A Heart Full of Stars {A Medieval Story} Chapter 70 *Finale* now! 5/28/21

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Chapter 65


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Midshore knocked on the door of the mansion, hoping her disguise wouldn’t draw attention to herself. She didn’t want to stay long, just long enough to learn what she needed to know, and then get on her way.

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The door opened and a maid stood there, dressed plainly. Not even a butler? wondered Midshore.

“Hello?” the maid asked. “How can I help you?”

“Hello, I was looking for someone. The cook? Is she in?” Midshore inquired. Was this the right house?

“Uh, yeah,” she answered, not moving to let her in.

“Can I see her?” Midshore asked.

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“Uh… I think so.” She left the door and Midshore walked in on her own. The place was certainly run down, with candles low and cobwebbed corners. The air was musty, and the walls had water markings and mold starting to grow. Not much of a home for a lord.

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“She’s this way,” the girl trailed off, leading Midshore through some rooms.

Muffled noises were heard on the other side of the door. “I swear, I’m the only thing that works right around here anymore!” came an old woman’s voice. “Now the chimney won’t even work!”

The maid trailed off in an unhurried manner, wandering around as if she were a ghost. Midshore raised an eyebrow, then opened the heavy door to the kitchen.

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In here, it was clear that an attempt was being made to keep things clean, but it wasn’t quite attainable.

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The old woman looked up from her work. She was older than Midshore remembered, but as with many spellcasters, she hadn’t visibly aged much. “Mirri, I didn’t think I’d be seeing you today,”

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Midshore smiled. “I don’t go by Mirri any more, ma’am. My name is Midshore now.”

The old woman also smiled, going to the stove. “So you took up a new name on the islands, just like so many others. I rather wish I’d gone myself, now. If I had gone, I wouldn’t be frustrated that I’m the only one here who knows how to keep things clean!” She lit a fire under a pot on the stove. “I’ll start some tea, I’m sure there’s a lot to catch up on.”

Midshore had been here once as a girl, she remembered. It had been a beautiful place, with scrubbed walls and floors, clean windows, and fine furniture. It was very different from what it was now. The windows to the small courtyard were clean, but all of the others were covered in a film of rain spots and dust.

The water on the stove started to boil, and the cook went to grab the pot, but Midshore grabbed it instead. “I can get that,”

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“Don’t be too nice to me, Mirri, I won’t let you leave,” she chuckled. “Come with me, we’ll go to the sitting room.”

They went to the next room over, setting the tray on a table. With a creak, the cook sat down in a comfortable chair, and motioned for Midshore to do the same.

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“Won’t the lord be cross that we’re here?” Midshore asked, hesitant.

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“Unlike us, the lord of the house has aged… disagreeably. He spends most of his time in bed, and rarely does he come down the stairs. We won’t have to worry about him, and as no one else lives here, we don’t have to worry about anyone else either.” She took a sip of her tea. “So, deary, tell me why you’re here.”

Midshore talked for what felt like hours about how she had come to meet Anwyn, Liam, and Romeo and how Gloria was the pin that held all of the king’s plans together and the danger she was in.

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“I knew you and Enya would fall in love.” She smiled wistfully as Midshore finished her story, “You and Romeo weren’t a good match for each other.”

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“Enya goes by Everstar now, as I said several times.” Midshore corrected.

“Well, you can humor an old woman for a few hours, can’t you?” she asked with a sigh. “Now I have a few things to tell you. Firstly, is that there are powers at the palace that even out perform yours. Illia has taken up residence there as a thorn in the Duchess's son’s side. I don't know that you could challenge her and win. Her powers focus on the mind and controlling it, and she’s gotten very good at her craft. And don’t look at me, I’ll not be going with you to help fight her. I’m an old woman, spellcaster or no. Sure, I’m spry for my age, but I’m not fighting Illia. That’s a death sentence.”

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“I’ll worry about that when I need to. Hopefully I’ll be able to teleport them out of there and to a safe place until I can get them back to the Islands. Illia has never been there, so I doubt she’ll be able to find her way, even with her tracking charms.”

“Oh, so you felt that too? It made my cooking taste horrid for a week.”

“Ma’am, I need to find them. You understand why I need to get them all home to their families, but I don’t know the way. Can you help me, just to find them?”

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The cook gave her a side eyed glance. “You know, we got into all of this mess because I helped in the first place. I helped that poor girl not have the king’s child. Imagine all the heartache we wouldn’t have had to go through if I had kept that charm to myself. You’d still be at home with your wife and children, Romeo would have settled down eventually and been happy, and we wouldn’t be in this civil war that’s torn the world in two.”

