Young Writers Society

Dear lovely Princess Valerie,

my situation has become dire as I’ve observed you and the other nobles in your antics. I’ve known from the start that the Marquess is sinister and cruel, but you? I couldn’t believe it when I heard that you were the one who fought my dear Marquess. I couldn’t even bring myself to hear that you had accepted the cruel Duke of The Highlands as someone with love. He is filled with only hate. That is how any nobleman is.

I had known your old maid, Rose, for a few years. She is kind and wise and talks about you like you are her daughter. I can’t bring myself to think about what you have turned into, how you’ve become so vastly different than her. I had hope for you. But you shattered it.

Please accept my apology as I flee the Lakes and head to an unknown location with my sisters. I know it is customary for you to be dressed by a maid, but I cannot risk the lives of me and my loved ones for a moment longer. Please have understanding, and please don’t hunt me down.

-Manon.

Valerie stared at the letter in the cold of the early morning. Her hair blew to and fro in a mess as the wind whipped in and out from the doors of the balcony. She kept her nightgown tucked beneath her legs so nothing would show.

Perhaps she read the letter wrong. Maybe it said that Manon was scared of everyone but her and simply couldn’t take the Princess with her. Maybe she said she didn’t have enough money to provide for such an aristocrat. Valerie scanned the letter again with a flicker of hope in her eyes. It was still the same.

How dare the maid betray me, she thought. She was right to call the Marquess cruel, and she had every right to flee with her sisters, but to call Valerie wrong? How could she?

Valerie remembered the sweet taste of Gabriel’s lips, who had apparently hidden he was the Duke of The Highlands. She remembered the night like a fever dream, something painful that she still didn’t want to go away. She had felt lust that night, not love. She didn’t want the Marquess or the Duke. But she had felt something. Something she didn’t want, especially now that Manon had called her out. Had she used it as a crutch from her father? Why did it feel like her only real chance at love?

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Valerie said, crumpling the letter up in her fist and tucking it under her pillow. Whoever it was, a new maid or an arrogant nobleman, she didn’t want them to know any more of her secrets.

A tall, slim figure with broad shoulders walked in wearing a plain white undershirt and wrinkled trousers. Valerie couldn’t quite make out their face, but she had the feeling Soleil would never walk up to her so unkempt. He had too much of a bad reputation already on her part.

“Good morning,” a deep, drowsy voice said, the figure sitting down beside Valerie where she had propped up her pillows. They softly kissed her cheek, wrapping their arm around her shoulders.

“Good morning, Gabriel,” Valerie said flatly, shifting a little in her seat. She suddenly didn’t feel enthralled by his touch but felt weaker that morning. No Manon. No Soleil. No father.

What power did she have to push him away?

“You seem tense.” His voice had suddenly become a bit more alive as he woke up, and his chocolate eyes glimmered a little brighter. Even after a night of sleep, his hair remained perfect, and Valerie wondered if he had enough energy to run a comb through it before coming to greet her. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she said with fake cheer, leaning back a bit as she hugged her knees to herself. Gabriel looked her up and down before rubbing his hands along her back. She swallowed.

“You are not fine,” he told her. He took her chin and turned it towards him as he cocked his head with impossibly perfect puppy eyes. “Why are you so worried?”

“My maid,” Valerie said. “She left.”

“Mm. They tend to leave on the first day of Solstice. They don’t have anything to fight with. Not when they don’t have any magic.”

“Magic?” Valerie asked. Gabriel chuckled.

“Where’s your letter? From the King?”

“I don’t want to look at it,” Valerie hissed. Gabriel frowned.

“Come on. You have to look at it.”

“I’d rather die.”

“No, you don’t.” He let go of her and folded his arms around his chest, which Valerie noticed were inhumanly toned. “Go find it. I’ll read it for you.”

