"Someone Like You" Ch. 3
*This is an Alternate Reality Story, so things may seem strange. Remember only the commoners
speak slang and the time period and the things in the story may not match. The women
will dress in a mixture of 19th century and 20/21st century clothing, and so will the men.
+ 1496, April 19 +
+ Andreas Palace: Mikaela's
Room+
Today has been completely hectic and exciting, I
haven't seen the servants rush so around the place so since Stephanos brought his bride to Acadia
for the first time. And again today the excitement is all due to my dear brother, today my brother
brings his heir to see the land that he owns. Today I will set my eyes upon my nephew, who
above all his older cousins, will rule the country once his father passes.
Today my brother, Stephanos will bring his
firstborn son and his wife to the House of Andreas. For the first time in months I will get to see
ALL of my family, not just those within a few days ride. But all the excitement has not hindered
my thoughts to go back into the place where fantasy rules all. Because as house guests Draco
& Omari have been in a bit of an uproar themselves, with male grooming and such.
I'm getting so tired of women and men running
around me, tidying my robes acting as if I'll be wearing these when my brother and his wife
arrive. So I've been doing the best I could to not just push pass them all and go enjoy the
beautiful day somewhere out in the gardens, which sounds lovely after that wench of an old lady
told me I'm not allowed my normal breakfast because today I am to be ladylike and lady's do not
eat like that.
Hump! Maybe not that cracked piece of glass
Crystal, or my ever perfect oldest sister Julienne, or that too good to be true cousin mine, Delia.
But I, Mikaela Luciana Dione Andreas, needs FOOD and COFFEE to make my mornings come
off without a hitch. I'm so hungry I could scream!
I've been sitting in front of my vanity for five hours
straight, I'm fairly sure I've missed the breakfast hour, they woke me up at seven to get an early
start. And all because my nephew was born and my brother is bringing him and Crystal to
Acadia for good. They will stay in the newly remodeled Landon Castle, just outside of Ainsley,
the county that answers to my Uncle Leone Fredricks.
Which seems like a whole world away after having
my brother live at the Palace with me my whole live but I shall get over it. Back to the food, I
swear my stomach growling is alerting the whole palace! Damn it, I know I'm whining, as
Princesses should not do, but I'm hungry and tired and it's all because of that man who had me
sitting up trying to figure out what in the hell he is thinking!
But I am sick and tired of trying to understand him,
which is why I'm going to find me something to eat. Now. Getting out of the room is actually
easier than I originally thought it would be, even though Lexi gives me one of those 'sit down'
looks, I just keep on walking out the door with three servants watching me. They know I'll just
deal with my mother if she happens to see me but at the moment I don't care I'm going to my
brother's Quarter's, he'll definitely have some food.
For the first time since I was a child was I am glad
that my and Sergio's rooms were so close. Sergio and I were as close as twins should be but bred
differently than all the others. Sure I went to 'charm school' and he had extensive schooling but
we were different, as in, we were as close to normal as Royal children will ever get.
I knock softly at my brothers door and I whisper,
"Sergio it's me!"
And just a second his oval, chocolate face opened
the door, "Morning Mikaela, the coffee is on my beside table."
I smile thankfully and grab his empty cup and pour
myself a glass, after taking a sip I look over at him as his barber cut his curly hair, "How's your
morning been brother?"
"Unceremoniously mind boggling, dare I say, it's
been tiring. It seems Draco, Omari, and I have to share the same Quarters this morning because
Druex and Cristian will be using Draco & Omari's Quarters this morning during
preparations." Sergio said stiffly, he was trying his best not to get nicked and annoy me at the
same time and it was working.
And before I could say a word Draco came walking
into the room, half dressed, his pants on and his shirt wide open. He saw me and smiled as the
tailor hung his coat and tie on the Wardrobe door. "Well, good morning Princess."
"Draco." I reply evenly as the coffee rejuvenated
me, giving me energy I hadn't known I had.
