#Driving Lesson Beaumont | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sincerelyella · 3 years ago

Text

All In My Head Part 2

Book: The Royal Romance (AU)

Pairings: Liam x MC (Ella)

Characters belong to Pixelberry; MC Ella Brooks belongs to me.

Song Inspiration: All In My Head by Tori Kelly

A/N: This is the first mini series I’ve ever written and I am so nervous about it! This is set in book 2 chapter 1, after the mess at the coronation takes place. MC has been stuck at Ramsford doing her daily lessons with the Beaumont brothers. Some cannon but mostly went left with this!

Warnings: Mostly angst

Words: 1367

Ella opened her eyes as she finished the song and was surprised by a standing ovation. She smiled shyly and did a little nervous wave. Ella loved to sing, but performing was a totally different animal.

“Woohoo Blossom!!!” Ella look back at the bar and saw Maxwell jumping up and down with his arms waving frantically in circles. She smiled at her brother … no matter what happened, she could always count on him to support her. She handed the microphone back to the DJ and thanked him. She cautiously made her way over to the group, looking around for any sight of him, but he wasn’t there.

“Uh, hey guys,” she greeted Leo and Drake, barely making eye contact with Drake and turning her attention to Leo. She couldn’t look at Drake, knowing he would see the anxiety and pain in her eyes. They had gotten to be good friends and he, like Maxwell, were pretty good at reading her.

“Ella, you brought the place down!” Leo looked at her incredulously. “I didn’t know you could sing your ass off like that!” He gave her a quick hug and turned to the bar to order another drink.

“Brooks,” Drake said. He stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her. “You doing okay?” he whispered. Ella lifted her eyes slowly to Drake’s and her eyes began to well up. She shook her head ‘no’.

Suddenly she remembered Liam was there somewhere and her eyes widened. “I … I have to go!” She frantically looked around for the exit.

“What? Where are you going?” Maxwell jumped up from the barstool. “I’m going with you!”

Ella quickly shook her head. “No … please, I need to be alone. I’ll go back to Ramsford.”

Drake and Maxwell watched her run out of the bar. A minute later Leo came back with 2 shots. “Alright I got our singer a shot of whisk-“ he stopped and looked around. “Where’d Ella go?”

Drake sighed and grabbed the shot and downed it. “She ran out of here, obviously not wanting to see Liam.”

“Speaking of … where is Liam?” The guys looked around, finally seeing Liam come out of the bathroom.

“Where is Ella?”

Ella speed walked her way down the street. Not really knowing where she was going or how she would get to Ramsford without Maxwell’s keys. You really thought this through. Good job, Ella.

The more that she thought about it, the more furious she became at Liam for even being there. He wasn’t supposed to be at a bar, he was supposed to be with his fiancé. She grimaced. He has a fiancé. And it’s not you. She pushed back those ugly thoughts and kept walking, trying to get as far away from that bar as she could.

Suddenly, she heard her name being called and she froze. She took a deep breath in and slowly turned around. There he was. His clear blue eyes staring into hers. They stayed that way for several moments, taking in each other in like it was the first time. Damnit! Why does he have to look so good? Her eyes ran slowly down his body, taking in his royal blue collared shirt that showed off his chiseled chest. His dark blue jeans fit him perfectly.

Her eyes met his again and she tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible. She cursed herself since didn’t have time to wipe the tears away. But she was determined not to show him any emotion. He saw enough in that bar.

“Ella, please. Can we talk?”

“Liam,” she said coolly. ”Now you want to talk?”

“Ella,” Liam whispered. His words wouldn’t come out. He hadn’t seen her in weeks and her beauty still took his breath away. Say something! “I … I heard you singing in there,” he stammered, as he gestured with his thumb. He began to feel nervous and was forgetting his train of thought. Her eyes piercing through him that way was making his brain turn into mush. “You have a beautiful voice.”

“Thank you. Was that all? I’m really tired, Liam.”

“Wait! No! That’s not all!” He quickly said as she began to turn away. She turned back and quirked a brow, waiting for him to speak.

“The song you sang tonight … that was for me, wasn’t it?” Liam whispered. He was holding his breath. He knew it was. She poured her heart and soul into that song and he felt it. Ella looked down at the ground for a moment, then met his eyes again.

“Yes,” she whispered. “But I didn’t expect you to walk in and hear me.”

“I’ve really missed you,” he blurted out. Liam’s voice full of sadness and regret. “I want you to know, I still love you so much. I never, ever meant to hurt you.”

Ella shook her head and sighed. “Liam, you have a fiancé.” Her voice broke when she said the word. She realized she may not be able to keep up this stoic facade. She cleared her throat and tried again. “You have a fiancé and you shouldn’t be saying these things to me. You shouldn’t even be out in public speaking with me. Please go back inside.”

“I don’t care about that Ella! I don’t love Madeleine and she doesn’t love me. I only chose her to buy us some time to clear your name.” He took a tentative step towards her. “Please, just come home with me. I can explain everything. I just … I need you with me. The last few weeks have been torture. I didn’t reach out to you out of fear that someone would try to hurt you if I did. But, I can protect you. Please, Ella?”

Ella took a step back, her eyes flashing in anger. “I didn’t ask for nor do I want your protection Liam! What I wanted was for you to love me, to choose me, despite what anyone else said or thought!” Ella took a few breaths to calm herself and thought about her next words carefully. “I’m only here to clear my name and help restore the Beaumont’s reputation. Afterwards, I’m going back to California.”

Leo, Maxwell and Drake stood outside of the bar, watching the interaction between Liam and Ella.

“Sooooo … what do you guys think they’re talking about?

Drake sighed. “Well, I’m assuming nothing good since Brooks is stepping away from him,” Drake turned to Maxwell. “Hey, how is she supposed to get home? Didn’t you drive Beaumont?”

Maxwell’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah! I guess I forgot about that.”

“Well, here comes the party pooper,” Leo interjects and nods in the direction of Liam and Ella. The guys see Bastien popping out of the shadows and starting to speak to Liam.

“I’ll go grab her so we can head home.” Maxwell said as he made his way down the street with Leo and Drake following.

Liam’s mouth was still open in shock after what Ella had just said. “You … what do you mean?” He could feel the panic rising in his chest. He swallowed the lump in his throat, trying in vain to get it to go away. But it just sat there, and it was getting in the way of him speaking. “I … you can’t leave, Ella,” he croaked out.

“I can, and I am Liam. You’ve made it perfectly clear how you feel, you’ve made your choice, and it wasn’t me. Actions speak louder than words. I’m only staying to help Max and Bertrand. They’ve done a lot for me.”

Liam opened his mouth to say something but Bastien suddenly appeared. “Good evening, Lady Ella.” Bastien looked at Ella and gave a small nod. Then he turned to Liam. “Your Majesty, I’m afraid we need to head back to the palace, it’s getting quite late.”

“Goodbye Liam,” Ella said and walked away.

#All In My Head #trr au #trr choices #trr fandom #trr fanfic #trr fanfiction #the royal romance #the royal romance au #the royal romance choices #trr #the royal romance fandom #the royal romance fanfic #the royal romance fanfiction #Liam x Ella #Liam Rys #Liam x MC #trr liam x mc

7 notes · View notes

cordonian-literature · 4 years ago

Text

The Aftermath - Ch. 33

The Anointing Ceremony

Summary: Gabriel is anointed as the heir

Word Count: ~4.1k

A/N: this is it! the next chapter is the last one :)

Warnings: none

*All characters belong to Pixelberry, except those that are unique to my story (I’ve also used some characters and fictional instances from Donna Tartt’s book, “The Goldfinch”)*

Tags: @captain-kingliamsqueen @gkittylove99 @lovablegranny @iam-the-kind-and-thoughtful @mom2000aggie @kingliam2019 @queenrileyrose @shanzay44 @cordonianroyalty @hopefulmoonobject @hopelessromanticmonie @twinkle-320 @amandablink @texaskitten30 @pens-girl-87 @ladyangel70 @sanchita012 @cordonianprincess @cordonia-gothqueen @queenwalton @yourmajesty09 @alj4890 @choicesbutterfly

I don’t know if the tags are working or not, but I hope I got everyone down! If you would like to be added or removed, let me know :)

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

- Gabriel -

Ella and I were trying to see how many grapes we could fit into our mouths when Dad stands up from the picnic blanket. I don’t pay attention to him, but when Mom laughs, I turned to look at them to see Dad on one knee holding a ring box out to her.

Ella’s hands fly to her mouth as she tries to eat quickly while I continue stuffing my face (I was on eight grapes). Mom and Dad laugh, then Dad slides the ring on her finger and they share a kiss.

“I thought you said you planned on proposing in the hedge maze?” Mom asks through a giggle.

“I had to improvise,” Dad says. “I wanted to make it official so we could let the world know as soon as possible.”

Ella swallows her grapes and goes to join the hug. I start rapidly chewing and wrap my arms around them, doing my best not to cough. After we finish everything in the picnic basket, Dad carries Ella over his shoulders and we walk back to the estate.

Inside, Duke Bertrand runs up to us and wishes Mom and Dad congratulations. I wonder how he already knows that they’re engaged.

“Your Majesty, if I may,” Bertrand says, “I am absolutely elated at the news! I saw you as I was passing by the window in my office and well...” He pauses and clears his throat, letting his smile falter. “I would kindly advise that an announcement be sent out immediately seeing that the Anointing Ceremony is tomorrow-”

Dad cuts in and through a large smile says, “Yes, Duke Bertrand, that would be appropriate.”

“Wonderful! I’ll make it my top priority!”

As Duke Bertrand walks off, Duchess Olivia catches Mom and Dad before we can go any further. She says she has something important to tell them, and the adults walk off together.

Ella and I make our way up to our rooms. My sister skips happily.

“How do you feel about Mom and Dad being engaged?” I ask her, wanting to know what she thought.

Ella shrugs and continues walking. “I guess it’s okay. Is it gonna be different than how it’s already been?”

“Well, yeah,” I tell her. “We’ll be living together with Dad, have to go places with him. And with Mom.”

“But we’ve already been doing that,” she states.

I take a moment to think about her words, and I can’t really prove her wrong. “I guess you’re right.”

The Beaumont estate is quiet since all the guests from the party had left the night before. Hunter and Heather had said goodbye to us this morning, and Uncle Leo had said that we would see them again tomorrow.

When we’re in our rooms, Ella says she wants to practice more dances with Countess Hana. We go around the estate looking for her, but don’t see her anywhere. We bump into Duchess Savannah, who tells us she’s left for the evening but will be at the ceremony tomorrow. The mention of the ceremony causes a wave of dread to flow through my chest.

The Duchess adds that Lord Maxwell and Aunt Rowan have left for dinner and that Bartie’s taking a lesson. Having nothing to do, we turn again towards the direction of our rooms.

Before we get there, we see Duchess Olivia walking away. Figuring she must have just been where Mom and Dad were, we go in the direction that she came from.

Inside a room, We see Mom crying. Dad holds her to his chest. They haven’t seen us yet, so Ella and I keep quiet.

Mom mumbles some things to Dad, but neither of us can hear it. There’s a deep frown on Ella’s face, and before I can stop her, she says, “Mama?” and walks up to her.

Mom sits up, quickly wiping the tears from her face. She doesn’t say anything to Ella, but instead holds out her arms and collects Ella into her lap.

I walk into the room and take a seat next to Dad. He puts an arm around my shoulder. Silent tears run down Mom’s face. I want to ask her what’s making her so upset.

After a while, she calms down, but the four of us don’t talk. Dad’s arm is around me and Mom, while Mom still holds Ella.

“Everything okay?” I ask, hoping one of them would answer me.

“Everything’s wonderful, baby,” Mom manages a smile.

“Why were you crying?” Ella asks.

“I was mad,” she answers.

“About what?” I question.

“Just...” She takes a shaky breath. “Thinking about your dad. And Uncle Boris.”

Her words were directed at Ella, whose face falls. “Why are you mad at him?”

Mom doesn’t hesitate before quickly saying, “No reason, baby,” as if she’s trying to erase what she just said. She gives Dad a look. “Isn’t it getting late?”

“But-” I try to stop them.

Dad pats me on the shoulder. I think he’s going to tell us to go to bed, but instead he says, “How about we end the night with a game? Or a movie?”

Ella’s face brights up.

“We have to get up early for the ceremony,” Mom tries to protest, but Dad’s already picked up Ella over his shoulders. He puts a hand on my back and leads us towards our rooms.

“Get all the sleep you need, love,” he tells her. “Meanwhile, we’ll be watching... what will we be watching, Ella?”

“Uh... The Lorax!” she cries.

Could be worse, I think to myself.

“The Lorax,” Dad finalizes. Mom stands in front of him with her arms crossed, and I can tell she’s doing her best not to smile. He leans forward to kiss her forehead, then we turn and walk away.

...

Mom wakes us up when it’s still dark out. Dad says we can sleep on the drive over, and I’m pretty sure he carried Ella into the car because she wouldn’t wake up.

The morning is cold but quiet. We don’t talk when we get into the limo. Ella is still sleeping near the back, while I’m a few feet away from her. Mom and Dad are cuddled close, their heads leaning against each other.

I watched the colors of the sky get lighter, signaling the beginning of a new day. But I wanted it to stay dark. I didn’t want this day to happen. I try to make myself fall asleep so I could calm down.

But the closer we got to the palace, and the brighter the sun got, the less I was able to sleep. Maybe it was the annoying light. Maybe it was that my seat was uncomfortable. Or maybe, it was that I really, really didn’t want to do this anymore.

I feel like I need to get up and run. I feel like something bad was about to happen. I want to tell the driver to stop, that we’re moving towards something terrible. My chest feels like it’s in knots. I don’t want to open my mouth or take a breath because I know I’ll start coughing.

But I can’t suffocate myself. I open my mouth and start coughing and crying at the same time. Mom and Dad unbuckle their belts and rush to my side.

The dread intensifies. “I don’t wanna do this,” I tell them. “I don’t wanna go!”

“Why not, baby, what happened?” Mama asked.

I couldn’t tell her what I thought. Well, maybe I could, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to tell her that I’m deathly afraid that I would do something wrong, and all the mean people at court would have something to say about it for the rest of my life. I don’t want to tell her that I had heard some of the things the noblewomen had said about her and Dad, and I don’t want to hear more of it. I don’t want to tell her that I want to skip the ceremony entirely.

“Gabriel,” Dad catches my attention. “Breathe.”

I can’t bring myself to listen to him. My chest feels tighter. I want to get out of the car.

“Breathe,” he says again, and starts breathing in a slow rhythm. I know he wants me to copy him, so as best as I can, through the tears and coughs, I follow him.

We do that for a while. For a moment I stop copying him and cry again; I felt like I was bothering him. But again Dad puts a hand on my shoulder and breathes with me. Eventually, the dread goes away and I feel a bit normal again.

“Do you need anything?” Dad asks. I don’t open my mouth; I’m scared I’ll start coughing and crying again. “I know you’re worried, you have every right to be, but I promise it will not be as bad as you think it will.” I try nodding my head at him. “I’ll be there every step of the way. If there’s a moment where you want it all to stop, tell me.” I nod again.

Mom grabs me some water. The knots and nerve-wracking thoughts become smaller. Dad doesn’t leave my side.

And when we reach the palace, I follow him as Mom and Ella go to their rooms. The palace is busier than I’ve ever seen it. Nobles pass by, rapidly whispering, quickly bowing in Dad’s direction, doing their best to get ready. Servants run around, carrying things from one hallway to another, making sure everything is in the proper place.

Dad keeps his hand on my shoulder as we greet people, attend some morning meetings, eat a quick breakfast, and make our way to the dressing rooms to get ready.

Watching him go through the routine of his day was calming. Before starting anything, Dad would ask me if there was something I need, and then asked if I want to leave and take a moment for myself.

But I didn’t. The feeling of wanting to be near him was odd... but peaceful. Everything that Dad had to worry about flowed around him: passing by for him to solve it with ease, but never lingering long enough to bother him. He was in control of everything and he made people know that. I feel safe around him. He’s picked me up and scooped me away into peace.

We pass through crowds of finely dressed people while we make our way to the boutique. Inside, Countess Hana and Mom are talking excitedly.

“Rashad and I went to speak to Neville yesterday,” she tells my mother. “We finalized everything! I’ll be staying in the palace for the time being, and I’m having servants pack my things and bring them to me.”

“And how did Neville react?” Mom asks.

“He was surprised, I could see it on his face. There was some angry mumbling. But with Rashad there he didn’t have anything to say to either of our faces!”

“You’re finally single and ready to mingle!” Lord Maxwell cries out, wrapping Hana in a big hug.

“She’s already been mingling,” Aunt Rowan says. “Duke Rashad is waiting for you outside.” She jerks her thumb in the direction of the door.

Duchess Olivia and Drake walk in together as the Countess walks out. Drake ruffles my hair and walks towards Dad.

“Has Olivia told you everything?” Dad questions.

Mom pulls me away to start getting dressed, but I can still hear Drake respond with, “Yup. We went to question Jessica this morning.”

“And? Did she have anything to confess?”

“Claimed that Boris had only told her what was happening that day I caught her with him.”

“We didn’t believe her,” Duchess Olivia states. “But she cried the entire time she told the story and said it was the truth. I suggest throwing her in the cells with the Russian.”

The outfit Mom hands me has many different layers. Every piece I put on made me feel fancier. After most of the stuff is on, I step out. Mom comes up to me and places something that looked like a cape over my shoulders. There’s gold on it.

