alma’s stay in london had been too uneventful. she had been looking forward to the summit, to experiencing this new adventure, but so far there hadn’t been much of interest going on. so, she was traipsing around the palace, trying to find someone to annoy. after walking around for awhile with no luck, her eyes fell on a familiar face. christian. the princess smiled widely and shouted, “hey, you!” before running towards him and swinging her arms around his neck to pull him into a bone-crushing hug.
is it premeditated that agnes decided to climb the goddamn vine to christian’s room or is it just the impulsiveness that the drugs kick into her giving her the right amount of stupid to do that ? perhaps that it’s the dead hours of the night , that even the insomniacs have retired to their bedrooms and the party - goers are still partying until sunrise , but agnes has a drive to rip off a band aid . she’s not sure how she manages it , definitely with a few scratches and a broken nail , her heels hanging from her elbow and better not look down when she reaches the window and pushes it open . thank god it swings open , knocking over some sort of ... metal something , that falls onto the ground and clatters around until finally settling into silence again . by that time , agnes is sat on the windowsill . ‘ yikes , that wasn’t planned ... ‘
* send ✧ and i’ll mark all that apply to your muse .
I would kill you. ✧ I would physically hurt you. ✧ I would attack you unprovoked. ✧ I would manipulate you. ✧ I dislike you. ✧ You annoy me. ✧ You scare me. ✧ You intimidate me. ✧ I hope I intimidate you. ✧ I pity you. ✧ You disgust me. ✧ I hate you. ✧ I’m indifferent toward you. ✧ I’d like to get to know you better. ✧ I’d like to spend more time with you. ✧ I’d like to be friends with you. ✧ I’m unsure what to think of you. ✧ I’m unsure how I feel about you. ✧ You are my friend. ✧ You are my best friend. ✧ You are my mentor. ✧ I look up to you. ✧ I respect you. ✧ You are my hero. ✧ You inspire me. ✧ You are my enemy. ✧ You make me happy. ✧ I want to protect you. ✧ I would fight by your side. ✧ I consider you an equal. ✧ I think you are beneath me. ✧ I think you are above me. ✧ I would lie for you. ✧ I would lie to you. ✧ I would sleep with you. ✧ I would sleep by your side. ✧ I would hug you. ✧ I would kiss you. ✧ You are family to me. ✧ I would die for you. ✧ I would kill for you. ✧ I would trust you with my life. ✧ I would trust you with my most precious belonging. ✧ I would trust you with a secret ( already does ). ✧ I would trust you with my biggest / darkest secret. ✧ I love you (platonically). ✧ I love you (romantically).
agnes’ personal phone lit up with a caller id that she hadn’t seen in over a year : home . well , not “ home “ , obviously . GOOD COP because that’s how she had written down her father’s number when she went off to college . her mother ? bad cop . but that was one number that wasn’t going to be popping up for a very long time . she did have communication with belgium , obviously , but not with anybody that was of any relevance to her parents . it didn’t matter , barely any of that mattered except that agnes was able to do what she had to do . that , despite all that had been going on , despite the scandal , despite her fallout with her parents , agnes was a SOCIALITE and knew her duties as such , and as princess of belgium . people count on you , agnes ! no , mother , no they don’t . they count on ilyas , but not on me . i’m part of the decor , i have to look pretty . that’s duty enough for you . and so she was always pretty , she was always on the dot , always pristine and smiling as her brother and her father talked , next to her mother who directed her with a simple look .
belgium’s darling princess , the youngest of the royals , the family jewel , paraded around like a porcelain doll . quiet , quiet and gorgeous , quiet and peaceful . like their nation . right under their noses , agnes had done just about everything . gotten on trains and left in the dead of night , returning with the rise of the sun , sweat that wasn’t hers stuck to her body , several substances of dubious origins in her bloodstream , the hazed expression and yet the sharpness to know exactly how to make it all disappear , how to keep it all under wraps .
her cellphone lights up , beethoven’s fifth symphony rings loud and clear . she could let it go to voicemail , afterall she’s in the middle of sorting through her stash , doing the math of how much she can get and how much she has to sell , how much she already has sold for the upcoming night . the music stops short and she exhales , ignoring the way her heart had started racing . her father had sworn he would never look at her again after her naked pictures had made it to the newspapers , physical and online . tmz , e!news , what - the - fuck - ever , she’d never given a damn about it , even rejoiced in the good angle the pictures flattered her from . belgium’s darling princess had been brutally murdered , by herself . the media had gone crazy , there had been paps following her more than usual for a few weeks , and as much as she would’ve wanted to stir the pot even further , some sort of duty to her parents hadn’t allowed her to do so .
