Simone looked down at her pregnant belly and smiled softly. Her hands rubbed over the growing bump as she felt the life forces of her sons. She was spending the day in Sulwal with Llywellyn to get out of the house. Lewis had brought the kids and was currently playing with them. She would have been too but Lewis was adamant about no strenuous movements and the twins backed him up.
The elf king was cautious as his hand moved and he immediately noticed Lewis had stopped to look at him. “You know I would never hurt her,” Lly chuckled as he got a nod from Lewis and finally he put his hand on her belly. “They got some magic to them. Nothing like Janus and Lila but still…” The king cooed as he thought about what type of people the boys would be. Janus and Lila terrified him but he could see Simone in them almost as much as he could see Lewis.
“They are going to be incredible just like all of their siblings,” Simone puffed her face out at Llywellyn who could only laugh at her. “What? They will be.”
“Aye, they will be,” Llywellyn chuckled as he spotted Alshaya and Llonan sharing a book for their study sessions. He almost didn’t trust them alone even if they weren’t that far from them. “I never thought after I took care of Jerome that we would ever continue all these outings. It makes me happy Mone.”
“Me too,” Mone gave him a smile but it quickly disappeared at his words. “Llywellyn, repeat what you said.”
“It makes me happy?”
“No.”
“…That I took care of Jerome?”
“You are always direct with your speech. Why aren’t you saying you killed him?” She tilted her head and she saw the king hesitate. “Llywellyn…” Her voice got quiet. “What did you do?”
“Nothing that he hasn’t let happen to you,” the king looked away from her but didn’t pull his hand from her belly. It was gently rubbing with no sense of anger coming from the elf.
“Where is he?”
“In the dungeon,” he tilted his head at her. “Why?”
“I want to speak to him,” Mone had already had a conversation with Lewis about it. He wasn’t happy but with Llywellyn’s men near and Llywellyn himself being there… Nothing could get to Mone and the boys.
Llywellyn looked from Lewis to Simone and sighed, “I see you both already talked about it. Lewis doesn’t look thrilled.”
“Surprised you can tell.”
“You can tell a lot by the way he stares and his eyes in general,” Llywellyn pulled his hand finally and pushed himself up off the bench. “I suppose I can let you see that bastard. It’s only fair after all he has let happen to you.” He offered his hand to his friend and helped her off the bench.
It took a bit of time until they were deep underground under Sulwal. The dungeons were dimly lit and while the inhabitants normally would have hooted towards Simone. They didn’t dare with that man with her. Llywellyn who was normally playful had a dark habit of playing with his enemies. Something that he had developed from looking for Simone. He wasn’t ashamed of it but he hid it from the innocent the best he could.
In the deepest part of the dungeon, Llywellyn had the guards open up the largest cell. Suspended by chains the man was shredded from torture. He was being kept alive by healers who were currently healing him as Simone was brought in.
She didn’t react, not a bit, towards the man she had once loved with all of her heart. Those days were done once he had betrayed her and hurt Lewis too.
“Why the fuck is she here?” Jerome spoke up as he lifted his blue eyes to Simone’s gray.
“Why don’t you think instead of just running your mouth,” Llywellyn said darkly. “Do you want to sit Mone?”
“No, my legs are still pretty restless. I’ll let you know if I need to though,” her hand had gone back to her belly as she rubbed subconsciously. Her eyes were drilling into Jerome’s.
“Thought you couldn’t get pregnant?” Jerome was curious now. “Sell your soul to the devil?”
“Nothing of the sort. A friend decided it was high time our wish came to true. That’s all.” Simone walked a bit forward before she landed a hard backhand to Jerome’s face. Pulling his hair she made him look at her. “Coward,” she spat at him and let his head drop before Llywellyn moved Mone away.
“Don’t get so close. Lewis will literally skin me alive,” Llywellyn’s voice was gentle with her but the moment he looked at Jerome there was a glare instead. “Don’t you fucking talk to her like that again. You’ve done enough damage haven’t you?”
“Oh please. You’re telling me you wouldn’t have sold her off for power?” Jerome took Llywellyn’s fist to his gut.
“Do you want to know a secret?” Mone’s voice was almost in a whisper.
“No, but you’re going to fucking tell me anyways,” Jerome was reeling from the pain that Llywellyn had inflicted on him.
“You were never my first anything,” the words left Mone’s mouth and Llywellyn looked towards her and made the guards leave just from his look alone.