"You are going to look amazing tonight I think, I
just got a peek at your new dress, and I'll say not a gentleman in the room will want to leave your
side." Draco flirted as the tailor did last minute changes on the bottom of his pants.
All I could do was smile, he was devilishly
handsome and half the time I could nothing more than smile, and I knew if his brother wasn't
here I'd probably be courting him as a lady should. But his brother is here so I just replied, "Well,
don't ruin the surprise for me yet, I haven't seen the dress."
"I've seen it too," Sergio said as the barber began
shaving him, "you're going to love it, mother promised you the best and the best you got."
Before I could reply to the two men another walked
into the room, his face set with a frown that, I could tell, had been there the entire morning and
he was half dressed like Draco. He looked up at me and I saw the frown falter a bit, "Princess."
He said courtly, as he has been saying for the past month.
I looked around as Draco smirked at me knowingly,
"Sergio do you have anything to eat? Sarah refuses to feed me until Dinner!"
"Ah, the way a Lady is SUPPOSED to eat." Draco
said sarcastically as I rolled my eyes, by now I was so hungry I could cry.
"I ate breakfast this morning and ate everything but
I managed to save you the coffee. Sorry no food." He said as the barber finished his neck
up.
I sighed in disappointment, laying back on Sergio's
huge bed, "God, I'm so hungry! Why can't they just feed me like a real person?"
I could hear Draco's chuckles as I continued my
mumbling and out of no where a soft yet gentle voice disturbed my anger, "Why don't I walk you
to the Kitchens for a quick bite?"
I looked up into the dark beautiful eyes that I saw in
my dreams every night, smiled, and I replied in a voice that would make my mother proud, "That
would be nice."
And before I know it I'm was in the cold, damp,
hallways of the Palace walking right next to that book that I want to translate so bad. He looked
over at me with a look that was totally opposite of the frown he was wearing moments
earlier.
"Thanks for walking me." I say softly as we
approach the kitchen doors, he's looking at me strangely, like he's making up his mind to do
something.
"You're welcome." Comes his hesitant reply but as I
take another step toward the doors he grabs my hand.
My eyes dart down to his hold on my wrist and I
struggle for words, his eyes hold that look of lust that is surging through my veins. HE pulls me
closer and I can feel the warmth of his skin through my think silk robe, lays his cheek against
mine with a whisper, "Why? Mikaela why?'
I was weak in the knees and I trembled as he held
me near, my eyes closed and I said the only thing I could think of, "Don't let go."
"I want you little girl, I do." Omari replied pulling
away from me, that frown returning to his face, I could tell there something more to that
statement but he wasn't telling.
I shivered as the absence of his warmth be came
obvious, he looked me in the eyes trying to read me but I looked away, "You want me?"
"You see through me." Omari whispered standing
right behind me yet he didn't reach out to touch me, he just spoke. "You touch me in places other
people never have and I now I have this unattainable need for you."
My mind couldn't process his words fast enough, I
bit my lip to keep from turning around and kissing him right there. "It's lust Omari, it's lust, it has
to be."
He grabbed my around my waist and turned me
around, pulling me to his chest, all in one move, "It's more than lust my dear."
I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, I just looked at him
loving the fire in his eyes and before I could do anything the door to the kitchens opened and a
very flustered looking cook spoke. "Miss would ya' like a'lil something to eat?"
"Y-yes." I stammered pulling myself out of his arms
and without a look back I walked into the kitchen. With my heart pounding in my chest.
+
Andreas Palace: Later: Dining Room+
He hasn't spoken to me since our little incident
earlier, not that, that, surprised me, and he hasn't so much as glanced my way. And just as Draco
said my dress is an utter and total success tonight!
