230 Not Worth It
****THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS 18+ CONTENT. LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE. VIEWER’S DISCRETION IS ADVISED****
“I’ve told you already, the Only wife I will ever have is Skye. She’s the only woman for me, and the love of my life,” Tidas stated as he did his best to keep a pleasant expression.
Lord Bibalow sighed; “Are you sure you won’t accept my daughter? You know how deeply she cares fo-”
Tidas cut off the lord mid sentence with a stern tone; “She doesn’t care for me, she covets me. She’s already attacked my wife once, or did you forget? To be honest, Lord Bibalow; I’m shocked that you’d be so disrespectful to my wife, and bring her here at all.. My father will not be pleased to see her either.”
Lord Bibalow visibly shook as Tidas laid into him. Angelica’s face was almost purple with her anger, making it very difficult for Skye not to laugh in her face. ‘How stupid can she be to put her father up to this?! He clearly didn’t want to.. At least that’s the impression I get from him. Poor man.. To be stuck with a thing like her for a daughter, I pity him.’
Angelica stomped her foot in anger; “Can’t you see she’s manipulating you?! I’M the one that LOVES YOU! Not this trollop! I’ve heard the rumors, everyone has! Tis not just your bed she crawls into-”
Tidas took an intimidating step in Angelica’s direction; “Watch what you Say! That is my Wife you speak of, and a crowned princess of Alcon!”
Angelica practically hissed as she turned to Skye and spoke; “You Whore Witch! How dare you-”
*SMACK!*
.....
All Angelica could feel was a searing pain traverse her cheek after being slapped hard mid-sentence. Shasta had heard her ranting from within the palace. She knew Skye couldn’t really do much without damaging her reputation, but Shasta was already known for being violent. Plus: she just didn’t care at that point.
She’d been wanting to slap the bitch for years, and now she’d been given the perfect opportunity. It wasn’t something she could pass up, even though she knew Magnus would probably chew her out a bit for it later. ‘No one insults my friends and gets away with it!’
Tidas knew that things were getting bad, but he Loved Shasta for her intervention. If she hadn’t been the one to hit Angelica, Skye was about to. He’d felt her anger surge right before her arms fell away from his one. The look in her eyes was fierce and unnerving, and her fists were clenched. Tidas knew his wife, and she was clearly about to deck Angelica herself..
Realizing what had just happened, Angelica turned to face Shasta and screamed louder than a banshee. It was odd, but that’s all she did. She screamed loud, long, and hard enough for her to pop a blood vessel in her eyeball. Giving her crazy-person act the perfect touch. After shrieking at the top of her lungs for two minutes straight, Angelica finally turned towards Skye again.
“YOU! This is All your Fault! I would be married to Tidas right now if it wasn’t for You!”
Skye locked eyes with the crazy woman; “Hear me Now, Angelica Bibalow. I have both known and loved Tidas MacArthur Far longer than you have.. And what I feel for him is actually love. Would you like to know the difference? If he loved you, I’d let him go. Can you say the same?”
Not giving the flustered Angelica time to answer, Skye continued; “Of course you can’t.. You don’t love him, you simply want to possess him. Claim ‘the Prince’ as your love.. You don’t care for TIDAS. Your love for him is a reflection of yourself: vain, hollow, and fake.”
Angelica openly fumed as a dozen or so people speculated from the steps. Dignitaries and diplomats alike watched as Lord Bibalow’s daughter had a meltdown. She screamed, “YOU BITCH!” Then lunged at Skye!
Both her father and Shasta held her back while Skye simply looked at her with pity. The woman really was crazy, but it was a chosen crazy. Angelica could’ve still been matched up with someone, but not anymore. Her last ‘public display’ of anger was mainly witnessed by commoners. Attempting what she just did not only In Front of the palace, but in front of the gathered diplomats and nobles had sealed her fate for sure this time.
Shasta smiled darkly as she restrained Angelica and said; “Attempting to physically assault a member of the Royal Family is punishable by Death. Considering this is your second offense, and you were Stupid enough to do it in front of all these high-profile people.. You just sealed your own fate this time.”
Skye was heavily conflicted. She could easily tear the Bibalows apart with not only her husband’s influence, but her own. Her Shaman rounds made her loved by not only commoners, but nobles as well. Even some that took issue with her birth status didn’t care anymore after meeting and being healed by her. If she wanted to, the princess could easily make it so that the Bibalow name was forever tainted.. But that wasn’t Skye.
She didn’t excuse Angelica’s actions in any way; the bitch had already tried to kill her once, and now this mess.. It had just become so.. pathetic now. Tidas had publicly shunned her and had her arrested, but she just kept coming back! The woman was crazy, and not in the harmless cat-lady kind of way, either.
