The Secret We Never Got To Tell

Smiling at him seemed wrong in the moment, but I did. Sitting together, awaiting our impending doom, we watched each other with the symbol of joy on our faces. My hairy, greasy from the lack of a shower, flopped into my face as a soldier shoved the back of my head, pushing me so far down I was kissing the ground. It wasn't meant to end like this, but when destiny and secrets collide, bad things happen. I could hear the crowd from where I knelt, their murmurings like gnats in summer. I could hear my mother weeping from the sidelines, and from my position, I could see my partner's family watching with stony faces. They never liked me much, his family. They knew that getting involved with me would only help their son to an early grave. I can't say that I tried to push him away, but I could say that I tried to keep it from him. I tried to keep it all from him. 

And I failed.

The ground rumbled as the executioner's cart was rolled onto the stage, heavy chains rattling. I could hear the soft shing on the axe being pulled from it's slot on the cart. Some part of me was mad I didn't get to look Death in the eye, but my other half was happier not seeing my fate. Executioners were the most morbid looking things. They didn't look entirely human, and I suppose that would be because they weren't. They were dead, after all. A pile of walking bones, covered in crimson tattoos to hide the blood on their faces. At least, what was left of their faces. It was a messy business after all. 

One I would unfortunately be a part of.

Executioners, funnily enough, had been executed. Any who are executed are destined to follow in their footsteps. It's only a matter of time before you meet your necromancer and come back to sentence others to the same fate as you. I turned my head a little so I could look at my partner out of the corner of my eye. Noah's death was on my hands. If I hadn't been so careless, he would have lived to see another day, and to meet another woman. He deserved better. He deserved the best. 

I should have kept my secret.

I knew it was risky to hold so much in my possession. I knew it was a terrible idea to take a spouse when I was holding the destiny of an empire in my fingertips. Mounds upon mounds of evidence had all been burned last night, and they forced me to watch. That was when the last of my hope was extinguished. But they could never steal the words from my lips. The thought made me smile. I would still know the truth, even after I was dead. 

I would still hold something over the monarchy.

Noah's hand crept across the stage, reaching for me. I met him halfway, squeezing his hand as if the world depended on it. It might. The slow clicks of Death's iron-clad feet stepped between me and my significant other, his axe being dragged behind him. I always knew the axe was insanely big, but I never realized exactly how big until I was look directly at it. The blade had to be the size of a large dog, and there was one on each side. It was made of diamond and of platinum, amethyst encrusting the handle. 

It will be painful, Naomi, Death said. He didn't actually have a voice, so he talked telepathically. The sensation was horrible. An awful tingling up my spine and a heavy pressure in my head. The sound was hoarse, and deep. 

"As if I didn't know!" I laughed, keeping my brow pressed against the ground. "Of course it will be painful. An axe will be bearing down on me." 

"You best learn to keep your mouth shut, Naomi," he said coolly. "You will have to one day." Turning towards our audience, the Executioner raised his axe before swinging it down with a loud clunk. 

Projecting to everyone, Death said, "We join together this morning to witness the execution of Naomi Benedict and Noah Benedict for treason. Let this be a lesson to you all that the crown cannot, and will not be stopped. Learn your place and stick to it. Now," he turned to us, tugging on a heavy chain. His bony fingers wrapped around the hilt of his weapon, each one producing a clack that seemed to echo in my mind. "Which of you goes first?"

"Me," I said immediately. "I go first."

"Wrong." If Death could smile, he would have in that moment. He raised his axe and a scream ripped from my throat as the blade tore through Noah. My eyes watered as my lover's body went still beside me, his hand becoming relaxed in mine. I didn't even have a face to stare at, as his head had rolled across the stage. I slumped against the ground, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. "This is what people like you get. Suffering. Pain before death."

I summed up all I had left in me and spit on his feet, glaring up at him. I used the back of my shackled hand to wipe the rest of the spit from my face. "What did you do? Every executioner has been executed. I know for a fact you're not an exception to the rule."

"It doesn't matter what I did," Death said, his laugh resonating in my head. 

"Just enlighten me. If it doesn't matter, it shouldn't bother you."

He stared down at me for a moment, raising his axe and resting it on his shoulder. "If you must know, it was attempted regicide." I watched him coolly for a moment before cracking a smile. It felt wonky on my face, but it felt good to smile.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. You have no idea what I'm sentencing you to." 

I pressed my nose against the ground, readying myself. "I was doomed from the moment I was born."

And then there was nothing. Absolute nothing. Nothing but two broken people on a stage. Nothing but a crowd blanketed in sorrowful silence. Nothing but the shing of an axe as Death walked away.

I supposed my secret would never get told. Not that my secret could mean much when I was dead. After all, a princess can't rule from the grave, can she?