May Death Do Us Part

139 Chapter 139 : Heal

Finwe walked steadily behind his brother as they made their way down the halls to their mother’s private library. He had tried to reason with Gareth over confronting the queen of Ervelon, but like Zander had said, when it came to princess Melissa all logic went out the window with this man.

Earlier Gareth had bombarded him with questions. About their family, what he knew about their missing sister, and at some point Finwe ended up revealing that the queen had know about Melissa’s pregnancy and had wanted to keep it a secret from Gareth.

Finwe had tried to explain to his brother that his mother suffered a form of post traumatic stress disorder after what transpired years ago with their sister and father. He explained that it was just a way of trying to protect him because she saw how reckless love could make someone.

But the handsome elven prince didn’t pay any heed to Finwe’s excuse, he was adamant about putting the queen in her place once and for all. Now that he knew his beautiful Melissa was pregnant, he would make sure that the entire Ervelon would accept her as their future queen and mother of the heir to the throne after him.

“Gareth..” Finwe began to speak but changed his mind. Maybe it really was time their mother got over this senseless rivalry and moved on with her life. I mean in this life nothing was worth while without any risks, even love.

Finwe decided to remain outside as Gareth pushed the doors of the private library open. Inside, queen Tauriel was sitting at the table with her royal council having a meeting of some sort. The queen’s council consisted of only noble women, after her husband passed queen Tauriel replaced all the council members with their wives. In fact, the entire palace was overrun by females. The cooks, the maids, the gardeners, and everyone else was a woman, the only man who had lurked the palace halls was Finwe until Gareth came into the picture.

Queen Tauriel looked up at her son with a disapproving glare, in as much as he was the crowned prince she was still queen, he couldn’t just barge into her private library whenever he pleased.

“You are a selfish woman,” Gareth spoke. His opening statement was enough to thicken the air in the room.

Queen Tauriel kept her cool and waved her hand slightly to gesture the council members to leave her and her son alone. The women got to their feet and emptied the library, closing the door shut behind them.

.....

The queen rose from her seat and began taking slow steps towards her son. “I see you’ve finally decided to sober up after drinking your head off over a pair of perky breasts.”

“Of course you would make fun of that,” Gareth responded. Under normal circumstances he probably would have gone off after hearing someone speak ill of his Melissa, but this woman really wasn’t worth the energy right now. “I wouldn’t expect a woman who hasn’t felt love in decades to understand, so I won’t bother explaining anything to you.”

The statement brought a frown to the queen’s face.

“All I’m here to tell you is that I know Mel is carrying my child, and I am going after her.” Gareth explained to the scowling woman, “and when I find her, I will marry her and she will rule by my side as queen of Ervelon.”

“Are you absolutely mad?!” The queen jabbed at her son. Were all her children lovesick idiots? “You want to go after a married woman whose husband commands three quarters of this continent? Has all the alcohol gone to your head Gareth? You’ll get yourself killed!”

Gareth didn’t want to waste time telling her all the details of his plan, all he came here to do was to inform her that once he retrieved Melissa, her time on the throne was over. “Reigning has worn you out, and your heart has lacked love for so long so I don’t expect you so understand.”

The queen chuckled tauntingly, “love?” She took two steps closer to her son and looked him dead in the eye, “do you know why your sister isn’t with us today? Because of love. She fell in love with some nosferatu man who couldn’t even protect her when she needed him! And your father... he died Gareth, he died a sad man because that rogue nosferatu couldn’t save your sister! Love has been the cause of all our problems!”

“No!” Gareth jabbed back, “it’s had been the cause of all of YOURS. You’re so swallowed up by this grief and anger that you can’t even see that what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. You had no one to point fingers at for your loss so you blamed the nosferatu who did nothing wrong.”

Gareth stepped up to his mother and looked down at her, his demeanor softened as he looked at her, this wasn’t a bad woman, it was a confused woman who had failed to deal with the pain. “I will not live a life of misery because of your insecurities.” The prince placed a gentle hand on the queen’s shoulder and squeezed it gently, it was the first time he had made any form of contact with his mother.

Gareth slowly pulled the woman into a comforting hug that caught her off gaurd. The woman didn’t know how to react to this, the last time anyone had embraced her was when her husband was still alive, and it brought tears to her eyes.

“You need to heal mother,” Gareth spoke softly. It was the first time he had called her his mother and this made the woman break down. “You have carried this pain and anger for too long, you need to let it go.”

Queen Tauriel buried her face in her son’s chest and sobbed despondently. He was right, there was no one at fault here, having someone to blame for her daughter’s disappearance and her husband’s death just helped her cope.

“I know it hurts to lose the people you love,” Gareth continued as he gently rubbed the crying woman’s back. “But you have us, Finwe and I, and we’re not going anywhere I promise. And pretty soon you’ll have a grandchild, and they will love you so much.”

The handsome prince gently pulled away and helped wipe some of his mother’s tears, “soon I’ll have to go get Melissa,” he spoke softly, “and I need you to be okay with that.”

Queen Tauriel took out a handkerchief and dubbed her cheeks and eyes dry. She composed herself and rose her nose in the air, “well I wouldn’t want a brute like king Elric raising my grandchild anyway.” She spoke.

Gareth scoffed in amusement and gave her another gentle rub on the shoulder, “thank you.”

“But you have no army,” the queen added on, “you’d have no chance against Elric even if I gave you all my men.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Gareth spoke as he turned to head for the exit, “I conquered kingdoms when I was but a teenager, I think I will be alright.”

*

The men all gazed in awe at Ivan’s wife as she sipped her glass of wine. Ozias’ wife noticed her husband ogling and flicked his nose with her finger. The hisses from Ozias brought the rest of the men out of their reverie, and they continued drinking their ale.

“Well,” Meralona1 spoke. She was a tall slender woman with soft pretty features but a very serious demeanor, she was Odran’s wife. “Now that we’ve caught up I believe me and the other wives would like to go and rest.”

“Yeah my bum is killing me from being on the road for so long,” Exildah2 whined. She was a beautiful woman with a kind face and delicate features. She was Beric’s wife.

“Yes it has been a long journey,” Madeline4 added on. She was a small woman with small beautiful features, she almost looked like a pretty little doll. She was Ozias’ wife. “Shall we, Elena3 ?” She spoke to the woman who was sitting on Ivan’s lap and sipping wine.

Unlike what anyone expected, Ivan’s wife Elana was drop dead gorgeous. She had big blue eyes, long wavy blonde hair and a curvy yet petit figure. On a good day this woman would even hold a candle to princess Melissa.

The woman put down her empty glass and nodded, “I did want to spend more time with Ivan but I guess we should get acquainted with our new home.”

The carriage man led the women and kids out the bar so he could escort them to their new residences, and immediately the wives were out of sight all the men turned to look at Ivan with death glares. How could this womanizer have a woman like that and still cheat on her?! And why was he so afraid of her?

Ivan stood up and was about to flee when Ozias lunged at him and pinned him to the floor. “Don’t even think about it Ivan, you have some explaining to do!”