Murderous intent rolled off of Angelica, and was aimed straight at Skye as she looked up at her from the dirt. She felt it, but it was like expecting a dragon and getting a gecko. It just didn’t feel all that threatening anymore. Meeting the actual woman that had raped her husband automatically made Skye want to kill her, but her father didn’t deserve to watch his daughter die.
Lord Bibalow was like a less sleazy version of Lord Fowler. He was a coward that made a lot of money being a yes man, but at least he had some morals. He’d never done business within the slave trade, and had even supported Tidas when the laws were up for debate. But that was still most likely self-interest-motivated.
As Skye watched the man age ten years in a few seconds, her heart ached for some stupid reason. She couldn’t help but put her father in his position, even if he was barely considered decent at it. She loved him anyway. With a sympathetic heart, Skye thought, ‘A father should never have to watch his daughter die..’
As Shasta twisted her arm back painfully, Skye stopped her; “Wait, it’s my choice whether she goes or not.. Wait a moment.”
Everyone stared at Skye silently as she turned to Lord Bibalow; “You have ONE choice here, my lord.. Take your psychotic daughter to a different kingdom, or she dies. It is as simple as that. She would be heading to her death right now if the love you have for your child was not so self evident.”
The clouds crept across the sky, blocking out the last bit of sun as Skye continued; “This is her final chance. If she attempts to harm me or my husband one more time, I will kill her myself without blinking. Do you understand the full scope of the situation?”
Skye’s voice had been eerily calm and even the entire time she’d spoken. Even Tidas had felt an icy chill run down his spine at the certainty in his wife’s voice. It was akin to how she’d sounded when she’d threatened the Nomads; her tone lined with death.
Tidas wanted to say something; the situation was getting way too out of hand. When he took in a deep breath to speak, Skye glanced at him, then barely moved her head in the negative, but Tidas caught it. He didn’t think his father would be happy that she was letting the Bibalows go, but people were already talking about ‘the compassion of Eir’.
If he did go against his wife right now, it’d probably turn out worse. Tidas didn’t know if Skye had done it on purpose or not, but her speech had won over the crowd. His father would see it as a ‘diplomatic solution’. Considering that Lord Bibalow is technically a semi-prominent business man across the continent, keeping him live would still be in the best interest of the kingdom.
Tidas was actually quite proud of Skye for how she was handling the situation. She had every right to kill Angelica, and he knew that she Really wanted to. After what he’d told her on their honeymoon.. Tidas honestly wanted her dead too. But that just wasn’t Skye.
Killing wasn’t her issue, it was seeing Lord Bibalow in pain. Skye was a Shaman, and had a natural instinct to save lives, not take them. Killing the Nomads and the assassin hadn’t bothered her in the least, but the pain taking Angelica’s life would cause her father wasn’t something Skye wanted.
She wanted the psycho gone, but that didn’t necessarily mean Angelica had to be dead. If her father could take her FAR AWAY, that could work too.. So long as she stayed away.
Skye’s eyes were hard as she stared down at the woman; “Well? What will it be? A new start, or the final stop?”
Angelica glared at Skye with a continuous, murderous intent as her father quickly yelled; “We’ll leave! We’ll leave! I swear Angelica will NEVER step foot in Alcon again!”
Angelica looked up at her father with utter shock as she shrieked; “Daddy NO! I have to stay! I have to-”
“SHUT YOUR MOUTH! Do you even realize how much trouble your in?! If it were ANYONE ELSE, they would’ve had your head lopped off! Instead of hating the princess, you should be thanking her for sparing your life! What is Wrong with you?!”
Angelica tried to protest, but Shasta twisted her arm up a bit again and said; “If you don’t shut your mouth right now I will slit your throat myself right here and now, and save all these nice people a whole lotta trouble. Don’t. Push. Me. Bitch.”
Feeling utterly defeated, Angelica started to sob loudly. She kept looking up at Tidas with sad eyes only to find an apathetic stare. He didn’t care what happened to her at this point. Truthfully he kinda wished she would’ve pissed Shasta off a little more. His father would’ve understood completely, and his VC would’ve been fine.
If there was one thing Magnus MacArthur hated, it was being publicly insulted. If he had witnessed Angelica’s tantrum, Skye’s opinion on the situation wouldn’t have mattered any longer. Magnus would’ve had her killed by the most convenient guard, and been done with it. Lord Bibalow really wasn’t exaggerating when he said, ‘If it were ANYONE ELSE’, her head would’ve been lopped off..
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