VOTE FOR ROYAL DUTY

Hey all!!

So someone - no idea who - has nominated Royal Duty for fic of the week over at The Lemonade Stand!

Got the e-mail when I woke up this morning, got to say it made my day :D:D

I'd really appreciate it if y'all took a wee moment to go on over to The Lemonade Stand and vote! If you go to the right hand side of the page, you'll find all the fics up for it this week :D

I'm quite a bit behind at the moment, so if you could spread the word, that'd be great!!

Thank you to everyone who's reading and recc'ing, I freaking love you all :D:D

Sarah xx

Royal Duty, Ch.12 TEASER :)

Hey all!!

So it hasn't been too long at all!! :D:D

I hope you all had wonderful Christmas' and New Years! Welcome to 2013!!!

My first chapter of the new year...I do hope you enjoy it :)

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Chapter 12 - How Do We Know?

“Bella! I can’t believe it took me so long to get here. I’m so sorry! I thought after the ball last night that a lie-in was expected of everyone! I didn’t hear what happened until I ran into Sue in the kitchens! Jasper got me here as soon as he could.”

As she sat beside me, I raised my eyebrows in curiosity, wondering just how close her and Jasper had become overnight.

“Did he ride you here on a horse?” Rosalie snorted from my other side.

Alice looked bashful as she smiled at my little sister, remembering too late the crush I’d informed her Rosalie had been harbouring for years.

“I got here as quickly as I could,” Alice answered instead. “How is he? What’s happening?”

I shook my head, tired and thankful for my friend’s arrival as she looped her arm through mine and squeezed.

“They took him away when we arrived. I haven’t seen him or Ben since.”

“But that was hours ago!”

I held her back when I felt her pulling away from me.

“We’ve all tried Alice, there’s no use. We might be royalty, but they aren’t telling us anything. We’re just another family when we’re in here. They don’t need to treat us differently.”

“I suppose if they’re too busy looking after Edward to come and tell us anything, it’s a good thing. At least we know he’s in the best hands.” Rosalie’s voice floated softly from where she’d moved to the other side of the waiting room.

I looked up and found her staring longingly at the door, as if wishing it to open.

“They won’t let anything happen to him,” she said next, conviction lacing her tone as she nodded to herself and looked back at me. In that moment I came to realise that, somehow, his coming back to us was as important to her as it was to me.

Alice was next to speak, her eyes boring into the side of my head as if willing me to believe their words. “This is Edward, Bella. He’s a fighter.”

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Should be up tomorrow at the latest!! :D:D xx

Royal Duty Ch.11 TEASER :)

Oh Em Gee, there's going to be two different fic updates in less than three days!!!

How exciting...well, it is for me anyways :D

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Royal Duty, Chapter 11 - A Royal Illness

The morning light pouring through the giant windows of Edward’s room pierced my eyelids, and I rolled over with a groan.

It was too bright, and it felt like I’d barely fallen asleep when it awakened me.

Even with my eyes closed, it felt like it was burning my retinas, causing way too much pain. It wasn’t until I opened them that I realised it wasn’t just the light; my head was pounding, and my mouth was dry.

Then I remembered that I hadn’t fallen asleep all that long ago, and I remembered the reason why: Edward’s confessions.

I turned my head on the pillow, my eyes drinking in the sight of a pale, very still Edward. The sheets around him were soaked with sweat; his hair was plastered to his head, and his skin was clammy. In the short hours I’d been afforded some sleep, whatever was wrong with him seemed to have only gotten worse.

The clock on his bedside table told me it was a little after six, and while it seemed obscenely early to me, I knew the palace would be stirring and that I wouldn’t sleep a wink more.

My head was wild with thoughts and emotions, concern for my fiancé overriding anything and everything that I had soaked in the night before. I should have been clued in that worrying for his wellbeing trumped everything else I should have been feeling.

I’d been lied to, for years. I’d been foolish, naïve and stupid. My life had been turned upside down by something I hadn’t had a say in and turned again when my parents made a decision without informing me of its consequences.

