The Locket (31 page)

As Lance had, he said nothing, simply glancing at her with a sad, distressed expression. “Chris?”

Rolling his eyes, the dwarf tapped his foot in impatience. “Your Highness, we must go; your parents have been waiting long enough for your return. You have no time for this nonsense. Now let’s go!” But after seeing Savannah’s hurt, puzzled face, he could see that tension was about to arise and, ultimately, decided not to get involved.

“Chris, I don’t like this, what’s going on?”

He tore his eyes from her, desperate to find anywhere else to look except for the place that he once found complete comfort.

She considered all of this before her eyes suddenly widened with awareness. Carefully pulling her hand away from Christian’s, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper. It was the newsletter that she had retrieved from off the ground at Bertha’s cottage. She unfolded it and looked at it for a moment. “This—this is you?” Her hands were shaking as she held out the paper in front of him. He nodded, incapable of even forcing his eyes to meet hers. His guess was that they were furious or heartbreaking, if not both.

Savannah took one last glimpse of the paper in front of her and dropped it to the ground; her hands not being able to hold anything up anymore. A single tear dropped down her face as she glared at him. “I—I don’t believe this. This is not real!”

Afraid that she was on the verge of becoming hysterical, Christian hastily brought his arms around her trembling body, and received a shock when she pushed him off. “Don’t touch me! I don’t even know you!”

She veered away from him, destroying any contact that they might make. She tried as hard as she could to suppress the rest of her tears as she suddenly thought of something. “Wait a minute. You—you’re getting married tomorrow, aren’t you?”

Keeping his eyes half on hers, hoping she’d realize his guilt and regret, he nodded. “I am supposed to, though I do not want to. I have no desire to marry the princess from the Kingdom of Reve.” This time, Christian plunged his gaze deeply into her miserable eyes. “Savannah, you have to believe me when I say that I love you, and I do not wish to marry anyone else.”

She was losing the battle of holding back her tears, the raw emotions threatening to rise to the surface. “I don’t know if I can, Chris. The truth is, I don’t know who you really are.” Savannah sniffed before she could go on. Taking in a sharp breath, she threw her hand to her mouth. “Was I some kind of game? Some impulsive, sick last call before your wedding?! I must have been a fool, huh? To go around listening to you when everything we have been through together was a lie!”

“No, not everything was a lie!” He took a deep breath from the sting she tore into him. “I honestly love you.”

“Tell me, Christian,” she went on, ignoring his pleas. “Was it all planned? Was it a bet? Or is this something you do so often that it just comes naturally to you?”

“No, no—it was not like that!”

“Oh, really? Then what was it like?”

He could not answer right away. “I don’t know. But something happened, something changed,” he implored, urging her to trust him. Yet she obviously did not trust him anymore. How could she?

She nodded in agreement, keeping her eyes firm on his, attempting to burn his soul with her anger. “Something changed, all right,” she began, calming down from their argument. With that, she gently undid the necklace around her neck and held it in her hand. It should work by this point.

Savannah opened the locket, revealing the familiar tie-dye colors that quickly became the young king’s new nightmare as he watched them twirl in amazement. Before entering, she peered over at Lance-a-Lot. “Thanks, Lance.” He smiled wearily at her, not at all proud of what she was thanking him about.

Without so much as a final glace at Christian, Savannah stepped through the portal to leave the fantasy world and enter reality.

***

When the brilliant light of the portal had fully faded, Christian could not find the energy to bring himself to move away. In his mind, the thought of her was still unbelievably clear and the idea that she might come back at any moment stayed with him. What if she realized that she loved him too? What if she thought that she was making a big mistake and wanted to return back to him? Any of these could have been possibilities, and he wanted to be there, waiting for her, in case one of them came true.

Lance, on the other hand, was more practical about it. He wanted to order the prince to follow him or even to drag him back to the palace if he had to. But the hurt in his leader’s eyes was nonetheless there and most definitely undeniable. There was only one cure for that kind of pain that he knew of: time. Time, and being able to keep yourself busy with other things. “Come on, Your Highness,” Lance started, gently. “We should be getting back to the palace.”

The prince shook his head, knowing that no matter how hard he tried, how long he stayed, or how much he wanted it, she was not coming back.

Savannah didn’t feel much like talking. She wanted to crawl into bed and stay there for the next several days, basking in her own self-pity. However, since becoming a depressed mute was out of the question, at least until Jenny went back to her own business, she felt obligated to use manners. “Not tonight, Aunt Jenny, but thanks. I think I’m just going to go to bed.”

Not the least bit surprised, although slightly discouraged, Jenny nodded her head. “All right then, sweetie. You probably should get some rest anyway—we have your mother’s funeral in a couple of days.” Savannah said nothing as Aunt Jenny made her way over to her. Softly, she laid a kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight, sweetheart. Sleep well.”

The room was once again filled with silence, causing a sigh of relief to escape past Savannah’s lips. As much as she loved Jenny and appreciated her kindness, she was desperate for solitude. Sleep, she thought sullenly. Sleep is what I need. This will all go away when I wake up tomorrow morning, and my life will be completely back to normal.

Ambling to her bed, a tear fell down her cheek as she tugged at the covers. Before she could even make her way under the sheets, the full brunt of her sadness hit her with a crash. Wrapping her arms around her body, she hugged herself as she wept from the pain.

***

Waking up the following morning, Savannah had found no answers. It had to have been a dream; there was no other explanation. Opening her eyes to find herself in the guest bedroom at her aunt and uncle’s, it was obvious that her mother’s death had at least been real. Everything else was just something fabricated by her mind, a hallucination created by repressed feelings or some psychobabble like that.

