The Crown Thief and Her Alpha Prince

CHAPTER 17 - THE WAIT

Amelia Cooper’s Point of View

The next few days at the castle were very tense. Everyone was walking on eggshells. Amelia did not know what to do anymore, now that Edmund had forbidden her to leave and that the king would not be coming back for months, now that the alliance with the Ivory kingdom was shattered. She felt useless - worse than useless, she felt as if the cause of the rebels against the Harrows was ruined forever. 

Amelia distracted herself by working longer hours, willingly taking over the workload of the servants that were sicker. As the now sole maid of Princess Marjorie, she also had a lot of duties linked to taking care of the princess. Right now, she was scrubbing the floor of Marjorie’s bedroom, while the princess was down in the dungeons, trying to discuss with them.

For Amelia, it was not exactly riveting work, but distracting enough.

On the plus side, Amelia was still working at the castle, for the princess. Turns out, in the grand scheme of things, Marjorie’s dress fiasco had been very minor between the attack of the intruders and the announcement of the end of the end, not enough to get her sacked from the palace. Amelia’s defense of the rebels was almost forgotten too.

After Marjorie’s passionate defense of the rebels and Edmund’s taunting of the Ivory Princess, no one but Nestor, the steward, seemed to even remember or care that Amelia had spoken out of turn to plead for the castle intruders.

Nestor the steward had wanted to fire Amelia and was clearly suspecting that she had never truly worked for any noblehouse. He had high-standards, and could not allow a disgrace such as Amelia working at his beloved palace. Marjorie had stepped in in her favor. Prince William was way too broken by his future mating and alliance dissolving to care about staff matters. Prince Edmund had also put a word in for Amelia - he had too, if he wanted to keep her trapped at the castle. 

In the end, Nestor had no choice but to accept.

Amelia was staying at the castle, then. She did not know how she felt about that.

What would have even happened to her if Nestor had had both William and Marjorie on his side, and had the authority to fire her? She would have had to leave then… What would Edmund have done?

Amelia did her best to avoid Edmund now, mostly staying in Marjorie’s room and in the basement where only the servants went - and whenever she had to be in his presence, she ignored him, making a point of not even glancing in his direction. 

She had heard the prince hoarsely scream her name as he came, she had seen him naked, overwhelmed by desire for her. And, like always, afterwards, he had acted like a complete ass. 

Yes, a part of her loved his confidence, his cockiness, his dominance. But she could not stand how he was constantly belittling her, pretending an important prince like him could never desire a maid like her, denying the attraction he felt by insulting her. That he was refusing her the freedom to leave the castle was just ridiculous. 

Why did he care that much if she stole that stupid Golden Crown of Skavon? He was the king’s son. It’s not like he had to fear the Crown’s powers.

Did he?

Marjorie’s bedroom’s door suddenly opened, making Amelia jump and letting in a very demoralised princess.

“They still do not want to talk to me,” the princess whined as she unceremoniously sagged on her bed. 

“Who won’t talk to you? You mean, the prisoners?” asked Amelia.

“Precisely,” groaned Marjorie, letting out a long sigh.

Amelia rose from the floor she was cleaning to sit next to the princess on the soft bed. In the last few days, the two had grown a bit closer. Amelia was still reticent to trust, but Marjorie always appeared to have nothing but good intentions. It was almost exasperating, how good-natured she was. Baffling, truly, seeing how her family was. The King was a tyrant who only cared about his family, William, while charming, was on the path of taking his father’s advice and Edmund…

Well, Edmund was Edmund. 

“I understand why they don’t want to talk to me of course,” rambled on Marjorie. “I am a princess, I am a shifter, I am everything they hate. But can’t they see that I want to help? It’s my fault the alliance with the Ivory kingdom will never come to pass.”

The alliance really was shattering. It was not officially cancelled at the moment, but it was a mere formality away from being reality.

True to her word, Princess Eleanor Cordova of the Ivory Kingdom had written to her father the king to ask for his formal confirmation that the marriage - and the alliance - were now null. 

The road to the Ivory kingdom was about two days by horse, and the fastest messenger in the Onyx kingdom had been put in charge of delivering the extremely important missive. It had been five days since Eleanor had sent her letter. Therefore, the answer was due any hour now.

“I don’t know how the kingdom can survive this,” continued Marjorie. “It is my duty to help fix it. I need to understand my people’s true struggle. How can I do that if no one talks to me and if I am not allowed to leave the castle? If I could just have a solid plan to help my people to present to my Father, maybe this time he would listen to me…”

Marjorie trailed off, knowing she was lying to herself. Amelia had never seen the King, but it was very clear he did not take into account his daughter’s opinion - and would be even less inclined to do so when he would learn she had ruined his precious alliance with the Ivory Kingdom.

