Myrcella slowly relaxed her stance and she let out a long sigh. Her heart ached for her granddaughter when she saw how much the man before her cared deeply about Emmelyn.
Would Maxim ever love Elise the way he loved Emmelyn? Myrcella wondered.
"You are injured," she spoke coldly and walked toward Maxim.
She checked his wounds and realized it was quite bad because blood was seeping from his temple. He was a big and strong man, so the impact from the collision with the wall was not fatal. If it was other men, they might have died on the spot.
She added, "Let us get you treated."
"No... I'm okay," Maxim insisted to get up, but he quickly fell again. He muttered, "Emmelyn..."
"You shouldn't think light of your head injury," Myrcella said. She called Tides to come with some servants and help her. "We need to get you treated as soon as possible. Tides will call our royal physician."
Maxim groaned and still tried to get up. "No, Emmelyn needs help more than I do. Please... I can't let her die. I have to tell her something."
He cried when he remembered how heartbroken Emmelyn must have felt the night before, that she went to sleep and refused to wake up. He should have told her that he had taken matters into his own hands and would marry Elise, to fulfill Catalina Leoralei's last wish.
He should have told Emmelyn that she didn't need to keep worrying about her future and the people she loved. He also should have told her that her husband loved her and set the second bounty to keep her safe.
Maxim never talked about this with Emmelyn because, in his mind, he didn't want to help his competition. He kept this knowledge to himself and let Emmelyn continue misunderstanding and hating her husband.
Maybe... if Maxim had told her the truth... she wouldn't feel so hopeless about her life.
Why oh why was he so selfish?
If he could turn back time, Maxim wished to go back to the moment in Lakeshire, when he met Emmelyn for the first time after two years.
Tearfully, she told him about Mars, about how she had to flee Draec, faked her death, and was hunted by many people who were after the two bounties.
Even though he could easily guess that the second bounty was from Mars, Maxim conveniently kept his mouth shut. He thought as long as Emmelyn thought her husband was bad, he would be able to win her heart.
He was wrong. She didn't love him and until the last moment still only thought of him as a friend. How could he call himself her friend when all he did was causing her pain and suffering?
"Your Grace... please... promise me... you will help Emmelyn..." Maxim covered his face with both hands and cried unashamedly. "She is a really good woman and I feel so bad for dragging her into this mess. I wish it was I who got all the bad luck and not her. She doesn't deserve all the shit she has gone through."
His words were sincere and Myrcella's heart was finally touched. She turned to look at Emmelyn and felt pity for her. She knew Maxim was right. Emmelyn didn't deserve what happened to her.
Myrcella took a deep breath. Her voice was tired and sad when she spoke. "I will help your friend, but I won't do it if you give me a hard time."
She added, "I already have enough problems on my plate before you came here. My son is dying and my granddaughter is gone. I don't need this extra stress."
"I understand," Maxim replied. "I am sorry for troubling you. I will do as you said."
Maxim closed his eyes to bear with the pain and decided he should do as Myrcella said. He realized Myrcella was feeling stressed and had a lot to worry about.
Her son was injured and from the way they talked about it, Alexander might actually be dying. Meanwhile, Elise disappeared, looking for the magical artifacts to help cure her father but no one knew where she went and if she was all right.
Maxim knew Myrcella must be torn between go look for Elise, or stay and take care of her dying son. And now, suddenly Emmelyn and he arrived with the bad news how Catalina, her late daughter-in-law, did a really bad thing before she died.
Tides already mentioned that winter was slowly approaching Myreen because King Alexander was very ill. The people had not experienced seasons other than spring and summer for over a century.
If they suddenly experienced winter because their king could no longer protect them, their lives would become really hard.
"Your Grace, did you call me?" Tides's voice moved Maxim from his reverie. The butler had arrived with two other servants.
"Yes, Tides. Loriel is injured. Please help bring him back to his chamber and call our royal physician, Soren, to treat his wounds," Myrcella ordered the butler to take care of Maxim. "And when Soren is done, ask him to come here. I need him to check Emmelyn's condition."
