XLIX
What was he going to do now? She had given her word to Prince Luka, she couldn't take it back like that. What kind of princess would she be? One that couldn't be relied upon.
But she couldn't watch him die either.
Why did he always have to complicate everything? Couldn't he just walk away and let her live to atone for her sin?
She was sitting to her father's left, looking out at the large, festively decorated hall, and thought she couldn't be more out of place than that.
People were dancing and sipping wine, eating delicious food and laughing.
She had a turmoil in her body that she couldn't explain, she knew she had to make a decision by the end of the night, but something about the way Adrien had addressed her didn't sit right with her. She had to choose, but then how would she let him know of her choice? It was all left too much to chance. He would never let her fight that battle against her parents alone.
I will turn myself in to the guards or you will leave with me.
Was he serious? And then...come away...what did he have in mind?
All of a sudden the main door of the hall swung open, letting in a boy who was fatigued from running and the guards behind him. The crowd opened bewildered so as not to stop his advance.
Antoinette stood up quickly, incredulous at what was happening before her eyes.
Adrien was still, bent over with his hands on his knees as he tried to recover from his breathlessness. But he was smiling, as if he had won the marathon.
Behind him, now ready to surround him, were the palace guards.
The guests were disconcerted and worried, you could hear whispers and gasps. Everyone wondered who that madman was.
<< What's going on?!>> thundered the voice of the king. The king rose from his throne and walked past Antoinette to get closer to the scene.
<< You...still here?!>> Luka's tone was indistinguishable between enraged and incredulous.
The princess felt a hand put on her shoulder, turning around she saw her mother asking for an explanation with a worried look.
<< What is he doing here? Wasn't he at the Bastille? >> She asked her in a whisper.
Antoinette sighed and took courage. She turned away from her mother to go to where Adrien was struggling.
<< I'm not leaving until you let me speak! >> She screamed.
<< You insolent scoundrel...how dare you? You should be in the pillory! Take him away! >> His father answered angrily.
<
Thomas II looked at his daughter and, noticing all her conviction, stepped aside, with a wave of his hand he ordered the guards to let the boy free. What did the daughter have in mind to do?
<< Princess, I don't think it's the case.>> Luka came next to her and whispered in her ear.
Adrien seemed to stiffen at that closeness and lost his swaggering smile.
<< We chose his life without considering his wishes. We owe it to her.>> She looked at him with confident eyes.
<< We have given him freedom.>> The prince retorted.
<< What are you ranting about? >> The sovereign asked, impatient.
<< I'll tell you. >> Adrien interjected, now serious, attracting everyone's attention. << I confessed a long time ago the feelings that bind me to your daughter, Sire, and for these feelings she, together with the prince, granted me a pardon,>> he laughed at that word, his was a condemnation much worse than death, <> He took a step towards the princess, finally, looking her in the eyes.
Silence had fallen in the hall. Not even the two sovereigns had words for what they thought was a bad joke.
<< You asked me to leave, but I don't know how to do it, I can't leave without you I feel I don't have the strength even to get up from the ground.>> He tried to go further but the guards prevented him. Adrien pulled back and raised his arms to apologize. Antoinette smiled and decided to approach him.
He would have liked to tell her to remember when she held him tightly so he wouldn't leave their bed where, after a heart-to-heart talk, they had ended up making love, hidden from everything and everything they were, convinced they could do it again the next day.
Her uneven breathing was already an answer, she was screaming at him to be by his side in that battle of words and feelings. He only wondered why no one present was intruding. Not even the king was speaking.
<< You put on such pompous and beautiful clothes just to cover up who you really are, but I want you, I don't want the princess, so stay with me, because without you I have an emptiness inside that I can never fill. You are so beautiful...>> he extended a hand towards her.
<< Don't mind his pretty words, remember our pact.>> Luka said, taking Marinette by the arm. << It's too late to reconsider.>>
<< I have my own terms.>> Adrien turned to the king who, curious, had remained to observe the scene with a hint of amusement.
<< Let us hear it.>> He urged him to speak.
<< Leaving here and agreeing not to see your daughter again is worse than dying, so if you want to keep me away from her you have to kill me.>>
The king was surprised by such vigor.
<< Or what? >> The queen interfered.