“It is not truly your fault Princess. You only tried to do what is right.”

“I still feel so guilty,” agonized Marjorie.

Amelia had somewhat made her peace with the own role she had to play in that fiasco. She could not have stayed silent and let the rebels get executed, even knowing the repercussions it would have. The Onyx’s princess was just like her.

“If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Eleanor’s,” decided Amelia. “I’m not so familiar with relations between nobles, but this is Onyx’s kingdom, not hers. It was not her place to make a decision or order what you are to do with the prisoners. Who does she think she is, asking for people to be put to death?”

“You do have a point. I’m glad my brother won’t mate with her. William acts tough, but he is a big romantic, and very sweet. He is so impatient to raise little pups of his own… I think that is why he seems so angry right now, but he will get over it. I’m sure Father will find a very favorable match for him. I cannot wait for Eleanor to get out of our hair.”

“Yeah,” agreed Amelia. “The Ivory Princess is quite… Something.”

While waiting for the confirmation of the annulment for the Ivory Kind, the Ivory delegation stayed at the palace in their own wing of the Onyx castle. Everyone, noble and servant, were really respectful to them, as if it could change their mind. The Ivory Princess, however, was more resolute than ever. She was savoring the power her words held, and enjoyed having people graveling before her to make her change her mind, even though it was evident she would not bulge. 

However, in the course of the last day, she did seem to grow tired of the incessant begging. Amelia had had to clean after Eleanor had thrown a vase at William’s head after his ninth attempt to persuade her to marry him. The princess had barely missed, and William had left her alone after that incident.

“Maybe Eleanor should have been promised to Edmund instead. Both are so prickly and arrogant, they deserve each other. Though even Eleanor might get annoyed at Edmund’s overbearing hubris.”

Amelia had not meant to say those words aloud and regretted them the moment they had crossed her lips, as Marjorie seemed taken aback. She just needed to vent her frustration. The prince thought he could control her, could keep her locked in a stupid deal over petty reasons. 

He had also aroused her to the point of madness and left her thoroughly unsatisfied, but that was besides the point. 

“You shouldn’t judge Edmund like that,” snapped Marjorie. Amelia had rarely seen the princess so defensive. “Have you even ever talked to my brother?”

Amelia was not sure how the princess would react if she knew her maid had talked to her brother the prince in private on several occasions, including in pretty compromising situations. Amelia opted for the safest course.

“No, I don’t think I have ever talked to the Prince,” she lied. “But I do not need to. I have seen how he acts around everyone. He treats the staff like dogs, and you, not much better. He was so dismissive, so patronizing with you when you were defending the prisoners!”

“I see your point. However, Edmund wasn’t always so… Abrasive,” said the princess. “We were really close when he was little. He was always running around, climbing trees, racing with William, pretending to be an adventurer. He never had much interest in studies and politics like I did, but he was curious about everything and everyone around him. Edmund was the sort of kid who would always be smiling. He used to say that when he would grow up, he would leave the castle and explore the world.” 

Marjorie smiled fondly at the memory.

“I would have never guessed,” admitted Amelia. “But that was when he was a child. I guess everyone changes. 

It was hard imagining Edmund as Marjorie had portrayed him, young, innocent, carefree. There were always these shadows lurking behind his eyes, almost like he was always close to succumbing to his beast and becoming an actual feral wolf. Marjorie and William’s eyes were the same color and yet they did not possess such buried fury, such hidden madness.

“When Mother died, Father… Changed,” the princess continued. “They were fated mates, you see. Losing such a powerful connection can really change a shifter… I think a part of my father’s soul died with Mama.”

Marjorie’s eyes clouded, and Amelia was horrified to see there were tears welling up in the princess’s eyes. She was reminded of her own parent’s deaths, and she pushed down the memories. She never dwelled on those. She had had to try to forget to stay stane.

“I do not want to go into details,” Marjorie said, blinking away her tears. “All I will say is: Edmund is the youngest sibling and yet… He protected William and I during the roughest part of our lives, when Mama was not around and Father was… Different. He was barely sixteen when Mother died, and he had to make some pretty tough decisions that led to his Prince of Darkness moniker.”

Some tough decisions… What did that mean? What did Edmund have to do? Was it linked to the bite cicatrice he had on his shoulder? Amelia knew shifters healed really quickly. For the mark to be still visible, it must have been quite the fight… What happened there? 

The princess stared into Amelia’s eyes, profoundly serious. 

“Deep down, Edmund is the best person I know. I owe him my life and I will never forget that. Maybe it could be good if you could remember that fact too.”