Niall

I stared at the ceiling, laying in the same spot I had been in for the past few weeks. It felt as though my bed formed an indent where my body lay. Depression hit me like a train; I had quite literally no motivation to do anything, not even get out of bed. But then I was left alone with my thoughts; left to do nothing but wonder what went wrong. It felt like I had cried away all the tears left in my system, so I couldn't do anything but feel empty.

My father wanted me to continue with work, but Kaitlyn was able to convince him to let me rest. But I'm afraid she's letting me rest too long; I haven't seen anyone in the palace in a few weeks, except for when Juliet leaves my meals on the coffee table.

My brain had only one thing on my mind, but it still felt jumbled. All I could think about was her: What happened to her? Where is she now? Is she safe? I was left only to wonder.  But I still had the biggest question lingering in the back of my mind.

Did she really lie to me?

I wanted to speak to her, there was still so much I wanted to ask her, but I didn't have any contact. Every call was sent straight to voicemail.

I looked over at my desk cluttered with ripped notebook paper and unwritten lyrics. I mindlessly walked over and started toying with my favorite pen. I found myself doodling all over the papers, not really thinking about anything at the moment.

It was the first time I hadn't thought about her, but it didn't last long.

I pulled out a notebook, ripped out a new page, and wrote whatever words came to my mind. I needed to get this to her somehow. I needed Grace to know that I'd see her soon. No matter what, I'll find a way to get to her.

A few hours of writing and rewriting had passed and I found myself falling asleep. There was a firm knock on my bedroom door, bringing me back to focus.

"Niall." My dad spoke. "Let me in."

I attempted to clear my throat, but gave up halfway. "I don't want to see you." I spoke in a raspy voice.

He disregarded my wishes and barged in. "I need to speak to you, and I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"What do you want." My patience seemed to grow thinner than paper.

"Don't bring that attitude, Niall. I need to talk to you." He motioned towards the couch he was sitting on. "Please sit down."

"Are you here to convince me that Grace is a horrible person? If so, I'm not hearing it."

"Niall, I know you miss her but—"

"I knew it." I sighed and laid my head back down on the desk.

"Please listen. You don't have to agree with me, but I need you to hear me out." He brought his chair by the desk I was sitting in, waiting for a response from me.

"Go ahead."

"Melody has told me things about her that I think you need to know. I know, you might need space right now, but I think you should hear this."

"Just get it over with, please."

"When Melody was in the interview with Gracey, she seemed very on-edge throughout the whole thing. Of course, that's very normal during an interview, but it was almost to the point where she was suspicious. Finally, when Melody asked her where she worked at that moment, Gracey's face grew red and she seemed to make up an answer. Now, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but she tends to do that a lot, you know, making up answers."

"I do that too. Just because she can't think of an answer doesn't mean she's working for the mafia."

"That's not what I'm saying Niall, I'm just proving my point that she's a liar. She lied about her name and her backstory. We can't even find her residence on palace records, Niall! Don't you realize how dangerous that is?"

"And how do you know she's lying? How do you know it's not Melody that lied?"

"Because I've got a letter to prove it."

I lifted my eyes from the fixated spot on the floor. What letter? He pulled out a folder filled with pictures of Grace, as well as a piece of paper with words scribbled messily over it. "Where did you get those pictures?"

"Melody searched the security camera footage. This is Gracey the week before her disappearance." He handed over a picture of Grace searching through the old office in the hidden hallway — somewhere I came across a few years back while exploring the numerous secret passageways. She was digging through a desk full of files: the files about the queen. "Melody told me she discovered a few files about the queen were missing."

"Well maybe she just wanted to research about Kaitlyn?"

"This letter proves otherwise." He pulled the letter out of the folder and handed it to me. "It seems to be addressed to a close friend of hers; the one who came to the Christmas Ball."

My voice shook as I began to read the letter, skimming through it quickly. This couldn't be happening.

Reeja,

I discovered an office with much more information about the Queen and the rest of the royal family. Niall's information wasn't enough; it never is.

I believe we can go through with this plan soon, say, April 28th? I've studied the family long enough to know exactly how I could sneak some poison into their meal. They aren't at all cautious; it's as if they're begging for me to kill them.

    Please write back to me soon, I can't wait to get this over with. Niall is beginning to get on my nerves, though he always has been. He's so gullible, this will be far too easy to manipulate him into making me queen.

    Regards, Grace.

    My head spun around. This had to be fake. She would never do something like this. But who else would've written it? It looked like her handwriting.

    She never loved me. It was all fake. Is that why she ran away after we shared our first kiss?

I couldn't take the stress anymore. I wanted to believe it was fake, but I couldn't anymore. Things became so real. "Why are you doing this and why are you so persistent! I loved her, dad. I loved her. Why would you ruin this for me?

"I'm doing this because I love you! I want to protect you and it hurts me to see you in so much pain."

"If it hurts you so much, why don't you leave me alone."

"Niall, please just let me—"

I promptly cut him off, trying my hardest to get my point across. "Ever since you became king, you've been so controlling! Just let me live my life and love who I want to love." I was left with nothing now. The only one I've ever loved never loved me back and left my heart shattered in pieces.

"Don't you remember your mum's wish? She wanted you to be safe, and those were her last words. She would want you to think things through and stay safe, not be blinded by love."

I couldn't say anything, finally realizing he was right.

"It's what your mother would've wanted." He sighed and left the room after patting my shoulder.                        

I was lost. The love of my life betrayed me and left me with nothing but a bunch of memories. How did I even live life before she came along? And how can I live life now that she left?

I stared at the letter left in my hands. I studied every word, hoping there was some way this could be fake. But I couldn't see any way it would be.

There was a rustling at the window behind me. I jumped around to see a figure at my window, picking the lock.

Reeja barged through my window, seemingly unafraid at the consequence of getting caught. I slowly inched backward.

"We need to talk."

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a/n

YAYYYY IT'S REEJA

i wonder what niall wrote to gracey ?? 👀

sorry i'm taking awhile to update, i've been streaming until i found you by stephen sanchez. everyone listen to it rn you won't regret it. that song is the loml. the piano version tho >>>>>

anyways, as always leave some comments and a vote and lmk what you think of the chapter! I could use any feedback <3

i love you all so much mwah <3