash of feathers he was pinning me to the wall by my throat, his face just inches from mine, revealing his white perfect teeth. His eyes flashed dangerously, he looked like he was ready to kill me. I struggled to breathe, trying to push him away but he was too strong, even in his injured state.
“Let me go,” I screamed, “I don’t know you!”
The door burst open and Edward ran in shouting, “Lucas!” he pushed the boy back and forced him back on the bed.
The boy began to snarl a string of curses in a strange language I didn’t understand. He struggled against my father, shouting out angrily. But Edward held him back, I noticed the pendant around the boy’s neck glowing, as it swung away a huge burn mark rested on top of the boy‘s chest where the pendant used to lie- almost like a brand mark.
My mother rushed into save me, pulling me into her arms and taking me out of the room into my own room. I was too shocked to cry but a huge lump formed in my throat and I took deep hysterical breaths.
“I don’t want him to stay mother,” I began to sob into her shoulder, “I’m scared.”
My mother began to sing softly to me, under her breath as she held me, but in my fear it sounded sinister, threatening- that lullaby became my nightmare. In my mind I only saw one thing and it was Lucas’ angry gaze, his hands tightening around my neck as he accused me of something that I didn’t do. What if he had intended to kill me? What then?
