The Cursed King

"Your Majesty, please!" Alina cried out. "Please don't jump or do anything rash, Your Majesty. Wait for His Majesty to come and get you down, or please let me help you!"

"Don't take another step further, Alina."

"Your Majesty!"

Elise shook her head at her maid and ignored her for a moment. Her bare feet touched the cold brick stones beneath her as she stared down the garden right below her.

All of the flowers and plants looked so tiny from up here that she was amazed.

When Elise asked Alina earlier to go up the queen's tower for a fresh breath of air after all the sobbing that she did because of Lady Rose Goodwin's invitation, she found herself going up to the balcony and standing atop of it.

A part of her suddenly thought about how it would feel like to jump?

Wouldn't it solve her problems and fears?

If Loriel didn't want to divorce her because of their wedding vows… if Elise jumped and was gone from his life then the man would become free.

Loriel would get another wife and have his heir by then.

A nagging feeling about her father and grandmother came to Elise's mind, but she found herself ignoring it in lieu of the thought of a future for Loriel. She was no longer just a child of Myreen, but the wife of the king of Summeria.

Tears pricked her eyes for a moment.

"This could solve everything," Elise whispered.

Before anything was to happen before Elise's toes could even touch the open air, the sound of someone forcing themselves up the tower and reaching the balcony echoed into the chill night air.

"Elise!" Loriel shouted at her.

Elise blinked and looked at Loriel in surprise. How fast did it take him to get from his palace to up this tower? Even a normal person would have gotten exhausted without any magic to help themselves at all.

At least she could see him before she went. "Loriel."

The back of Elise's heels slipped from the balcony for a moment, and she felt a sudden whoosh of the air take her down—except for the fact that Loriel moved fast enough to grab and hold onto her wrist.

Loriel seized his wife and pulled her back into the queen's tower as his heart felt like it was exploding in his chest.

A roar like thunder tore through his eardrums as he grabbed the woman by the shoulder and looked at her face.

Elise was safe and unharmed and she was alive.

The adrenaline washed away from Loriel's body but he still found it alarming as if bells were ringing in his ears.

"How could you even think about doing this, Elise?!" Loriel asked her and shook her for a moment. His eyes stung with tears. "What went through your head to even think about this as a good idea?"

"I'm better off dead!" Elise cried and shouted at him. Her body shook and trembled as she clenched her fist and pushed her husband away. "You should have let me do it! What else am I good for here? I'm doing nothing at all!"

Loriel stared at Elise and ground his teeth. "For the last two months, I have been nothing but good to you. I've tried to understand your pain as someone who's frustrated and depressed because you cannot have a child."

Elise's eyes glittered with tears. "That's right, I'm never going to be a good wife to you. I'll never bear your children and give you a happy family. Why are you still here?"

Loriel didn't know either. Why was he even still here?

"I just wanted you to be happy even though we couldn't have children, but I can see that nothing I'm doing can make you happy either." Loriel shook his head and glanced at Alina and the other servants around.

Without another word, Loriel walked out of the tower and left her alone.

The servants immediately rushed to her side and gently grabbed Elise. "Your Majesty, let us return to your room," Alina whispered soothingly.

Elise watched her husband leave her and suddenly felt the color drain away from her face. She didn't know why she said that. She didn't know why she was doing all of this at all.

"What have I done?" Elise whispered in pain and clutched her arms.

"Your Majesty…"

"I don't recognize myself anymore!" Elise burst into tears and rubbed her eyes furiously.

She knew all the pain that she was going through, but why did it have to be this way at all? Why was she lashing out at Loriel?!

Alina and the rest of the servants brought Elise back to her room and made sure that the queen was alright.

All of them made sure that Elise could no longer return to the top of the tower or even escape in case the queen was to attempt to hurt herself again.

However, Elise was already finished with that point and was instead stuck in a state of self-reflection.

While it was all true that Elise's insecurities and jealousy were eating all of her up, she should have still not reached the point where she would lash out at the people that she loved and cared about.

"I… I need to get some help," Elise whispered to herself.

Who was she going to turn to ask for help about this?

Elise couldn't ask for Loriel's help about this when she had just hurt him. She needed to ask him for forgiveness but she was so scared.

.

.

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

From Missrealitybites:

I think this book is the one with the most mature content I have ever written. I mean, not in terms of snusnu, but it covers many adults issues like pregnancy, miscarriage, married people's problems, even depression.

My deepest sympathy for Elise and Loriel who, in my opinion, are good people (even Loriel - sometimes he was hopeless and didn't know what to do, but deep inside he always try to do his best, even though sometimes his best is not enough).

From what I see here, Elise is having depression (thinking she is barren) coupled with crazy pregnancy hormones (because she was pregnant and didn't even know it), added to the fact that her life was currently not ideal (both she and Loriel didn't understand what is going on).

Loriel is trying his best to deal with her meltdowns, but he was helpless on what to do. I am sure IF ONLY he knew what happened, he would be more attentive and can have much much higher tolerance for her meltdowns.

But, that's just my opinion. What do YOU think?