The City of the Broken (Prince of the Broken) (10 page)

“
Your Royal Highness Prince Calix, we’ve been directed to protect you and rescue you from the unsafe influence of Miss Seren Loneheart. She is no longer allowed within a mile radius of you. The King has passed a new law”.

“
What? This is absolutely ridiculous. I love Seren” says Calix.

“
She has corrupted your judgment Your Majesty. I’ve been told by the King himself you’d come out with such a line. We must protect you Your Majesty and Miss Loneheart has been found to be unsafe”.

I just stand there is shock. How could the King do this?
“Seren go please, he always does this. I’m sorry” Calix looks sad, so defeated .I feel like his father is destroying him as much as our relationship.

I wa
lk back through the gate of The City of the Broken in a trance like state. My mind is so cluttered with horror it cannot process thoughts. Calix. And yet with this knife in the stomach is accompanied elation.

“
I love Seren” his own words. I never even had to drop a hint for him to say this.

But what good is his love when his father prevents him from seeing me? And that shouldn
’t be the case, Calix is an adult and a prince. Its entirely up to him if he wants to see me or not. Its as if his father has convinced everyone he’s been brainwashed by me.

‘
Corrupting his judgements’. How manipulative and devious that man is.

I go home and sit on my bed remaining in a trance. This is wrong. How can the King get away with this ?These thoughts run through my mind on a l
oop .I’m so traumatized, I feel numb. I try to sleep but I cant. So this is what it feels like to be an insomniac. Why did I have to fall in love with a man who has a tyrant as a father? He’s effectively caged him in that city and blackened my name. But why does the King not want me near Calix? Why does he think  me unsafe? The only way to find out the answer is to meet with the King himself, although this wont be easy. Now that I’m considered ‘unsafe’ if I return to the city those guards will be on my back, even if I don’t go anywhere near Calix. Perhaps I should just be upfront and request a meeting with the King, though I’m certain he will say no, in fact his secretary will simply dismiss the request.  I feel so pathetic. There must be something that I can do to change his mind. I still haven’t officially joined The City of the Broken as a citizen yet, before I was just there as a guest of the Prince. Maybe if I did I’d have more access to the king and Calix .Maybe the king would approve of me more.

Since
we’re on holiday from college, I have no chance of seeing him that way either. It’s so frustrating. Still unable to sleep from the distress of being banned from seeing my beloved Calix, I  decide tomorrow I will resolve this. I’m going to the City of the Broken and demanding to see the King. His secretary has met me before and even though she’ll probably know of the situation, I’m sure I could convince her to at least ask him to think about it. After all he told me to stay away from Calix ,not the city. Maybe I could even ask the King if I can become a citizen, Calix did recruit me in the first place for this very purpose.

Chapter Seven.

Heartbreaker

I walk to the familiar graveyard location of the gate to the City of the Broken. I’m listening to my MP3 player to drown out the silence since Calix is not here with me.  I feel lonely, yet still surprisingly zesty with the challenge of facing the king. Its like its given me a whole new rush of adrenaline .I get out my special key and open the gate, closing it behind me and walk through the veil of trees into the city. There’s still a lot of clearing up to do after the BlackBall match. Its quieter now the match is over, but still busy as I’ve come early and many people are on their way to work. I don’t see any overly ambitious gleams in the eyes of men here, simply a repetitive beat of a drum, without passion or love, done for the reason that there is nothing better to do than work whilst in their state of gloomy aimlessness. Usually I feel I stand out for being the least upbeat person. Here I feel I stand out for being too cheerful, too full of optimism. A lot of the citizens look to the ground, directly avoiding eye contact, preferring their own pessimistic little world.

“
Umm hi” I say to the young girl who’s sitting on the park bench staring into space. She ignores me, which is odd so I ask again

“
Hello, can you hear me?” Perhaps she’s deaf or foreign.

“
Oh, you were talking to me, I’m sorry. I spend so much time pretending I don’t exist that I sometimes forget other people think I do. Its always a shock when somebody wants to speak to me. Do they actually think I’m the same, equal to them. Human? I don’t feel it”.

“
Of course I think you’re a human, what do you think you are then?”

“
Well a lot of the time, invisible, not really alive at all, a shadow maybe, the wind blowing past”

“
That’s a bit odd isn’t it? Why do you think that about yourself?”