I look over to see Ella, who wears a rose-colored dress, a similar but smaller cape drawn over her shoulders. She runs her finger over the fur as Aunt Rowan fuses over her. Mom wears a cape, too, and the peach color of her dress is the same color as Dad’s sash on his dark blue military suit.

Mom finishes helping me and hands me a pair of shoes to put on. I take a seat on a chair, and she turns towards Dad and their friends.

“Drake, I’m so sorry,” Mom says to him.

“Sorry about what?” His voice is heavy.

“Sorry about everything. With Jessica. Boris.”

They stare at each other for a long minute. Drake sighs and says, “There’s no reason to be sorry about Jessica. Don’t worry about Boris, either. He tricked all of us.”

“But you were engaged to her. You loved her. Even if she was wrong for you...”

“Brooks, it’s better to be alone than with the wrong person.”

Before anyone can say anything more, there’s a knock at the dressing room door. I go to open it, since I’m closest, and see that it’s Grandma!

She tightly wraps me in her arms, then grabs Ella into the same hug. When we part, Grandma goes around the room to greet everyone: hugging Mom and Aunt Rowan, while giving Dad, Drake, Maxwell, and Olivia quick nods.

Once that’s done, everyone looks around at each other. Mom, Dad, Ella, and I stay in the room while the rest of them leave. Grandma turns to me again to ask how I’m feeling.

“Good,” I tell her honestly. “A bit excited. Also nervous.”

“That’s okay, you’ll be fine” she exclaims, then turns to Dad. “I heard the news. I guess I should wish you two congratulations.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Brooks,” Dad says.

“But if you ever hurt my daughter again,” Grandma starts.

“Mom, I need to talk to you about Theo,” my mother says.

Grandma turns quickly. Dad leads us out of the room and we join Drake, Olivia, and Bertrand on the other side.

“Everyone is in attendance,” Duke Bertrand tells us. “The Auvernese royals left last night and there’s increased security. Everything is in place.”

Dad nods at him. Drake asks, “What’s going on in there?”

“She’s telling her mother about Theodore.”

For a second I hope that Dad would go more into detail about it. I want him to explain what’s so important about Ella’s dad and Uncle Boris. My sister looks at me and raises her eyebrows. I shrug, telling her that I don’t know anything.

The adults talk for a few more moments. The palace looks like it’s cleared out and there are only members of security and staff walking around. The guards made me a bit more anxious; seeing them made me think that there was something for me to worry about. But Ella starts talking to me and I’m distracted.

Finally, Mom and Grandma come out of the room. Grandma’s eyes are red. She pats Dad’s shoulder, holds Mom’s hand, and says a soft, “I’m sorry.”

Small smiles pass on the adult’s faces. I look up at my mother, wanting to know what she and Grandma discussed. Mom leans down to plant a kiss on my head and my sister’s.

Duke Bertrand mentions that we’re about to be late. “The anointing hall awaits!” he calls, and leads us away.

We pass by the lobby of the palace. Through the glass, I can see a large crowd of people cheering. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they cry out excitedly.

We walk through corridors, up multiple flights of stairs, and through countless hallways until we come to a wing of the palace I’ve never seen before.

“We’re not going to the usual throne room?” Mom asks.

“Tradition dictates that all royal heirs be anointed here,” Dad tells her, “in the original throne room.”

“It’s a true honor,” Duke Bertrand states, a proud smile on his face. “One that will go down in Cordonian history... nay, the history of the world! Everyone will be watching!”

Everyone? I think to myself.

As Bertrand guides Grandma, Ella, and Drake inside, I try to take deep breaths to calm the anxiety that starts again. Dad notices and puts a hand on my shoulder. He matches my breathing until the panic disappears.

“Ready?” he asks.

I nod.

Mom and Dad stand close behind me. The doors open, and rich music swells around me. People turn to look, and I freeze in place. There are smiles sent in my direction, and curious looks thrown in the direction of Mom and Dad. I see Hunter and Heather and their parents, Drake, Countess Hana, Lord Maxwell, Aunt Rowan, my sister, and my grandmother.

I take a step forward, not entirely sure if that’s what I’m supposed to do.

The closer I get to the throne, the more I notice my surroundings. There are nobles holding their house flags, one of them shouts out an introduction, though, through the thundering in my head and the loud music, their voices are drowned out.

After the person finishes talking, people being to applaud. I look around nervously at everyone, but I’m thankfully met with kind eyes.

Halfway down the aisle, Duke Landon and his family hold swords above my head. I give them my best smile, hoping they wouldn’t drop the swords on me, and continue on. I was almost at the throne. It was almost over.

Near the stairs, I recognize some more members of the Great Houses. Duchess Olivia stands next to a crown. A Lady holds a golden scepter, and another holds a small vial of oil.

“We are gathered here today to witness Gabriel’s anointment as Crown Prince of Cordonia,” Duchess Olivia’s commanding voice says to the crowd. “This ceremony represents Cordonia’s unity, as we pledge our loyalty to our future king.”

A cheer rises from the crowd behind me, which is unexpected. The people are happy. For me.

“Gabriel Rys,” the Duchess turns to me. “Do you accept the title of Crown Prince, and all the responsibilities it carries?”

Trying to sound responsible, I repeat her question in my answer, showing that I was paying attention: “I accept the title of Crown Prince and all the responsibilities that it carries.”

“Lady Kiara of House Theron, you may now cross the heir with the royal scepter, that he may be ready to shoulder the station it represents.”

I turn to Lady Kiara, and she does what Duchess Olivia said. The scepter glitters as it passes in front of me.

“Countess Madeleine of House Fydelia,” the Duchess starts again, “you may now anoint the heir in apple oil.”

She puts a drop of the oil on my forehead, which falls down between my eyebrows and down the tip of my nose, dropping on my chin. It smells funny. I fight to keep a sneeze in.

The Countess steps back, and Olivia picks up the crown. She faces me, and I bow my head slightly, allowing her to place it over my head.

Dad had told me that it might be heavy, but that wasn’t what I was worried about. The crown fit perfectly on my head. When I stood up straight again, it didn’t tilt or move. I felt like I had just been given the final piece of a puzzle. I give a wide grin.

Duchess Olivia’s commanding voice heightens as she cries, “May I present to you the new Crown Prince of Cordonia, Prince Gabriel!”

I let out a sigh of relief. The crowd cheers again. My parents’ friends and my sister surround me, giving me high fives and pats on the back. A photographer comes in front of us and snaps a picture.

“Our first professional photo as a family,” Dad says to us.

“So that’s it?” Ella asks.

“Well, you still have to be anointed as a royal,” Dad tells her, “but that won’t happen until your mother and I are married.”

“Oh, okay!” she cries.

In the middle of the celebration, we’re led down to the main ballroom. We’re showered with enthusiastic congratulations, both for the ceremony and my parent’s engagement.

Hours ago, I had been worried about what people would say to me or about me. But the nobles who come up to us say that they’re proud of me and excited for my future in Cordonia. Some of them even have gifts for Ella and I.

Mom walks around to mingle with people. I walk with Dad and Ella, and we bump into Hunter, Heater, and their parents.

“Congrats, kiddo,” Uncle Leo ruffles my hair. “You did good out there.”

“Thanks,” I say, as Hunter repeats the wish.

“The nobles are under your control, huh?” Uncle Leo asks Dad. “I know some of them came to prove their loyalty to the crown after years of speaking against it. Having an heir changes everything.”

“It truly does,” Dad says. “Not only will Cordonia be more stable, but the Great Houses will no longer dare to question my actions.”

“They haven’t said anything about your engagement?”

“Why would they say anything against their King? Or, for that matter, their future queen and the mother of the heir? That sounds borderline treasonous to me.” There’s a smile in Dad’s voice. I smile, too, when I understand what he's saying. He really did have everything under control.

Uncle Leo chuckles. “I’m proud of you, brother.”

After the party ends and hundreds of other pictures have been taken, Lord Maxwell and Aunt Rowan lead us into our rooms to get changed.

Once she's in her pajamas, Ella flops onto the bed, but Aunt Rowan tells her to get up.

We leave the room and weave through the hallways. It’s much later than we thought it was, and most of the guests are already asleep. We reach a pair of ordinate doors, which look like every other door in the palace, but on the other side of it is a large movie room.

The smell of popcorn and candy wraps around me. Mom and Dad are in the back row, talking to Lady Hana, Duke Rashad, Uncle Leo, and Aunt Katie. Drake, Bartie, and Hunter are picking out a movie, while Duchess Savannah, Grandma, and Duchess Olivia are near the popcorn maker.

“Thought we could all use some family-fun time,” Lord Maxwell says to us.

Though we had just watched a movie last night, this did seem fun, and I’m not about to complain. Ella runs towards the popcorn. Once she has all the snacks she desires, she finds a seat near Heather.

“Looks cool,” I tell Lord Maxwell as we walk towards Drake and Bartie. “What are we watching?”

“Anything you guys want,” Drake says.

“Can we not watch Disney?” Hunter asks.

“Or The Lorax?” I say.

Drake laughs. “Alright, alright. Take your seats, The Lorax begins in a few moments.”

Bartie, Hunter, and I roll our eyes and grab some snacks. The adults all take a seat near each other.

When the beginning of the movie starts and someone dims the lights, the serenity around me lulls me towards sleep. I remember the uneasiness from this morning, and I almost laugh at myself for feeling that way at all.

A couple of months ago, this wouldn’t have been the life I would have chosen. But looking back, I know that wasn’t up to me. The aftermath of the bombing brought my family surprises, but without it, would we all have been this happy?

Did Mom smile this way before? Did she laugh so carelessly? Did she used to have friends who laughed with her this way?

Dad. I wouldn’t even have known him. Maybe before I was angry that he interrupted our family, maybe I thought that he was doing the wrong thing by trying to bring my mother to Cordonia, but everything ended up right.

Through the sadness, desperation, and fear — fear that my mother might forget me again, fear that a strange man would take me away from Mom and my sister, fear that I would never be loved the same way again — came goodness and peace and family. The whole thing feels like a landmark: it’s led us all to a happier, more pleasant life.

#trr au fanfic #trr #trr fanfic #trr fanfiction #the royal romance fanfic #choices the royal romance #the royal romance #choices trr #choices au fanfic #trr au #trh fanfic #trr liam #cordonia

50 notes · View notes

twinkleallnight · 4 years ago

Text

Marshmallow

(Part-12) Hope

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x MC, Drake x Hana

For previous chapters: catch up here

Prompt 1: This fic is my submission for this week’s #WackyDrabbles. The prompt is appears in bold.

Prompt 2: This is a submission for choicesweeklychallenge. The prompt appears in bold.

Word count : 1916

Tags: @ao719 @aloneautumn @bebepac @charlotteg234 @choicesficwriterscreations @choiceskatie @cordonia-gothqueen @cordonianroyalty @sfb123 @drakewalker04 @gardeningourmet @gkittylove99 @glaimtruelovealways @kat-tia801 @hopefulmoonobject @hopelessromanticmonie @iam-the-kind-and-thoughtful @idontknowwhysblog @islandcrow @jovialyouthmusic @jaxsmutsuo @kingliam2019 @lovablegranny @mrswalkers-blog @mom2000aggie @no-one-u-know @ntoraplayschoices @princessleac1 @ritachacha @speedyoperarascalparty @shanzay44 @texaskitten30 @queenrileyrose @sanchita012 @theroyalheirshadowhunter @wackydrabbles @xpandabeardontcarex @yourmajesty09

I get behind the wheels while Max is yelling something from his SUV. My phone buzzes right at the same moment. I roll down the glass to listen to him, and receive the phone call with my other hand.

“Hello!” says the sharp voice over phone.

“Livy?”

“Happy birthday…” her sound is drowned against the shout out from Max, “Happy birthday grumpy guy!” Hana and Riley laugh out loudly.

I give him a glare and roll the glass up and focus back on the call.

“Umm… thank you.”

“I see you are busy with someone.” She says with a sarcastic tone. “Since when did you start partying? Seems you are a changed man.”

“Look who's talking!” I sneer back.

“What do you mean?”

“At least I don't keep secrets.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Anyways, I think I should leave you with your commoner friends to enjoy. Bye.”

And just like that she drops the call.

“What the hell!” I shout at my phone.

Why did she call? To wish me or to irritate me? Why does she spoil everything! Damn! I was so happy, for once, but she had to call up and mess it all. I rev up the engine and hit the road with a surge of anger. I drive down to the Applewood manor and decide to call it a day.

-----------

Morning comes with a fresh start. The court and nobles are all busy celebrating the Apple blossom festival with their king and queen while I keep myself occupied by the stables. I check the horses selected for next day’s event -the foxhunt, where a mountain trail is to be covered on horse’s back. I know as soon as they conclude the festival in orchards, the excited nobles will turn to stables to tend to their rides for tomorrow. I want to make myself scarce before that.

I am about to leave when Riley visits the stables with Bertrand. She is the first one to come, as she doesn’t have a horse of her own. Liam follows them.

After exchanging pleasantries, we get to business of choosing her ride.

“I love horse riding but I have no idea how to choose the horse.” Riley says perturbed.

Liam takes the opportunity before Bertrand can reply. “Why don’t you let me do it instead?”

“That will be great!” Riley claps excitedly.

They both start looking at the unclaimed horses, and Bertrand tags along. I observe the couple keenly. They are so relaxed in each other’s company. Liam forgets all his worries around her, and Riley is like a live wire in his presence, full of energy and enthusiasm. I love to see them together. I wish…!

They turn around and Riley jumps up. “Hey Walker, I am not just borrowing, I am buying a horse.!”

“Really?” I look at Bertrand wide eyed.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Bertrand says in an annoyed tone, looking between Liam and Riley.

“ Congratulations!” I try to distract Bertrand.

I help Riley by checking Belle, the horse she selected. While Bertrand starts discussing official things with Liam, Riley is enraptured in narrating the events that she experienced at the festival. “You should have been there. We had such a good time. I was in Olivia’s team.”

I am busy inspecting Belle but I stiffen on mention of Livy’s name. I curse myself for the reaction. I need to get over the differences between us. I promise myself to act better next time.

Riley continues, “ We made an apple pie and you won’t believe our team won. I think our winning streak was Hana’s specially crafted roses on the crust. I tell you, that girl has so much talent!” I can see Riley’s eyes trying to find some reaction from me but I simply nod in agreement.

I pat Belle and give my approval to Riley.. “Here, all good to go!” They wrap up the deal, and we all walk out.

There are other nobles who pay visit. The stable boys help them out. There is nothing major, where my services are required. So, I take a stroll around the lush gardens of the manor. I have my plans to sit near the lake, my favourite hideout since childhood. But when I walk down to the edge of the gardens, my eyes fall on the figure who has seized my special place already.

She is lost in her thoughts, her eyes staring far away into the horizon, where the sky is pink and the golden ball of sun is about to drown itself into the unknown lands. The ebbs in the water are shining with the ochre reflections. Her calm form is adding into the serenity of the landscape. I stand there absorbing the beauty of nature for some time before I walk towards her, as much discreetly as I can.

“Hana!” I call out softly. I don’t want to disturb the tranquillity surrounding her.

She turns to look at me. Our eyes meet and she beams, “Marshmallow!” She stifles a laugh. Her teasing brings a smile on my face.

I rub the back of my neck, beaming at her. She moves making space next to her and pats her hand guiding me to sit beside her. We both sit there quietly, listening to each other’s breath, till she leaves a sigh, and shakes her head, as if disagreeing with her own thoughts.

“What is it Hana?” I ask with concern.

“I don’t know what to do. Since my childhood, I have been trained to be part of the court. Each class, each lesson was meant to place me at a higher pedestal in front of the nobles. This continuous struggle to achieve something, fulfilling their expectations” she purses her lips, “it’s tiring. I want to live a carefree life, where I live for myself. Where it is okay to make mistakes. Where I can build up a small house and fill it up with my desires to make it a home.”

“That’s a beautiful wish. What is it that’s stopping you?”

“My parents want to see me married to some noble.” She lowers her eyelashes avoiding eye contact with me. “I know they anticipate of something I can’t live up to.”

“It’s your life Hana, your parents should not be the ones making decisions for you.”

She gets up, frustrated, and takes few steps towards the waters. “That’s the whole problem.” She says. “The culture from where I come is very different. Its closed environment with families dominated by parents. It’s hard for me to explain that even if they pressurize me to do things, I still love them. I don’t want to hurt them. I want them to understand my choices.”

I walk up to her, and clasp her shoulders to turn her to me. Her usually peaceful eyes seem to be deep into some storm, piercing into mine, searching for the shores. Yet, it doesn’t falter my mind, instead it seems to be encouraging me to make stronger resolutions. “Take baby steps. Break your desires into tiny goals and try achieving one at a time.”

Her mind is still out on a wild chase as she rests her soft little palms on me. Her touch acts like a pacifier for my pacing heart. Her lips quiver to pour out the questions her eyes have stored. “How will I answer them? What will I say if they ask?”

“We will cross the bridge when we reach there.” I reply. I see the storm in her eyes calming down as the soothing honey colour dances in them again. She closes the distance between us. Her head rests on my chest and our arms embrace each other.

My eyes take in the view at the horizon. The pink of the sky has changed to purple. The waters are dark and the twilight sparkles over the lake. The storm that left her eyes suddenly is hitting the waves of my mind. 'We will cross the bridge… I said to her. Why did I promise myself into it? What am I doing? I am letting myself fall into valley of flowers, except that these flowers are going to be roses, roses with thorns. I don’t know how many wounds they will create before the eternal bliss.