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“But think of all the good you’ve caused with your charm. Anwyn and Liam are happy, with four children. Romeo met a brave and fierce wife and has two sons of his own. The tyrannical king is nearly able to be dethroned and his reign will come to an end if we can break Gloria out of their grasp.”

“And have you thought about what will happen if you dethrone him? Who will rule? He’s an only child of an only child, the new ruler would be a distant relation at best.”

“Perhaps that’s a good thing,” Midshore countered. “The kingdom needs a new look on things, a new hand to guide things.” She knotted her brow. “I don’t suppose you know who the new ruler in line would be?”

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The cook leaned back in her chair, smiling knowingly. “I sure do.”

~*~

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Whenever Gloria had a hard day, even long before she had met Blake on the Islands, she would just want to lie in bed and try to make the day go away. Of course she’d had huge windows in her room and a glass ceiling so it was impossible to forget what time of day it was. None of that hindered her from depressively laying in bed and wanting to let sleep erase her feelings.

But what happened when the thing you were most bothered by was sleep?

It was a full moon tonight. Even with her restraints on she could feel her power bubbling, building with the full moon. It would subside when it wasn’t used, but it lent to her feeling pent up. She wanted to move, but grief sat on her like a blanket of bricks, impossible to escape from.

The weight came and went in severity, but it was always heavy. With no chores or assignments to do, she had nothing prodding her mind away from the pain.

She’d heard nothing of a plan to get her out of here, or anything about her parents. Could she go to see them? Could she hold them again? If this all went horribly would she never see them again? Oh Creator, what if she never saw her parents again?

~*~

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“I can’t believe how well this is working out.” Illia paced her room, watching the hours go by. “You see, I have them all in the palm of my hand. Everything is just how I need it to be.” She looked at the cat. “But how do you have everything you need, Illia? Good question!”

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She sat down on her sofa, hardly able to keep from moving. “I’ve commanded Blake to stop his interrogation, and I’ve received some of Seneca’s hair. I have the two most powerful men under my thumb! Oh, the king may think he’s powerful, but we all know he lost his edge when he no longer controlled the whole kingdom. He's been slipping for years. No, Blake thinks that he can control Gloria, and that she’ll be the queen not too long from now. And with her powers bottled up, who can stop him, right?”

She crossed her legs. “Me! I can stop him! I can take control of this kingdom the way I’ve been trying to for generations, but Blake was finally stupid enough to fall into the trap! Well, I can give him some credit, he didn’t know that his heir was in the same place as the true heir. Nor does he know who he has in his dungeon. The heir to the throne, under his very nose,” she purred. “And he has no idea, but I do.”

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She looked back at the cat. “I’ve been trying to become the most powerful woman this world has ever seen, perfecting my craft so that I could one day pull the right strings to make the right connections.” She ran her hand through her hair. “And I once again have just the right way to do it. I’m going to marry the true heir, then watch them all burn as I rise to claim the power I’ve desired for so long. And no one can stop me. They will worship me like a god, or so help them.”

~*~

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Gloria’s arms felt heavy as she pulled back the covers. “It’s not going to be any different than it already has been,” she said to herself. “I- I already don’t have him around, he’s already gone, put to rest. I’ll be alone, and that’ll be alright.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “I’ll be alone.”

Blake had wanted to share her company tonight just as he had the last, but she had turned him down.

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“You seem so sad today, can I help you? I don’t want you to be alone,” he had tried to embrace her.

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“No-” she distanced herself from him. “I… really need to be alone tonight. I have to grieve on my own. I should be better tomorrow; this feeling comes and goes.” She tried to smile as she turned away from him. He wanted to be close to her, to pull her into a delusion, and over the past two weeks it had been hard to remember what was the lie. Everyone acted as if it were a given that she was the heir, and they treated her like it, too. The king treated her like his daughter, Blake’s mother acted like she was going to be her daughter in law. Blake acted like she was going to marry him, and all of the staff acted like she was a holy relic. The whole thing at first had made her feel like a china doll, and she felt her sense of reality slipping somewhat. How long could she deny Blake before he looked further into why?

Even with all of those things weighing down on her mind, they were all dwarfed in comparison to the idea that Seneca was dead. Had she caused the fire? Illia said that she probably didn’t have control of her powers. What if it had been an accident? Months ago she had sparked the fire and alerted the templars, so who’s to say that she hadn’t started the fire that killed him?

