** Attention Trigger warning**
--Content includes graphic references to abuse, rape, violence, and suicide. Please skip chapter if these subjects are harmful to your mental state.
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Aurelius was a good man. She married him, and had Heath when she was 21. He did indeed rais Heath like his own child. She had a comfortable marriage with Aurelius. He never made her do anything she was uncomfortable with. He never hit her. He was good, and kind to her. She felt her affections grow toward him, and eventually gave herself to him in bed as well. He was very gentle with her. She got a job working as a maid at the Davis family home. She bought a black ivory tusk from a butcher shop. Mammoth meat was everywhere. It was a staple food among the common people. Tusks were inexpensive, and could be found everywhere. They were made into Jewelry, toys, and tools of the common people. They were not expensive like jewels.
She opened an account and made a simple code. One that was easy to figure out if you knew what it was. Sort the animals by Amrican alphabetical order. Count the animals and this gives you the Account number. Sort the numbers highest to lowest, and use the first letters of the animals to get the bank address.
Meiri taught Heath the code, and the tusk was carved by Aurelius. He didn't understand why Meiri's instructions were, the way they were. He just carved it exactly as she asked him to. Adding his own little artistic flair of a vine wrapping around the tusk. He told Heath that the vine was a protection around Heath to keep him safe. Aurelius was a great father and an excellent husband.
But then Aurelius got injured at work. He was laid up at home and in pain. In his pain he said some very harmful things to Meiri. Aurelius had gotten a new prescription. He was doing much better. His pain seemed to be gone. But he became addicted. If he didn't get his drugs, Meiri paid the price. He hit her. It was never as hard as she was hit when she was locked in the palace. But it did bring back all those memories she had buried away. She couldn't live like this anymore. She got Aurelius the drugs he wanted, then he overdosed. When the Davis family found out Meiri's family situation, that her husband had overdosed, they fired her. They didn't want a maid who had such a scandal working for them.
Then she went to Amistad. When she worked there she realized her feelings that had developed for him at seventeen never went away. He still treated her well, but she was no longer his princess. His wife, and daughter were the only princesses he had in his life.
Laura had welcomed Meiri into the home at first. But then she saw the way Meiri looked at Amistad. After this she could no longer tolerate Meiri being in the house. Meiri had found a second job, and worked cleaning up after a restaurant. Her working designation had not been changed from cleaning. She could still do that. If life had been different, if Tarragon had never existed, she was certain… Amistad would have eventually made her his queen, and then he would possibly have developed feelings for her too.
She knew Laura was keeping an eye on her and her interactions with her son. But she could only do so much. She did not like that her son was looking more like his real father everyday. Aurelius may have convinced her to keep him, but what about now that Aurelius was gone? She gave Heath Aurelius last name. Her real last name was much too dangerous. She had also taken on Aurelius's last name. Her son was safer that way. And he was her son. She had loved him so much more when he was little and cute though. She still loved him, she just wished he looked more like herself. But then Amistad asked her if he could dye Heath's hair. He claimed it would keep Heath safer. But a small part of her thought it was also because both he and Laura noticed she did not act like a proper mother to Heath. She couldn't.
When Heath appeared before her with her hair color for the first time… She hugged him and cried. He just stood there and let her. He was used to not being held by her for a long time now. He didn't know how to react with her sudden emotion toward him.
She should have treated him better. But now that she had left him there with the Noblis family, she was happy that she and her son were not close. She abandoned him now that he would be twelve. If they were, this would probably be a lot harder on him.
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Meiri had found a job with a higher noble family. The Yang family, who were ranked as a duke family. Somewhere in their history they were linked with the crown. As was the situation with all the Duke families. She started off at the Yang home in a small position. But over the next two years, her hard work and past experience paid off. They recognized her for her diligence, and for the standard to which she held those around her. She had once been a palace maid after all. She knew how everything was supposed to be in a high ranked household since she was a child. They didn't know this though.