“Thank you for being there for me.” Her mellow tone creates another smooth wave, overpowering my self-destructive thoughts. ‘We WILL cross the bridge…' a voice inside me resonates.

We start walking back to the manor. “Ready for tomorrow’s hunt?” I ask her.

“Yes. It’s going to be fun. I can practice my dressage.”

“You have a training in horse-riding?” I stop in my tracks and turn to her, wide eyed.

“Yes. Why are you so shocked?” She says in a casual manner.

“You never cease to amaze me.” I shake my head and start walking again. “It’s definitely going to be fun tomorrow.”

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

We start early morning with the trail. There is a long line of nobles trotting on their horses across the countryside. Liam is up ahead with the king, while I am at the tail end of the group with Max. We are talking about the turn of events since our new york trip just before the social season.

“What made you take that instant decision of sponsoring Riley for the social season?” I ask Max.

“Have you ever seen Liam so happy? Have you observed the way he looks at her?”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same the other day.”

“It was this look, that made me take the decision.” He confirms as our eyes gaze at Riley riding beside Hana at a distance ahead of us.

I have another question in my mind, and ask,“What is wrong with Bertrand though?” I remember his annoyance at the stable a day ago. “He is so serious nowadays.”

“House Beaumont is juggling a bit with some financial matters and since father left, Bertrand has taken it up as his sole responsibility to keep up the name.” Max's expressions brighten up, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing much. Lord Maxwell is here for the rescue.” He strikes a knight pose riding his horse.

We laugh it out. Max makes sure to keep everything cool and under control, always. A quality, I admire.

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

“You are not the one to lose. What’s the secret?”

We have covered mountain trail, and reached the tiny village. Hana did not fail to impress with her horseback skills. But when the king announced the horseback race at the last leg for the suitors, Hana finished second.

Throughout the trail she has been either with Riley or Penelope or Kiara, and now finally I get a chance to talk to her. That is when I ask her.

“You noticed.” She smiles. “I would be sitting with the prince for the dinner had I won.”

“So?”

“So, who would have given our poor little marshmallow a company?” she pouts her lips.

I know I am grinning, ear to ear, with that comment. “Thank you Lady Hana for giving me the honour!”

We sit down for the feast. My friend’s all around me. Riley and Liam making me believe that there will be that one person in your life who will make a difference. Max, bringing the best out of worst and Hana, my new person, making me realise that not all is lost when there is still one thing that keeps us going – hope.

#pixelberry #playchoices #the royal romance #drake walker #liam x riley #trr #trr fandom #twinkleallnight #hana lee #drake x hana

39 notes · View notes

argylemnwrites · 4 years ago

Text

Fight or Flight - Chapter 2: Priorities

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Heir (canon divergent from the end of book 2)

Word Count: ~2900

Rating: R (language only)

Summary: Ninety minutes since The Walker Absconding

Author’s Note: A series that follows the Walkers, their friends, and Cordonia as a whole after they flee the country with their daughter during Barthelemy Beaumont’s attempted coup. To catch up on this series, check out it’s masterlist, linked here.

Drake glanced over at his daughter sleeping soundly against his shoulder, her fists clutching tightly to the collar of his old denim shirt. The rocking of the car had lulled her to sleep within 20 minutes, before they’d even passed Applewood Orchards. Combine that with the fact that this was around her usual nap time, and she was out for the count. It was a blessing, he supposed, that she was so easily calmed in a car. This whole situation was stressful enough without a screaming 10 month old on top of everything. Plus, she hadn’t really noticed Riley’s utter breakdown.

When Drake had found Riley and Bridget out on the drive, he’d not even been a little bit prepared for what was about to happen. Obviously, he’d known Riley would be raging about Barthelemy’s plan. That was a given. And he wasn’t exactly surprised that the conversation she’d had with Olivia had been about a plan to get Bridget out of there. Riley had been acting cagey and weird, but when Olivia had pulled him aside not even a minute after Riley had left the room, pointed at a tube of diaper ointment on the floor, and told him to get to her driver and head to Lythikos, he’d assumed that nerves over getting caught by Barthelemy and his allies had been why she hadn’t even looked him in the eye before she left the room.

But it was a much bigger mess than that. He’d known something was up when Riley didn’t hand Bridget over when she called and reached for him. Bridget seemed to like being with Drake more at the palace, probably because he held her more at balls and galas while Riley worked the room. For Riley to insist on keeping Bridget in her arms was odd. And then, the truth came spilling out. That Riley had planned to just… up and leave Cordonia. With his daughter. Without telling him a damn thing.

At first, all he’d felt was a swell of anger. But rapidly, a million other feelings had flooded his mind. Pain. Confusion. Guilt. Sadness. Longing. Concern. Protectiveness. And those were just the ones he’d noticed as he’d scrambled to follow her pleas and desperation. Even now that the initial shock was starting to wear off for him, he wasn’t sure exactly what he was feeling. Too many things were competing in his mind.

All he knew was that he had to stick with his wife and kid. That had to be his number one priority. And so when Riley told him that she was leaving the country and taking Bridget, he knew he was going too. Even if he couldn’t fully understand her thought process at the moment, he knew she was just trying to protect their kid in the best way she could think of. So, he shoved the storm of emotions down and tried to be solid and steady, since it seemed like she was crumbling to pieces before his eyes.

Seeing her like that had been so strange. Even before, when Riley had cried about something in front of him, she’d never seemed out of control or desperate. Tears of righteous anger? Sure. Fear and anxiety? He’d seen that a few times as well. Even pure hormones during her pregnancy and postpartum period. But never had he seen her just panicking, her eyes wild and out of control, her whole body trembling just slightly. He’d never really seen anything like it before.

The closest comparison he could make was to the time he’d snuck out of bed when he was seven years old to grab a cookie and had stumbled on his parents fighting. It was the first time he’d ever seen them so much as disagree, and he’d been unable to go back to sleep that night, convinced his parents were going to split up. His mother had been in tears, begging his father not to take the promotion. The next morning, he and Savannah had learned that Dad had a new, more important job, so they would be living at the palace a lot going forward. At the time, Drake had thought his mother was just dumb. Moving in with Liam while Dad got a cool new job had seemed like a no-brainer as a child. Now, as an adult, he could look back on that moment and understand his mother’s fears and concerns. But watching his wife, who had been through so fucking much in her life, lost, unsure, and out of control had made him feel a bit like an unsettled and worried seven year old all over again.

Of course, he was now a grown ass adult, and he should not have been so thrown by his wife needing stability and support from him after the news they’d just faced. Hell, he should have known that the threat of having her child taken from her would hit her harshly, given the number of times her own mother lost custody of her. Riley was always so insistent she would be nothing like her mother, and it hadn’t even occurred to Drake that what Barthelemy was discussing would feel a little too similar for comfort. It should have, though. She had trusted him with the entire story of her childhood - her father’s abandonment, her mother’s addiction, her time in foster care - and he couldn’t even be bothered to think about how that might affect her when some asshole was threatening to take custody of their kid.

He’d been worried about the big picture, what the goals of this fucking coup really were. What this meant for everyone. Meanwhile, he’d left his panicking, traumatized wife to worry first and foremost about their kid. And that’s why she hadn’t been planning to tell him until she already had Bridget somewhere safe, wasn’t it? Because she’d sensed that he wasn’t as solely focused on protecting their child, no matter the cost.

When had he become numb to the toxicities of court? When did that fucking happen? It seemed like it wasn’t that long ago he was telling Riley that court was going to chew her up and spit out her remains. But somewhere along the way, he got complacent. He’d found a few good people mixed in with the shitty ones, and suddenly it was all fine? He should have seen this coming a kilometer away. Someone is always scheming, plotting, maneuvering. Always. How had Riley absorbed all his early lessons while he somehow forgot everything he knew? He’d let them play him like a fool, standing there as they voted to take Bridget away from him and Riley and the crown away from Liam. Blindsided and sputtering, caught off guard. Like an idiot.

To be fair, there were still a few people he trusted at court. Liam, of course. Hana. Maxwell too, as his father’s actions had clearly caught him off guard. Besides, Maxwell had always been too earnest and accepting of everyone to have any desire to get caught up in something like this. And Olivia, oddly enough. She was clearly loyal as hell to Liam. And she’d worked with Riley to create a plan to keep Bridget with them. A plan that probably would have been a lost simpler than the shitshow they were about to face.

Drake honestly had no idea how bad things were about to get, and based on the state Riley had been in out on the palace drive, she hadn’t given it any thought beyond feeling that having her daughter by her side was worth any price. But shit, this was probably gonna be a disaster. Their only destination was “Greece,” but it’s not like they had a place to go when they got there. Flying to Texas to hide out with Mom was out of the question since they didn’t have their passports and were therefore bound to the EU. Taking money from the accounts tied to their titles was morally questionable at this point, and it might not even be an option anymore, depending on who was running Cordonia at the moment and if they’d already moved to freeze the Valtorian accounts. Hell, his personal account, which didn’t hold that much, might be frozen, too. Their only funds that the government couldn’t touch was if Riley still had an American bank account, but something told Drake that a former waitress from a very expensive city wasn’t sitting on tens of thousands of dollars. And that didn’t even touch the fact that technically, Bridget was legally under Liam’s custody as a child in direct line for the throne.

Hell, even simple things. They didn’t have toothbrushes or toothpaste. Riley’s glasses or contact solution. A change of clothes. More than the dozen or so diapers that were left in the bag. Baby food. A pack n play or crib or even car seat. Shit, they literally couldn’t let Bridget out of one of their arms. They were going to have to figure out a way to buy some basics. And at the moment, Drake knew he needed to take care of some planning for Riley and him. She had already panicked enough without being confronted with the reality of her decision.

He glanced down at Riley, her head resting on his knee as she also slept. Within a half hour of being on the road, Riley had gotten very shaky, pale, and lightheaded, presumably dealing with the after effects of her adrenaline rush. Drake had encouraged her to lie down and take some deep breaths, and before long, she was lightly snoring. Given how broken and frantic she’d seemed, he wanted to let her get a little bit of rest before they dealt with the practical shit they were gonna need to address. But at this point, they probably needed to actually talk. Things weren’t going to get magically better, and he needed to get a sense of what she was thinking.

Shifting slightly, trying not to disturb Bridget, he settled his left hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze as he whispered, “Riley.” After several seconds, her muscles tensed, and her eyes blinked open.

“Sorry to wake you up,” Drake whispered, “but we gotta talk about some stuff.”

Riley stretched slightly before sitting up. “How long was I out for?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes.

“About an hour.”

“So we’re still in Cordonia?” she cast him a wary look at that.

“For the next 45 minutes or so, yeah.” Drake had been hoping to get some clarity from her on why Olivia’s Lythikos hideout plan was not an option for her, but based on the way she was looking at him, that topic was going to have to wait. He couldn’t have her panicking again. “That’s not what I wanted to discuss, though. I was just wondering if you had a destination in mind in Greece.”

Riley gave him a small smile as her shoulders visibly relaxed, but shook her head gently. “Not really. I thought maybe we could just head to the closest American consulate? There has to be a closer option than Athens, right?” she asked as she pulled out her phone and moved to open her map app.

“No, Riley!” Drake cried out, ignoring the little squawk Bridget gave out as he lunged for Riley’s phone. She looked at him with clear confusion, so he continued, “You need to turn off location services. Otherwise they will be able to track our location.” Since his little outburst had already woken up Bridget, he leaned to the side and tugged his phone out of his back pocket, turning off location services on his phone as well before rubbing his hand along the back of Bridget’s head, hoping to lull her back to sleep. After several minutes of murmuring soothing words to her, he could feel her getting heavier in his arms, and soon enough, her little eyes fluttered shut.

Once Bridget was asleep, Drake turned his head toward Riley. “Sorry,” he whispered, “I just didn’t want this all to be for nothing by giving them our exact location.”

Riley nodded, looking at a page of search results on her phone. “There’s a consulate in Thessaloniki, which is still a haul, but at least isn’t as far as Athens. How does that sound?”

Drake shook his head, “You had to renounce your American citizenship to be named duchess, remember? They aren’t going to be able to do anything for us.”

Her eyes fluttered shut as she breathed out a rough sigh. “Fuck,” she muttered, “That was my only plan.”

Sensing she was about to go back to that panicked state, Drake reached over, squeezing her knee in a manner he hoped was reassuring. “It’ll be okay. Ioannina is not too far from the border. We’ll be able to get a hotel there and lay low while we figure out next steps, okay?”

Although her eyes remained shut, she nodded, but a few stray tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes. Drake reached up and swiped them away with his thumb. This prompted Riley to open her eyes and turn more towards him, her lips pressed together tightly.

“Shhhh, we can take this one step at a time, Riley. This was never gonna go perfectly with how much that asshole fucking blindsided us,” Drake said, trying to be reassuring as he beckoned Riley to scoot closer and throwing his arm around her shoulders when she leaned up against his side.

“I just thought…” she began, but quickly trailed off when her voice started to quiver.

“I know. But we didn’t have much time to think it all through, did we?”

He felt her shaking her head against his side, so he decided to soldier on. “The way I see it, the first thing we’re gonna need to do is try and withdraw as much cash as we can from our accounts. That will prevent them from tracking our location, and if our accounts get frozen, we won’t be completely screwed.”

“Makes sense,” she whispered.

“After that, we need to stock up on some basic supplies. Diapers, toiletries, a change of clothes, some baby food, that sort of thing. We should also probably pick up a baby carrier so that we have a way to contain her but keep her with us. After that, we can find a cheap hotel, someplace where there’s little chance that someone is going to recognize a foreign duke or duchess. I think that’s a good enough start, don’t you?”

Riley just nodded, so Drake tightened his arm around her, trying to provide some comfort. “We’ll figure it out, Riley. We just gotta take it one step at a time.”

She let out a little chuckle. “When you met me, I had no problem traveling to a foreign country on a moment’s notice, not sure where I’d be staying, how long I’d be gone for, anything. It didn’t faze me in the slightest. But now, with her… I just… I’m worried, Drake. I know it’s impossible, but I want more of a plan.”

“I know. But I think this is as good as we’re going to get for now, alright?”

Before Riley could respond, Drake’s phone started buzzing and lit up on his lap. The name “Liam” flashed across the screen in white letters. Drake jerked his head around to look at Riley, her eyes wide as she reached for his phone. When he didn’t stop her or say anything, she grabbed it and swiped the red circle. But seconds later, the phone lit up again. She ignored that call as well.

“He’s not gonna give up, Riley,” Drake sighed, “It was only a matter of time before he was one hundred percent sure that we’d left the palace.”

“I know, I know. But please, can we wait to answer until we’ve crossed the border?”

“What difference is that going to make?”

She let out a big sigh before she spoke again, “He won’t be able to talk you out of doing it.”

Her words were like a punch to the gut. Again, she didn’t trust him. Again, she saw them as divided, with similar, but not the same priorities. He had to make her understand that if they were going to do this, they had to be in it together.

“Riley. If this is what you think we need to do for Bridget, this is what we are going to do, okay? Liam doesn’t get a say here. She’s our kid, not his. But we need to talk to him at some point, if only to figure out who is acting as king at the moment.”

“I know we do, but... please. Can we wait until we aren’t in Cordonia anymore?”

Drake knew they both had a lot to talk about here. This issue of her lack of trust in him wasn’t going away, and if they were fleeing the country and hiding out with basically nothing to their name, they needed to feel like they could rely on one another. But now was not the time for that discussion. So he just nodded and said, “Okay. We’ll wait,” before switching his phone to silent. Hopefully, that concession would allow her to trust him enough… for the moment.

Permatag: @walkerswhiskeygirl @riley--walker @bebepac @ravenpuff02 @oofchoices @octobereighth @drakewalker04 @kimmiedoo5 @mfackenthal @thequeenofcronuts

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @ao719 @mskaneko @katedrakeohd @jovialyouthmusic @marshmallowsandfire @axwalker @kingliam2019 @sirbeepsalot @texaskitten30 @princessleac1 @ladyangel70 @dcbbw @yaushie

Drake x MC: @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @notoriouscs @drakesensworld @drake-colt-lover-99

Fight or Flight: @burnsoslow @bobasheebaby @shz256 @iaminlovewithtrr

#drake walker #drake x mc #trr au #trh au #trr fanfic #trh fanfic #trr au fanfic #trh au fanfic

58 notes · View notes

bbrandy2002 · 5 years ago

Text

My Love

Chapter Three: Yesterday

A/N: Want to give proper credit to @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore whose thoughtful comments on the previous chapter inspired some of the sentiments and title of this chapter (even though she killed Liam this week and I had to declare war against her).

*One day I will create a moodboard, but, today is not that day.

Warnings: Language and brief mention of infant loss THAT HAS NOTHING to do with this chapter. I was asked by several people how Ellie will be able to continue feeding and it will be explained. Just wanted to be on the safe side there.

Series Summary: After losing the love of his life, Liam is forced to endure another social season. Not wanting to move on, he finds help from an unlikely ally...his late wife

__________________________________

Hana squinted as her car drove through the crowded gates of the palace; the sun hadn’t fully risen above the horizon yet and its rays were projecting a blinding glare. She slammed her brakes to a halt when she pulled into her usual spot, causing the car's tires to slightly squeal. The car door swung open wildly and she walked with purpose at a quick step, hastily swiping at the tears on her cheeks -- a woman determined to fulfill a promise she made months ago.

