Black Mail

Black Mail

If true love, like the diamonds on a tiara

Could be mocked then I would have to be in vain

Like the moon shining down at midnight

Is the devastation of my lines of my palms

Once a royal seer had seen my palms

And said that only a knight at midnight

Would deliver me from my clutches of misery

My maid delivered my tiara on a velvet silver tray

I picked up my tiara and Anne whispered

Sliding a sealed parchment into my palms

“My princess, this just came from the dungeons.

Alden has sent it, your last chance, my princess…”

With the force of a sword, I raised my hand

Anne became silent and uttered helplessly,

“We were only trying to help, my princess…”

I put the tiara on my head, my black silk hair

Cascading down my shoulders like a soft veil

I said in glum, “Please leave my chamber, Anne...”

Anne bowed and hurriedly left the chamber

Choking in tears, and closed the door behind her

I broke the seal and knew it was definitely

Alden who has written it, his seal was perfect

Alden who was my first love, the one I still love

I open the parchment and read tearfully,

“My princess, my love, my Edythe

The King, your father has sealed our fate

I thought he was going to release me

But looking at the love for his daughter

In my pitiful eyes, the king has with measure

Decided to behead me in the arena

On a guillotine, where our love will be mocked

I beg you not to come, and see me beheaded

For touching your cheeks as rosy as the truest red rose

With a caress that still strikes a chord in my weak heart

I will forgive your father for protecting his princess

From a man who has no castle, not even fitting to be a knight

I will kneel down and profess my love to the angels

I know I will miss your laughter, the day at the apple orchard

When the king saw his only princess with a loner

He did not merely get tempered, he fought like a father

However he might have punished me for loving his princess

I will not say a word against him, my love for you is so pure

Like the stars that glimmer down at the window tonight

This is the only light I have and I wish to touch your soft heart

Like the only bravery I’m to show and only act of defense

If before writing a letter before my death to my princess

Whom I love like a leaf flowing down the tumultuous lake

Is the only act of love, then so be my death be an act of love

Yours and only yours, your soul, Alden!”

Tears fell down my eyes, I walked to the hearth

And hurriedly threw the parchment in the flames

Before my father found it and gave Alden an early death

I could not take that rightful act of love from Alden

His only pride, his only knowledge of my last goodbye

The door was being knocked upon and my father came in

I straightened up, pretending I was setting my tiara on my head

The king said, “I have invited a knight for the ball

He is a knight in front of the eyes of public but a prince in fact

From a land I will not tell you, you have shamed me

I will wed you to this prince and that’s the only thing

You will now expect from your king, your father

Follow me, Edythe!” and the king walked like a roaring lion

I merely followed and met the prince in the ballroom

The knight in eyes of the public who in fact was a prince and who

Took me in his embrace and danced with me like

It was his right, I looked up at him when the harp ended

And he looked confused, like the world of happiness

That been stolen from his embrace

The prince whispered, “You look like a rare jewel

Whatever you ask me tonight, I will grant it to you!”

I whispered as his hold tightened on my slim waist

“You know about Alden and my love, and that he is

Supposed to be beheaded tomorrow?”

The prince said reeling in utter shock,

“Know? I feel empathy for you and Alden…

No princess should bear the shawl of shame

Especially when the king treats his only princess

And a marriage unknown to you at early dawn tomorrow!”

I looked up and blurted, “A wedding? Tomorrow?”

The prince said, “If I too were not in love with you

I would have declined the wedding, more shame bestowed on you!”

I merely danced in a daze and said, “There is something

Something that you are telling me and something that you are not!”

The prince said, “The king has requested if I were to wed you!

But I will ask for Alden’s release in exchange for this wedding

But you will wed me tomorrow as soon as Alden is released

And you will travel with me to my land and be the queen of my castle, my land, my people! I bring you peace, not beheading. But you will never lay eyes on Alden again, you have to give me your word!”

My eyes, tearful and grateful like a swan, and I cry out

I touch the prince on his heart, and give him my word

“If Alden is released and my maid promises me his release

You can wed me and take me anywhere you want… I will not betray you…I give you my word, my prince…”

The prince released me immediately and said, “Go to your chamber, I will see you tomorrow at dawn. If this is the only addled thing I have ever done in my life, is to release a wretched princess from her fate…”

I free from the prince’s embrace and met my maid in my chamber

Anne asked me obediently, “Did you say yes to the prince, my princess?”

“It was a blackmail, my wedding in exchange for Alden’s release!” I sat on my bed and took off my tiara, feeling crushed

Anne whispered, folding my white wedding dress down the bed

“There is not much time left, my princess Edythe, Alden will be saved

The prince is so nice, usually prince’s are made of a knights sword…”

I sobbed, “This prince is made of a knight’s sword… only I know of this…”

Anne kneeled down at my feet and kissed them, “It will be the only last time for all of us to see you my princess Edythe…your father, the king too…”

I get up and said, “Alden… the king will not have saved you but I did… it doesn’t matter how… but I will you to forget me, if you can… the only act of love I have left in me…”

Midnight struck and it was like Cinderella had to go back home at midnight or else her pumpkin coach would turn back to a pumpkin

And my love for Alden never even had a sign of life, midnight had struck and there is only darkness and despair… And Alden released at dawn when I will take my vows to a prince who perhaps is a knight after all…

I look at the burning amber flames in the hearth and my soul burnt with it…leaving me and Alden without a soul… the moon has seen our parting, and never speaks, just as the blackmail of the prince… and all of my love burnt with Alden’s parchment…ay, a suffice punishment from the king, my father!