Tides tilted his head and see Emmelyn lying in bed with her eyes closed. He was wondering what happened to her that the queen wanted their physician to check on her. Was Lady Emmelyn sick?
"Understood, Your Grace. I will be right to it."
He ordered the servants to carry Maxim to his chamber, while he ran downstairs and got the royal physician to come. Usually, at this hour, Soren would be in King Alexander's chamber to treat the king's illness.
After she was alone with Emmelyn, Myrcella came to the bed and sat by the bedside. Her heart ached for her. She remembered how Emmelyn was distraught when she saw her husband and daughter with another woman.
Maybe it was the straw that broke the camel's back, Myrcella thought. After forcing herself to be strong for a long time, Emmelyn had finally lost the will to continue fighting.
"You are a good woman, my dear..." Myrcella muttered sadly. "I am sorry this happened to you."
.
.
*************
From Missrealitybites:
Writing this chapter was SO HARD and it took me so many hours. Maybe almost six hours?
To be honest, the last few chapters affected me emotionally as they did to you, and I am feeling drained too. That's the reason why I haven't been able to reply to your comments. I will get to them once I feel better.
Please know I don't enjoy torturing characters or readers.
If it was up to me, I would fast forward the story, make a short summary of what happened between Mars and Maxim, probably only two lines of how the war broke out and ended, and suddenly have Emmelyn back in her husband's loving arms. The end.
However, that's not how it works. Everything that happened throughout the story is the result of the choices made by each character that affect the course of history in their world.
For example, if Maxim had told Emmelyn what he thought about the second bounty from the moment he heard about it, he would have saved her from further pain and heartbreak, she would not feel so depressed and lose the will to live. However, Maxim was stubborn and selfish and so he kept it to himself.
I always have to switch hats and write what each character feels, thinks, and says when they encounter a certain situation, and those decisions would affect the chain of events that happen afterward.
I don't 'kill' characters when they die in the story - they died because someone in the story was evil enough to kill them.
However, some people would say "Ah, the author is mean. She loves killing her characters", or "Author, haven't you tortured her enough? Please give her happiness already", or "My real life is hard, I come here to read happy stories to lift my mood, but this story only makes me sad."
Someone sent me a private message several months ago when Emmelyn was still imprisoned in the Grey Tower. I think we all agree that that part was very hard to read and I know many readers dropped this book at that point. Some returned, and many don't.
The reader who sent me the message was frustrated by what happened and asked me to 'stop torturing Emmelyn and end the stressful part immediately' because she couldn't take it anymore. She said I was an embarrassment to all writers for claiming I don't control the story.
It hurts to read the message, but I understand her frustration and I tried not to take it personally. I thought maybe my explanation was not worded properly. So, some readers have the wrong understanding.
I do have control over the story.
However, I can't write whatever I want because I have to stay faithful to each character's personality and how they would think and talk, and make a decision. They cannot be OOC (out of character) just to expedite the plot. Everything has to make sense.
When a character changed, there also has to be a logical reason for that to happen. Let's see Gewen for example.
Gewen started by being a womanizer, and now, 500 chapters later, he said he is a changed man because he contracted STD. In the beginning, he disliked Emmelyn and favored Ellena, but now he realized Emmelyn is good and Ellena is bad. So, he changed his stance.
Gewen thought Harlow was ugly and compared her to a vicious bear when they first met, but now he loved her to bits because she turned into a beautiful baby, because deep inside Gewen was still a vain man who valued looks.
I know the main story is very near to the ending and I am excited to write the part. I especially look forward to the super sweet reunion between Mars and Emmelyn.
Alas! Before I can get there, I have to write these difficult chapters leading to that moment.
I hope you keep hanging on and stay with me on this journey. Trust me, the chapters that you found hard to read, I found them hard to write.. So, we're in this together.