s e v e n t e e n

Romeo has been out since over a week.

I kept my promise. I waited everyday.

I survived. But he never returned.

Until tonight.

"Open the doors!" Someone screams from outside.

I don't move. I cannot. I don't know whose outside.

"Open the door or we'll burn it!" Comes another voice.

I stand up and go to my room. I take out the stone and place it in my pocket. Then I take out some expensive jewelry Matilda had given me and hide it under a lot in the kitchen.

I'm skeptical about leaving the stone in the same place. Instead, I bury the stone in the soil near the house.

The door is crashed open and sound of swords clicking are heard at a distance. I bring my knees to my chest and I try to make minimum noise possible.

"Come out or you'll be punished!" Comes another voice.

Sound of boots clicking against the marble floor engulfs the house. I'm hidden in the bathroom.

The door to the bathroom is flung open and someone grabs my hand and pulls me up.

"I found her!" He shouts.

I take out the sword I'd kept with me and swing it but he is fast to dodge it.

"You won't be able to defeat a professional." He smiles.

I'm taken aback. Who are they? Why are they here?

"Look who's living peacefully after destroying my life." A familiar voice comes from the next room.

My hands are gripped so tightly that I can hardly move. But the man comes forward himself.

KING ESCULAS

"Where's my stone?!" He yells at my face.

"The thieves stole it that night." I answer calmly though my entire body is on alert.

"You are lying! I found the thieves and they informed me that you tricked them! Tell me where's my stone?!" He shouts.

"I don't know! They are lying!" I scream this time, the grip on my hand tightening.

"Show her." He commands and the man holding my arm pulls me out of the house.

There stands Romeo, his hands tied behind and his entire body covered in bruises. I snatch my hand away and run to him.

That's when I smell something wrong.

"You are poisoned !" I gasp.

"Give us the stone and you'll be given the medicine to cure him." King Esculas answers my queries.

"Don't give it to him. He plans to kill our families." Romeo whispers.

"But you'll die." I touch his wounds and he winces.

"I'll die seeing both our families dead anyways." He answers.

"Romeo." I kiss his cheeks. "You were the best husband I could ever get."

"And you were the best wife." He smiles.

He blinks a bit too fast and I realise the poison is working.

"Give me the stone!" Comes the voice again. " He is dying."

I do the one thing I know I shouldn't.

I kiss his lips, allowing the poison to go into me.

"What are you doing?" Romeo whispers against my lips.

"What is an adventure without a risk?" I reply and deepen the kiss.

"Don't ." He grumbles.

"I'll die either way. Rather die in your arms." I smile.

A hand pulls me away from him and I collapse on the ground.

"Where is the stone?" King Esculas asks one last time.

"I would have never given you either way." I wince, the poison acting into my body.

"Check the entire house!" The King commands and everyone follows.

He grabs my hair and brings me closer to Romeo.

"Look. He's almost dead. Tell me where the stone is and I'll keep him alive." He spats.

He doesn't know I'm dying too.

"I love you, Juliet." Are his last words as his lids close.

"I love you too, Romeo." I reply through teary eyes.

Once his breathing slows and stops, I cry. I cry out loud. My everything's dead.

"He could have lived!" The King pushes me down.

"Did you marry my maid?" I ask with disgust, strolling for time.

"I did. I faced a lot of criticism but I did." He smiles.

"You are mad. She's just 15! You are 30!" I accuse him.

"28." He replies. "What about you and him?"

"I am almost 18 and he is 21. On top of that, our love is pure, not just lust." I shout.

"What do you know about us?" He asks nonchalantly.

"I researched everything. You met her in a ball where she was accompanying me. You liked her and used her that night. The escapade followed for months and she was pregnant! That was when you agreed to marry me." I explain.

"You know too much." He smiles. "And I can kill her even now."

"Don't ! She's just a child." I negotiate.

"And I researched about you too. He and you stole from my palace and gave it to a secluded town. You know what I did when I found out?" He asks with a raised brow.

I don't give him the satisfaction of my interrogation.

"I burned that town." He smirks and I look up at the devil.

"And I heard you did justice. I was so wrong." My head starts to throb harder with each passing second.

"I was. But justice is not something that gives us pleasure." He growls.

"You will die a terrible death! That's my curse." I shout and at that exact moment, my eyes close and blackness engulfs me.

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ONE YEAR LATER

"I officially dethrone the King." The Queen declares and a ray of joyfulness surrounds the podium.

"You cannot." Esculas shouts at his wife.

"The law states she can. She is the official Queen of the land and has given birth to the new heir. She has all rights and means to do so." Lord Capulet speaks from his seats.

"That is justice for the Queen, the people of the town at our countryside, our wives and our children." Lord Montague adds.

Lady Capulet died shortly after she found out about her daughter's death the second time nd how cruelly she died.

Lord Montague and Lord Capulet joined hands to punish the King. Being the noblest of all men in the land, they were invincible when together.

"Throw him in the room full of rats and snakes and all insects. When he goes mad, take away all the animals and let him starve to death there." The Queen announces.

"Long Live the Queen." Roars the entire arena.

"My wife and daughter had to go through so much because of you." Lord Capulet spat on Esculas's face.

"My wife and Son had to aswell." Lord Montague spat too.

"I'll build a gold statue for my daughter-in-law, Juliet." Lord Montague hugs Lord Capulet.

"And I'll build a gold statue for my son-in-law, Romeo." Lord Capulet returns the hug.

Friar Laurence expresses in the following lines:

"A glooming peace this morning with it brings.

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head.

Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things.

Some shall be pardoned, and some punished.

For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."