I couldn’t lock myself in the room and hate the world. I couldn’t blame everyone for ruining my life the way I wanted to. No, some of it was on me.

I shook my head, thoughts of children’s laughter and secret hideaways morphing into all those stolen looks I’d caught Edward sending my way when he thought I wouldn’t notice. All the times he’d stuck up for me with wedding details when it seemed no one else was listening. All the times he made me feel special in just one night at the party, despite having the onset of some illness.

I hadn’t been blind to any of it; I’d just told myself not to notice, that Edward was the bad guy in the whole situation. I’d been stupid. I’d treated him like he didn’t matter, to the point where he believed that maybe he didn’t.

Dismissing the fact that I still had the previous night’s makeup on, my hair still pinned, and my pyjamas on, I left Edward’s suite and made my way to Sue to enquire about a doctor.

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Should be up tomorrow all being well! :D

See you soon xx

FMN Ch.50 Teaser :):)

Oh Dear Lord!

It is the season for miracles after all, so that must be what this is! Can you believe your eyes?? It's a Forget Me Not chapter!!!!!!!

Little teaser to whet your appetites, the chapter should be up no later than Wednesday!!!

Happy reading! If there's any of you left out there!!

xx

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Chapter 50 - Just A Phone Call Away

Would it be okay if I called you? E

And then again, signalling the arrival of another one.

Friends call each other, right? I don’t know anymore… E

Even in his simple texts I could feel his confusion and heartache, and it made the pain in my chest intensify. Instead of thinking about the consequences or texting him an answer, I let my thumb hover over his name before pressing the call button.

It only rang two times before he picked it up.

“Hey,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

My throat completely closed over at the sound of his broken voice and the silence amplified the beating of my heart in my chest.

“Bella?” he asked, concern taking over in his tone, giving me the push I needed to actually answer him.

“Hi…” I sounded pathetic, but I had no idea how unprepared I was for so simple a thing as a phone call until it was happening.

His answering sigh let me know that even my pathetic greeting was enough. It helped ease the pain slightly, knowing that even the sound of my voice seemed to make whatever he was going through even a little more bearable.

“You’re not busy are you?”

I held back the laugh that wanted to bubble out of me. Since I’d cut him out of my life, I’d barely been able to fill up the hours in my day.

“Oh, you know. Lying in the dark contemplating life…” I wanted to face-palm so badly, but held it back and bit my tongue. I wasn’t quite sure how Edward would take such a strange answer.

When there was no answer, I whispered his name into the darkness, relishing the way my skin tingled and my mouth dried up at the mere mention of his name after so long.

“Tell me,” I whispered, no longer afraid to hear just exactly what he was going through. If either of us was going to make it out the other side, we’d need to be strong enough to face things head on.

“Every time I close my eyes I have a nightmare. It’s usually the same one…my crash, only you’re in the car, too, and no matter what I do, I can’t get you out in time. I can’t close my eyes without hearing you screaming, I can’t sleep without waking up screaming myself. Kate says I need to feel it, but there’s only so many times I can handle the thought of you dying only to wake up and realize it didn’t happen, Bella.”

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Ahhhhh, thank you all individually from the bottom of my heart if you're still with me on this! Your patience has been tried and tested many times! xxxxxx

Royal Duty Ch.10 Teaser :D

Hey all!!

So, here's the teaser I promised you! Hope you all enjoy it and look forward to what it suggests is coming!

I'm excited for y'all to read the chapter :):):)

Onwards...

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Chapter 10 - Incoherent Truths

I felt a tug on my train and turned, puzzled. Rosalie and Alice were at the side of the altar in their places, and everyone else should have been sitting. There was nothing in my line of sight, but when I looked down, there was a gorgeous little boy sitting on the train of my dress, grinning a gap-toothed smile up at me.

The congregation was chuckling at the sweet little boy in his mini tux and bowtie, and I couldn’t help but join them. I was confused though, there were no children of that age at the ceremony, and I wasn’t sure what he was doing there.

