The Beasts Inside Us

@ BadStreetBoys

Everything seemed to happen so fast that Charlotte could barely comprehend what was going on. The moment she was covered in a strange, thick kind of liquid, she couldn't see. And the taste in her mouth was terrible. That was bad enough. But she suddenly felt her cloak getting ripped off of her and something else wrapped around her body. Arms followed the new fabric, wrapping around her. Charlotte was unsure of who it was but she could only assume that it was Ivan as she could still hear his voice barking at the knights and getting hurried into a carriage. It had to be their carriage, right?

The woman's body was shaking and she was doing her best to wipe the liquid off of her eyes. Finally she had gotten enough off to look at where she was and what was happening, but when she finally saw the liquid that was covering her, it struck her to her core. Blood. Tears immediately started to stream down her face as she tried to frantically get it all out of her mouth. Though her fingers were already covered in it from trying to remove it from her eyes. She ripped Ivan's jacket off of her, and used the clean fabric of it to wipe it out of her mouth and her face.

Though she was shaking harder than before, both from the pain she felt and the cold air wrapping around her. What had she done to deserve such torment? Why did they have to hate her so? Her eyes lifted up slowly to Ivan as he murmured to her, and she noticed the way that he looked at her. It only caused her to cry harder. "My clothes aren't wet, they're fucking bloody!" Charlotte cried out, her voice gravelly. As she said it out loud, Charlotte could feel her stomach twisting. "I-I-I" She looked down at the now bloody jacket she was holding in her hands before she just allowed it to drop from her hands. She had gotten off what she could from her face for now without water. Charlotte gripped onto her dress at her knees, where the blood had not reached. She leaned forward, her head dropping into her chest. She wanted to scream, to really scream. But instead she just buried her nails into her knees and just sobbed like a child. "I... I didn't b-bring extra clothes." She finally mumbled back to Ivan in regards to changing. She couldn't change until they got back to the castle.

@ Sweet.Persephone
Ivan had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to take care of the princess or calm her down. She hadn’t noticed yet what had happened and he kind of hoped she wouldn’t. But that was fruitless thinking and he swallowed hard as she opened her eyes. He didn’t know if he should be close and comfort her or back away and allow her to process it all on her own. Ivan decided to stay close. He grabbed his jacket from the floor and began to wipe the blood from off of charlotte as best as he could. He was truly disgusted with the act and whoever had been bold enough to do it. Anger spread across his face for a moment as he began to wipe it from her hair.

When the Princess leaned over, Ivan began to rub her back soothingly. He felt like an idiot. Not knowing what to do or how to fix the situation. Not only because of the attack but because he didn’t know how to comfort women. “It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay.” He mumbled, when he had scraped off whatever he could of the blood with his jacket he dropped it below them again. The man sat besides her, ultimately feeling useless. Ivan leaned down and put his body over hers. He was worried about the princess being wet and cold. Though he didn’t have body heat he could at least insulate her and keep whatever body heat she had in

The ride felt like it took forever. The Prince was steaming with anger as they got closer to the castle, anger stemming from the pain he felt. He knew he had no right to be in pain, he wasn’t attacked, he wasn’t hurt. This was a direct attack on Charlotte by his people. He was hurt because he may not have loved her but this was his wife and the people who loved him kept disrespecting her snd attacking her, in essence attacking him. He felt the slow of the carriage and was quick to work as they came to a stop. The man hopped out of the carriage and demanding the suit jacket from the nearest servant. He quickly made his way back to the carriage, helping the Princess form it. He wrapped the jacket around her and held the Princess close. He wasn’t sure if she would feel embarrassed but he didn’t want anyone to look at her as he hurried her into the castle and through the halls to their bedroom.

@ BadStreetBoys

The carriage ride had been terrible. Charlotte felt truly disgusting and her stomach was twisting every time she thought about the fact that she was covered in blood. That it had been in her eyes, her mouth. She tried her best not to think about it to avoid being sick but it was hard not to think about. When Ivan leaned down and moved his body over hers, Charlotte shifted until she was able to press her face and hands against his chest - at least at first. It was so cold. Though with Ivan not having any body heat himself to provide, she had to move and curl within herself to try and maintain what she had. Though she swore by the time they had gotten back to the castle that the chill had permanently entered her bones and her fingers were going to fall off.

When they arrived back to the castle, the princess was ready to book it to the room but Ivan had jumped out and back in so quickly. She couldn't get herself to move all that quickly either with how terrible she felt. Though Charlotte ended up being glad that was the case as Ivan wrapped a new suit jacket around her and hid her in it and in his body. Charlotte didn't want everyone to see what had happened but she was sure they would all find out eventually. Though they hurried through the halls of the castle until they had gotten into their bedroom. With how cold she was, Charlotte swore that his room was actually warm. Though once they were in the bedroom, Charlotte hurried into the bathroom, the door slamming behind her.

It took a long time before the princess ventured out of the bathroom. Even after she had gotten the blood off, she had worked on scrubbing at her hair and skin until she felt clean again. But Charlotte had realized that not even all the water in the world could have made her feel better, and now that her teeth had stopped chattering so hard and the blood gone there wasn't really a point in continuing to hide in the bathroom.

Though, despite coming out, Charlotte still felt icky. Her stomach was still twisting and turning. Although she was no longer shaking like a leaf, Charlotte still felt the chill in her bones. And her heart hurt. She had managed to finally stop the tears but that didn't change a thing. They really hated her. She had known that some would not like her. Charlotte had been hoping that the people who tried to kill her were just a small group of extremists. But this time it wasn't even that. This was just a public attack where the goal was to humiliate her. Charlotte had expected nasty looks or words. Hell, maybe a sign or two. But she hadn't been expecting this. Drenched in blood - Charlotte covered her mouth at the thought. She really needed to try not to think about it.

As she came out, Charlotte kept her eyes down and headed into the bed, hiding under the blankets. She didn't really want to talk and she still was trying to get the cold out of her.