“Could have warned me,” Llywellyn crossed his arms.
“Never crossed my mind that the great Llywellyn was worried about rumors,” Simone shrugged her shoulders.
“No, it’s always been personal for you.”
“Ah, worried about my virtue are you?” Simone chuckled a bit. “Thought we were all past that.”
“What the fuck do you mean?” Jerome roared to life.
“Exactly what I said. You weren’t my first anything. You always gloated about it. You prided yourself on it. However, did you know when you cut your hand for a blood pact that it actually really fucking hurts? A secret so bad that if anyone found out there would have been heads rolling?” Simone finally got winded and Llywellyn got her a stool from the corner to sit on.
“Who was it?” Jerome was demanding. His jealousy was fully alive even right now.
“Who the fuck do you think?” Llywellyn crossed his arms. “There were only three of us and it most certainly wasn’t fucking Tristan.”
“Are you fucking kidding me, Simone,” Jerome screamed in her direction. “I. We.”
Simone shrugged at him. “I wasn’t the most innocent person in the entire world Jerome. I will say if I had given you my everything I would have been completely crushed upon finding out what you had done for such a silly thing as power. See, as a girl, I had a really bad jealousy streak. Llywellyn hated you so much he didn’t care if I took it out on him. It worked out for everyone involved. Both of us knew Llywellyn would never be able to marry me but no one ever said he couldn’t be involved.”
“Royalty never marries for love. You have to choke it down. Be there for each other and learn to let go,” Llywellyn was glaring at Jerome. “Also, Mone couldn’t stand how I was when I got hot-headed. I think she would have punched me out herself if she could have. So we agreed that no one could ever know what happened between us.”
“How far did you fucking defile her?” Jerome was yelling.
“You got a lot of nerve getting pissed at me being defiled,” Simone took her foot and shoved her heel into his stomach. “Or is he just pissed he never got me in bed?” She looked up at Llywellyn innocently.
“He is most definitely pissed I took what was his… Also, we never slept together in that context so don’t you worry your pretty blonde head about that. Simone had to remain innocent in that nature. It was law,” Llywellyn smirked a bit. “I don’t think Mone ever had any intentions against you until after the Douglass Farm incident we had. She confessed she was worried about you and the things you did behind her back. Who fucking knew that was a giant ass red flag for what you would do to her.”
“You fucking betrayed me?” Jerome was glaring at Simone.
“I got even with you.” Mone tilted her head at him. “Word spreads like gossip Jerome. You didn’t think I knew? That you were fucking around with Godwin’s daughter. That pretty little kingdom you got after Auclair went up in flames. We were well aware that you had your hands in multiple pots of honey. By we, I mean Llywellyn and myself but we didn’t say anything. We just got even. It would have never mattered so much if you didn’t constantly lie to my face about loving me.”
“I DID LOVE YOU,” Jerome roared.
“No, you loved my position. Something that I had to come to terms with back in Vilpamolan. I was too plain for you. I liked books too much. I wasn’t interesting. However, I was easily controlled in your mind or so you thought. After we found out about Godwin’s girl… We were going to petition for the betrothal to be annulled and hope we could convince Llywellyn’s father to change his mind. However, we realized such a thing was out of our league. We had no bargaining chips. Also, it didn’t really get even with you. It would ruin trade agreements among other things that would have hurt my people in the end. So we agreed to a blood pact and a secret we would take to our graves. Obviously, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Jerome was almost foaming at the mouth as he basically yanked his head in the direction of Llywellyn, “I WON I BEAT YOU.”
“Nah, I won. You just didn’t know it,” Llywellyn looked pretty smug. “Why the fuck did you think I was so pissed about the fey lord, you, and everything else? It wasn’t just because I cared for Mone. I didn’t flip a whole elf kingdom upside down just for a girl I cared about. I promised Jurien I would bring his daughter home, that I would make her my wife, and I would rebuild Auclair when the time was right to gift it back to Mone. Obviously, only one of these things can happen now. Time doesn’t stop. I care about Mone still but the thoughts and hopes of younger me are long since dead at this point.”
“Then why didn’t you marry her after I broke off the engagement?”
“Because she didn’t know who she was and unlike you, I’m not a fucking pig. I would never take advantage of her like that. I was going to kill the fey lord and win her memory back. I was going to do it the right way unlike you. She was going to let me too.”
