Winterfall

I didn’t cry myself to sleep often, but when I did I could never stay asleep for more than an hour. Thankfully, this was an occasion where I didn’t need my full four hours of sleep, as it was now just shy of 3 in the afternoon. Typically, Theo and I tried not to go to bed until eight or after. As that left us time in the morning to train.

Are you alright? Théoden questioned me as I rubbed my eyes.

Yeah…That was a lie.

Maria, I know when you are lying. He always knew. I mean what did I expect? He has been with me since I was around one hundred years of age. So, of course he would know. Talk to me Maria, please.

I sighed heavily, between my parents and now a devil utilizing mind control to get me to kiss him…It’s just..

A lot for one person?

Yeah…

Remember Maria, you are not alone in this. I am here, always.

If you weren’t I don’t know what I would do.

That was the truth. Theo, has really been my rock through all of this. If it wasn’t for him controlling my emotions by siphoning them away through the bond, they probably would have locked me in a box by now. He has literally been keeping me together.

You would have lived. That’s what you would have done. If I was not here.

You sound confident with that.

You don’t think you would have lived if I wasn’t here?

He sounded surprised to hear that. I don’t know why, without him, I can guarantee I would have died in that attack.

You are strong Maria, the strongest person I have come to know and love. You just need to believe in yourself more.

His confidence in me always made me feel like I could do anything, be anyone. Not only was he my rock but he was my own cheer squad.

Thanks dear, I needed that.

Now, just take it easy. It’ll be eight before you know it.

He wasn’t wrong. After He managed to pull me back together again, it seemed as if darkness had started to fall outside the castle.

I’ll be in my room soon.

I’ll get ready for bed then. See you soon dear.

I want to show you something tonight, but I won’t if you can’t handle it.

I’m better now. I promise.

Good. And Maria…Happy Anniversary.

Shoot. Yeah, I’m horrible. With the events that have happened our anniversary had slipped my mind. Sorry dear.

It’s alright love. Just focus on sleep and I will see you soon okay?

Alright.

I took a quick shower and slipped on one of his shirts and slipped back into bed. I could sense he was close to falling asleep so I relaxed my body and tried to get some rest myself.

As soon as reality faded from my vision our dream escape came into view and I stood back on South Haven Beach. He was already there, standing about ankle deep on him in the ocean.

“Theo!” I ran to him and just as quickly he turned around to face me giving me a big bear hug. “I’m sorry I forgot about today.” I may have been bad with names but I was good with dates.

“It’s alright my love, I understand.” He kissed my forehead gently as I stared up into his blue eyes.

“But..” He put his lips against mine. Muffling the words that tried to escape my mouth.

“Maria, it’s fine. We have had a hundred if not more anniversaries.”

“And we will have more.”

“Yes we will.”

He kissed me once more and picked me up. He carried me over to a birch tree log that had fallen over. He sat down with me in his lap. “Now, I said I had something to show you. So, I ask you this. Truth?”

Truth was something we came up with. It was a way for us to come clean about anything we had been hiding from one another. Truth allowed us to share anything, and I mean anything, free of judgment.

Sometimes I was nervous when he would call for truth. As he did it so very little. “Truth.”

“Since this is our anniversary I have gotten you a gift. Now, I know you don’t like gifts Maria, but you would have loved this one.”

“Well, don’t leave me hanging.”

What he brought out from behind the log made my heart skip a beat. It was a tiny black box. “Wha-”

He cut me off before I could say anything, “I am not going to show you the contents of the ring box. That is still a surprise, however considering the events that have occurred recently I thought you needed to see that I was not going anywhere. Within this box, is the ring that would tie us together for the rest of our lives Maria. However, you will have to wait to see it.”

“Just a peek?” I begged him as I tried to reach for the box. I knew he was showing me this to help me but I couldn’t help but feel hmm…robbed?

“You may feel that way now Maria, but if I show you this now, I will just have to get you a different ring.” He smirked as he said that. Damn it. That made him chuckle, “Maria, patience is key. Which, thankfully I have.”

“To that I am beyond grateful.”

“Now, with this box, I have more to say. I know you have been curious if your parents ever knew if we were dating. Well, a week before the attack, I had asked your dad for your hand in marriage.”

“You did WHAT now?” I don’t know why I sounded so shocked. Theo was after all a gentleman so it only made sense for him to ask my father for my hand in marriage. Not only that but there was a house rule created by the council that for a prince or princess to be married one or both parents had to approve. Meaning, one of my parents approved Marcel to marry me. Which, we kind of knew that already but we didn’t know who.

“I asked him for your hand in marriage. He was hesitant, but as you know your father sees into the future. He knew I was taking care of you.”

My eyes went wide. I fucking forgot about that little tale with my father’s ability. Hell, I wondered how much he truly saw of Theo and I?

“I think he saw quite a bit. When I confronted him about our relationship and I wanting to marry you he did say it was about time that he was informed. Something about, it’s a good thing that he had visions otherwise he wouldn’t know what goes on in his daughter’s life?”

My face went red. “Do you think he…”

“Saw things he shouldn’t have? Probably. But that is beside the point. Your father gave me permission to marry you. Despite what he saw in those visions.”

I had no idea how Theo was remaining calm through all of this. My heart pounded in my chest. My face felt hot. Hell, I knew it was beat red at this point. “Are you hinting at something?” I questioned him as I felt like he was but my mind wasn’t in the right place to piece it together.

“Thinking back on it all now, I think it might have been your mother who agreed to marry you off to Marcel. I don’t know what made me think of this today. Rather it be our anniversary, the cake testing or a combination of both. But think of it this way, if your father approved my marriage to you, then why would he sign the contract and give you to another man?”

Once the final words left his lips, it all made sense. My mother had to have been the one to sign the document. The document I only glanced at briefly myself prior to signing. As I was given the document to read at the end of the day as I was worn out from a day of learning and princess duties. A document that had my signature on the bottom as my mother had forced me to sign it regardless of not reading it completely. To be fair, back then I didn’t think much of it. And I forsure as hell regret not reading it more closely now and hastily signing the damn thing.

“Shit.” I was in disbelief. Knowing what I know now, I definitely felt like my mother had tricked me into signing that document when I was worn out. “Shit.” I shook my head. Yeah, she definitely tricked me and I, being me, fell for it.

“I shared the same thought when I pieced it together. It meant your mother betrayed the kingdom.”

Silence fell around us as I let my mind race of all the things that led us to this point in discovery. My mother tricked me. She pulled a fast one on me and my father and put our kingdom in danger.

“Well, this…” I was at a loss for words as I couldn’t figure out what to say.

“This fills in some of the missing puzzle. We have a general idea of who is to blame for this mess. That is what it does.” Théoden wasn’t wrong here. Knowing that my mother tricked me into this and is the route cause of all my problems right now gave us something we didn’t have before.

“Right.” I mumbled in disbelief. My mother, a person I once loved and admired, put me in harm's way.

Theoden let the tension in the air settle before moving forward with the conversation.

“That mess all aside, we are still here. Still together. We may have to split our time between training and dreams but at least we are still here with each other.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

I kissed his lips and leaned up against him listening to his beating heart. “Can I just ask you one more thing before the dream fades Maria?” He looked down at me with curiosity in his eyes.

“Of course.”

“Knowing that I would have asked you to marry me today, I am curious. Would you have said yes?”

I smiled up at him but I could feel the dream fade away slowly. “I would have said…”