The soft blue is a much needed change from the
burgundy and black that is usually worn during formal events. The blue is light, so light it's
seconds from white, and the dress is long, flowing, and fitting. The dress was off the shoulders,
it fit my curves to a T, and the dress fell to my feet where the back fell into a graceful fan. My
hair had been pined up in a messy bun with light blue chop sticks. My mother had promised the
best and I got the best too.
My older sister Liane was standing beside my
sister-in-law Crystal, holding the new baby that was named after his father, she's looking at him
the exact way that we all have today. As if he was a binding peace treaty, for which he is, and
she is seemingly trying to read the fine print. Crystal was grinning like a proud mother standing
tall, or rather weakly balancing herself on the chair in front of her.
It's been said that the birth of the future king wasn't
an easy one and Crystal made it through but with an air of greatness she walked into this house
and claimed the birth an easy one. Something that drove a sigh of contempt from us all, even my
mother.
But I look away as Crystal starts looking toward me,
I like the woman but there is only so much of her a person can take. Beautiful is not the word for
the daughter of the Countess and Earl of Rifenal, a fair and beautiful country itself. She's
extremely attractive for a girl of her breeding yet her overwhelming presence in a room is far too
much for anyone.
As I turn from her as my older cousin Druex made
his way toward me, taking me by the arm he smiles lovingly, "You look absolutely gorgeous
tonight."
I smile in an attempt to draw from my mind another
man who hadn't left my thoughts this evening, "Thank you cousin, I must say you clean up well
yourself. How is university treating you?"
Druex smiled easily, something that ladies all over
the country found pleasing, "Wonderful. Honestly Mikaela, the work is not too hard, the days
aren't too long, and the companionship is above all others."
I laughed softly, as a lady should, at his not so witty
comment, "Ah, so there is a lady is your life?"
"Not as there should be, my father is obviously
upset over that." Druex replied as he handed me a drink from a server as they passed by.
I almost rolled my eyes, my Uncle Leone
acted as if he had to bred an heir for a throne, "Well, don't let your father get you down, I think
it's a good thing that you are waiting for love instead of perfect breeding. I'm afraid we
already have a horrible example of that over there my dear cousin. And I say it's
deplorable."
Druex laughed at my contempt toward my brother's
marriage, "Well, I think he shall learn to love her soon."
"I believe the same, for she loves him at this very
moment," I said sitting my half full glass on a servers tray, "but they should have waited until
they both were in love and then married. But it soon became a relationship of convenience and
my dear brother fell into it."
"I'm more than sure that the convenience will serve
us all well." He replied in a tone that I knew well, from my own twin brother, they were both
destined to fill military offices and both hoped that Brighton would be the only country going to
war.
"I think so too." I replied with a genuine smile, I
hope we do not go to war either, it's a burden I don't wish to deal with.
As we walked into the hall we met Draco who
smiling flirtatiously at my cousin Aria from across the room. We approach him with a smile and
I introduce my cousin to him, "Oh, Mr. Fredricks I do not think you have met our house guest,
Lord Draco Grandberry of Madison."
Draco gave the appropriate greeting as I turned the
introduction to Druex, "And Lord Grandberry this is my cousin Lord Druex Fredricks."
Druex did the gentlemanly greetings and then
turned to me, "I think I shall go speak to mother. Nice meeting you Lord Grandberry."
Draco stepped toward me with his elbow ready for
me to take hold, "I can see that he will make a fine Colonel one day."
I smiled as Draco guided me toward foyer, "Yes he
will."
"As I said, you look...breathtaking tonight Princess."
He said, grinning from ear to ear, making me wonder if he ever did anything but flirt.
"Have you spotted my beautiful oldest sister
Julienne, or Mia, Bella, or Liane? I think they look pretty also." I say knowing exactly how he
wished me to take that comment, but I didn't take his bait.
"Why...yes, yes I have. But I don't think that they
even hold a candle to you my dear." Draco replied kissing my hand, amusement lacing his
smile.
"Draco you are horrible." I laughed as we stepped
into the large foyer and right into his brother.
