False Confessions

Arthur brought his eyes back to meet Maria's, and he continued to beg her, "When I left you in the library it was because I was hurt. I didn't think you returned my feelings. But then at dinner, when I saw you look at me from across the table and when we locked eyes, I could see that I had made the wrong assumption. I knew at that moment that you loved me too. And maybe you don't want to love me, but I just don't know, and I need to know. So I need you to tell me why you want to marry Henri and not me."

By the time he was done talking, he had looked so completely broken and defeated.

Maria hated herself for being the reason he was suffering, and she knew that she owed him an explanation, as difficult as it would be for her to muster.

She had been questioning herself all morning on if she should tell Arthur the truth about her feelings, and here he was directly asking for them, but she still had no idea what the right decision was.

Before she could think of what to say to him, a knock on her bedroom door interrupted them.

They both jumped before they looked at the door, unmoving.

Whoever it was knocked again, and Maria let out a breath before she loudly asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Henri. Maria, can you open the door? I need to talk to you."

Maria's eyes widened in disbelief that yet another man was coming to her room before the day had really started, and she looked over at Arthur who now had his signature deadpan face.

But at this point, Maria knew how to look past it, and could see the pain he tried to hide that was still very much present in his eyes and in the way his forehead was slightly pinched.

She had no idea what to do because it's not like she wanted Henri to know that Arthur was in her room at this hour, and she needed to finish talking to Arthur, but before she could make a decision, Arthur said, "I'll go in the bathroom and close the door so your future husband doesn't see me and question your virtue".

His words felt like a slap. One that Maria felt that she deserved.

She nodded her head and he made his way into the bathroom and closed the door as Maria went to open the bedroom door for Henri.

When the door opened, she found Henri standing there looking too similar to how she had found Arthur earlier.

Maria could tell that he was doing his best to attempt to smile at her, but he couldn't hide the fact that he looked miserable.

Henri was the type of person to wear his emotions on his sleeve, and they were definitely out in the open right now.

He was even still in the clothes that he had on last night. "What happened?' she thought to herself.

"Come in," she said with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm sorry, I know it's early," he said.

His voice sounded hoarse as if he had been crying all night long.

"Henri, what's wrong? Does this have anything to do with the letter you received from your family last night?" Maria asked him.

He blinked and slowly nodded his head.

Maria noticed that his eyes looked like a deep, blue ocean from how they were holding tears and glassing over.

He ran his hand over his forehead and back through his blonde hair before he turned to look at Maria with his saddened eyes.

He stared at her for a moment and looked like he was struggling with some sort of internal conflict before he let out a breath and said, "My sister, Amelia, is very sick. Ella said she's dying and does not have much time left".

"Henri, I'm so sorry," she said as she walked over to him and grabbed his hands to hold in hers.

He looked down at their hands and a sigh escaped from his mouth before he closed his eyes tightly and responded in almost a whisper, "I have to leave".

"Of course, I completely understand. I can come with you so that you aren't alone on the carriage ride back," she offered him.

With that, she noticed that Henri had started to cry, and he struggled to fill his lungs with air.

"You should stay here," he said as he tried to control his breathing. He started shaking slightly.

"No, you shouldn't be alone during a time like this," she said as she took one of her hands to his face to wipe his tears away.

He leaned into her hand so that she was holding his cheek, and brought his own hand up to cover hers.

Maria could feel her heart breaking for the sweet, innocent man in front of her.

Why did bad things always happen to good people?

Henri freed both of his hands from her grasp, and he leaned forward to hold her face as he kissed her with a type of need that typically wasn't present in their kisses.

Maria placed both hands on his cheeks and put as much care and comfort as she could into kissing him back because it was more than obvious that he needed it.

When he pulled away he sighed and rested his forehead on hers before he whispered, "I need to go by myself. My family needs me right now and I can't have any distractions".

She was hurt by the fact that he would think of her as a distraction and not a comfort, but she also tried to put herself in his shoes.