mindless chatter in her brain that leads nowhere . keep counting . HER PHONE LIGHTS UP AGAIN , like her thoughts keep drifting back to the issue of her parents . and why did they keep calling her ? they’d made their feelings quite clear a year ago , and she didn’t need them . if it hadn’t been a matter of speculation of her finances , agnes would be paying her college tuition and rent by then , along with all the earthly pleasures she so enjoyed , which weren’t those of riches considering she gave away a percentage of her money . books , concert tickets , antiques to collect . things that fascinated her went to her collection and that’s where her money leaked onto . her business could finance her everything she wanted , she needed , but that’d spark too many questions . beethoven’s fifth kept ringing through the room , and she kept ignoring it . her father could send her a fax , or text her , or speak to her through ilyas , she didn’t really care . the music dies away only to return a couple of seconds after . exasperated , the royal picks up the phone and answers .
‘ what ? ‘ for a moment , the silence is deafening . ‘ if you want to know if your daughter’s still a slut , the answer’s yes . ‘ more silence . ‘ so ? was that it ? i have things to do , i’m busy . ‘ in her free hand , a medium sized bag full of pills of varying colors and shapes . ‘ SPEAK ! ‘ her father’s silence was always like that , a blade in her spine and a hand twisting it . he seems to snap out of some trance , and the thought that not having heard his daughter’s voice in a year could impact him doesn’t even cross agnes’ mind . we’ve finished the last details of your betrothal . agnes stops short in what she’s doing , leaves the bag aside and stands up . ‘ OH . so ... who is it ? ‘ her voice remains even casual about the matter , she was long used to the idea that she’d be someone’s wife once the summit was there . and hell , it was . christian meyer , of luxembourg . you remember him , don’t you ? his father knew of agnes’ photographic memory , but leave it to him to underestimate her . ‘ yeah , you’d send me away to luxembourg several times a year . of course i r --------- YOU’VE BEEN PLANNING THIS ?! ‘ she’d considered it as a possibility through those visits , otherwise why would she be sent away so often ? but it just now landed on her the complexity of all her parents had been planning for her . ‘ he is what you meant when you said my NAKED PICTURES would ruin my prospects for a future ?! ‘
agnes . her father’s voice tried to soothe her , but it was to no avail . ‘ did the king say shit ? bet he jerked off before being worried , bet he jacked it to your DAUGHTER , but trash me ! ‘ agnes was seething and her father was still repeating her name like a goddamn curse over and over . ‘ oh quiet now , bloody hell . quiet because i’ve heard enough . was that all ? ‘ give me your word you’ll marry him , agnes . and she had to stiffle a sigh , though her eyes rolled so far back she thought they might just stay there . ‘ i give you my word i’ll marry him when the time comes . done ? ‘ thank you . there was a particular kind of devil in agnes’ father’s voice sometimes , and the princess could practically see his pleased smile , she could practically see his gesture done to his wife who was surely listening to all of this and putting a pin on every out of place thing agnes said . how’s co-- ‘ you don’t care . ‘ and she hung up .
immediately , the guilt . oh , the terrible guilt gnawing at her insides would kill her someday ------ if she didn’t manage to kill it first . tossing her phone onto the bed , the princess stuffed the drugs back into their hiding spot , the money once again under the mattress , and reached for the pack of marlboros on the vanity , sticking one between her lips and watching it burn as she took a deep drag from it .
the lighter , a zippo she’d had for years , engraved with her initials , kept shining that firey light that somehow comforted her . the window , once open , let a cold as fuck breeze in but agnes , even though she barely had anything on , didn’t feel it . there were no tears , no ragefit , no longing to be sat on her father’s legs with the fireplace burning before them because that had never happened . there was only the quiet of her room , the sound of the wind , distant voices that came from below somewhere in the gardens , and not much else .
so she was to marry someone she’d known since she was ten , at least he wasn’t some asshole with no drive nor intelligence . thanks , dad . bounced in her head , though she had nothing to thank him . many , and that was most of the other royals , had it worse than her . it wasn’t shocking , she’d been trained for this .
after a while , the princess began laughing . it started small , like an afterthought , it grew to a giggle , then the bouts of laughter were escaping her undisclosedly , bending her over and shaking her through and through . ‘ fuck , i gotta tell bea i’m marrying her half - brother . ‘ the thought was just too good , too funny .
