Chapter 2 - The Cottage of Broken Dreams
The walk to the staff cottage felt longer than any journey Adrien had ever taken.
The gravel of the path crunched beneath his boots,
the sound echoing through the manicured gardens.
Lucia walked beside him,
her tiny legs working double time to keep up with his long strides.
She didn't let go of his hand,
gripping his fingers as if they were a lifeline.
The cottage was tucked away behind a row of ancient oaks,
a small,
stone building that Adrien rarely looked at.
It was supposed to be a place of rest for those who served him,
but as they approached,
it looked more like a tomb.
The windows were dark,
save for a single,
feeble light in the corner room.
The air grew colder as they stepped onto the porch,
the wood groaning under Adrien's weight.
Lucia pushed the door open,
it wasn't locked,
for there was nothing inside worth stealing.
The interior was cramped,
smelling of lavender,
old soup,
and the cloying,
sweet scent of a fever.
In the small bedroom,
a woman lay beneath a pile of thin blankets.
Her hair was damp,
matted to her forehead,
and her skin was a sickly,
ashen gray.
"Mama,"
Lucia whispered,
letting go of Adrien's hand to rush to the bedside.
The woman didn't move,
her chest rising and falling in shallow,
labored jerks.
"Mama,
the King is here,"
the girl said,
climbing onto the mattress.
Adrien stood in the doorway,
his presence filling the tiny room until it felt like the walls might burst.
He recognized the woman now.
Elena.
She had been his primary maid for two years.
She was the one who left the coffee exactly as he liked it,
who made sure his bed was crisp and cold,
who never spoke unless spoken to.
He had looked at her every day,
yet he realized he had never truly seen her.
He saw a servant,
not a mother.
He saw a ghost,
not a dying woman.
He walked to the bed and placed the back of his hand against her forehead.
The heat was terrifying.
It felt like touching a furnace.
"How long has she been like this?"
he asked,
his voice barely a whisper.
"Two suns,"
Lucia said,
curling up against her mother's side.
"Mrs. Gable said she has to wake up tomorrow,"
"or we have to leave the gates."
Adrien’s eyes flashed with a lethal brilliance.
He looked at the empty water glass on the nightstand,
the dust on the floor,
the lack of any medicine.
They had been left here to rot.
In his house.
Under his protection.
He pulled his phone from his pocket,
his fingers moving with a cold,
calculated fury.
"Marcus,"
he said when the call connected.
"Bring Dr. Valli."
"Now."
"If he isn't at the back gate in ten minutes,"
"tell him he’ll never practice medicine again."
He hung up and looked down at the two figures on the bed.
The small girl was stroking her mother's hand,
humming that same off-key lullaby.
Adrien Romano had spent his life building walls to keep people out.
But as he stood in that cramped room,
he realized the walls hadn't just kept others out.
May you like
They had trapped him inside a world where a mother could die,
just a few hundred yards from his gold-plated faucets.