Had it been Jason who was dying, Maria would have probably had the same response, so she tried to not let what he said bother her, because right now Henri needed her to be strong for him.

"Of course," she started as she pulled away to look at him, "I'll be here, ready for you whether you decide you want to come back here, or if you want me to meet you there in Denmark".

He opened his eyes, dropped his hands from her face, and looked at her with a confused look before he said, "I don't understand".

Then, Maria realized that she hadn't told him the news, so she answered, "I came to tell you last night, but you didn't answer your door. I talked to my family and we all agreed that I should marry you. I'm sorry to tell you this way, but now you know that you've got me, and I'm going to be there for you during this difficult time because that's what partners and spouses do. So if you need me here, I will stay, but if you want me there with you, I will follow wherever you go to offer my support and comfort".

"No," was all Henri said as he took her hands off of his face and dropped them.

"What do you mean? No to what?" she said as she let out an uncomfortable and nervous laugh.

He took a step away from her and looked down as his face contorted in some type of negative emotion that Maria couldn't place or identify.

"I can't marry you," he said, still looking down.

"Obviously I'll talk to my father so that he understands the situation. I'll wait to marry you, so you can take as long as you need. Your sister comes first, and we can deal with a wedding and the coronation later because those are not the important things right now," Maria reassured him.

Something flickered in Henri's eyes, but Maria didn't have time to catch what it was before he told her something she never expected him to say, "I don't want to marry you".

Maria had felt like someone kicked her stomach and whatever air she had in her body left in a gasp as she tried to rationalize it with him, "Henri, you don't mean that. You're just upset about your sister and of course I understand but--".

"No, Maria, you don't understand. I'm not going to marry you," he cut her off.

She felt tears sting her eyes and threaten to fall as she responded, "You're right, I don't understand because just the other night you had told me how you felt about me. And then last night I offered everyone the chance to leave, and you told me you would stay unless I asked you to leave. I'm not asking you to leave, Henri, I'm asking you to marry me!"

Henri closed his eyes tightly and let out a breath; he swallowed hard before he looked Maria right in her eyes and told her, "I'm sorry, I never wanted to hurt you".

"Then don't! I don't understand. What changed?" she pleaded.

The prince wished that he could tell the woman in front of him the truth.

He loved her and every tear he had shed after meeting with Hades had been for her, knowing that he would have to say goodbye in order to save his sister.

What he wasn't expecting, however, was that she would tell him that she chose him, and it broke his heart all over again and almost made him second guess his promise to not tell her about his meeting with the god last night after dinner.

All he wanted was to hold her, and kiss her, and tell her how much he actually loved her, but he was afraid that Hades would kill his sister if he broke his word and stayed with Maria.

And she wasn't letting him leave without a fight.

So, Henri made the most difficult decision he ever had to make-- he knew the only way Maria would let him go and move on was if he broke her heart and made her despise him.

Little did Henri know, it was exactly what Maria had first decided she would try to do to Arthur before she changed her mind; they were more similar than either would ever come to realize.

"I thought I loved you, but I have come to see that I was just wrapped up in the whirlwind of the whole experience of courting you. I just fell in love with the idea of you," he said as he tried to hide the sadness and disgust he felt in himself for lying to her like that.

Maria stiffened and looked into his deep, turquoise eyes for answers while she tried to keep her composure as she weakly asked, "You don't love me?"

"No," Henri lied.

Maria felt as if someone had stabbed her all over her body, and she could no longer control the tears that were starting to stream from her eyes.

She quickly wiped them away and tried to hold a strong face to hide how utterly heartbroken she was. "I hope your sister is able to recover. Goodbye, Henri," she finally said with a flat voice.

"Maria," Henri started but she cut him off before he could finish.

"Just leave. Your family needs you, so you don't need to be here wasting time with me," she said as she turned away from him and hugged her body tight.

She could no longer see him, but she could feel his eyes on her; he stayed put for a few seconds before she heard his footsteps and the sound of the bedroom door being opened and then closed.

Henri was gone.