She was very skilled. But in working for this Duke ranked family, she forgot one thing. They could be invited to the palace because of their rank. She was given a vacation. One which she spent at home. She had bought a small little house across the city from where she had lived with Aurelius before.
She was so tempted to go spy on her son from far away, but didn't feel secure doing so. She didn't know why but, when she was given this vacation, she had gotten a foreboding feeling. She tried to shrug it off, but couldn't do it. She should not have stayed working for this family for as long as she had. This was not her plan. She was going to escape the city. She was only going to work there until she had the funds to do so.
But she couldn't leave the city. Heath was in the city. Somehow she just wanted to stay near him, even if she couldn't be with him like a proper mother would. She just wanted to know they were under the same sky. So she stayed.
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While she was on vacation, the Yang family was invited to the castle. It was not done on purpose. They had honestly thought she deserved a vacation for all the hard work she had done. The invitation came shortly after Meiri had gone home.
When the Yang family was at the palace. They saw hanging, a picture of their maid, dressed in all sorts of finey, looking very noble sitting next to the king. What they didn't know was when the picture was painted, Meiri had been chained to a post nearby, and had a black eye. The black eye and chains were naturally not included in the painting. The painting was a fairytale. A lie told by Tarragon to make himself think Meiri was happy by his side. The current queen hated that picture, but she could do nothing about it. He married her only for the sake of a political marriage. He had to solidify his place as king.
The Yang's bought the lie. When Meiri had been hired by them with no work history, she had told them she had a head injury, and forgot her past. They told the king they found his beloved. Thrilled, he told them to inform him when she got back from vacation.
He could finally have his Meiri back.
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Meiri got back from vacation, and started work early. Around noon there was a knock on the door. The family had all gone to the theater to watch a classic play. So most of the staff would be off until this evening. Meiri answered the door unprepared for the fate about to enter. Once she saw the figure standing before her in all his splendor, light lilac hair blowing in the breeze, she almost screamed in horror.
"Meiri," his soft soothing voice called out to her. "It's time to come home." She knew that voice. This meant he was beyond angry, when he spoke in this gentle way, only the harshest punishments lay ahead.
He grabbed her hand gently, and began to pull her toward himself. Her breathing began to hitch. Suddenly she began to breath harder.
"None of that now," his voice had turned harsh for a moment. She held her breath so she wouldn't breath hard. "Breathe normally Meiri," his voice came out neutrally. No gentleness, and no harshness. He was instructing her right now. She had to obey, or he would do something bad to her.
She fixed her breathing forcefully. Her lungs ached because the panic that had set in inside her mind. Fight or flight. Fight? The thought was nonexistent. She had to flee. She was surrounded. There were guards all around the house. There was no escape. She had to follow him. He half dragged her into the carriage. She would never be away from him again.
He carried her princess style into the elevator that led up to the tower room. The room that belonged to a concubine. Her old prison. He spoke to her once again in a soothing tone, "Meiri, I want you to think about what you did wrong. I'll come back this evening. When I do… You'll tell me everything. Where you've been. Who you were with. And the location of our child." He smiled gently at her as his grip bruised her arm. He left with controlled steps.
Once Meiri was alone in her old room in the tower that he had locked her in before, she sought for a way out. She had to get out. He had ways of getting the truth out of people. She didn't know if she could endure those methods.
Meiri looked around. No way out. If there was no way out. She would make one. She grabbed the knife that she had hidden in her dress. She was grateful he never thought to check her for any weapons. She had always had a knife hidden on her since she had escaped to the streets when she was young. A habit that never fully went away when she first escaped.
She knew cutting her wrists would only get her so far, and she would not die fast enough. She needed to bleed out as much as possible. She cut her arm along the veins anyway. And then with bloody trembling hands placed the knife to her throat. It took all her will power, and the thought of her son being taken by this man to plunge the blade into her neck. She yanked it out so she could die. She tried to gasp for air, but she drowned in her own blood. There she lay, a prisoner no more. Dead at 35.