She was going to be alone, what if it was her fault?

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“Nothing can change the past. I have to face this, and know that I will live beyond it.”

She closed her eyes as she sank into the overly-soft mattress, and waited for sleep to come.

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It didn’t take long before she was faced with the swirling sky. The smell of fresh flowers and running water made her smile. The water bubbled along in the small stream, clear as new glass. It would feel wonderful through her toes, she thought, and she went to take off her shoes.

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When she looked up, she saw- something that shouldn’t- couldn’t be there, as much as she had prayed he would be. He was dead, she hadn’t felt him anymore. She hadn’t felt anything since the equipment had gone on again. But he- he was dead.

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Seneca stood staring at her, mouth slightly agape.

***

You love her, the woman had said. It was true. Nothing in his life of schemes and plans had been truer. He loved the one woman in the world who would pull the thread to bring it all tumbling down, but he didn’t care. He had tried not to, he had fallen anyway, head over heels. She had been one of the only people who had seen him for him, and not as the piece of his mother’s plans.

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“Gloria,” he breathed.

***

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“You’re dead,” she said, shaking her head as she approached. “You’re dead! I grieved for you! How are you- what’re you-” she didn’t know which question to ask first, walking towards him. Was he a ghost? A shadow? Would she go through him like air if she got close enough to touch him?

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“You’re dead!” she said, walking as if she were set on a collision course for him. He just looked at her with tears in his eyes, as if she were the only constellation in the sky. “Why don’t you say anything?!” she pointed at him, placing one hand on his chest.



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He blinked, and took hold of one of her wrists. She took a sharp breath, surprised and miles beyond relieved that she could feel a solid form as he took hold of her other wrist, pulling her in and kissing her.

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Her heart swelled as she kissed him. This is what she had been missing, what she had wanted to do on the island towards the end, when they
had been happy. They wrapped each other in their arms, holding tight.

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“Seneca, are you… are you dead?” Gloria asked after she had held him long enough to believe he was real. “Blake said there was a fire, and I hardly made it out alive, and that I was the only one who survived. But I don’t remember any of it…”

He held her for a while more, not wanting to break the seal of joy he hadn’t felt in weeks.

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Gloria felt his chest rise and fall. “Blake is a murderer.” he said gruffly. “He killed Henry, and when we tried to stop him the woman cast a spell on you to make you unconscious, and they took me prisoner.” He sniffed. “I’m alive, Gloria. I’m alive. I’m in the dungeon, and Blake has been trying to find out what I know.”

“He… He killed Henry? But I thought that maybe if Henry came back to see us gone on the island he would alert your mother, and the rebellion would come and storm the palace sooner. If Henry’s gone, they don’t know that we’re not there.”

“That may not matter. We want them to be strong, not wondering if their plans will work.” His stubbled chin tickled her neck as he adjusted his position. “Gloria, I love you. If I never see you again, or I have to wait fifty years until we see each other again, I want you to know that I love you.” He was crying now, and Gloria could feel his breath starting to shake. “But I need you to run. I need you to get as far away from Blake and the king and the seer as fast as you can. I don’t think I’m going to make it, and I need to know that you made it out of here alive and that you can still be happy. Run all the way back to the Islands. You’ll be safe there.”

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Gloria pulled away to look at his face. “You think I’m going to let you die here? In pain? I couldn't leave you! I thought you were dead already, I’m not going to let you die when I could save you!”

“Don’t be stupid! If you try to save me, you’ll be caught! If they know that you know I’m alive, you'll be under surveillance for years, twisted to the king’s will! This is the only way you get to live and be free. Just run.”

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“Seneca,” she bit her lip, unable to meet his urgent gaze. “I.. love you.” She hadn’t said it to Blake, ever. He had wanted her to, to promise that she loved him and would spend her life with him. But she hadn’t, and now she knew that place in her life had always been reserved for Seneca, no matter how Blake had tried to fit the hole.

“I know,” he said, as he pulled her closer. He was starting to blur at the edges, a sign that he was going to wake up. “I know.”

AHHHH! Is this what I've been wanting this whole story to build up to?

Yes.

And as always, I write to music, and this is no exception. I'll let you guys in on a sneak peak of my playlist for this generation:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucrhJNC8p3Q&list=PLE3ObFjgkpCeEoNwvmZsUBk8JCvx7N4Kl&index=25

And of course there were a few bloopers. Enjoy!


Thankyou everyone for reading, and if you had any thoughts or reactions while reading, please post them! I absolutely love getting comments.

Stay safe, stay inspired!