Valerie reached out to her nightstand and pulled open the drawer. Inside, along with the rag she had cleaned Soleil’s wound with, was a letter. She grabbed it with a huff. She had meant to burn it a long time ago, but Soleil made it seem like it was some sort of holy grail meant to save her on the first day of Solstice. She had doubted that a single letter had been that powerful, but other than the Marquess, it was her only resource. She unfolded the letter and handed it to Gabriel, peering over his shoulder as he began to read.

At first, the original letter appeared with its worn edges and bland formality, talking about Valerie’s execution and the simple warnings about Solstice. Gabriel scanned it over before smiling at Valerie. Her stomach churned and her bones seemed to shake.

“Still pretty young,” he said, stroking her face with his thumb. She felt guilty when she blushed.

“Why? When did you have your coming of age?”

“Let’s see,” he said. He tapped his chin for a moment and smiled. “Four years ago. I’m twenty now. I don’t look like a grandpa yet, do I?” He raised an eyebrow and grinned at Valerie before looking back at the letter.

The paper seemed to sparkle as the weathered edges melted into a new, white paper before ink reappeared and stained the edges red. On the top of the letter were the bold, crimson letters that spelled out ‘WRATH’. Valerie shivered.

“Dear prized Solstice player,” Gabriel began to say, “we are honored to present the first day of this year’s games; wrath. As the curse goes, you will be allowed to let this emotion and your powers out for one day only. Make sure to take it for granted. Remember, follow the rules or we’ll break them for you. King Danah.”

“That’s all he had to say?” Valerie snatched the paper from Gabriel’s olive hands and read it herself. Her skin became cold as something rose up inside of her. Something worse than love or hate or bile in her throat. Something that wasn’t her.

After all he’s done to you? the voice asked. Tsk. You deserved better, Valerie. He deserves less of you. Kill him…

Kill him…

Kill-

The voice cut off when Gabriel wrapped his arms around Valerie again. It sent a shiver down her spine, but the angry voice from before didn’t return. She felt more fear than anger.

“Are you alright?” he asked, stroking her hair. Valerie remained speechless. The voice wasn’t from her. Something deep and ancient churned inside of her. It wasn’t something she could destroy. Not on her own, at least.

Gabriel peered at her with a soft, worried gaze that made her heart melt in a way she despised. She pressed herself against the pillows as he held her in a tight embrace, her body warming as it touched his. He smelled like the damp earth after a storm. She loved it.

“It’s a lot to take in on the first day,” he whispered right beside her ear, his lips brushing it. “I’ll make sure to help you.”

“Mmm…” the words didn’t seem like Valerie’s. They were from some dark part of herself she wanted to keep away. Guilt washed over. But what could she do?

“I’ll keep you safe,” he murmured. His hands wrapped tighter around her back as he ran them back and forth her spine. His eyes met hers. The dark chocolate irises from before suddenly seemed closer to black.

“Promise me you’ll stay with me.”

No! Valerie thought to herself. But she couldn’t fight him. She couldn’t when he looked into her with his heart-wrenching eyes…

She placed her hands on her shoulders and pulled him close. His chuckle made her bones rattle as he pressed a kiss into her. It wasn’t nearly as perfect as it was the night before. But then again, any touch from him made her feel guilty…

The Princess’ eyes melted shut as she leaned back, into Gabriel’s embrace. Shame hit her harder than any storm she had ever felt. What was wrong with her?

She suddenly pushed him away. Gabriel’s hands pulled away even quicker than hers. She opened her eyes. All she saw was… herself.

Gabriel no longer sat in front of her, but her own spitting image, complete with a plain white nightgown and frizzy brown hair. It batted its eyelashes and smirked at Valerie. She froze, her jaw dropping from shock. The only thing different from it was that its eyes weren’t hazel, but black.

The strange copy of Valerie quickly pulled away and laid down on the floor, sprawling itself out as if it had been hurt.

“What…” Valerie began. “What are you doing?”

The copy looked up at her and smiled.

“I never told you to trust me, Princess. Just wait and see. It’ll be a lovely show.”

The copy took one long, final breath before screaming.