Edward surprised me by letting go of my hand and stooping down to pick up the boy.

“Kiddo, what are you doing? You’re going to ruin Mama’s dress!”

I felt faint as I listened to his sugared tones speak those particular words. Mama? I had a son? We had a son?

“Edward?” I whispered, uncertainty clouding my tone.

“Don’t worry; I’ll give him to my mother.” He winked at me before turning back to the boy. “You’ll behave for Mummy and Daddy won’t you?” The little person nodded enthusiastically and giggled when the mass of people behind him chuckled again.

I followed my eyes to Edward’s parent’s in the front row, sitting alongside my mother with a little baby girl in her arms. My eyes widened as Edward made his way back to me, childless.

“They’ll be just like us one day. Only brother and sister. Not future husband and wife…” I laughed at the adorable frown on my husband’s face as he realised what he’d said.

I awoke, startled, just as my dream Edward pressed his lips to my cheek. A dark room and Edward’s scent and warmth invaded my senses as I slowly remembered where I was.

I froze in place, realising Edward’s arm was around my waist, and the real man had just placed a kiss on my cheek like his dream counterpart.

 

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It should be up soon!! :D

xx

FMN Ch.50 Teaser :)

Yes, you read that correctly!! :D

After months of nothing, I am working on chapter 50! Can't believe there are that many chapters, and that we've been on this journey for so long!

I want to thank you all for sticking with me, I do know it's been a very long time since we started out and that your patience has been tested many times!

I can't give you a date as to when this chapter will be posted, but I'm 3000 words into it so it shouldn't be too long!

In the meantime, enjoy this little tease, and I'll speak to you all soon!

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Chapter 50 - Just a Phone Call Away

My phone buzzed quietly from somewhere beside my ear and I rolled over, searching blindly on top of the covers for the little device. The screen lit up as I flipped it open, and everything around me just seemed to pause. I could no longer hear my dad or even the storm.

Edward had sent me a text.

My hands started to tremble as I remembered the last texts I had received from him. Sure enough, they were still there, three separate little bubbles of text one after the other.

I miss you.

I love you.

I’m sorry.

The newest one sat there underneath them, all innocent and innocuous. Just my name with a question mark, as if he wasn’t sure that was still my number. Granted, I could have changed it, so maybe he really was that unsure, but something told me he had no idea how else to start up a conversation, and giving the way I’d ended things and avoided him for weeks, I couldn’t exactly blame him.

It had been four days since our talk in the quad. I had spent my weekend in Port Angeles with Rose, first on Saturday shopping for a graduation dress, and again on Sunday with Alice too, both of them just spending an obscene amount of money on whatever grabbed their attention.

Alice said she just wanted to get out of the house. I was too chicken to ask her why. Rose never needed a reason to spend money. I was treated to lunch and we even had our nails done in a salon owned by one of Rose’s aunts.

Edward hadn’t come back to school after the weekend, and I knew it was because he was having a bad day. I hardly saw Alice all day, so I didn’t get to act on my new resolution to ask her how he was doing as often as I could.

But he was reaching out. He initiated our “friends” relationship by sending me a seemingly random text, but if he was having a bad day, then it was obvious it meant far more to him than that if he got a reply. My fingers could barely hit the right keys as I replied.

 

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xx

Breaking the Radio Silence...

Hey all!

If there is in fact anyone ledt out there!!

I know we've been through this before, and I can only apologise, but I hope for those of you who have been with me long enough, you know that I don't leave you hanging for no reason, and I will always come back to my writing!

For those of you reading Royal Duty - which is quite a large number - I'd like to let you know that the next chapter is currently with the beta and I hope to have it up in the next 10 days at most...before then there will be a teaser and I hope you don't miss it :D

Thank you to everyone who's sent me little messages to check in and encourage me through, you are all fabulous readers and I cherish you all :D

So keep your eyes peeled for the teaser very soon :D

xxx