She had received the call from Drake only an hour ago, and without hesitation, threw on a pair of white jeans, a tank, and flats. She sobbed as she brushed her hair and tossed it up into a loose ponytail, knowing she had more to do than just grieving the loss of her best friend. Hana, never one to shirk from her duties, had an obligation, one that meant more to her than her own life.

Approaching the rear landing of the palace, she ignored the chatter and bellows that could still be heard from a great distance outside of the gates. For a split second earlier, as she drove in through the seemingly hundreds of mourners and press crowded at the entrance, she contemplated running them down. It was one thing to offer their support and want answers, however at what cost? Did they even know Riley Brooks? The real Riley Brooks? The American behind the Cordonian Crown who befriended a woman from Shanghai and helped her see she was more than some object -- a show-thing -- her parent’s means to success and notoriety. When Constantine was killed during the Costume Ball, she thought, she didn’t recall him receiving this much outpouring of sympathy and heartache. Riley’s death has yet to be officially announced and yet there they were, waiting anxiously for any word on their beloved queen.

Maybe, they did know her after all.

A Royal Guardswoman watched Hana ascend the stairs rapidly with a fierce look. She was quite familiar with Her Majesties, best friend, and didn’t hesitate to open the door for her knowing if she didn’t comply quickly, Hana just may bust through it herself.

The atmosphere inside was somber as Hana continued her quest through familiar passageways; she disregarded the greetings and condolences that were offered to her. Even at a time like this, her mind was sharp and clear. She’d be damned if anyone was going to stop her right now.

When she neared closer to Riley’s office and slowed her quickened pace -- not wanting to make a lot of sounds. Hana had not planned to knock, however what she heard from inside stopped her before her hand could reach the knob.

The voice was gruff but soothing and the song melted her shattered heart. Drake.

“Baby mine, don’t you cry. Baby mine, dry your eyes. Rest your head close to my heart, never to part, baby of mine ...”.

Hana had heard Riley sing it to the baby more times than she could count. It was obvious, Drake did as well.

She twisted the knob and eased the door open and closed it softly behind her. Riley had her office completely remodeled weeks ago to accommodate Ellie spending the majority of her time with her when she returned from maternity leave. In the corner of the room, next to a large, open window, Drake sat in an old wooden rocking chair that he refurbished as a baby gift for her office, gently rocking Ellie in his arms.

With Ellie’s tiny fingers wrapped around his large, calloused thumb, he sensed Hana’s presence and began to blush, “I...uhhh...was just..”.

She smiles softly, “I know.”

She walked over to Drake and the baby and crouched down beside them. As her hands glided lovingly over the fine hairs on the top of Ellie’s head, knowing she was fulfilling the promise she made to Riley, she looked up at Drake, both with small tears in their eyes.

“Mind if I sing with you?” She asked; her voice cracked and wispy.

Drake pondered for a moment, not really wanting to in front of Hana, but, nodded..

______

Within the hour, Maxwell and Bertrand made the two-hour drive from Ramsford to the Capitol. The limo was subdued for most of the drive; Maxwell glanced at old photos of he and Riley on his phone while a dismayed Bertrand stared out the window, not saying a word.

Maxwell had wept from the time he found out, that was just the kind of man he was. He is and has always been a very emotional person and shows no fear nor remorse in that fact. Bertrand, on the other hand, accepted the news like a Duke learning his monarch had lost any random member; he had work to do.

After arriving at the palace, Maxwell knew Drake was in Riley’s office, having received the text from Hana several minutes ago. As he headed in that direction, Bertrand moved towards the grand staircase, causing Maxwell to take notice in what appeared to be insensitive behavior on his brother’s part.

“Bertrand, where the hell are you going? I told Hana we would meet them in Riley’s office”.

Bertrand turned to his brother just as he climbed the first step, “Yes, yes...please offer up my sincerest condolences to your friends. I will be in the press office should I be needed...and Maxwell...don’t need me”.

“But the press office is on the first floor”, Maxwell shot back.

Bertrand straightened his jacket and his posture, “Indeed it is”, before turning away and continuing up the stairs.

The eldest Beaumont, weaved his way through the corridor he had walked literally hundreds of times, stopping in front of one particularly large, wooden door. He peered down both ends of the hallway, ensuring no one was the wiser to his presence.

Knowing there would be no one inside, he pushed the door open and entered. Everything was exactly the same as he remembered.

He took a deep breath, the scent of lavender and rosewood painting a clear picture in his mind, one that haunted him deeply.

“This is the girl you’ve chosen to represent House Beaumont?”

Bertrand notices the large closet across from the bed and is surprised to find it still full of familiar clothing and accessories; every single piece he remembers fondly as he trails his fingers over each one. The pink derby dress and flashy hat that nearly bankrupted him to purchase and the white gown she wore in Lythikos that showed entirely too much cleavage.

His eyes narrowed as he thumbed across the Applewood peasant costume and removed it with a growl, “Those two nitwits”.

Riley and Maxwell had sworn to him they had returned it to that stage production company he borrowed it from -- quite convincingly so. Bertrand spent nearly a week on the phone defending the two of them and insisted the production company must have misplaced this one-of-a-kind piece of Cordonian history. After losing the battle and his temper, he set up a payment plan to pay off the 35000 Euros the heirloom cost.

He rolled his eyes thinking about how insufferable those two were during the social season: staying up all hours of the night giggling like two schoolgirls, the never-ending jokes at his expense, and those god-forsaken, drunken duets as they traveled from one event to the next. If he never heard, ‘We Will Rock You’, while stomping on the floor of the limo, it would be a day too soon.

Riley and Maxwell caused him more anxiety and agitation than any two people have since, yet at that moment, he would do anything to go back and relive every annoying minute of it.

He held the costume up, looking over it for rips and stains, thinking maybe he could still get his money back, yet that thought quickly dissipated.

“Long live the Apple Queen.” He smiled, then held it close to himself briefly before placing it back on the hook and shutting the door.

He took in the entire room, recalling all those early mornings: their arguments over propriety and cutlery, her backtalk, and lessons upon lessons that somehow the waitress from New York aced each time. Riley knew he was proud of her, Bertrand was confident in that fact.

He glanced down at his watch, contemplating whether or not he should meet up with the others. He opted instead to stay longer, to be alone in this room, with the thoughts and memories of his sister, fresh on his mind and heart. As he sat on the corner of her old bed, he let the pain that had festered within him since leaving Ramsford finally break him down.

His face fell into his palms as he let out a painful sob.

____________

Liam was still curled in the same spot on the floor in front of the sofa; still clinging to her throw blanket and still wondering what the hell happened just a few hours ago. His eyes were dry, having nothing left to secrete from them. He needed to get up because there is so much to do: arrangements needed to be made, meet with Madeleine to make an announcement to the public, and accept phone calls and messages from international leaders expressing their condolences.

He pushed himself up from the floor, still holding on tightly to her blanket, and turned to take in the vast living quarters that had become their home.

On the table in front of Liam were the purple lilies he sent her yesterday -- just like the ones he sent her every week for over a year.

The flowers he would never send again.

Yesterday, everything was fine. Yesterday, he was a happily married man that was more in love with his wife than he thought was possible. Yesterday, he woke up with his arms around her and she taunted him about the plans she had for him that evening. Yesterday, life was normal, happy, and everything he ever envisioned a life with Riley would be like.

Liam tossed her blanket on the couch and wondered: if all those things were true yesterday, how can it not be today?

Their home seemed so empty without her and he shuddered thinking about the finality of that thought: she wouldn’t be home again. He wouldn’t hear that laugh again, dance with her in the kitchen, or arrive late to another ball because he just couldn’t keep his hands off her. Those thoughts grew, and the anger that it manifested took root in the pit of his stomach and was now pushing on every nerve ending in his body. Liam could feel his face redden with heat and scorn. His heart surged, and his mind became muddled with rage. He lurched to the vase full of flowers and threw them across the room. The shattering of glass against the wall only propelled him further as he turned to the sofa table and flipped it over.

“You said you would never leave!" he yelled towards the heavens, “after everything we went through to be together: the scandal, the assassination attempts!!".

He swiped a lamp and book off a nearby end table, "Was it all a fucking lie Riley? .Answer me, goddammit!!! Liam shouted.

Liam shoved the couch corner into the glass cabinet and continued to push and slam again with each remark, “We had a life..We had a marriage. We have a baby!".

He reached for the fireplace poker and didn’t hesitate to bust out the glass covering of the stone hearth, "Damn you for leaving me, Riley Brooks! DAMN YOU!"

He swung furiously over and over at anything and everything in his path while continuing his emphatic curses of damnation against his wife. The glass of picture frames broke, wood splintered, walls pelted with tiny holes, fabrics stripped.

In all of his rage, he didn’t hear the footsteps that were quickly approaching him from behind, Suddenly, there were two strong arms wrapped around him with a tightened grip and pulled him down to the floor.

“Get the fuck off of me, Drake.” Liam struggled to loosen himself as he laid face down on the floor with his best friend holding him in place.

Drake jerked the poker from his hand and tossed it away, “This isn’t the way, Li. She wouldn’t want --”

“Fuck what she would have wanted and your self-righteous indignation, Drake Walker.” Liam continued to fight his way out of the constraints Drake had on him, “I remember the looks you would give her, I bet the two of you were going at it behind my back the entire time. Did you enjoy my wife Drake? Did she fuck you and ...”

“STOP IT!”

As much as Drake wanted to punch him, he knew his friend well enough to ignore his gibes; Maxwell, on the other hand, had enough.

Liam and Drake both snapped their heads back to Maxwell, never seeing him that furious or hearing his voice that raised. “You will never, ever speak of her like that again, treason be damned. Do you understand me?”

A dispirited look crossed Liam’s face, replacing the rage and adrenaline he felt. His face lowered and rested on the floor, having nothing more to give. “I...I just miss her so damn much.”

Drake quickly moved off and Maxwell closed in on them; the two comforting their lifelong friend as he draped his arms over his head and wept.

“Is it okay to come in now?” Hana asked as she peeked around the corner, holding the baby in her arms.

“Yeah...we’re good,” Drake shouted back.

Liam lowered his arms and looked to Hana when he saw his daughter, “Ellie”, he whispered.

Maxwell and Drake helped Liam up and watched as he crossed through the carnage in the living room to retrieve his baby.

Hana asked if he was okay, wanting to be sure he was calm enough to hold her; he assured her he was.

He held Ellie close to him, taking in Riley’s features, feeling ashamed of the words he never meant to say about her mother.

Drake, Maxwell, and Hana spent the rest of the day with Liam and Ellie, joined later by Bertrand.

Riley had pumped enough breastmilk to last several days and Miss Talbert, Riley’s personal assistant, found that bereaved mothers who lost their babies after birth, donated their breast milk to help deal with the loss. Liam gave her the go-ahead to look into that option further and get back with him.

Liam informed Madeleine to release the news to the press and public, but insisted on privacy, although he knew not only the Cordonian press would be all of this, but the American’s, as well.

As Ellie slept in Maxwell’s arms, the group picked and prodded at their lunch, not one of them feeling like eating, when the doorbell rang.

Liam answered the door and stepped aside to let Bastien in.

“Your Majesty.” He bowed.

“Bastien.”

Bastien handed him an envelope. “I received this moments ago. You’ll want to see this, sir.”

Liam turned it over, studying the large, yellowish envelop skeptically, His brows knitted. “What is this?”

The head guard stiffened his postured and let out a heavy breath. “It's the results of Her Majesty's autopsy.. You may want to sit".

#the royal heir #the royal romance #liam x riley #king Liam x mc #trr fanfic #trr drake #maxwell beaumont #hana lee #my love #liam x mc #bbrandy2002

183 notes · View notes

morganamysticblog · 4 years ago

Text

The Royal Romance - The Anniversary - Part 3

Liam awoke early from a restless sleep. He had replayed last night’s conversation over and over in his head. Heather was right, he was becoming his father. He tried to think back to the very beginning, remind himself how things were when they were madly in love. The thoughts and images came flooding back. He remembered when he couldn’t stand to be away from her even for a minute. How he couldn’t take his eyes off her. How his heart jumped every time he saw her. She was his every waking thought, every dream, every fantasy. It wasn’t just love he felt for her back then, she consumed him. His whole reason for being was her. That intensity, that level of love is what he had to get back somehow.

_____

Heather woke up and got dressed. She walked down the hall to Eleanor’s room to wake her up for her breakfast and morning lessons.

HEATHER – Good morning my sweetheart.

ELEANOR – Morning mommy.

HEATHER – It’s time to wake up.

ELEANOR – I’m still sleepy.

HEATHER – I know you are, but it’s time to get up.

ELEANOR – But why?

HEATHER – It’s breakfast time. Then you have your morning lessons. I believe you have reading with Mrs. Fitz today.

ELEANOR – Ok. I guess.

Heather helps Eleanor get dressed then they head downstairs to breakfast. Liam is sitting at the table sipping some coffee and reading a newspaper.

ELEANOR – Good morning daddy!

LIAM – Good morning Ellie. Did you sleep well?

ELEANOR – Oh yes. It was all cupcakes and rainbows. How about you daddy?

LIAM – It was ok. Heather, did you sleep well dear?

HEATHER – Uh, yeah.

LIAM – So what are you plans for today Ellie?

ELEANOR – I have reading lessons today. But can we play later daddy?

LIAM – Of course. What about you, Heather? Any plans for today?

HEATHER – I may go in to town for a bit this morning. I haven’t decided yet.

LIAM – Would you like some company?

HEATHER – I’ll be fine. Thank you. If you’ll both excuse me.

Heather gets up from the table leaving Eleanor and Liam together. She heads back up to her room and calls Drake.

DRAKE – Hey Heather.

HEATHER – Hey Drake. Um…are you busy today?

DRAKE – No. I have the day off actually. What’s up?

HEATHER – Can I come over for a little while?

DRAKE – Of course. You do understand you’re killing my Super Mario Bros. time, but I guess I can put it down for a little bit for you.

HEATHER – Thanks. I’ll be there soon.

DRAKE – Ok. See you soon.

Heather goes back downstairs and asks one of the house staff to bring a car around for her. Liam comes out of the dining room as the servant walks away.

LIAM – I’m sorry about last night. I really did not mean to start an argument.

HEATHER – I know you didn’t. I know you had good intentions. I just think you don’t think these things through all the way.

LIAM – I got excited about the possibility of being able to step back and just be with you. And I didn’t think it through, you’re right. I will come up with something, I promise.

HEATHER – Ok.

SERVANT – Your majesty, your car is ready.

HEATHER – Thank you. Liam, I’ll be back later.

LIAM – I will be here.

Heather leaves and drives to Drake’s apartment.

Drake opens the door for Heather when she arrives. She plops down on the couch.

DRAKE – Rough morning?

HEATHER – The morning has been ok…last night was a whole different story. I can’t take this anymore Drake. I have to get out of here.

DRAKE – So, where do you want to go?

HEATHER – Drake, can I ask you something?

DRAKE – Anything.

HEATHER – Have you ever wondered about me? I mean like my past. Where I grew up, my parents, things like that?

DRAKE – Maybe a little. I just never really thought to ask, I guess. Why?

HEATHER – If I tell you something, do you promise not to freak out or think of me differently?

DRAKE – Uh, ok. Sure.

HEATHER – The times you were in Texas, have you ever heard of a place called North Fork Ranch?

DRAKE – Yeah, I think my mom mentioned it a couple times.

HEATHER – And have you ever heard of Riley Oil?

DRAKE – Vaguely. Why the sudden interest in Texas?

HEATHER – Because that’s where I’m from. Texas.

DRAKE – I thought you were from New York.

HEATHER – I moved to New York when I was 17, my junior year in high school. After…after my parents died.

DRAKE – So you had family there?

HEATHER – No. I just moved. I had to get away and New York always seemed so cool and exciting, so I found a good private school, and I moved.

DRAKE – Ok. I’m still not quite understanding.

HEATHER – Drake, what is my name?

DRAKE – Heather.

HEATHER – My full name?

DRAKE – Heather Riley.

HEATHER – Uh huh…

DRAKE – Riley…Riley Oil…you’re Heather Riley. Oh my God. You’re Riley Oil.

HEATHER – Yeah.

Drake just stares at her for a long moment. Looking at her like he’s seeing her for the first time.

HEATHER – Drake, say something.

DRAKE – I just…wow. Why didn’t you say something sooner?

HEATHER – Everyone was so content with me just being Heather, the broke waitress from New York. So, I went with it. Well, that was me, but not all at the same time.

DRAKE – This explains so much. How you were able to afford all those gowns and events, how you knew exactly what to do and say around the nobles. You’re like American royalty.

HEATHER – Basically. At least in Dallas I was.

DRAKE – Wow. Just…wow.

HEATHER – I’m guessing this changes how you see me now, huh?

DRAKE – Actually…no. I mean, you’re still the same person you were a few minutes ago. Just with a whole lot more money. Holy crap, you’re just as rich as Liam. I mean Riley Oil is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

HEATHER – Yeah.

DRAKE – Wow. But you’re still so…normal.

HEATHER – Well, I was away from all that for 10 years before I moved here.

DRAKE – True. Huh. Thanks for telling me. Why the sudden interest to share your past?

HEATHER – I’ve been thinking a lot the past few days about going back. Back to Texas. Back to the ranch.

DRAKE – Ah. Does Liam know?

HEATHER – About me leaving or about my past?

