No one in the crowd reacted the same. Several clapped immediately, for the new king, and after a few seconds, many joined in, but some stood, shocked, like me, disbelieving that Rob had lost. I didn’t know how, I didn’t know why..... He was so good, and so....
I looked up, and saw anger fly across Rob’s face. He had been expecting to win, himself, easily. He hadn’t seen his brother-cousin as competition, when he had been. Gabriel had won. My eyes flitted to where Gabriel was. He was staring start back at me, no emotion shown on his face. The dark eyes, identical to Rob’s, seemed to pierce my soul. I was shocked. He showed no emotion, but I could feel it.
Abram clapped, politely, before walking off the stage. I had a feeling Gabriel was meant to make a speech, but he just calmly stepped off the stage, disappearing behind the curtain. Rob stared into space for a second, before following his brother-cousin, a foul expression on his face. I needed to see him... I needed to be there for him. To tell him it didn’t matter to me. Because it didn’t matter to me. He was my boyfriend... fiancée, and I loved him. Crown or no crown.
Everyone seemed to disperce, slightly, and I fought the crowd, pulling a side door open, and following the corridor around to be the back of the stage. There was a tall, dark man with black hair standing at the corner, and I asked him where Rob’s room was.
He didn’t look too eager to answer me, but eventually pointed behind him, and let me through. I wondered why... possibly my expression? He stood aside, and I passed him.
I walked over to the door that read Rob’s name, putting on a fake smile before beginning to push the door open. The second there was a crack in the door, that I could see through, my heart froze, and paused. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. NO!
Standing on the other side of the door, her arms wrapped around Rob..... was Kelly. It was clearly an intimate moment, and it forced a cut – a knife wound – through my heart. She had her hands on his neck, and brought her lips to his, slowly. A weak kiss, filled with little passion, but it was clearly something, and he didn’t push her away.
I held my breath, hoping to wake up, for something to prove this was a bad nightmare. I watched, closely, a shard of hope cropping up, as he pushed her body away from his. She looked a little hurt, but fine.
“No,” he breathed.
“It’s OK, Rob. It’s...” she whispered, trying to reassure him.
“How is it going to be OK?” he snapped. “If I’m not King, there’s nothing we can do. I’ve wasted months getting this far!” he hissed, and she looked hurt, and confused for a second, searching for an answer.
“It’s OK, because you still, and forever, have me,” she whispered, going over, and kissing him, again, more and more heat filling the kiss. Their bodies moved closer and closer and closer together, and I hissed. Hatred filled my soul, replacing the sadness for a second. I reached forward to push the rest of the door open, to yell at them, to slap her, to scream... to.... I didn’t know what.
A warm hand touched my skin, the second it reached the door handle, again, pulling it away from the door, and spinning me around to face him. The pain in my heart, the hatred.... it all went away for a second, replaced with shock. Shock at the beautiful face starring me right in the eyes. Gabriel pulled me away from the door, and across the corridor.
“I’m sorry you had to find out like that,” whispered Gabriel, apology really on his face.