"I'm glad you think so." He replied still smiling as I
stared down at my hands, acting as if I was interested in my shawl.
"Draco," Omari spoke softly as I finally did the
honorable think and looked up, "Princess."
But any hope I had of being strong was lost when he
looked me in the eye and said 'Princess', but I took a page out of my mother's book and turned
into a gracious hostess, "I do hope you are enjoying the little 'get together'." Thank God for
Charm School.
"I am." Omari replied his eyes playing at something,
then he looked at his brother, "May I speak to the Princess alone?"
Draco smiled knowingly and pulled his arm from
mine, turning from us rather quickly, "Of course!"
I tried my best to put on my I-Don't-Give-A-Damn
face but it didn't want to sit straight, "Yes, Omari?"
Omari gently took my arm and guided me out of the
side door to the gardens, we were alone, and Omari spoke, "I did not mean to lose control earlier
Princess, for my lack of judgment I am dearly sorry."
My face chanced from indifference to hurt in a split
second, I didn't exactly want him to be sorry about what he said, so I didn't say anything for fear
of what I might say. "I dearly hope you do not hate me, or worse, I just got caught up in what I
felt. Which hardly ever happens, if this hurt you anyway I am extremely ashamed." He stopped
as moment as he say the pain on my face, "Princess are you alright?"
I looked up at him with an expression that I
probably have never look at anyone with before, "I do not want you to be sorry."
"Only if I've hurt you or offended you Princess."
Omari replied as we came to a stop in front of the Rose bushes.
"No, not at all, in fact...in fact I understand your
feeling completely." I reply quietly as he moves in front of me.
He was quiet, complacent, looking in my eyes as if
he's going to fall into them, and then he speaks, "I fear anyone who feels this deeply for anyone
else in the world, for I feel for myself."
In a moment of complete surprise, he then pulls me
into his arms, all I can do is breath slowly as his warm hands press against my thin shawl,
warming my back completely. He's so close I can feel his eyelashes blink against cheek and his
warm minty breath against my neck. And all I can do is whisper my earlier request, "Don't let
go."
"I don't want to Princess." Omari replied kissing my
neck, I shiver as he pulls me closer, I can feel his want for me, his need.
"Something stirs within me when you are around, I
don't understand it, nor do I wish to. Just don't let go." I reply, relaxing in his arms, sighing
loudly as the wind blew pieces of stray hair out of my bun.
"So much is wrong with this--this--this feeling
inside. I can't pull you in, I can't, and I won't." Omari whispered pushing me away from him,
walking toward the door slowly.
"Omari? What--what --" I stumbled as Omari shook
his head walking toward the foyer's doors again.
"I'm sorry dear Princess, I won't." He replied
walking strongly back into the Palace with a look of pain, matching my own, settling on his face.
I couldn't move, I could barely breathe, and I still didn't understand what was going through his
head.
+ Andreas Palace: Later: The
Drawing Room: Draco and Omari+
(Omari's POV)
I do not know what to call of my behavior earlier.
Irrational? Disrespectful? Strange? Not me, is what I'll stick with, every time I'm within ten feet
of her I act strangely, much to delight of my brother.
"So what happened?" Draco asked leaning against
the mantle, basking in the glow of the fire, looking rather roguish with a glass of Wine in his
hands.
"When?" I asked trying my best to act as if I had no
idea of what he was asking of me.
"When you and Mikaela were alone in gardens." He
replied turing to look at me with an inquisitive look in his eye.
I looked out of the huge glass doors trying to figure
out how exactly I was going to tell my brother that I chickened-out, "We talked."
"Yes, everyone in the Palace knew that," Draco
laughed looking down at the fire again, "but only I watched when you pulled her in your arms.
What'd you say when you walked away from her?"
"I said that I wouldn't pull her in and I won't!" I
yelled in a whisper taking a drink of Vodka that sat on the table to my right.