DRAKE – Both?

HEATHER – He knows I want to go somewhere, but he doesn’t know where. And you are the only one here I have told about anything from my past. Daniel is the only other person who knows everything.

DRAKE – Oh wow. You trust me that much?

HEATHER – Of course. After everything we’ve been through, honestly I should have told you sooner.

DRAKE – Huh. So, when are you leaving?

HEATHER – I don’t know yet. Soon. Like maybe in the next couple days. I don’t want to use the royal jet because then Liam will be able to track where I went. And it’s not like I can drive there.

DRAKE – True.

HEATHER – I may call the company and see if I can borrow the corporate jet for a couple days.

DRAKE – Well, keep me posted. I can go with if you want.

HEATHER – That would be great, but I think for now I just need to be on my own. Well, just me and Ellie.

DRAKE – I understand.

HEATHER – So…ready to get your butt kicked on some Super Mario Bros.?

DRAKE – Oh…bring it on!!

___

Liam paced the floor in the grand ballroom thinking. Last night’s effort to prove himself to Heather was a complete failure. He needed to do something to show her how much she truly meant to him. Then inspiration hit him. He called for a servant.

SERVANT – Yes, your majesty?

LIAM – I want to plan a surprise for the queen. I’ll need a cake just like the one we had at our wedding. Chocolate mocha with buttercream frosting, designed exactly the way we had our cake.

SERVANT – Of course, sir. When would you like it?

LIAM – As soon as they can get it here. I’ll also need all the peach roses you can get and have them set up here in the ballroom.

SERVANT – Of course. I’ll call the florist right away.

LIAM – And, Heather’s dress she wore at the reception. Could you get that and have it in her room ready for her to wear?

SERVANT – Definitely. I know exactly where it is, sir.

LIAM – And two bottles of our wine that we had at the wedding, chilled with two glasses.

SERVANT – Is there anything else, sir?

LIAM – Music. We’ll need music. And possibly something to eat. I’ve got it…a simple pasta with red sauce for two.

SERVANT – I will start making the preparations right away. When would you like everything set up, sir?

LIAM – As soon as possible. I don’t know how long Heather will be gone and I’d like to have it all ready when she returns.

SERVANT – We’ll have it ready your majesty.

LIAM – Thank you.

Liam clasps his hands behind his back, a small satisfied smile on his face. Recreating their wedding reception, but just for the two of them. Without the kidnapping and threat of imminent death, of course. And the meal they shared together at the Beaumont estate as their first date.

LIAM – Oh…Heather’s sword. We’ll need that as well to cut the cake. If I’m doing this, I may as well go all the way.

About an hour later delivery trucks begin arriving at the palace. Workers bring in vases upon vases of peach roses and line them along the walls of the ballroom. The baker delivers a perfect replica of their wedding cake and sets it up on a table along one side. Liam places Heather’s sword in front of the cakes. Heather’s dress is laying on their bed waiting. The music is ready. Liam has the remote in his pocket. A cook from the kitchen finds Liam pacing in the ballroom.

COOK – The items you requested for the meal are ready your majesty. I can have everything ready in about 15 minutes when you tell us you’re ready.

LIAM – Excellent. Thank you.

Everything was coming together nicely. Now he needed to change. Digging through the closet in the bedroom he found the white formal suit he wore for their wedding and put it on. He headed back down to the ballroom. The servants were finishing setting up. One small table was set up with two chairs. Two taper candles and a small bouquet of peach roses sat on the table. The swirling colored lights glowed and swayed across the dance floor.

SERVANT – Is there anything else you require your majesty?

LIAM – When the queen arrives, could you please make sure she goes straight up to the bedroom and changes into her dress? Then have someone escort her here.

SERVANT – Of course sir.

Liam looked at his watch. It was almost noon. He didn’t want to rush her if she was busy, but he was also getting anxious to show her his surprise. He decided to send her a message to check on her.

TEXT TO HEATHER – My darling, will you be much longer? I wondered if we could have lunch together.

Then…he waited.

_____

DRAKE – Seriously? What is that 10 times you’ve kicked my butt? Ok…I give up. You are the Mario Bros. master.

HEATHER – I told you I was good at this. Not my fault you didn’t believe me.

DRAKE – And here I thought I was your friend, not your whipping boy.

HEATHER – Ha ha ha ha ha. Only when it comes to Mario Bros. How’s that?

DRAKE – Fine. You getting hungry?

(Heather’s phone buzzes.)

HEATHER – Yeah, actually. Ugh...hang on a sec.

Heather checks her phone and reads the message from Liam.

HEATHER – Rain check on lunch? Liam wants to have lunch together.

DRAKE – Sure. Still giving him a chance, huh?

HEATHER – I told him I’d give him 24 hours. He has 3 left. Might as well go with it.

DRAKE – Alright. Talk to you later.

Heather leaves Drake’s apartment and drives back to the palace. She parks the car in front and gets out heading to the door. A servant opens the door for her before she can reach the handle.

SERVANT – Welcome home your majesty. If you would follow me, please.

HEATHER – Um, ok.

The servant leads Heather up to the bedroom.

SERVANT – The king requested you wear the dress laid out for you. When you’re ready I will escort you to the ballroom.

HEATHER – The ballroom? Is there some spontaneous ball I wasn’t informed about?

SERVANT – No ma’am. Just let me know when you’re ready.

HEATHER – Uh, ok.

Heather closes the door to the bedroom and sees her reception dress laying on the bed.

HEATHER – What the heck is going on? Why does he want me to wear this? Hopefully it still fits.

Heather changes into the white sparkling dress. It fit perfectly. She finds some white shoes in the closet and puts those on. She touches up her makeup and fixes her hair a little more formally. Then she opens the door where the servant is waiting for her.

SERVANT – Right this way ma’am.

The servant leads Heather to the doors of the ballroom. She knocks, then leaves Heather alone in front of the large double doors.

Liam opens the door. When he sees Heather standing there in her dress, he almost faints.

LIAM – You look absolutely breathtaking my love.

Heather notices Liam is wearing his formal suit from their wedding. He looks gorgeous…to the point she’s speechless.

Liam takes her hand and leads her into the ballroom. As she scans the room, candles and roses line the walls, a small table for two sits in the center of what would normally be the large seating area. Everything looks amazing.

HEATHER – What is all this?

LIAM – I wanted to surprise you. Happy Anniversary my darling. I know it’s a little late, and I am so very sorry for that.

HEATHER – Liam, this is beautiful. Is that our wedding cake?

LIAM – Yes. I tried to recreate everything. Well, the good parts. I guarantee there will be no kidnapping and no assassination attempts. Only you and me, together.

Liam leads Heather to the table and pulls out the chair for her to sit down. He sits down I the chair opposite her and the cook brings out the two dishes of simple pasta.

HEATHER – This looks like the dinner we had at the Beaumont estate. Our first date you called it.

LIAM – Exactly. I wanted everything to be perfect, just like you.

HEATHER – Liam, this…this is absolutely amazing. I…I don’t know what to even say.

LIAM – You don’t have to say anything. As long as we’re together, that’s all that matters.

When they finish eating, Liam stands and extends his hand to Heather. She takes it and he leads her to the dance floor. He pushes the play button on the remote in his pocket.

LIAM – May I have this dance? (Bryan Adams – Everything I Do begins playing)

HEATHER – I would love to.

Liam holds Heather in his arms as they sway to the music. Holding her so close, he actually begins to feel a little nervous and shakes a little.

HEATHER – Are you ok? You’re shaking.

LIAM – I’m fine. Just a little nervous actually.

HEATHER – Why are you nervous?

LIAM – I haven’t been this close to you in quite a while. Which is my own fault, I know. I just forgot how good it feels to hold you like this. I feel like I did the first time I saw you all those years ago in New York. You took my breath away then, and you still do now.

HEATHER – Liam…

As the song begins to fade they pull apart just a bit. Liam stares down into Heather’s eyes. A soft, sweet smile on his face as he soaks in every feature of her face.

LIAM – You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I promise you here and now that I will never take you for granted again. I love you, Heather.

HEATHER – I love you too.

Liam cups his hand on the side of Heather’s cheek pulling her mouth up to him. He kisses her gently, closing his eyes and floating with the touch of her lips against his. His had sliding to the back of her neck, the other around her waist, holding her close, feeling her heart beat against his chest. Heather wraps her arms around Liam as the kiss turns more and more passionate and heated. She begins to grab and bunch up the back of his jacket with her fingers as their tongues touch and swirl together. She lets out a soft moan. After what seems like forever and mere seconds, they part, staring at each other.

HEATHER – There you are.

LIAM – Here I am. And I’m not going anywhere. At least not anywhere without you right by my side, always.

HEATHER – I missed this. I almost forgot how hot you are. And how good it feels to be in your arms and kiss you like that.

LIAM – Me too.

Liam gives Heather a small seductive smirk, then kisses her again, sliding his hands down her back to her hips.

Heather begins to melt into Liam. His kiss reminded her of their first kiss that day in Paris. Heat and desire emanating from him. Her legs began to go weak. The room disappeared around her. The only thing grounding her were his lips and tongue against hers. She hadn’t felt this much intensity, this much desire, this much pure need in a long time. With great hesitation, she pulls away from him, staring deeply into his sparkling brown eyes.

HEATHER – Upstairs…Now.

LIAM – I was hoping you would say that.

Liam grabs Heather’s hand as they leave the ballroom and head upstairs to their bedroom. A servant sees them and begins to say something. Heather holds up a hand to silence the servant as they make their way up the stairs.

Once inside the room, the door is barely closed before Liam practically jumps at Heather, kissing her with such heat, passion and desire that she is nearly knocked over. Their lips parted, tongues intertwined, caressing each other. They each begin working the fastenings of each other’s clothes without breaking the kiss. Touching and rubbing each other’s newly exposed bare skin.

When their clothes have finally been removed and thrown all over the room, Liam holds Heather tightly in his arms, sliding his hands gently down her body from her shoulders, down her back, to her hips and buttocks. A small moan of pleasure escapes him.

Heather slides her hands down the front of Liam, his shoulders, his strong muscular chest, and down further.

LIAM – Oh my God I want you.

HEATHER – Then come have me.

With her hand slowing rubbing and gliding up and down Liam’s hardness, she leads him to the bed. Kissing and running their hands all over each other, he lays her down, then starts kissing her entire body starting with her feet, up her calves, her thighs, then up in between. She arches her back, leaning up into him. The feel of his tongue and lips against her fuels the passion within her even more. She closes her eyes only to see fireworks start going off behind her eyelids. Just as the pleasure is about to overwhelm her, he slides up the rest of her body and slides himself inside of her.

The comfort of feeling him inside her again almost puts her over the edge instantly. Heather wraps her legs around Liam’s waist and he begins rocking his hips against her. They begin moving together as if molded to fit perfectly. The intensity of passion and desire coming together with each thrust. After several minutes Liam quickens his pace readying himself for the release of pure pleasure. Heather joins him and they both let out moans of ecstasy.

Liam slowly lays down beside Heather, holding her close in his arms, her head on his chest. He takes deep breaths breathing in the sweet sensual smell of her. After a few minutes, Heather bolts up in bed.

HEATHER – There was cake downstairs.

LIAM – Yes, there is cake downstairs.

HEATHER – Let’s spring Ellie early from her lessons and have cake.

LIAM – That sounds wonderful.

18 notes · View notes

axwalker · 5 years ago

Text

The Trade 12

Synopsis: Liam is running for Cordonia’s presidency. To assure his victory, Constantine makes an arraignment behind his back for him to marry the rich ambassador’s daughter: Alexis O’Brien. Due to her father’s threats, she has no other option than to seduce Liam Rhys. But what happens when she falls in love with his best friend? (AU)

Pairings: DrakexMC

Warnings: I love drama and chaos so this will probably get a bit dark. In this chapter there is mention of rape, if you get triggered by this issue, don’t hesitate to send me a message and I’ll be glad to explain what happens without reading it. A lot of angst and heartbreak

Please note that this is my first series and English is not my first language. I really love ALL kinds of feedback. Don’t hesitate to comment!

Disclaimer: Some of the dialogues and settings as well as most of the characters belong to Pixelberry (except for Alexis O’Brien and her evil father George O’Brien JR).

To catch up: Masterlist

Thanks to @pedudley my awesome beta reader, your comments and encouragement mean so much. And of course, to @mskaneko for this beautiful mood board, and all the other great edits and mood boards 💕💕 Love you girls!!

Kiara being Kiara speaks a bit of French in this episode the translations are at the end of the chapter.

WE’RE ALMOST AT THE END!!

@burnsoslow @mskaneko @drxkewalker @pedudley @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @pug-bitch @lauzales @desireepow-1986 @yukinagato2012 @kingliam2019 @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @debramcg1106 @speedyoperarascalparty @drakewalker04 @ac27dj @ravenpuff02 @msjr0119 @texaskitten30 @loveellamae

Liam was sitting in the living room, with a scotch in his hand when Maxwell and Alexis arrived.

“Alexis, thank god you are alright. I was worr-“ he stopped himself noticing that she had been crying. “Love, I’m sorry I made you cry. Please, believe it wasn’t my intention.”

He took a step towards her, but she raised her hand, stopping him, she felt emotionally drained. “That’s not the reason I’m crying.” She stared at him “However, I do want you to think very thoroughly about the kind of wife you want because I won’t limit myself to bear your children and smile prettily at your meetings. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m very tired, we’ll talk tomorrow. Good night, Max.” she gave Maxwell a kiss on his cheek and waved at his fiancé “Good night, Liam”

Liam was about to follow her, but Maxwell grabbed his arm. Alexis had told him everything about Abigail on the ride back and he knew she needed time alone.

“Li! Can I give you some unsolicited advice?” The blond man looked at him expectantly. “Give her some space. Let her breathe, man. You’ll talk tomorrow “

Liam nodded and left the room to go bed.

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

Drake was twelve years old when he arrived at the Rhys mansion to live with Constantine and his family. Bastien had convinced the President to take the Walker children after their father had died to protect him. The president had accepted to take them in and give them the best possible education, not only as a proof of his gratitude but as a magnificent publicity stunt, he knew the voters would love it.

Drake was reluctant to go with them. Regina and Constantine were both extremely cold parents and he knew her mother had never liked either of them. What if they were horrible to him, or worst, to his baby sister?

He was so nervous that not even the thrill of living with his best friend was enough to calm him. Bastien showed them their respective rooms, both twice as big as their old ones at the old Walker cabin. Savannah was even more scared than him, her heart was beating furiously, and she was clutching her teddy bear so hard that her knuckles went white.

“It’s ok Sav, we’ll be fine here, you know Li and Leo are cool” He tried to sound as mature as he could.

Savannah couldn’t stop her tears any longer. “You always tease me when you’re with them.”

He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it “We won’t anymore, Sav. I promise”

“I second that,” Liam poked his head into Savannah’s room. “We won’t tease you anymore Savvie. But the two of you can help us get back at Leo. Olivia and I are thinking how to prank him after he hid stinky bombs under our chairs on Livvie’s birthday. When we sat down, they exploded, and the room was reeking. Olivia was so furious she persecuted him with the knife for her cake and my dad punished us for a month” He seemed really amused by the memory.

Savannah smiled shyly behind her bear. “He really did that?”

“Yes, he also took some red coloring from the kitchen and put it on Olivia’s toothpaste, she spent the whole day with red teeth. Well, that one backfired, she was delighted when everyone thought she had been on a fight” Liam grinned at them. After losing his own mother three years before, he understood how anxious they were feeling, and he wanted them to feel welcome.

Drake smiled seeing his sister was calmer and shot a grateful look at Liam. He put his arm around Savannah’s shoulders and winked at his best friend “We will definitely think of something”

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

Drake had waited a more than an hour before leaving the beach so he wouldn’t arrive at Theron’s mansion at the same time as Max and Alexis. When he finally started driving his mind drifted to the day after his mother had left. He took a deep breath remembering how sad and scared him and Sav had been and how much Liam had wanted to comfort them. All that pain because his mother had decided to abandon her own children without looking back. It astonished him that Alexis had thought that the two situations were remotely similar. She had been strong and generous, where her mother had been flaky and weak. Alexis would do anything to keep her daughter safe, his mother couldn’t care less about them.

Drake sighed thinking of her, of the roller coaster of emotions she had put him through. And now that he had finally understood the reasons behind the way she was acting, his only wish was to kill George O’Brien with his bare hands. That asshole had not only failed in protecting Alexis, but he had had the nerve of making her feel guilty and worthless. He had abandoned her when she had needed him the most and then he had forced her to give up her own daughter. His blood boiled thinking of Alexis, young, terrified and alone, and of her pain so raw, so deep despite the years. He remembered her soft voice telling him that she had never felt safe before him. That son of a bitch had to pay.

He dialed Kiara’s phone.

“Drake?”

“Hi, Kiara. I just wanted to know if Ambassador O’Brien is staying at your estate tonight with the rest of us.”

“Uhm, yes. I think my staff gave him the blue room, you know?” Kiara lowered her voice. “The one where you and I almost…”

Drake sighed, they had almost slept together ten years ago during a Beaumont Bash and she wouldn’t let it go. “Yes, I know. Thanks Kiara”

“Wait, Drake, I think he’s-“

Drake stopped the call and speeded up, he wasn’t thinking clearly, the only thing in his mind was to teach that monster a lesson.

When he arrived at the house, he jumped out of his car and entered the mansion furiously. In less than a second he was in the room Kiara had mentioned. He slammed the doors open only to find her, sitting in the bed.

