The Crown's Obsession

She paced back and forth in one of the empty rooms, her steps quiet because of the carpet that was spread on the marble floor of the room. When the door to the room opened, Madeline saw her mother and father enter inside.

"Is everything alright, Madeline?" questioned her mother, who had a frown upon her face, "The maid said you wanted to see us."

"Madeline?" asked her father, looking at her eyes to see if she was okay.

"I had to inform you about something," said Madeline, hoping she could ease the situation beforehand, unlike the time when Calhoun has delivered the news, "It is about Aunt Mary…" She didn't know how to spell it out word to word as she felt a heaviness in her heart.

For a second, her parents looked startled but then a deeper frown formed on their face, "I-Is she, is she d-dead?" inquired her mother. Madeline gave her a quiet nod, and her mother raised her hand to cover her mouth, "I-I don't understand. Did she try to hurt you?"

Madeline didn't want to break the news to her parents but as her aunt was close to their family she felt it was her responsibility to inform them. "The chain that she gave me as a present, it was a harmful one. She wanted to sacrifice me," answered Madeline to see the look of horror appear on her parent's face. She felt bad for involving them, and if Aunt Mary wasn't her aunt, she would have skipped the news, but the woman was her father's sister. "But I didn't call you here to speak about it."

Her father had a look of shock over the loss of his sibling, "We shouldn't have invited her here. It isn't too late to stop others from attending the wedding."

"But there's only one more day left for the wedding. Even before the letters reach them, they would have left their houses," said her mother, "Oh, Mary!" her mother exclaimed feeling grief since she knew the woman for many years.

"Where has she been buried?" asked her father.

"In the forest with grandpa and grandmother…" It wasn't an ideal place to bury a family member, but it was Calhoun who had decided to bury them in there.

"I am sorry mama and papa," she apologized, knowing it was something inevitable as her aunt would have continued to harm her so that she could use the abilities of the dark angel to ascend heaven.

Her father shook his head, "No, it isn't your fault," his voice was low that barely held any strength. It sounded exhausted, "We come from the oldest lineage of the fallen angels, your grandparents, I mean. Was it the King who found out about it?"

"Yes, he tried the chain," answered Madeline, "The wedding is going to be held day after tomorrow. I have a request from both of you, even Beth."

"What is it, Maddie?" asked her father.

Madeline tried to phrase it in a way so that it wouldn't sound rude. "When the wedding is over, I will ask Calhoun to relocate you to another town or village. To go away from the village of East Carswell. We believe that a fight will break down and I don't want you getting caught in it. Once the wedding is over, don't stay here." She didn't know if the wedding would even go smoothly, but she wanted to be prepared, "Take even Beth along with you."

Her parents stayed quiet before her father finally said, "Okay. We'll do that." He believed that the King would look after his daughter, something he had been noticing Calhoun do. Another reason why he agreed was that he didn't know how many more news about people they knew, they would be coming to hear. "If Mary has passed away. I would ask you to be careful about your uncle."

Madeline pursed her lips, "Anyone else I need to keep an eye on?" she asked.

"I think it would be best to uninvite your father's side of the family," said her mother, exhaling air through her lips out of stress. "Will you be alright? Isn't it better if we hide you away?" Mrs. Harris was troubled that something bad would happen to Madeline.

Madeline shook her head, "It will never stop. I cannot keep hiding in the coffin or run away. If I don't stop it now, it will only continue." The only worry she had was, she didn't want her parents and her sister getting involved and hurt.

After having some more words with her parents, Madeline decided to leave the room, and she started to walk in the corridor to see her sister standing alone and looking at the garden. It had been some days since she and Beth had a decent conversation. She didn't forget that she had raised her hand to slap Beth, something no one had ever done to her sister.

Making her way to where Beth was, she came to stand next to her sister. "Are you enjoying the flowers?" she asked, keeping her tone light and casual.

Beth didn't look startled by Madeline's voice as she had seen Madeline walking towards her from the corner of her eyes. "It's going to snow even more," commented Beth, "Are you done speaking with mama and papa?" she gave a look at Madeline, her green eyes meeting Madeline's brown eyes before she turned back to look at the garden.

"Yes. It was something about the wedding," said Madeline, without telling Beth what she had asked from her parents. Looking at the current scenarios, Madeline didn't know if Beth would consider her to be arrogant and disrespectful for pushing them out of the castle and village. But it also reminded Madeline that she was doing the same thing as what Calhoun had done to Lucy, shielding his sister from harm. "How are you doing, Beth?"

"How do you think I have been doing?" Beth questioned back at Madeline.