"You honestly believe that what happened to Portia
will happen to her?" My brother asked in all seriousness and to hear his voice speaking her name
brought tears to my eyes.
"I-I killed Portia, I killed her, I couldn't, I won't, let
the same fate befall Mikaela!" I reply with anger lacing my every word, her death still weighed
heavily on me, though it's been five years since that night.
MY brother glared at me with disappoint me, Portia
was like a sister to him and I'm sure the pain was still there in his own heart, "YOU did
NOT kill Lady Portia Aounce Maine! Those were not your hands, it was not you sword,
it wasn't your hatred! You did not kill her!"
"But I didn't save her, I just stood and watched in
horror, I didn't love her enough to put myself to death." I whispered with less conviction than I
felt deep in my heart I knew what he spoke was true but in the time that has past since that
fateful night I've never forgiven myself.
Draco gave an exasperated sigh, sitting on the edge
of the table in front of me, "Omari, the things that happened that night will stay with us all, some
more than others. But you were not the cause of her death, and I am witness to that, in my young
13 years I witnessed the strength of love. When she begged for you to live, for her, and now I
believe that you are not honoring her request."
"I'm trying, I really am, but everynight I think about
those savages who had us all bound in ropes and chains. That sword to her throat is my constant
nightmare yet I still feel that I should have gotten my throat cut to save her." I say honestly trying
to avoid my brother's eyes, for at moments like this I don't see the 18 year old who sits in front of
me. I see a 13 year old scared, bound to a tree, crying his eyes out for the men not to kill his
brother or his dear friend.
"Ha. They would have killed you first and then her
next, just to spite you. Then where would I be? Alone Omari, alone. So tell me Omari if a child
could put their pain behind them why can't you?" He asked, looking up at me with eyes of an
child in pain. But my brother is no longer a child, he's a man, and so am I.
"Because holding on to Portia keeps me from loving
another to the point where their death will kill me." I said taking another drink as the reality of
his words and my words hit me full force.
"You are living in your fear and one of my favorite
Ladies will have to deal with it." Draco replies standing up with another loud sigh, "Omari, she
adores you, I know this for certain, all you have to is show her you feel the same."
"It's not that easy Draco." I reply standing, staring at
the painting of the Queen.
"Yes it is Omari, this is all you have to do to make
certain that she will not end up my wife or any others." He said solemnly walking toward the
door and before he walked out he whispered sadly, "Do it for yourself, do it for Portia."
But I don't understand how I could be as strong as
he was and go on in life with little or no regrets. I don't see how I can put all that behind me
when for five years it's ate at me piece by piece.
+ Andreas Palace: Later:
Mikaela's Room+
(Mikaela's POV)
I was sitting on the couch next to the fire staring
intently at the flames as if they'd save me from the confusion that circled in my head. I had just
gotten out of my dress after that God-awful party and it just hit me that every time I was around
Omari there was always some kind of emotional struggle between us.
And after every struggle I'm left with a sense that is
less understandable than the last one. All of the words and emotions spoken between us today
have left me exhausted and irritated.
"Miss?" Lexy asks coming up behind me with a cup
of coffee and a smile.
"Thank you." I say taking the cup from her with a
sigh, I have no energy to smile.
"Do yo' want me to turn down your bed?" She asked
wiping her hands on her virtually clean apron.
"No, no thank you." I reply quietly looking away as
she nodded in respect and walked out the room.
But the door never closes and I hear a male voice
speaking to Lexy, "Is she asleep?"
"No, sir, you may go in." Lexy replies in a whisper
so soft that all I can really hear is her feet moving away from my room.
And the next thing I know the door shuts and his
voice echo's around my head, "Hm, it smells like Jasmine."
I don't look up for I know who it is, only he would
step into a lady's room and comment on the scent, "Draco, is there something that you
need?"
"Yes, Mikaela." He says walking toward the small
couch, looking down at his hands, like an old man who basking in the glow of age and it's
memories.