“Coucou! (1) You got me all curious, Drake. You hung up the phone so fast, I couldn’t tell you that George is out of the country. He had some business to do in France” She stood up and walked towards Drake, putting her arms around his neck. “Why are you looking for him?”

He grabbed her arms and put them away. “Something for the campaign, forget about it.”

“S’il te plaît mon chéri. Tu as l’air très énervé ! (2) It has to be something more than a simple professional matter”

“I don’t speak fucking French Kiara and is not of your business. Good night.” Drake left the room as angrily as he had entered it.

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

Hakim Theron was satisfied that the campaign had finally reached Castelraillan. It would be much easier to carry out his plans without worrying about missing crucial information.

Penelope had proved effective, but she didn’t have the brains or the wit to take matters into her hands. Plus she had to keep an eye on him, his secret weapon, the one who would definitely destroy Liam’s presidential dreams.

Hakim hoped that the boy didn’t take his betrayal personally, it wasn’t something he had against him or even Constantine, as much as he disliked the old man. It was what was best for Cordonia. Liam wanted to change too many things too fast and that could be dangerous for his country’s stability. It would be better for everyone, if things could go back to the way they were.

He smiled seeing Alexis and Tariq’s pictures, it was ironic that Constantine had brought to his son’s campaign the woman that was going to, unknowingly, destroy it.

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

Alexis got into the car that was going to take her to the rally at Castelraillan and decided to check the final details of her last speech on the ride. She sighed thinking about how much she wanted to keep on working with Liam. Ironically, he had fired her because of Drake but Drake wasn’t the reason she wanted to be part of the campaign. The reason was Liam. His passion, his ideas, and his determination to change his country inspired her and made her admire him.

“Can I come in?” She turned her head to the car’s door and saw Liam with a couple of coffees and some pastries in a box.

“My father is waiting for me in the other car, but I much rather share these cronuts with you.” He smiled charmingly.

She couldn’t suppress a smile. “Well, if you bought too many cronuts, I could always help you with that.”

He entered the car and sat next to her, opening the box. “Take one.” He handed her one of the coffees. “And here’s a latte too”

She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she drank her coffee black, no sugar. Like Drake.

“Thank you, Li.”

He leaned to give her a soft kiss stroking her cheek with his hand. “I’m sorry about your role in the campaign, Alexis, but I really think it is for the best. I know you think that it’s about Drake, but it’s not.”

She shook her head rolling her eyes.

“Well, not only,” he conceded. “If I win you are going to be the First Lady of this country. You should be focusing on preparing for that, my love.” He kissed her knuckles. “You will have a lot of charities and philanthropic work, and of course you should be planning our engagement party and our wedding. I wouldn’t expect nor want that you limit yourself to smile prettily. I need a partner, someone I can trust next to me. But being my wife won’t be easy.”

Alexis nodded, finally acknowledging what her life would be from that moment on. Fancy and uncomfortable dresses, high painful heels, endless galas, and boring meetings for the hundreds of charities she would preside but would have no real involvement in.

Alexis was going to have to accept the fact that she wasn’t her own person anymore. Her dreams of hiking and camping in the forest, traveling around the world or writing a children’s novel one day weren’t a possibility any longer. Becoming First Lady would bring a whole set of responsibilities and she would have to live with that.

However, the worst part would be learning how to live with an eternal broken heart. She focused on the view behind the window. “I know, Liam. I’ll ask Max for help to plan the party and the wedding.”

“Perfect darling. And you can also count on Regina” The limousine parked “Here we are.”

When they got out of the car, dozens of paparazzi were waiting for them. Liam put his arms around her protectively and they quickly reached the temporary campaign’s quarters that had been set for the rally.

Drake felt her presence before she walked in. She was beautiful in a simple red dress and light makeup, but her facial expression was gloomy, highly contrasting with Liam’s joyful one. After a few seconds, she saw him and her face softened immediately. They locked eyes with each other only for a moment but they both felt the electricity passing across the room and turned around grinning. She took her computer and went to work on the other side of the room.

“Drake, can you bring me the results of the last polls in Castelraillan?” Liam was with Olivia checking some numbers before his speech and had missed their exchange.

“Of course, here they are. They show how your numbers have increased since Hakim declared his support.” He handed him a USB and added trying to sound casual. “Do you have the speech? I have to double-check that all your facts are correct”

Liam went mute for a second. “Alexis has it. I’ll go ask her for it”

Olivia cocked her brow. “What? Do you need some extra cash, so you took a second job running errands?” She snorted “Don’t be ridiculous, Liam. We have to look at these polls before you start the rally. Drake is a big boy; he can go himself”

Drake went looking for Alexis and spotted her immediately on the other side of the room.

“Hey O’Brien. I need to check the speech.” He said with a soft smile.

Her breath hitched seeing him grinning at her. Those dimples. “Hi, Drake!” She felt like a teenager again. Her ability to form coherent sentences or look at him without blushing were both gone, so she feigned to be deeply interested in her computer. Drake pulled a chair and sat next to her.

He lowered his voice so only her could hear him. “How are you doing, Lexie?”

“I’m fine, Drake. Thank you. Talking really helped.” Her eyes were bright and grateful, and he had to actively fight his hand’s urge to touch her.

“I’m here for anything you need, baby.”

She looked fondly at him, but suddenly remembered where she was, and most importantly, where her fiancé was and cleared her throat, standing up.

“I’m going to take five minutes, but you can read the speech here on my computer.” She shot him a sad look before leaving. It was better that way.

The rally started one hour later, Liam went up on stage and people went crazy. Alexis smiled, he was a great politician, she might have written the speech, but it was him who was bringing it to life. The fact that he actually believed in what he was saying, definitely helped.

She saw the crowd cheer and applaud at the other side of the curtain.

All of a sudden, Drake stood up behind her, his musky scent immediately inebriating her. He leaned towards her and whispered in her ear.

“We didn’t finish our conversation, O’Brien.”

His warm breath and his low raspy voice in her ear made her shiver. “I don’t know what you mean, Walker”

He shot a glance towards the stage where Liam was talking about education. Then he looked back at her. She was playing nervously with her chocolate hair, finally setting all of it on the left side of her head, leaving part of her neck uncovered.

The temptation was too great, he leaned towards her again and placed a small kiss on her nape while his fingertips gently brushed her back.

She closed her eyes savoring the brief moment, the feeling of Drake behind her was exhilarating and nerve-wracking at the same time.

Drake placed another small kiss but on her shoulder this time. Then he turned to her ear again.

“I need you, Lexie. Don’t shut me down again.”

She turned to him “Drake, I can’t do this. Please, don’t make it so hard.”

He didn’t take his eyes off of her.

Suddenly, a burst of applauses took them out of their bubble. Liam had finished his speech and was walking off the stage shaking hands and smiling widely at his followers.

“Come on, Drake. Let’s avoid another pissing contest. If Li sees you two together again, he’s going to lose it” Olivia glared at Alexis.

“Go with her, Drake. Please,” Alexis begged.

He shook his head but left with Olivia.

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

Maxwell sighed content. He had coordinated the whole rally with Ezequiel’s help, Kiara’s brother had been very helpful. He had asked him out, but he was too in love with Rashad to accept.

He knew that he and Kiara had broken their engagement, but he hadn’t had look for him yet. Rashad was on his own path, and he had to respect that. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the presence in front of him. He looked up and was surprised to see Rashad watching him

“Hi, Max,” He said smiling.

“Hi, Rash. How are you doing?” He grinned back.

“Fine, it’s definitely weird to be back at my ex-fiancé’s house but I’m more convinced than ever that it was the right decision. I’ve missed you.” He set his hand in Maxwell’s knee and looked him expectantly.

“Are you sure about this Rashad?” Maxwell’s eyes were full of hope “Are you ready to try something real with me? To come out for good?”

Rashad nodded “I talked to my father; he wasn’t as shocked as I would have thought. He wasn’t thrilled but he said he’ll be supportive. I think that he really, really hated Kiara, so anyone else is an upgrade for him.” He chuckled.

“Even me?” Maxwell cocked his brows inquisitively.

“You’re the most amazing man in the world, Max” Rashad pulled Maxwell’s head towards him and kissed him. “I was dying to do that”.

Maxwell smiled mischievously and took Rashad’s hand. “I’ll show you upstairs what I’m dying to do”

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

The next day, Alexis was having breakfast with Liam in the main room. He wanted to make plans for their upcoming engagement party.

Maxwell entered the room with a huge smile plastered on his face. When he saw Alexis, he took her hand forcing her to stand up, and started to spin her around the room while he sang, under Liam’s amused look.

“L is for the way you look at me

O is for the only one I see”

She cackled “Max!” He twirled her around once more before elegantly dipping her, as he finished singing.

“V is very, very extraordinary

E is even more than anyone that you adore can”

Liam laughed. “Should I be concerned about you stealing my fiancé, Max?”

He chuckled. “She’s definitely a catch, but not really my type.”

“Let me guess.” She pointed her finger at him beaming. “Rashad and you’re back together?”

Liam cocked his brows in surprise. “What? Rashad is gay? Are you and Rashad together, Max?”

Alexis laughed. “You didn’t notice all those cute little looks that they’re always throwing at each other?”

“I can be slightly oblivious sometimes.” Liam smiled sheepishly

She hugged Max. “I’m so happy for you! You’re the best friend anyone can hope for, you deserve all the happiness in the world.”

“Aww! Stop, Blossom, you’re going to make me cry and I can’t have red, puffy eyes on my first day back with Rash.” He looked pensive for a second before talking again. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to run by you. I would love to bring Rashad to your engagement party as my official date.”

“I don’t even understand why you’re asking, Max. You can come with whoever you want.” She turned to Liam.

“Of course, Max. I don’t care who you bring as long as you come.”

“Aww, guys! I love you! Group hug!” He threw his arms at both of them before leaving. “I’ll go tell Rash.”

Alexis watched him go, delighted to see him so happy. She looked at Liam who was serving her a cup of coffee and put her hand on his. “You’re a good friend, Li.”

He placed the coffee maker on the table and took her chin between his thumb and index. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, but I’m hoping that we’ll be able to take care of that with some time.” He leaned to kiss her.

“I have to run, darling. I have a lot of work to do. Will you go shopping with Max for your wedding dress?”

She shuddered but managed to give him a small smile. “Yes. We have an appointment with Ana de Luca later. That’s all I’ll be doing with my day today. It’s fascinating, isn’t it?”

He ignored the acid remark. “You’ll love her. See you later, my love.” Liam kissed her before leaving the room.

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

After days of trying wedding and engagement dresses, Alexis was more than exasperated. She had never been someone who cared much about clothes and the only thing she was doing lately, was to shop.

She was even more exhausted from avoiding Drake. Every fiber of her being was pulling Alexis towards him but being close to each other was a torturous pain for both of them, so she tried to stay away from the campaign quarters as much as she could. She shuddered thinking about her engagement party. Drake would have to be there and watch her getting officially engaged with Liam. He was going to have to smile and congratulate them. She felt like screaming, the pain was getting too much to handle.

She took the keys to her car and drove to the nearest bar.

Five or six cheap whiskey glasses later, she was still sitting on a stool, incapable of moving. The moments she had spent with Drake were replaying in her head like a broken record. The day they had met, and that amazing kiss. The night stargazing or drinking whiskey in the cellar. The way he had taken care of her the night she had seen Brad again. How he had comforted when she had told him about Abigail. The conversations and the confidences they had shared. The hours spend discovering and loving each other. She missed how safe she felt with him. She craved their fights, his eyes, his kisses, his arms around her, his deep, raspy voice, his strong hands. Alexis didn’t know how she was going to do to live the rest of her life without him.

She was getting really drunk. It would be better if she called Max to take her back to the house.

“O’Brien” The familiar, manly voice startled her.

“Drake…how-?”

“Someone recognized you and called me”. He pointed at the back of the bar where Bastien nodded at them.

“You didn’t have to come, I was going to call Max.”

He sat on the stool beside her and called the barmaid. “I’ll have the same than her.”

Then, he turned to her to stroke her face. “I’m always going to come, Lexie. Always.”

She exhaled a sad breath. “Drake, I have to marry him. I don’t want to, but I have to.”

“We have to tell him the truth, Alexis. I know him since we were kids, he’ll understand.”

She sneered. “He’ll understand that I have been lying to him for months? He’ll understand that his father and mine have been plotting behind his back? He’ll understand that he loves me but I’m ... I’m …” She ran her hand through her hair desperately.

“You what, Alexis?” He lowered his head to meet her eyes. “You what?” He cupped her face making her face him “Tell me, you what!”

“I love you, okay?! I love yo- “

He crashed his mouth with hers stroking her face with his thumbs. It was hungry, desperate. It was soft and hot and breathy, and passionate. The heat rose in their cheeks as their tongues intertwined and they had to come out for air, breathless and giddy.

He held her head so her forehead would rest on his “I love you too, Alexis. I love you so fucking much it actually hurts. I never thought I would be the kind of guy who would tell a girl he’s crazy about her, but here I am, mad about you.” He sighed. “Insane about you.”

Her heart was beating faster and faster. Her head kept telling her that it was a mistake but the pull to him was stronger and she kissed him over and over until they needed to come out for air again.

After a while, she came to her senses.

Her eyes watered looking at him. “The reason Liam is acting controlling and possessive is that he’s feeling insecure. And he’s right. I love you. You are the love of my life, Drake.” Drake listened to her as he softly rubbed her face. “So I can’t really blame him for acting the way he is. I know he would never hurt me. I know he loves me. But even if I tell him the truth, I have to marry him.” She took a sharp breath. “If I’m honest with him there’s two possibilities. Either he calls off the wedding and Abigail will be in danger. Or he’ll agree to marry me to help me but he will be heartbroken.” She stroked Drake’s cheek too. “Telling Liam doesn’t solve the problem; we would only break his heart even more. The only solution is to accept things as they are, Drake. I’m sorry.”

He stared angrily at her “So that’s it? I love you, Drake but I’ll be marrying Liam in three weeks. You’re not even going to fight?”

“Don’t be unfair, Drake you know there’s nothing I can do.” Tears were falling off her cheeks as she spoke “Please, leave. I’ll call Maxwell”

She gestured the barmaid for another whiskey.

Drake stood up and turned her stool towards him, so she would be facing him. He leaned towards her taking her chin with his fingers “I would never leave, Lexie. Never. I don’t care if you marry him. I don’t care if I have to wait for the rest of my life to be with you. I won’t leave. As you long as you need me, I’ll be right here.”

She gave him a sad smile. “Even if we can only be friends?”

“Even then.” Drake returned her sad smile. “You can always count on me, baby.” He put a strand hair behind her ear, before kissing her forehead. “Now, let’s get you out of here before you drink their whole lot of whiskey”

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

Three days later, Liam was getting ready for his engagement party. He put his tuxedo on and looked in the mirror. He felt nervous, he was completely in love with Alexis, but he couldn’t help but feel uncertain. He kept on trying but she seemed unattainable, always kind, and gentle but never really there with him. Liam shook his head putting those thoughts aside, they were getting married in three weeks and, then, she will be his. There was nothing to be afraid of.

Liam had arranged one limousine for the five of them so they would arrive together like a solid family. He had invited Leo to come with them too, but he said he would arrive a little later, surely drunk and with some random woman. It was exasperating but he couldn’t take care of that now.

When the car pulled over at the O’Brien’s mansion and Alexis came out, Liam grinned. She was gorgeous. He offered her his arm and took her to the limousine, with George behind them.

Constantine and Regina were already inside waiting for them with a cold champagne bottle.

Alexis sighed. Perfect! The man with no heart and the wicked witch of the east.

George spoke with a content expression on his face. “Well, we’re close to Election’s day and we’re almost sure that we will win. We should toast to that”

“A glass of champagne, dear?” Regina questioned.

She smiled politely.“Yes, Regina. Thank you” And keep them coming.

After clinking their glasses, Constantine turned to Liam “Are you ready, son? All Cordonia’s press will be there, you’ll have to give interviews and take some pictures” He paused to focus on Alexis “We all know how much you hate that dear, but you’ll have to do it tonight. Do we understand each other?”

She stared at him contemptuously. “I’m more than capable to answer some questions, Constantine but thank you so much for your concern.”

Liam grabbed her hand “Please, father. Alexis doesn’t need you to tell her what to do.” He turned to her. “By the way love, you look beautiful”

She looked at him gratefully. “Thanks, Li. You look very handsome too.”

The limousine parked at the venue chosen by Regina. Liam squeezed Alexis’s hand.

“Let’s do this”

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

Maxwell had everything ready. He had planned the party with Regina, after a few days, it had become clear that Alexis wasn’t at all interested in the party, or in the engagement.

He had greeted most guests and was only waiting for them. When they finally arrived, he instructed them on how to make their entrance. George came down the stairs first, then Regina and Constantine, and finally, in the middle of a round of applause, Liam, the candidate, and Alexis.

Drake was at the other end of the room with a glass of whiskey in his hand. His heart raced at the sight of her. She was breathtaking with a red strapless dress that brought attention to her breasts. It was tight, and had a long skirt with a slit that gave a tantalizing view of her tanned, long leg as she descended; her big eyes and crimson lips were framed by her shiny brown hair. She was a vision, A gorgeous vision. His mouth went dry instantly, he knew that his promise of being only his friend will be very difficult to keep.