“
Well, I guess it started when I was younger. When I was a child I always thought I was  so important. Wow a human being, that means so much, think of who I could be. But then I went to school and realized there are so many others who are more important than me, that was difficult to deal with. At first I fought it. I’ll show them I’m the best, the ultimate but of course life taught me better. So I decided if I couldn’t be important, I’d be nothing at all. Most of the time people don’t treat me much different to that anyway. When you start believing you don’t actually exist and that nobody cares even if you do, it really is strange when people acknowledge you at all. That’s why I ignored you, I thought ‘oh she’s talking to somebody else, she couldn’t possibly be talking to me, why would she want to’ ”.

“
Its so sad you think like that”. I’m really at a loss for words, this girl is such a deep thinker, yet she seems so sad and lonely.

“
Yes that’s true, its sad. But the only way I can deal with not being important, is to be nothing at all”. She looks downward.

“
Well you must be important enough to speak, not everyone has that privilege”.

“
I know. Sometimes I think maybe I should stop talking altogether because whenever I do talk, nobody wants to hear what I have to say and that only makes me feel worse than if I had chosen just to be completely silent”.

“
I used to date Calix you know. I’ve seen you with him on outings. I know who you are” ,she blurts out abruptly. This shocks me so much. I’m speaking to a girl Calix used to go out with.

“
Well what happened, why did you break up?”

“
He asked me to be a citizen because I always felt outcast. I guess I felt I belonged here because everyone was broken. I wasn’t offended when he asked me to join at all. Then his father got involved and he ended it. I was devastated but that only meant I belonged here more than ever. So I stayed ,Calix or not”.

Suddenly looking at this girl, a fragment of her former self, the decaying remains of a personality, I cant help but feel afraid that the same thing would happen to me if the King gets his way.

I take the underground to the palace, feeling as if I’ve entered a tin of dying sardines. I begin to think myself crazy for being so confident that the King will see me. Why should he? Even if you take away the fact that he already has a low opinion of me and that he doesn’t want me anywhere near Calix, surely he gets thousands of requests every week from people, ordinary Broken citizens, who want to speak to him for some reason. Why should I think myself so special?

I walk slowly to the palace, hoping I might bump into Calix in the gard
en and won’t have to go through with my crazy plan that wont work. But instead, out of the sheer agony of longing to see Calix, I march to the office at the side where they accept all the requests and complaints that go to the palace. There is a formal woman sitting at the desk, dressed in a tweed suit with a frilly blouse. She peers at me through the top of her glasses, intimidating me.

“
Hello” I say.

“
Yes, how may I help you?” she says gruffly.

“
Umm, my name is Seren Loneheart. I’d like to request a meeting with the King”.

“
Seren Loneheart, is that what you said?” She raises her eyebrows in surprise and her voice sounds quite close to alarm.

“
Yes, that’s correct” I say trying not to be worried by her tone.

“
The king did say you might come. He also said that if you did, he’d want you to see him straight away. I’ll phone his secretary right now, one moment please”.

“
What, really? Oh fantastic!”

I
’m completely stunned. I’d have thought the king would want me nowhere near him. But then my delight turns to suspicion, why does he want to see me? What’s his plan?

“
Ok, I’ll send her straight up. Thank you” the secretary says.

“
Come with me please” she says opening a door that leads into the office.

“
I’ll take you straight to him. This is very rare you know. He will usually only ever see very important guests”.

“
Have you any idea why he wants to see me?” I ask.

“
Absolutely no idea, you’ll have to ask him that dear. I only work downstairs, I’m not his personal secretary” she says huffily as if annoyed she isn’t appointed to this role.

We walk up a beautiful winding staircase with a deep purple carpet, it seems to go on forever.

“Isn’t there an elevator?” I ask her, exhausted from climbing the seemingly never ending steps.

“
There is, but for members of staff it is considered correct to take the stairs” she says as I marvel at how slim she is, convinced the reason is these steps.

The palace is amazing, black marble everywhere, purple and gold being the only other colours,
like a midnight sky twinkling with the brightest stars. Finally, we reach the top after passing the oasis of other corridors and passageways the staircase leads to, each one being ignored much to my annoyance.

“
Is this where the king is?” I ask hopefully.

“
Yes, this is his floor. He’s at the door right at the very end”.

We go down a long, ornate corridor with the same deep purple carpet and this time black tiled walls with suits of armour and works of art, screaming and tearful faces adorning them. At the v
ery end is an oak double door with a gold plague reading ‘His Royal Highness, King of the City of the Broken’  which is guarded by two bodyguards who eye us suspiciously as we walk towards them.

The secretary flashes them her pass.

