Ashes of the Past ✔️

Infernos Rage

───── ❝ Chapter Sixteen❞ ─────

Dead... they are dead.

Pain... voices... heart break...

It all filtered through Adieya; she thought their deaths would calm her nightmares, but all it did was cause even more to appear. They were becoming violent and she barely slept most nights, opting instead, to read by the candlelight rather than face the men who used her. She was alone, in her chambers as Henry had pushed her away the morning after Eleanor's death.

It was noticeable around the court as he refused to talk to her at meals and meetings. Only speaking to her when customs required it. The other noticeable change was Margaret was set away to a small country house. Adieya knew that Henry would have done the same to Elizabeth after her death, to forget everything about her, well now to forget all about Eleanor.

But there was one other thing, one other big change that shocked the rest of court. Henry started calling Jane Seymour to walk with him in the garden. He started kissing her lips in public, holding hands as they walked through the castle's halls whispering sweet nothings to each other.

So to distract herself from feeling the heartbreak Adieya spent most of her time in her chambers either reading to herself or her ladies, talking with Mary, Edward, and Charles, or going through letters and laws she had brought from the Russian court.

The days dragged on in melancholy isolation as Adieya watched from her window the blossoming romance between Henry and Jane unfold below in the castle gardens. She wondered if this was how her mother had felt watching her father take on lover after lover, feeling cast aside and forgotten. The pain was an icy dagger in her heart, every kiss and caress between Henry and Jane was another twist of the blade.

In one last-ditch effort to talk to Henry before she would leave for her kingdom, she calmly walked to Henry's chambers, steeling herself for the conversation ahead.

"I am here to see His Majesty before my departure."

The guards outside Henry's chambers bowed and opened the doors. As soon as she was inside the audience chambers the guards quickly closed the doors with an audible click that echoed in the empty room. Looking around she saw a scene she had seen months ago - bottles upon bottles empty of their contents, some lay broken on the floor or near the wall. Suddenly Henry appeared mumbling to himself.

He looked up to see Adieya standing in the doorway and rushed over to her pining her to the wall next to the door. His breath reeked of spirits as he drunkenly kissed her, his rough stubble scraping her cheek, mumbling even more nonsense as she tried to push him off of her. But as she fought more and more, as the tears that gathered in her eyes started to fall he grew angry and forceful. His grip was like iron shackles on her wrists, his weight crushing her against the cold stone.

Something then suddenly broke in Adieya and she let out a scream as Henry's hands pulled at the sleeves of her dress. Through the tears, she tried to pry Henry's hands off of her but nothing seemed to stop him. Finally, something caused Henry to snap out of this madness for only a moment. He saw clearly who the person in front of him was... but it was too late.

He pushed himself away from her as if burned, his face a mix of horror and regret. Without a word, he quickly moved to the door and left the room. But the damage had been done.

Adieya slid to the floor, tears streaming down her face and the top of her dress almost exposing her breasts. She tried hard to stop the over-powering memories of other men taking advantage of her, but she felt weak, her body trembling. The memories that had been attacking her during the nights and the shock of Henry's actions took over her mind.