“SOLEIL!” it cried, its voice an exact replica of hers. Valerie panicked, jumping from her bed and shoving herself against the door. She could already hear footsteps from the room beside her.

Valerie tried not to fall as Soleil pounded his shoulder against the door.

“Valerie!” he growled. “Let me in!”

“Can’t-” Valerie huffed- “at the moment.”

Soleil stepped back before barreling himself into the door, Valerie falling over as the door crashed into her. Her back suddenly felt like it was on fire. Her limbs felt numb, and all of the air had been pushed out of her lungs. She peeked out of the corner of her eye to Gabriel, who gave her one quick, malicious look before calling for Soleil again.

“That horrible Gabriel pushed me down and I can’t get up!” Gabriel wailed, Soleil looking around for the man with confusion.

“Where is he?”

“He-”

“He’s her!” Valerie wheezed, pushing the door off herself and coming to stand on her wobbly legs. Soleil looked at her with complete shock before whipping his head around to the copy on the floor.

“Please,” Valerie said, “do you really think I’m so weak I couldn’t get myself up off the floor?”

“How stupid are you to believe that she’s the real one?” Gabriel asked, pointing a finger at Valerie. They glared at each other before looking back at Soleil.

“It’s too early for this,” he whined, pulling a knife out of his pocket. He reached his hand out to the fake Valerie on the floor. She pulled him close to him, whipping out a blade he had kept tucked under himself. He pressed it to Soleil’s neck and stared coldly at Valerie.

“Why are you even mad at him?” she asked, trying to buy time before Gabriel got bored and decided to make the cut.

“You’ll never love me if he’s around,” the copy growled, pressing the knife a little harder. Valerie rolled her eyes and grabbed the knife from Soleil’s hands.

“For one,” she said, cutting Gabriel’s leg, which started to quiver until it went back to its original form, “how long have I known you, Duke? Three hours? You shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up.”

“For two-” Valerie cut through the copy’s back until it turned back into Gabriel’s- “I don’t like either of you.”

Gabriel wheezed and crashed to the floor in his original but wounded form, unable to do anything except breathe. Soleil hopped up, seemingly unharmed, before taking Valerie’s hand and kissing it.

“I should have known,” he smiled, holding her hand in his. She jerked it away and looked at Gabriel’s twitching body on the floor.

“Don’t leave me,” he wheezed, reaching out a frail arm towards Valerie. She stepped back and looked at Soleil with pity.

“What should we do?” she asked, looking at the man on the floor She couldn’t just leave him- if she did, he was bound to die.

Why not let him? that horrible old voice from before said. After all he’s done to you?

I’m Princess, Valerie thought back to the voice in a menacing tone. If I’m to prove myself worthy of the crown, what better time is there to do it than a day of bloody massacre?

I hate you, the other voice said.

The feeling is mutual.

“He’s going to die if we just leave him there,” she told Soleil, heading over to Gabriel and picking up his arms. Gabriel weakly smiled at her but she ignored it. She looked over to Soleil and waited for him to pick up his legs. Soleil sighed and helped her, and together they sat him on the bed.

“He’s going to lose too much blood,” Valerie told Soleil. “And if he dies, the blame is placed on us.”

“You’re not suggesting-

“That he comes with us?” Valerie finished his sentence with a smirk. “That’s precisely what I’m doing.”

“I won’t allow it.”

“Too bad you’re just a sad little marquess who has to take orders from me.”

Gabriel managed a small chuckle but was immediately silenced when Valerie glared at him.

“Fine,” Valerie said. “But we should at least bandage him up.”

She headed to her dresser to find a dress she could tear up, but there was only one dress- the dress Manon had picked out for her to wear for the day. With a sigh, she tore off the bottom of the hem of her nightgown.

“You’re-” he wheezed- “too kind.”

“This is the last you’ll see of my kindness,” Valerie told him flatly. She unbuttoned his shirt to see the mess on his back, but the cut was cleaner than expected. It oozed out of one place- the bottom- and was leaking onto his pants.