When I finally look at him I can see a difference in
his features, something I can tell only comes when he is completely serious, "Sit down." I move
over just a little so he may sit directly in front of the fire to warm up from being in the dark,
dank, hallways. "Now, what is on your mind?"
"You," Draco stated simply, his greenish eyes
glowing in the firelight, "and my brother."
"What about he and I?" I asked trying to rid my
features of the painful expression they bear.
"Well, it's more about him than you I suppose." He
went on acting as if my statement was never spoken and I just as well let him continue. "He has
these feelings for you or toward you, which I believe you know, but I feel the need to explain my
brothers ungentlemanly actions."
"Please do, maybe you can explain the confusion
that is my own emotion toward your dear brother." I respond quietly, taking a sip of coffee, as I
try to keep my expression as neutral as possible.
"You speak well. Your words are more than
sentences, more like poetry, just as she did." Draco whispers softly, but I can still hear the
thickness in his voice. And when he looks up at me and smiles, I see the tears lining his green
eyes.
At that moment my well polished indifference is
lost and I am again a living, breathing, woman. "Draco are you alright? Like who Draco? Like
who?"
Draco smiles at me with such feeling that I almost
want to cry, "I am fine. You speak like a lady that I haven't seen since I was thirteen years old,
her family was a wise old royal family, and she was bred like the best Queens. Her name was
Portia Maine, her family is more than likely the oldest in Madison a she was destined to marry
into the Grandberry family, the second oldest in Madison."
I was totally taken back, I didn't understand, "Omari
has a wife?"
"No, he should've had a wife, she's dead now. It's
been five years." Draco replied solemnly, wringing his hands, and his face set in an expression
that I've only seen on his brother's face.
"Dead? Though I'm quite sorry, I'm not sure that I
understand any of this or how it has to do with me." I say sitting my cup on the table next to the
couch and then return my gaze to the man who has just turned into his brother.
"It's quite a long story but I believe it's the only way
you'll ever understand my brother. When my brother was born, twenty-three years ago, he it was
arranged that he marry the oldest daughter of the Maine family. And six months later came
Portia Maine, they were close from the moment they were introduced, and the country felt
secure at the pending marriage. But when I was just a boy, no more than ten, a civil war broke
out in Madison. Between the royals and the common people and there were only tree noble
families fighting for the good of the common people." Draco said softly, slowly, relating every
fact in his head as he watched the flames in the fire place crackle.
Though I still had no idea how this pertained to me,
I kept my mouth shut and lisened as he went on, "The Royal Family, who is sill in power, the
Granberry's, and the Maines. And through two years of fighting it all came to a head in the third
year, just a month after my thirteenth birthday, Omari was 18 and was to be married that fall.
But it seems that the 'nobility' in the country had other ideas. Our families had gathered in a get
together celebrating Portia graduating from charm school, which went an extra year for her
because her father arranged for extra training. The now imprisoned 'nobility' hired bounty
hunters and criminals to kidnap the whole party and torture us all until the heads of our families
gave up. But much to their dismay neither head was there and they had to make do with us.
Portia, being the outspoken woman she was, started to tell the men what was on her
mind. And one took out his sward, held it to her throat, and told her not to speak again or she
would die."
"How awful." Was all that I could muster at the
moment and I took his hand, repressing a slight shudder because of the cold feeling of his
hand.
"Omari rushed forward but was stopped by another
sword and just as I saw the resolve in his eyes she screamed for him to live, she begged him not
to move and just let them do as they willed with her. For she needed him to live, so when she
died...she could rest peacefully. Omari wouldn't do it at first but after looking into her eyes and
listening to her words of never giving into their hatred he stopped. One man told him if he
backed off he would live yet no matter what he did Portia would not live. She took the chance
and made sure he would live. And in the next thought her throat was cut." And the story went
like that for the rest of the night.