“Miss Seren Loneheart is here to His Majesty” she says and they step aside. She walks off so that I am alone to see the King.

I knock the door, but the bodyguard says

“Just go in, he’s expecting you. He doesn’t want you knocking”. So I do.

His office is lighter than anywhere e
lse in the city with mahogany wood panelling, a green carpet and , black  furniture and ornaments. He sits there in a huge black throne, the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen. It looks so gothic.

“
Miss Loneheart, sit down please, I’ve been expecting you”. He’s surprisingly welcoming.

“
Thank you, Your Majesty” I say  feeling overwhelmed at my lack of anger towards the king.

“
Its interesting to finally meet you. I’ve seen you at many functions ,but for various reasons we have not come into contact” he says as though disappointed we haven’t met sooner.

“
Yes. I’ve wanted to meet you, but I thought you wouldn’t be interested in us meeting” I say politely but still confused why he wants to see me.

“
Nonsense, of course I’ve wanted to see you. I had to tell you something of great importance. I suppose the reason I didn’t speak to you sooner is that I delayed our meeting, for what I have to say may be rather difficult for you come to terms with” he says with regret.

“
Difficult, what do you mean? Is it that you don’t want me to see Calix again, because I already know that obviously” I say frustrated.

“
My dear you are simply lovely ,a charming girl, but I have to tell you this because I would feel an enormous amount of guilt if I did not”.

“
Guilt? Tell me what? Please just come out with it already” I  say slightly shocked at my tone, knowing  that nobody has addressed the King in such a rude manner.

“
Calix tried to recruit you to be a member of this city, didn’t he Seren”?

“
Yes, initially but-” I try to finish my sentence but the King interrupts me

“
Yes, I thought so. I knew the night I saw you at the ball that my son was up to his old tricks again”.

“
I’m sorry?” I just stare at the King, he’s completely lost me now and I have no idea what he’s going on about.

“
Seren, Calix, my own son, recruits girls to join this city, he then gets them to fall in love with him with the aid of his natural good looks and romantic charm. Once accomplished he convinces them I have banned him from seeing them anymore, thus breaking their hearts since they can no longer be with him and sealing their destiny as broken citizens.”

“
What?” I say in astonishment.

“
It’s a cunning plan. He’s used it on every girl he’s ever recruited, but I don’t approve of such devious tactics and so take it upon myself to his reveal his true nature”.

Of course! How could I be so stupid. Calix would never want me, I
’m far too plain. Its been him all along, not his father. He’s always said he’s the champion recruiter and no wonder, he’s a born heartbreaker. Any girl could fall in love with him .He’s so beautiful. But now I know the truth, he’s  cold, manipulative and deceitful.

“
Thank you for telling me this Your Royal Highness, and to think Calix had me convinced you were working against us, but all this time its been him” I say in shock.

“
Calix is very intelligent Seren, but he uses it for a ruthless purpose. I applaud his commitment to our city, but I also know he goes about it in the wrong way. He’s supposed to recruit people who are already broken, not break people to recruit. It’s a shame really”.

I just sit there and nod.

“Anyway, thank you for taking the time to come and see me Seren. I just wish we could have met for a more fulfilling reason”.

He offers his hand and I shake it as I ge
t up to leave.

“
Thank you for telling me the truth Your majesty. I’d rather know the real reason than be kept in the dark” I say grateful I now know the reality.

“
Indeed, indeed”, he concurs.

“
But why did you tell Calix I was unsafe and send those guards?” I ask remembering the night of the match.

“
All his doing Seren, not mine. He arranged for the guards telling them exactly what to say. Do you actually think I could ever ban a prince from seeing the girl  he wanted to see? I have power my dear, but not that much” he laughs.

I knew that night didn
’t make sense. Oh, what a fool I feel.

“
Thank you, again” I say and he nods in acknowledgment and I leave in tears the moment I turn my back on the King.

This is worse than being banned from seeing Calix. This is
me being in love with a Calix that doesn’t even exist. Calix the sham, Calix the ultimate con man.

Tears turn to rage as I storm out of the palace.
“Oh, Miss Loneheart. What did the King want to see you about if you pardon my asking?” the secretary asks as I leave.

“
Oh, nothing” I say with a face covered in tears, betraying the very line I have just uttered. I keep walking, not wishing to embellish any further on the Kings confession.

I cant help but wonder where Calix is hiding. He
’s probably in this very palace, but I resist the urge to seek him out, preferring to keep my dignity.