May Death Do Us Part

187 Chapter 187 : Doubleganger

Theodora pulled back and studied the man in front of her, “what do you mean by that? You don’t have a family?”

“I do not,” Renly responded, “I was told that my mother was the slave of a rich lord somewhere, he raped her constantly and when she fell pregnant with me, he tossed her out to live as a mere begger in the streets of Cenia. After I was born my mother fell ill and eventually died, she had no other children hence I have no siblings, and she never spoke of where she was from so I didn’t know my family.” The dark haired man bowed his head for a few seconds before looking back up at Theodora, “does that answer your question?”

Theodora felt her heart sink just slightly at Renly’s story, just like her, he too had suffered and lost his family. “But what about friends? Anyone you feel you may love? Don’t you have someone like that?”

“When my mother died I too had become a little sickly, and I was sure I would succumb to the same fate,” Renly explained, “the master found me in the market square being whipped for trying to steal some bread. He payed off the merchants, brought me food, and from that day forth he took me in and practically raised me, I suppose you can say he is someone I care about because of what he did for me.”

“This master of yours, is that why you’re so loyal to him? Because he saved you from the streets?”

“That is part of the reason yes,” Renly responded, “the other reason is that he saved my life. You see Theodora, may I call you that? Theodora?”

The woman batted her lashes and slowly nodded.

“Thank you,” Renly responded before continuing his story, “I was a sickly child whose ailment knew no cure, but the master is a great man you see, he is magician, a powerful sorcerer. He cured my sickness using these.. experiments he calls them, and even gave me this power of flight. Tell me Theodora, how can I not be loyal to a man like that?”

The nosferatu woman felt conflicted, she understood where Renly was coming from because in a way, that was her situation with Aiden. The prince had saved her multiple times, but unlike Renly’s saviour, Aiden had never asked for anything in return, all she did was by her own will.

.....

“And as for friends,” Renly added on, “I have people who I live with who also serve the master, but I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. And someone I love, I don’t think I would know, i have never known what love is so I don’t think I’d recognize it if I ever felt it.”

Theodora felt terrible after hearing Renly’s words, it sounded like the man had a very sad and lonely existence.

“Do you have someone you love Theodora?”

The woman looked into Renly’s eyes, they were a strange shade of black, they almost looked grey. “I do.. prince Aiden, he is the man I love, I love him with all of my heart.”

“How do you know that?”

Theodora knitted her brows, “what?”

“How do you know that you love prince Aiden?”

“Well I just do..” Theodora responded while trying to put her words together, “I know because I feel safe around him, and if he ever needs me I’m there for him, also i feel the need to make sure he is taken care of because he’s helped me multiple times.”

Renly went quiet for some minutes trying to analyze what the woman had just said, “sounds more like you feel indebted to him rather than love him.. but I could be wrong.”

Theodora angrily rose from the bed, “you are wrong! I love Aiden!”

“Have you ever loved someone before? And if not, how can you be sure what you feel for him is love.”

Theodara shook her head violently and began pacing the room, “shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about, I know that I love him, I do-” the woman slipped over the plate of food that was sitting on the floor and began to fall.

Renly swiftly turned into a bird, dove to the floor and transformed back into a man so he could cushion Theodora’s fall. The woman fell onto the man with a thud, pushing the air in Renly’s lungs out.

Theodora groaned, but when she cocked her head up she froze when she saw Renly beneath her. “Why did you save me?”

If the man had let Theodora fall, she would have probably been knocked out for a few minutes, giving Renly an opportunity to escape, so why did he let that chance slip away?

“I don’t know,” the man responded. He helped Theodora off him before he also sat up. “I suppose I didn’t want to see you hurt, the same way you don’t want to see Aiden hurt me?”

*

After three nights of king Elric getting ridiculously drunk and making love to his beautiful wife but having no recollection of the beautiful moment, he had enough.

“No wine for me tonight thank you,” he spoke to Cassandra who was setting their table like she always did.

“Are you sure your majesty? You love this wine and specifically told me to serve it to you every night.”

Elric didn’t even remember saying that, how intoxicated had he been these past few nights?!

“I’m very sure.” He reached for Melissa’s hand who was sitting on the chair next to his and squeezed her hand lovingly. “Tonight is the last night alone with my beautiful wife, I wish to savor every minute of it sober.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, the act made Melissa shudder.

This was bad, if Elric would be sober tonight, he would actually sleep with her, what was she going to do? Cassandra too was raking her brain for a solution, if she had known that king Elric would refuse the wine, she would have put the potion in his tea or food, but she had already served everything and it would look suspicious if she suddenly decided to take the food back to the kitchen.

“Of course your majesty,” Cassandra responded with a curtsy, “please do enjoy your meal. When you are both finished, I will take her highness and prepare her as per your usual request.”

Usual request? Had Elric asked something of Cassandra in his drunken state? Not wanting to embarrass himself any further he decided to just agree to it, “of course, make sure she is ready for me like always.”

Cassandra nodded and turned to leave. As the curvy woman walked out the door Melissa couldn’t help but wonder if she had some kind of plan. She prayed she did, having Elric make love to her made her every fiber scream in repugnance.

After the couple was done with their meal, Cassandra cleared the table swiftly and then with Elric’s permission led the queen out the room to hers. Within her room, Cassandra made Melissa sit on her bed and brought out a small bottle.

“Hold this your highness..”

Melissa took the small bottle and watched in curiosity as Cassandra brought a basin of water, some hair brushes and a towel.

“What’s all this for?” Melissa asked curiously.

“I need you to dye my hair your highness.”

Dye her hair? Why would she want to do that? Melissa looked down at the bottle in her hands and gasped, it was a bottle of red dye, was Cassandra planning to do what Melissa thought she was going to do?

The red haired woman rose to her feet and shook her head, “I can’t let you do that Cassandra, I can’t let you take my place tonight.”

“Then you’re willing to go to bed with him?”

“No!”

Cassandra picked up the bottle of dye and placed it back in Melissa’s hand. “We don’t have much time, the king will start getting suspicious.” She then held Melissa’s shoulders comfortingly and smiled at her, “I have worked in a brothel sleeping with men whose value is as low as that of a pig. Sleeping with a king will be a bit of an upgrade for me don’t you think?”

Cassandra loosened her bun and let her hair fall down her shoulders, “hurry your highness. Also I will need to borrow your clothes, don’t worry about me, everything will be fine.”

*

Elric looked at himself in the mirror again to make sure nothing was out of place, tonight he would ravish his wife to his heart’s content and enjoy every moment of it.

He heard the doors of the room swing open and he quickly ruffled his hair and rubbed a bit of his scented oils on his bare chest. When he walked out of the room he noticed that some of the candles had been put out, leaving only a few that gave the room a romantic dim glow.

And on the bed turned away from him, lay his beautiful wife. Elric wasn’t sure if it was because of the lighting, but Melissa looked a lot curvier than he remembered. But no matter, this only made him even more excited.