<< Otherwise...>> She looked at Antoinette and froze. Why wasn't she speaking? Why wasn't she telling about her feelings? Was she beating herself up?
The princess, in all the panic in her head, could only think that she didn't have to think anymore, as the blond boy had suggested earlier. What did she want?
She wanted him. She wanted Adrien.
He had been like a storm that had swept over her, with no shelter.
And it was impossible to escape him, she would always come back to him, so it was useless even to send him away if, with her heart, she would always follow him.
<< I love him.>> She seemed to spit it out as a release making everyone present freeze.
The father burst out laughing.
<< My daughter, you are the future queen of France, you can't love just any commoner.>> The queen intervened again, irritated.
<< I know, mother, and that's why I hid my feelings, why I agreed to marry prince Luka, but if Adrien had stayed alive and accepted the conditions.>> She looked away from her mother and ran to the blond man, letting him take her in his arms. << I don't want him to die.>>
<< You know that your happiness is everything to me, but our task is also important. We have a nation on our shoulders, we have the duty to make it great and to make our subjects well. You know that. >> The king became serious again. << I have already given my blessing to Prince Luka, how can I go back on my word? >>
Antoinette pressed herself even tighter against Adrien's chest, more and more convinced that she didn't want to lose him, for any reason in the world.
The king saw the looks the two exchanged and how they held each other. He knew that this separation would destroy his daughter's heart.
Still, he was proud of her, she had set aside her heart to serve her people, at least until that boy's stubbornness had cornered her.
How was he going to deal with Luka and the arrangements with his kingdom? And then she'd have to suffer the wrath of an icy wife, for honor, for respect, for the crown...and all that talk that, before she became queen, someone had put in her head.
He might have seemed gruff, stern, he had to be. He was a king and had to show an iron fist, but there was nothing more precious to him than the smile of his Antoinette. That's why he had always protected her, he now realized, perhaps too much.
In the end, they had found love, life, and she seemed to be overwhelmed by it, as she looked at the young man who held her as if she feared he would escape at any moment.
Their love made a noise inside the silence of the room, a silence that was waiting to be interrupted only by her decision.
What would be right? To be a father or to be a king?
That noise was also heard by Adrien, inside he could hear her screaming about a freedom that could have been.
Now it was the reckoning, now he would find out if she, if her noise, was worth listening to or not, long ago.
The realization that, however, without her noise, there would be only silence inside him invested him with anguish.
He imagined life without her, far from Paris. He would have wandered around in deafening silence, inside and out, he would have never had anywhere to go, he would have walked forever, then returned right back to Paris. He would have pretended to forget, to have no more memories, only to realize that there would be no point, by now that noise had imprinted him even in the mind and he would never be able to do without it, if it reminded him of her beauty.
<< I love Antoinette with all my being, I know I can make her happy, maybe I'll never be able to live up to it, I know that, but I can't help thinking that without her it would be better to die. >> Adrien reiterated, looking seriously at the king and continuing to hold his woman.
<> Thomas II approached the young couple, a sweet smile had taken place on his face.
<< Dear, what are you saying? >> His wife looked around, among the perplexed faces of those who had remained to watch.
<< My people know that I have always tried to lead them as a father, that I have always considered my subjects as my children, so now, in their eyes, what kind of parent would I be? >> He turned towards the woman he had married for love.
Adrien smiled. Maybe they could make it. He squeezed Antoinette tighter and left a quick kiss on her temple.
The princess couldn't believe her father's words. She didn't even recognize him.
<< I hope that, as children, they can forgive me if I leave the decision in Antoinette's more than conscientious hands.>>
Everyone was astonished. Around the royal family a murmur had risen, many of the guards had already relaxed, the queen had blinked and Luka had clenched her fists and then let them go with a sigh. He knew he had lost her forever, but he also knew that she had never really been his and never would be. Not even after a lifetime lived as husband and wife and then as parents.
<< My child, you, what do you want for your life?>> he returned to her and smiled again.
Antoinette looked at Adrien who let her go from the embrace. She turned totally towards her father and smiled.
<< I want to fulfill my duties as a royal, I want to lead our nation to wealth and our people to righteousness, but I want to do it with love and if I let go of this love now, how can I do it? >>
<< So you have already chosen. You have my complete trust.>> He nodded with a solemn expression.
<< I want Adrien.>>