“Go find him some new pants, Soleil,” Valerie told the Marquess. “His trousers are soaked.”

“I don’t want this petulant little-”

“Go.”

Soleil huffed and exited the empty space where the door used to be. Valerie started tying the scraps of her dress around Gabriel, whose bleeding had only slightly slowed. He wheezed and looked up at her.

“This wouldn’t have happened if-”

“If what? I became obsessed with you in one night like some fairytale?” Valerie clicked her tongue and continued wrapping the bandage. “You’re in over your head.”

“Please, Valerie.” He stared into her eyes, and Valerie felt that sickening feeling from before. The unnatural attraction. His eyes were so perfect…

She looked down as Gabriel began to smile. He slowly pulled himself forward towards her, and her breath was caught.

“Come on, Princess,” he smiled, rubbing his hand back and forth along her jaw. “You know you like me.”

“There’s a difference between liking and lusting.” She pushed his hand away. “Get away from me.”

Suddenly, Gabriel kissed her. A sweet, disgusting kiss, one that Valerie hated to enjoy. He pressed his hand on her neck and held her so she could pull away. She couldn’t scream. Couldn’t run.

Soleil walked in and dropped the trousers. Gabriel pulled away with a smirk.

“You…” Valerie was speechless. “How could you?”

Gabriel smiled cruelly at Soleil. Soleil’s anger became stronger and stronger, radiating heat into the room. His eyes turned black as he stared coldly into Gabriel’s shameless eyes. Valerie jumped up from the bed and watched in horror as Gabriel’s wounds seemed to widen and become deeper on their own, a new one appeared on his abdomen. He groaned and collapsed on Valerie’s pillows, twitching as if he were lifeless.

Soleil lifted up a tanned hand. Slowly, something appeared out of the wound on his abdomen. Valerie thought she was about to hurl.

Soleil was pulling Gabriel’s stomach out of his body.

Gabriel wheezed, blood pouring out onto his pants and soaking his bandages. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. With a quick turn of Soleil’s hand, the Marquess twisted the stomach around his bones. A rib snapped in two.

Valerie barreled into Soleil, the Marquess losing his focus as she pinned him against the wall.

“That is very unnecessary,” Valerie hissed, looking back at the Duke with a horrible wave of empathy. She couldn’t save him now.

“Now he’ll die.”

“He deserved it,” Soleil shrugged. Valerie looked back at Gabriel, who looked like he was choking on himself.

“Someone will find us and kill us.”

“Not if they never know.” Soleil gently pushed Valerie away and grabbed the door, putting it back on its hinges. He motioned for Valerie to come. She quickly pulled her only dress out of the dresser, a pair of shoes, and rushed out the door. Soleil locked it shut.

“I’m guessing you have a hairbrush I can use?” she asked. Soleil smiled and looked her in the eyes. For the first time, she was glad to see it.

“Only the finest in all of the Lakes,” he told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She shrugged it off and glared at him.

“Please. Not now.”

Soleil looked ready to argue but simply bit his tongue and nodded.

They entered his room, which looked identical to Valerie’s. Plain white bed sheets, a statue of a dolphin instead of a narwhal in the corner. Instead of a vanity, a desk sat on the side, which Soleil had left a notebook on. On the notebook was a list of names. He ran over to the notebook and checked the name ‘Gabriel’ off the list with a glass calligraphy pen.

“You’re not planning on hurting all of these people, are you?” Valerie gasped, running her finger down the last of the names as she counted. There were twenty-seven names. Twenty-seven people Soleil could kill if he wanted to.

“Relax,” Soleil said, sifting through his dresser until he found an undershirt. He took off his bloodied one and put the new one on. “I only hurt someone if they do something to me. And since my power was discovered two years ago, no one messes with me throughout the year.”

“You could use it for good,” Valerie told him. He glared at her as he put on his coat.

“There’s no fun in that,” he chuckled.