His fist clenched seeing Liam put his arms around her and kiss her in front of everyone. In front of him. He felt like punching someone, and seeing George next to them, he knew exactly who. The rage didn’t let him see the brunette sitting next to him.

“Salut, Drake. Ca va? (2)” Kiara asked seductively.

“I have told you a thousand times how annoying it is when you switch languages like that Kiara. Pick fucking one and stick with it. It’s called commitment.”

She giggled. “I love how direct you are.” She placed her hand on his thigh “I really really love it” She started to rub his thigh, but he grabbed her hand.

“Well, I’m happy you appreciate my bluntness, you’re going to love this, I need some time alone, Kiara. Have a good night.” He turned towards the bar and asked for another whiskey.

Alexis didn’t miss anything about their exchange, her blood boiled when she saw Kiara place her hand on his thigh but smiled to herself when she saw Drake take it off.

Liam hugged her from behind.

“How are you doing, love?”

“I would love another glass of champagne, Li,” she answered.

He signaled the waiter to come and serve them. He clinked his glass with her and kiss her on the cheek “You won’t believe how happy I’m tonight, not only I’m way ahead in the polls, but I have In my arms the most beautiful woman in the room.”

Olivia huffed. She had a thousand things to coordinate and Drake wasn’t of any help getting wasted on the bar. Of course, she understood him, even if she still loved Liam, her feelings weren’t as raw as Drakes’ and she had had years of training.

She approached the happy couple seething, she would love to know Alexis’s intentions. It was obvious how crazily in love with Drake she was. Was she marrying Liam only for his position? Olivia had to find out.

“You have to come and talk to Francesco, the Italian’s ambassador, Liam” She shot an angry look at Alexis. “And your father is looking for you.”

Alexis seemed surprised. “What for?”

Olivia arched her brow “Do I look like your fucking secretary or do you need glasses?”

“Olivia, please,” Liam scolded her.

Alexis was about to answer with a snarky remark but when she saw Olivia’s eyes, she recognized the pain. Olivia was hurting as much as she was but for a different man.

“It’s fine, Li. I’m going to go look for my father. See you later.”

Liam took her hand and pulled her body towards him to kiss her “See you soon my love.”

Drake stood up furious after seeing the kiss. After all the whiskey he had had to drink the only thing he cared about was talking to her. He saw her walk away from Liam and Olivia and enter the hall, he tried to pass the couples dancing in the dance-floor as fast as he could but when he was about to go out, Max called him.

Alexis reached the hall. Her father was waiting for her with an envelope in his hand. “What does this mean, Alexis?”

George threw the envelope at her. When she opened it she saw a few pictures of her from a week ago, from the night she had told Drake about Abigail. They were hugging and kissing in the photos.

“Did you have me followed? How dare you!” Alexis was furious.

George took a step towards her. “How I dare? Me?” He grabbed her arm “You’re behaving like a whore but you think that it’s me who have to explain myself to you?” He yanked her arm.

“LET.HER.GO” Drake growled.

George laughed but freed her arm. “Prince Charming himself” He snickered. “Well, his best friend. This is a family matter, Walker. Leave.”

Drake ignored the ambassador. “Are you ok, Lexie?”

She knew Drake and she had to avoid a fight at all costs. “It’s fine, Drake. I’m fine. Really.”

“Good, baby. Go back inside.” He rolled his sleeves.

She didn’t move “Drake, please.”

Everything happened so fast that George didn’t have the time to react before he felt Drake’s fist connect with his jaw.

“You’re nothing but a piece of crap.” Drake grabbed him by his shoulder and gave him one, two, three punches in his stomach.

“You shouldn’t even be allowed to live, you piece of crap.” He slammed him against the wall. George was trying to defend himself, but the younger man was stronger and faster. “What asshole? If it’s not a defenseless woman you can’t fight?”

“Drake! Stop!” The music in the party was too loud but Maxwell and Rashad were close to the door and they had seen Drake beating the Ambassador. They both took him by his arms, using all their strength to pull him apart from George.

Drake tried to free himself. “Let me go! I‘m going to kill this motherfucker!”

George sat at the floor seething with fury. “You’ll pay for this Walker. I swear” He turned to Alexis. “Tell Constantine that I wasn’t feeling good. And you better keep your promise with Liam. Unless you prefer this filthy asshole to Abigail.”

Drake screamed at him. “Don’t you dare to threaten her”

Rashad got himself in the middle. “Come on, Drake. Let him go”

George stood up and limped away from them.

Drake looked at Alexis. Maxwell grabbed Rashad’s shoulder. “They need to talk, Rash. Let’s go back to the ballroom.”

Alexis was beyond furious. “Why!? Why do you have to do that!? Now he’ll have something against you too. I’m not only going to be worried about Abbie. I’ll be worried sick about you too, Drake.” Her eyes watered.

He cut the distance between them, there was nothing worst for him than seeing her crying. He cupped her face and cleaned her tears with his thumbs. “I can’t let it go, baby. I told you, no one would never put a finger on you, again. After the way he’s treated you he deserved that and much more. You know that.”

“I don’t fucking care about him, Drake. You don’t know how he is, what he’s capable of.” Alexis sobbed, terrified. “I can’t lose you.”

“He’s threatening his own daughter, Lexie. Believe me, I can imagine what he’s capable of. And I told you the other night, you will never lose me. I swear.” He kissed her lips tenderly.

She smiled through her tears, noticing his bloody knuckles. “Let’s go put some cold water on that”

Maxwell came out of the ballroom with a wet cloth. “I brought this for your hands, Drake. Lex, Liam is looking for you, he’s giving his engagement speech. You better come in first and alone” He threw an apologetic look at Drake.

Liam smiled as soon as he saw her coming through the door.

“There you are, love. Where’s your father? I wanted to give my speech now.”

“He wasn’t feeling well, Li. He won’t come back tonight so you can give the speech now.”

Liam looked at her suspiciously but didn’t reply.

He went to the top of the stairs with her. Maxwell nodded at the band on stage, so they’d announce Liam’s speech.

“Alexis and I are delighted, thrilled and honored to share our intentions for the rest of our days with you. Standing together in front of all the very special people in our lives to announce our engagement makes our private dreams public and, in a way, real. Thank you for being here, for your love and well wishes-”

Suddenly, the buzzing and noise of telephones beeping were all they could hear, but Liam made an attempt to ignore them.

“Alexis has made me the happiest man in the world. With her, by my side, I understand what the writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald meant when he said, ‘I love her, and that’s the beginning and end of everything.’-”

He stopped talking, everyone had their eyes glued either on their phone or on Alexis. She searched Drake, he was seething looking at his phone too.

Finally, among a trail of whispers and gasps, Alexis and Liam reached Drake and Maxwell and grabbed their phones. Alexis saw her world collapsing when she read the article. It was entitled “An Affair to Remember” and was illustrated by some very suggestive photos of her and Tariq the night of her attack.

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

In a corner of the ballroom, Leo Rhys smiled. Hakim’s plan was working perfectly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kiara:

Please honey, You were really angry (...)

Hi! How is it going?

#drake walker #drake x mc #drakexmc #drake walker fanfic #trr #trr drake #trr fanfic

71 notes · View notes

monarchdriving538 · 5 months ago

Text

Master the Road: Driving Lessons in Beaumont Hills

Gain essential driving skills with expert instructors in Beaumont Hills. Navigate roads safely and confidently with personalized lessons.

0 notes

fineskillsdriving · 5 years ago

Link

You can avail a limited offer for drivers training in Edmonton at Fine Skills Driving School.

#drivers training #driving lessons #cheap driving courses #Edmonton #Beaumont #Sherwood Park

5 notes · View notes

camillemontespan · 5 years ago

Text

sports day [drake walker x camille montespan x lily]

Just a one shot I dreamt up. No reason for this other than it’s Sunday fluff.

@jovialyouthmusic @sirbeepsalot @pug-bitch @moonlightgem7 @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @emceesynonymroll @dcbbw @iplaydrake @drakewalkerisreal @notoriouscs @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @katedrakeohd @rainbowsinthestorm

********************************************************************

'Okay, Lily, how are you feeling?' Camille asked her daughter. Lily jumped up and down, clapping her hands. 'Excited!'

It was her schools Sports Day. At five years old, it was her first one and she couldn't contain her joy.

Drake and Camille had chosen for Lily to attend a 'normal' school in Valtoria. It was still a prestigious institution but there were no other noble children there. Many had criticised their decision, believing it would only serve to make Lily unaware of how to navigate courtly life and lacking in the skills to be a Duchess when she was older, but her parents had been adamant - Drake more so. He wanted his daughter to grow up with no frills and to experience a normal childhood. He wanted her to have commoner friends to keep her grounded.

Drake brought over three bottles of water and handed two of them to his wife and daughter. 'Ready to go, champ?' he asked Lily. Lily nodded and began to do star jumps.

'Is she warming up?' Camille whispered to Drake.

'Looks like it..'

'There's my little sports star!'

They turned to see Maxwell and Bertrand walking towards them. Maxwell was beaming. 'You ready to win some medals?!' he hollered.

Lily ran towards her Uncle Max and he pulled her into a bear hug. Lily then broke away to hug Uncle Bertrand who crouched down to talk to her face to face.

'Now, Lily. This is the most important day of your life,' he told her seriously. 'As an honorary Beaumont, you must know we don't do things by halves. We go all in. What do we do?'

'We go all in!' Lily repeated, her face serious too.

Camille bit her lip. 'Honey, it's the taking part that counts, you don't have to win, it's meant to be fun.'

Bertrand stared at the Duchess. 'Camille, have you forgotten about the suitor competition you were competing in six years ago? We. Go. All. In.'

'Yeah but she rejected Liam and married me so..' Drake said, shifting on his feet awkwardly.

'I meant in terms of the regatta and such,' Bertrand explained. 'Sporting events.'

Lily was then distracted, her eyes going wide. 'Uncle Leo!'

Olivia and Leo were walking towards the group, Leo's arm was slung around Olivia's shoulder. He was wearing aviators, a brown leather jacket, white fitted t-shirt, jeans and boots. Olivia was dressed in leather trousers, a low cut red top and stiletto heels. They both looked so out of place, like they should be in LA or something.

Lily ran towards Leo. 'There's my pretty girl!' he laughed, picking her up and turning her upside down.

Leo held her by the ankles as he strode over to the group before setting Lily down. 'You been practicing your warm ups?' he asked her.

'Star jumps and stretches!' Lily told him.

Camille blinked. 'Why is everyone taking this so seriously like it's life or death?'

Drake chuckled and squeezed her hand. 'I'm not. This is just a fun day out to me.'

Camille smiled up at him. 'I swear, you keep me sane.'

Lily was looking up at Olivia, entranced. Any time she saw her godmother, she was rendered speechless at how glamorous she was. Olivia was her idol. 'Auntie Olivia, do you think I'll win?'

Olivia crouched down to talk to her. 'Babe, I know you will. You just show those fuckers who's boss - '

'OLIVIA!' Camille and Drake both burst out.

Olivia looked up at them, a look of boredom on her face. 'What?'

Lily looked up at her parents. 'Mommy, daddy, what are fuckers?'

Drake pressed his fingers against the bridge of nose. 'So help me God..' he muttered. Camille looked furious.

'You can't swear in front of our daughter!' she hissed.

Olivia smirked. 'Camille, that's nothing! Could have been worse, I could have called them cun-'

Leo clapped his hand over his girlfriends mouth. 'Okaaaay babe, let's get you a drink!'

He led Olivia away, keeping hold of her tightly so she wouldn’t trip over the grass in her heels. Drake and Camille focused back on Lily, who was now doing burpees.

‘Who the hell taught her how to do burpees?’ Drake asked, staring at his daughter with a bewildered expression on his face.

‘You’re welcome!’ Leo shouted over his shoulder.

Camille sighed. ‘Lils, lets go to your teammates. Can you see the yellow team anywhere?’

Lily scanned the field. ‘There! I see Violet and Harper!’

Camille took her hand and the two of them wandered over to the yellow team. Drake smiled as he watched them go. This was exactly the kind of childhood he had hoped for Lily and he was so glad she was experiencing normality.

‘Hey Drake!’

Hana arrived beside Drake carrying a tray of brownies. Drake hungrily looked at the baked goods and Hana giggled. ‘Do you want one?’

Drake reddened and cleared his throat. ‘Nah, those are for the kids.’

‘I won’t tell.’

Drake’s hand shot out to pick up a brownie and he shovelled it in his mouth. ‘Jesus, Hana, these taste like heaven.’

‘It’s my secret recipe!’ she said, giving him a wink. ‘Where’s Lily? I want to give these to her team.’

Drake pointed at Lily and said with his mouth full, ‘Over there.’

Hana joined Camille and Lily. Lily’s mouth dropped when she saw the brownies and the rest of her team mates crowded around to try them. She was going to be the popular one today.

*********************************************************

‘YES LILY! Keep going!’ Bertrand shouted. He was right at the sidelines studying Lily’s efforts during the wheelbarrow race. Violet was holding her legs and Lily was driving them forward on her hands, keeping her body off the ground.

They were currently third out of eight teams which was a great start. Lily’s face was set in concentration as she tried to be the best wheelbarrow she could be.

‘You guys are amazing!’ Hana squealed, clapping her hands. ‘You can do it!’

Camille was cheering her daughter on while Drake took photos on his phone.

‘She is taking this so seriously, isn’t she?’ he said, smiling. Camille rolled her eyes.

‘Thanks to her uncles and aunties.’

‘She’ll win, Camille.’

‘I know but if she doesn’t, I don’t want her getting sad,’ Camille told him. ‘She always puts so much pressure on herself.’

Drake brought Camille in for a hug. ‘If she loses -and that’s a big if- we’ll buy her McDonalds on the way home. A dinner for champions, okay?’

Camille smiled. ‘That would be perfect either way.’

*******************************************************

‘Pretend it’s a crown!’ Bertrand instructed from the sidelines. Lily was balancing a small rubber ring on her head and walking, trying to keep it balanced. ‘Wear the crown! Be the crown!’

‘Is someone usurping me?’

The group turned to see Liam standing behind them, a warm smile on his features. ‘Hey guys, sorry I’m late.’

The rest of the parents were staring. The King was at their school’s sports day. What. The. Hell.

His bodyguards were in attendance but aside from that, no fanfare had been made of his arrival. Drake handed him a bottle of water. ‘Good to see you, man.’

Leo clapped his brother on the back. ‘You still free this weekend for the Beaumont Bash? Maxwell’s planned a rager.’

‘A Beaumont Bash is always a rager,’ Olivia said. Maxwell beamed. ‘This is the best rager yet.’

Liam chuckled and shrugged. ‘Yeah, I’m still coming. Nothing too heavy, though. I have duties the next day.’

‘Nothing you can’t do hungover at your desk!’ Leo quipped.

They all turned back to watch Lily who had managed to make it to the finish line with the rubber ring still on her head. They began to cheer, but were overshadowed in enthusiasm by Bertrand, who was ecstatic.

‘Oh, Camille, I can’t wait to give her etiquette lessons when she’s older!’ he cried.

‘Aww Bertrand, you softie!’ she said, squeezing him against her. Bertrand wrapped his arm around her shoulder and continued to watch his future student. ‘She is so like you,’ he whispered.

‘Yeah but she’s got Drake’s smirk,’ she replied.

‘Oh, I’m aware!’ Bertrand laughed.

The sports teacher blew into her whistle. ‘Time for lunch!’ she announced.

Camille picked up the food box she had brought with her. She had made sandwiches for each of Lily’s teammates and included orange juice and chocolate bars for a sugar boost. Lily took her mother’s hand when she saw her and helped Camille distribute sandwiches.

‘Lils, let’s top up your sun cream,’ Camille said. ‘We don’t want you burning.’

Lily sighed but obliged. Camille smothered her skin in sun cream before adding a little blob to the tip of her nose. ‘There!’

Lily rubbed her nose and sat down on the grass to eat her lunch with her friends. Violet was looking sad because she wasn’t performing so well.

‘Violet, you’re so, so, so good,’ Lily told her. ‘Like, you were the best at helping me be a wheelbarrow.’

‘Yeah but I still suck at everything else.’

‘No you don’t. Here, have a chocolate bar.’

Lily handed her a chocolate bar and Violet took it gratefully. Camille watched her daughter with a sense of pride.

*****************************************************************************

‘Last event of the day!’ the teacher bellowed. ‘The relay race! First team mate runs with the batton and passes it to their waiting team mate until the batton reaches the final person who must get it to the finish line to win the trophy!’

‘Ooooooh!’ the children chorused.

The teams assembled. Lily was placed to be the final team mate to receive the batten. To get to the finish line first was a big responsibility, huge actually, and she had to get there.

The teacher blew her whistle and Lily’s team mate, Harper, was off running towards Milo. ‘Come on, Harper!’ Lily screamed.

Maxwell and Hana were pretending to be cheerleaders on the sidelines. ‘Give me an L!’ Maxwell sang.

They made an L shape with their arms.

‘Give me an I!’

They began to spell out Lily’s name as Milo ran towards Violet with the batton.

‘Do you think Milo has a crush on Lily?’ Camille asked Drake. ‘He kept blushing every time she spoke to him at lunch.’

Drake stared at Milo. ‘And so it starts...’ he muttered.

‘Drake..’ Camille sighed, a warning in her voice. ‘He’s five.’

‘Still a boy. Still has a dick.’

‘Drake!’ she hissed.

‘Go Violet! You’re flying!’ Lily shouted, cheering on her friend who had now been passed the batton. Violet ran towards Lily, holding out the batton.