However much she wanted to believe the thought, it was impossible to deny the emotions that dispersed through her like food coloring in liquid. Love, pain, betrayal, fear … they were all there, and they were all meshed awkwardly together.

But curiosity had Savannah hopping out of bed and snatching the necklace off her nightstand. Opening it, she thought herself a fool. What did she expect to find? A fantasyland? It was too ridiculous an idea, and seeing the ancient headshots on the inside her locket confirmed her theory. There was no portal. It was all just part of some crazy dream that she must have had after eating too much junk food.

Then why was her heart still breaking?

***

Christian entered his family’s lounge with Lance trailing watchfully behind him.

“Oh, thank heavens! Christian!” He made no indication of movement as his mother raced her way into his arms. “Where have you been? Oh, we have been so worried about you!”

Finding his breath after her tight embrace, he wished he didn’t have to answer anyone and could make his way to his room in peace. He knew, however, that his mother would never stop worrying until she knew that he was all right. Due to his high respect for her and his newfound place of being a responsible prince, he felt obligated to speak. “I’m fine, mother,” he heard his monotone voice reply. “I was with General Nathan and his family. They sent me home.” Home, was that where he was? This may have been the place he once thought of as his home, but it did not feel like much of one now.

The queen’s eyes widened. “For four days!?” He nodded.

“Son, I don’t think that you quite understand the gravity of this situation,” his father began sternly. “If you are to leave, you must inform us. More importantly, you must never leave the kingdom or even the palace during this time of war! It is far too dangerous!”

Christian started making his way toward the grand staircase and up to the hallway. He may have held reverence for both of his parents, but the need for solitude started to come in an overwhelming wave. He needed to be alone with his thoughts, not to be condemned by his father. “Especially for you, the crowned prince of the Kingdom of Reverice!” the king yelled after him. “Your safety will determine the future of our kingdom!”

He did not hear. Instead, he just kept walking straight down the hall toward another stairway that led to his room. When the king and queen looked at Lance uncertainly, he said, “Do not fret, Your Majesties; Chris will be fine in a couple of days.”

“Lance, he does not have a couple of days, he has a couple of hours before the wedding!” the king protested. When Lance only shrugged, he sighed. “Fine. I suppose that it is high time I have a talk with my son.”

Christian sat on his bed, quietly reflecting. It all hurt so very much. How could that be? Prior to these past few days, he had come to think that he could not feel any emotion: not hate, not jealousy, not trust, not even love. That was, with the exception of the dutiful, yet warm love he felt toward his family.

Nothing in life had seemed much worth the while of living. He would rule the kingdom, and that would be that, no strings attached. His future was already laid out for him from his clothes to his wife—nothing about his life was his own. So what was the point of having his own emotions?

Tears that couldn’t be held back any longer began sliding down his face, unashamed and unaware of the presence that now stood before him. “Good Lord, Chris, what has happened to you?” The king’s voice was steady, but not demanding, and sympathetic, but not gentle. After all, he was still a father talking to his little boy at the same time he was a king speaking to his heir.

When he received no response, King Fredrick took a turn around the room in hopes of finding a way into his son’s thoughts. Spotting an old childhood toy, he believed he had found it. Picking up the worn, but much loved, slingshot, he smiled. “I remember when your mother and I first gave you this.” He waited a beat for Christian’s attention. When he received it, he went on. “You were so excited; you couldn’t wait to try it out on every target one could imagine. Non-living targets, of course, with the exception of your brother. You were so happy as a child and so full of life and generosity and humility. When we gave you this slingshot, you swore that you would protect everyone and be the hero of this kingdom.

“Well, now you’re all grown up, my boy. You do not use your slingshot anymore, yet I know you still have that desire to do something great, to be someone great. I cannot say if you are or will ever be fully willing to be the ruler of this kingdom, for I know that you have recently been avoiding your responsibilities.” King Fredrick put the toy down and looked directly into his son’s eyes with as much authority as he could muster beside the love that would always linger there for him. “This is your chance to be the hero you always wanted to be. Without you, our kingdom would perish, and its people would become lost. Not everyone was born to be a leader, my son. But then again, neither were you.” When Christian’s head shot up and his eyes scrunched in question, the king smiled and said, “Because you were born to be so much more.”

Christian did not place his head back into his hands, but rather turned his gaze out the window to the village beyond the drawbridge. Any man could enjoy the idea of all of that beauty and life belonging to him, and any man should. A yearning began to grow in the pit of his stomach. Pure pride found its way from that yearning into Christian’s heart. This was where he belonged. These were the people he had grown up knowing. These were the buildings he had grown up playing in. And this was the land he had grown to love and cherish.

But was it worth it without the woman he loved being by his side? Could he live with himself knowing that an amazing life filled with passion and warmth was ruined by him, and now he must live in mere contentment filled with longing?

Seeing the battle in his eyes, King Fredrick’s lips drew into a thin line, though his expression remained concerned. “I do not know what this is about, though I have my suspicions. Ever since Miss Morgan came into this world, I could feel the difference in the air. And now you stink of it, my son. I do not know what happened in that forest, but I can offer you some regal advice. Life is full of struggles. It takes someone great to recognize those problems and be able to sort them out properly. It takes a king to figure them out and find the best way to solve them tastefully. Do you understand?” Christian nodded his head. “Good. Now I will assume that you already have your problems sorted out, correct?”