“But think of all the people you could heal!” she said excitedly. “You could turn this chaos into something a bit less messy.”

“That isn’t my job, Valerie- that’s the King’s. And soon, it will be yours.” He kissed her hand gently and walked out the door.

“Get dressed. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Valerie closed the curtains on the doors to the balcony and slipped out of her tattered nightgown. The dress Manon had picked out for Valerie only went to her ankles, and it hugged her a little too much. It didn’t have any underskirts or layers underneath it- just one layer of fabric with flimsy little spaghetti straps. She looked angrily at the dress as she ran her hands up and down its shimmering crimson fabric. It even had a little slit. It was hideous.

If things couldn’t get worse-

“I’m back!” Soleil said outside the door. Valerie creaked it open and eyed the Marquess worriedly.

“Just-” she took a breath- “don’t act surprised.”

“Surprised about what?”

Valerie opened the door, hugging her arms against her chest. Soleil looked at her with an awkward smile, and she hated it wasn’t the same, cruel one from before. She wished he didn’t look at her like that.

“You’re beautiful,” he told her. “We’ll finally match today.”

“This stupid gown is completely impractical,” Valerie huffed, sitting on the edge of his bed. “Everyone is going to see me for miles.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Soleil chuckled, emptying his pockets which he had filled with pastries from the kitchen. “At least you’ll have more options of who to fall in love with than me.”

“You were never an option,” Valerie hissed, running the brush through her hair.

“Good. Because you had the idiocy to try and save one of our enemies. I could never live with that.”

“He’s not one of our enemies,” Valerie growled. “Just a bit lost. He’s still a part of this kingdom.”

“Yes, the man who tried to kill me is not our enemy because he’s ‘still a part of this kingdom’.” Soleil rolled his eyes and put on some shoes. “Maybe he’s not your enemy, Princess, but he is surely mine.”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“I saw you when you kissed him,” Soleil growled. “You enjoyed it.”

“Please,” Valerie huffed. “You really think-”

“I think that right now, you’re a pretty terrible liar.” Soleil grabbed a bag off the floor and started to fill it with the bread he had taken, a hairbrush, and some spare clothes. He stood up and swung the bag over his shoulder.

“Come on,” he told her, helping her up with his hand. “Let’s just get this over with. I want my money.”

Soleil and Valerie walked down the stairs in silence. A few nobles rushed past them with all sorts of weaponry in their hands, and even a few with dull, black eyes, but Valerie could never pinpoint their powers when they weren’t aimed towards her. They slipped through the front door and headed to the left of the mansion, where a pristine white stable stood. It seemed a lot of people had left, as there were only two horses. Soleil set his bag down and grabbed a saddle, handing it to Valerie before getting his own. Valerie heaved the saddle onto her horse as Soleil set a girth on top of the horse’s hinds.

“Why have you suddenly gone so silent?” Valerie asked, putting the girth on under the horse. “You’re not as pesky anymore. It’s unsettling.”

Soleil smirked at her and batted his eyelashes. He put his hands up against the saddle and smiled at her.

“You enjoy my banter?”

“Well-”

“If that’s the case, all is forgiven.”

“What exactly are you forgiving me for?”

“Showing mercy to that horrible man. The one you seemed to like more than my perfection.” He flipped his golden hair and got onto his horse, grabbing Valerie’s hand and helping her up. She glared at him.

“Fine, sure. I’d just like to not ride the entire time in silence.”

“You’re paying me to be an escort, Princess. Not you’re company.” He clicked his tongue and he was off, Valerie trailing behind him. “Besides, I would be bad company anyways.”

Valerie gulped as she looked back at the mansion. All of its glamour seemed to dull as she remembered all of the horrible kisses and attacks. She turned back to Soleil. As with the mansion, anything she saw in him had disappeared as she remembered his cruel powers. How he only used them for ‘fun’. Fun would only last so long. Fun wouldn’t keep her alive.

But fun might be able to get revenge on her father.