Lily grabbed it and turned to run towards the finish line. Her dark hair blew in the wind as she ran, clutching the batton as tightly as she could.

‘You can do it, girl!’ Leo hollered, his fist in the air. ‘Remember our training!’

Lily kept running, the finish line in sight. This field was so long.

Then she tripped.

The batton flew out of her hands and she landed with a thump on the grass. Winded, she lay there still for a moment. Everyone went silent. Camille clapped her hand to her mouth and was about to rush over but was beaten to it by Drake, who was already racing towards his daughter.

He knelt down and gently inspected Lily, who was whimpering.

‘Honey, are you hurt?’

She nodded, her lip trembling.

‘Where?’

‘My ankle, it hurts..’

Drake wrapped his arms around his daughter to lift her up but she shook her head. ‘No daddy, I want to finish the race.’

‘You’re hurt-’

‘Daddy, please,’ she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

Drake sighed and looked to where the finish line was. It wasn’t far at all. Well, to him anyway. But he was 6′4 and a fully grown adult.

‘Okay, honey. Let’s finish the race,’ he whispered. ‘Get on my shoulders.’

He helped Lily onto his shoulders and he slowly stood up. ‘Ready, champ?’

She sniffled and rubbed her eyes before studying the finish line with a new determination. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Let’s go, daddy.’

Carrying Lily on his shoulders, Drake began to run towards the finish line. Camille and their friends burst out cheering, along with the other parents who were applauding. Camille ran along the sidelines, keeping the pace with Drake, watching this unfold. ‘YES MY BABIES!’ she screamed.

Lily was laughing now as Drake ran closer to the finish line. Violet and Harper were jumping up and down, cheering them on.

Drake reached the finish line and everyone began to shout his name. Lily squealed in delight, her hurt ankle forgotten.

*************************************************************************

The green team came first, followed by the red team. Lily’s team came fifth, which meant they were awarded chocolate coin medals.

But Lily was given a plastic medal from the teacher who had inspected her ankle. Lily lined up with the others who had plastic medals to have photos taken and she held hers aloft.

‘I GOT A MEDAL FUCKERS!’

Everyone went quiet, except for Olivia who sniggered. ‘That’s my girl.’

#drake walker #trr fanfic #the royal romance #liam rhys #leo rhys #olivia nevrakis #hana lee #maxwell beaumont #bertrand beaumont

43 notes · View notes

cassiusdebeaumont · 5 years ago

Text

Sunday Evening--A Chat with the Devil

Asim did not drive. Not ever. Not since Jasper Alabama in nineteen sixty eight and everyone had agreed to never discuss that incident. It had taken Collins three weeks before he could eat a hamburger again and Asim had ended up with way more saplings than even he suspected possible. Cassius was not inconvenienced except he knew what happened and the entire story had given him a headache.

So, no, Asim did not drive. Driving was a nightmare when you had omnipotence primarily because omnipotence was a game of statistics. Free Will caused the future to look less like a straight and narrow path and more like a toddler had gotten hold of a marker and a wall. When you combined that with roads full of drivers and passengers and pedestrians and overpasses and godsdamned cows and tree farmers....you got one wolf headed god that didn’t fucking drive.

So, since the country house had gotten overrun by the Lady in Tan's best of the worst, Asim had stuck to the city. Besides, even if he could drive, he wouldn’t have left the hospital. Marcy was here and, wherever she was, that was where he wanted to be.

Unless Marcy's company was Collins--which, this evening, it was. And unless the daytime nurse Allison gave him a hotel room number... which she did. Asim knew by the way her blue eyeshadow went up to her eyebrows and she smelt strongly of hairspray and cheap perfume that she was his type of woman. So, around the time Cassius was catching fireflies with Marian, Asim opted to leave Marcy in Collins' company to see how flexible a certain nurse was.

Despite being The Great Adversary and The Downfall of all Mankind to Marcy's religion, Collins was currently sitting beside her on the hospital bed because the couch was uncomfortable. He did not find the bed to be all that much more comfortable but at least it was closer to the television speakers. And the snacks.

Collins and Marcy had been busy eating their weight in junk food for the past hour and a half. Their night had begun with Collins bringing dinner from the Brazillian Steak House down the way along with a bag so full of junk food it would make Halloween envious. Marcy's face was still swollen albeit a bit less like a pumpkin and more like some other small gourd. It was tapped and bandaged with a plastic guard around what they had been able to save of her nose and right cheekbone. One eye was still slightly red and she had a constant headache although she kept that to herself. Collins thought she looked a bit like The Invisible Man meets The Mummy but kept that to himself....for the first ten minutes anyway. He hadn’t figured out how to bring it up in conversation before then.

After Collins had finished his steak and Marcy had managed what she could of mushroom ravioli; the chocolate had been broken into and Collins had demanded she share the bed as they watched Mean Girls play on the television. The two made casual conversation.

"You know," Collins licked the last bit of chocolate pudding from his spoon. "I know some very good plastic surgeons. The best money can buy."

"I don’t have any money." Marcy admitted.

"No? Does Cassius not pay you?"

"He does but I donate it to the church."

"All of it?" Collins raised both brows now in surprise and looked away from the television to the girl beside him. "Marcy, do you mean to tell me you've never kept any of it? Not a dime?"

"Nope." She popped the ending of the word on her lips.

For a pause, Collins said nothing but allowed this new knowledge to sink in. He considered the seventeen year old beside him. "Marcy, you're too pure for this world."

She laughed.

"No, I mean it. Too pure. Well, don’t worry. You wont have to pay the surgeons. I've got it handled."

"I cant accept money from the god of temptation, Mr. Collins." She spoke as if he should know better.

"That's where you're in luck. Its Asim’s money. I nicked his card on the way in." Marcy laughed again and Collins grinned. "What? It's not like he’s doing anything with it. Spending his money on you will be a vastly better expenditure than whatever he has planned." He sighed and waved his spoon. "I know, I know, you think I'm hopeless."

"No one is without hope, Mr. Collins."

"Even carnations of evil?" He smiled.

"The word is incarnation and yes, even evil." Marcy attempted to grin back.It was a painful expression but Collins didn’t voice this.

"Oh, you've been hanging around Cassius for too long. Correcting me on my words? I take everything back. Shrug your face. I'll spend Asim's money on new shoes."

Marcy giggled louder. It ended with a sigh and her eyes glancing down into her own pudding cup. She scooped a bit of what Hershey’s would declare as ‘smores flavor’ and brought it mindfully up to her lips. "...Do you think Lord De Beaumont would be angry if I got plastic surgery?"

"Why ever would he be?" Collins frowned. His eyes back on the television, he watched Tina Fey make a shirtless embarrassment of herself.

"Because of vanity. Wouldn’t it be egotistical? I mean, he must have wanted this to happen to me or else he would have prevented it. I'm supposed to learn something...." Her voice trailed. This conversation was digging into a new worry she hadn’t voiced to anyone; not even Asim and she told most things to Asim. Still, she had known Collins almost her entire life and she felt he would understand this topic more than anyone else.

"And you think you wont be able to learn it if we put a nose back on your face?" Collins, still looking at the television screen and ignoring the way her voice trailed, offered a tone that proclaimed she should hear how silly she sounded. "Darling, everyone needs a nose. If you're that worried about it, pick an ugly nose. Be the next Chloe Ferry."

"...Maybe they could reconstruct everything but keep my scars? Or maybe that's a bad idea...I don’t want to be a distraction in Lord De Beaumont's meetings."

"Distraction?" Blinking in confusion, Collins turned his head to see Marcy looking hopelessly into her pudding cup. Her eyes were welling in tears her body ached too much to cry. He realized, as egotistical as she felt to admit it, she worried she would be too hideous to manage professionalism. Out of everything she could possibly worry about, Marcy worried about being a disservice and distraction to her deity. He imagined that must ache at her because followers of The Divine Couple truly believed that, if any bad happened, it happened because it was allowed. They believed they would be protected otherwise and any struggle was a lesson. To a girl who had decided to dedicate her life in service of her deity, to worry about being a problem due to her injury meant she was doubting Cassius’ judgment. He imagined Marcy had far more on her mind than she was even brave enough to discuss...Especially if she was willing to vent to a god ‘intent’ on leading people astray. Pressing his lips into a thin line, Collins sighed through his nose before leaning over and pressing a kiss to her temple.

The action caused Marcy to blink in surprise.

"Cheer up, old girl. This too shall pass. And I promise you, Cassius does not give a shit what you look like. You're the only person in a hundred years that has kept up with his business without flopping. As long as you can operate that little bluetooth and tablet of yours, you could look like Sarah Jessica Parker and he would still adore you."

This time, Marcy laughed loud enough it hurt and caused another dose of morphine to be administered.

#order #stand alone post

3 notes · View notes

twinkleallnight · 4 years ago

Text

Marshmallow

(Part-5) Frozen heart

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x MC, Drake x ??

For previous chapters: catch up here

Thank you @bbrandy2002 for prereading and listening to my blabbering last two weeks. Blessed to have you here.

A/N: This is my first attempt at wacky drabbles. It's wacky drabbles #58. "Where are you going? It's not safe out there." It will appear in bold.

Tags: @ao719 @bbrandy2002 @choiceskatie @drakewalker04 @gkittylove99 @glaimtruelovealways @hopefulmoonobject @jovialyouthmusic @mrswalkers-blog @mom2000aggie @speedyoperarascalparty @texaskitten30 @wackydrabbles

I stand frozen at the door steps of the Nevrakis’ chateau till a soft voice calls out my name. I see Hana queueing up behind me. She is holding my forearm in both her slender hands and shaking vigorously. I give her a questioning look.

She lets go of my arm suddenly realising, and says, “My apologies! I called you out few times but you were lost in your thoughts.”

“I am sorry for blocking the way.” I reply, shaking my head in an attempt to clear it of any thoughts of what I saw moments ago.

I start dragging myself ahead to my room. My mind is replacing previous thoughts with new ones. ‘Why am I here? My job is back at the palace, taking care of their farms and horses. I don’t have any part to play here besides, maybe, to play the role of Prince’s best friend or to look out for his favourite suitor, as he has asked me to.’

A beep on my phone brings me back. It’s Max's text message calling me out for ice skating.

I text him that I will join later; Max is always full of energy. After this long drive, he has not wasted a minute and is already out on the frozen lake with Riley.

I stand at my window, looking out toward the lake and watch the small group gathered at the lake. I can see Liam is with Riley now while Max is skating to the other end with Livy. They are all enjoying themselves. Then there are others whom I don’t know much or care about.

I get back and settle my things in my room. As I relax down, my phone beeps again. This time, Liam asks to join the group for skiing with a special request, 'watch her back.’

I meet Riley soon and we decide to race. As we ski down, we cross Liam and Livy. Riley distracts them and I catch a glimpse of Livy’s annoyed expression. I don’t understand if that look is for me or Riley?

I get up with a sigh. This guy is going crazy. What wrong can happen while skiing unless she is trying it for the first time? I gear up and walk out.

I land at the base a few seconds after Riley. “ Yay! I win!” She exclaims.

“ Okay! Point granted. Sadly, the happy part ends here today. From tomorrow we will be all back to the balls and the gowns. Hope u are as smooth at waltzing too.”

“Not at all. I need lot of lessons.”

“I am surprised. House Beaumont is sponsoring you. As cool as Max may be, I don’t think the elder Beaumont will leave any stone unturned in your grooming.”

“Bingo. Bertrand is very strict, I must say, unlike his younger brother, Max. But he was busy with some official work and left it to Max to teach me Cordonian waltz. But five minutes into training, all we did was Max's favourite breakdance moves.”

“So how do you plan to impress tomorrow?”

“Oh, I have Hana.”

“Don’t tell me, Hana is going to teach you. How does she know it so well?”

“Oh, yes, she is. That girl can handle anything from a needle to a sword.”

“Wow!” I must admit, Hana surprises me with her treasure chest full of talent.

“You wanna join?”

“Not my cup of tea”

“Come on. You can at least watch.”

“Okay.”

Shortly the party moves to the lodge. I join Max, Riley and Hana, sipping hot chocolate.

We sit there planning Riley’s dance lessons when Max suddenly straightens up. I follow his eyes and see Livy walking towards us. Unknowingly, even my back tightens up.

Livy’s sharp eyes catch the change in our demeanour and her lips curl up in a smirk.

“Hello everyone I hope you are enjoying the Lythikos hospitality. Max that’s your favourite flavour. You must be loving it,”

“As always!” He replies, raising his glass.

She ignores my presence, turns to the girls, and starts talking. I make myself scarce and walk out of the lodge. It’s cold outside, but I take few steps into the woods. I stand there for sometime, looking up at the sky.

“Where are you going? It’s not safe out there.” Max calls out.

As he comes closer, I quote C.S. Lewis from our childhood,

“If belated drops yet fall,

From heaven, on these her plastic power…”

I pause and shift my gaze to look at Max. Now he stares up at the evening light and completes the verse.

“ Still works as once it worked on all,

The glad rush of the golden shower.”

He looks at me and suddenly realises the hint. As if on a cue, we both start running, trampling over the snow cover, in a rush to reach our favourite spot. We always came here to see the meteor shower as kids.

I fall back, and I see him lying flat on his back, when I reach the spot. I huff, bending over, “you win again!”

Without a word, he kicks behind my knee making me topple, and I land on my back next to him. We both peer at the sky quietly for sometime when he speaks, “ I miss it.”

“What?” I ask knowingly.

“ The carefree days. Our vacation here when it was four of us. I hate to see you guys growing up.”

“You never grew up?”

“ Not quite like you. I am living, enjoying not dragging myself.”

“ You mean by keeping your joker mask on? Showing others that you are happy? Is that what you call enjoying?” I question him.

“ If you can’t change it, at least learn to drive some happiness out of it.”

“I am happy for Liam and Riley.”

“And what about Livy?”

“What about her?”

“ Have you looked into the mirror lately? That long drawn face of yours? Even today, when she was laughing and enjoying, you couldn’t reciprocate with a smile?”

“I .. I hurt her.” I fluster.

“ It doesn’t matter what you did then. What matters is, what is here now. Live in the moment.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm.” He hums after me.

We lie down, gazing at the sky until the meteor showers ends.

As Max starts, I join in.

“Among the hills, a meteorite

Lies huge and moss has overgrown,

And wind and rain with touches light

Made soft, the contours of the stone.

Thus easily can Earth digest

A cylinder of sidereal fire,

And make her translunary guest

The native of an English shire.”

I will digest and will make the changes, my native - part of my life. I resolve as we walk back to the chateau.

The next day, I spend most of my time in my room catching up with some reading and calls from the palace, managing the administrative work until it’s Showtime.

Reluctantly, I make my way to the ball room of the chateau. I search through the name plates on the tables to find my place. A big smile of relief spreads across my face when I see it on the last table in the corner, away from the crowd. I make a note to thank Livy. She remembered to keep me away from all the hullabaloo. Complacent, I take my seat and wait for the rest to join.

I wonder why Riley and Hana are sitting with me or why Livy has not chosen a place closer to Liam for Riley. Soon both the girls find there way to the table.

When the dishes are served, it becomes evident that this table was the chosen one; to be left out. The service remains poor at our table throughout. The food served is cold. There is a stark difference in the staff's attitude towards us, as if they are trained specially to ignore us.

I understand it might be her grudge against me, but why Livy is putting Riley and Hana through this?

Next I see, Livy is up there on the dance floor announcing the commencement of Cordonian waltz. Riley and Hana both get up while I remain seated.

Hana asks, “ Are you not coming?”

“Sorry, I am not comfortable with the dance. I will enjoy watching it. Thank you.” They leave me alone.

Livy being the host, starts the dance with Liam. A loose circle forms around them but my eyes keep following her. The partners keep changing. Now she is dancing with Max. They exchange small talks, and she is bubbling until she changes partner and is in Liam’s arms again.

Her expressions seem different. What is she up to? I am trying to decipher, and then it happens. No, maybe I am dreaming, but I hear gasps and loud whispers around me. Livy is kissing Liam! On the dance floor! In front of the whole court?

Liam moves away a bit from her politely and gestures at her to follow him outside. He is the typical stoic self. He won’t let it show. He has been trained to hide his emotions well.

I don’t know what to do, where to go. I keep sitting there till the crowd fades away into the night. The ballroom is vacant. A staff shakes me out of my thoughts.

I get up and walk to the foyer. The flickering light in the east wing catches my attention. But I don’t know where is everyone.

I walk to the wine cellar with heavy steps in a hope to find some solace. That’s been my hiding place here since teenage. I slowly climb down the spiralling stairs, but a sound stops me. There is already some one there.

And then I hear a male voice.

“Livy… Livy? …. Livs!…. What happened… come here..”

“I..I..I can’t..” I hear her trying to speak between the sobs.

I bend down to see someone curling his arms around her. “Hey…. Shhh.. it’s ok.. it will be fine.. we will be fine..”

“No.. it will never be the same again. We will never be same again.” She cries harder.

“I know dear. This is all we have now. But I am here . I will always be.”

She hold his arms. Her face digs in his chest, and she wails out. He holds her tight.

I quietly step back and walk out into the foyer.

The words resonate in my mind. “ I am here. I will always be.”

Now it’s not just my mind or thoughts. I feel I have a frozen heart.

#liam x riley #king liam #hana lee #choices the royal romance #the royal romance #twinkleallnight #drake walker #choices fanfic

29 notes · View notes