Mone nodded, “My younger form did tell him so. She actually really hated you without the memories of our childhood. I never realized until I reviewed it how much you turned into a fucking asshole right in front of me and I never realized it until it was too late back then that you were one.”
“And why might I ask are you telling me NOW?!” Jerome was struggling again.
“To see all that bravado leave your fucking eyes. The one thing you thought you had over Llywellyn who was the absolute better prince… You never had to begin with. Also, if we’re going to get technical about my first kiss it was with Llywellyn at the Winter party.”
“Mone, we were like four,” the elf king sighed.
“Never going to let it go. You had fucking nerves of steel even as a toddler,” Mone laughed a bit.
The dark expression on Jerome’s face had really come out as he was glaring daggers at Simone. “Are you just lying to get to me?”
“I have no reason to lie to you. I fucking hate you but I would never tell you I did things with Llywellyn just to get back at you. It’s true. Llywellyn always came in through my window. He got really good at dodging the guards and getting me out of the castle.” Mone crossed her legs and tilted her head innocently. “Are you mad?”
“It’s fucking bullshit,” Jerome roared at Llywellyn. “You were always fucking beating me at shit. The better swordsman. The better horseback rider. You name it and Llywellyn beat my fucking ass. The one thing I had over him that I could gloat about was Simone. I had what he wanted.”
“Ahhhh, there it is,” Simone pointed at Jerome.
“SHUT UP,” Jerome yelled. “I’m tired of some fucking knife-eared tart taking what’s rightfully mine!”
Simone rolled her eyes and sent her heel into his balls as she listened to Jerome scream. “I’m not a possession. Call me as such one more time and I’ll let Lewis come down here. He’s already said he’ll cut your balls off if you refer to me as such one more time.”
“Fuck your fucking husband to you god damn whore,” Jerome went to spit but Llywellyn had already crossed the distance and punched him so hard it knocked the prisoner out.
“And I’ve had enough of your mouth,” Llywellyn crossed his arms and stared down at him. “I plan to make him wait a thousand years for what happened to you. Then I’ll hold an execution. It’s only fair after what he let happen to you Mone.”
“You don’t need to be so righteous for me Lly,” Mone spoke softly as she got up and hugged him. “You’ve done enough.”
“Not nearly enough to ever make up for the fact I failed you,” he sounded depressed but Simone flicked his nose.
“HEY!”
“Stop that. You couldn’t have stopped them all by yourself. This all happened for a reason or reasons. My children wouldn’t be my children without Lewis. I would have never gotten to him if it wasn’t for all the pain and suffering. We lost Auclair and my father… I know it weighs a lot on you.”
“I had no idea they would go so far,” Llywellyn finally broke down and Mone held him as he nested into her shoulder. “They should have fucking died ten times over for what they did.”
“They should have yeah… but we can’t do that. All we can do is move forward and continue supporting each other. That’s all we’ve ever done since we were kids. Now dry your tears before your people see you. The last thing I need is for them to hate me,” Simone said with a smirk as she took her sleeve and wiped Llywellyn’s tears away.
“I asked him,” Llywellyn finally said looking at her.
“Asked who?” Mone tilted her head.
“Your father. About if I ended the curse if I could take you away. He said I could as long as you were happy. That the throne had caused enough pain,” Llywellyn let the words fall out almost all at once.
Once more Simone flicked his nose and this time she did it to his forehead too. “Don’t go telling me stupid white knight shit like that. It makes me want to cry and I absolutely don’t need a reason to do it right now… but thank you.”
“Let’s get you out of here. It stinks, it's dark, and he is one ugly motherfucker right now,” Llywellyn watched the passed-out Jerome and he snapped his fingers. The guards let them out. “Make sure to wake him up with the whip… That should teach him to run his mouth to a pregnant woman.”
“Eh, I’ve heard worse,” Simone shrugged.
“Not in front of me you haven’t. I’ll deck the first motherfucker who says it after this.” His words made Simone laugh and she shook her head.
“You would have to beat Lewis to the punch and you will never beat Lewis. No matter how good of a prince you really were.”
“No one can beat the Great Lewis,” Llywellyn mocked with a smile. “Let's get you back to your husband. Being out of his sight for too long gives him anxiety.”
“Stop talking about me with him when I’m not around,” Simone put her hands on her hips. “It makes me think you two like each other or something.” It was a joke that got a smile on both Lewis and Llywellyn’s faces even if it was small on Lewis’s end.
