The King is Dead, Long Live the King:  Ch1 -A TRR Fic (King Liam x Clara)

Rating – This contains sensitive issues regarding Constantines death and Liam’s suffering following that.  Angsty McAngsterson.

Disclaimer – Characters are Pixelberry’s, not mine, this is just for fun & I don’t make any money from it.  There is some direct text from Book 3, Chapter11

Writer’s Notes: So there are a few recent TRR events that have happened that just don’t tie in with my Istvan and Viktoria writings…  Basically they have now ended up in a really alternate universe lol – sorry you two…. Anyway the reason I’m wittering about this. I have a couple of fics I want to do, that do tie into the canon storyline.  The first of which being Constantine getting a ceiling dropped on him. I get the redemption arc of him sacrificing himself to save his son’s life, but I feel like his poor son’s had enough to deal with over the years without harbouring guilt that his father died to save him…  For shame PB, for shame. This is probably going to be maybe 8 parts long.

So after talking it out with the lovely @littleblossom-18, I have gone ahead and written this as Liam and Clara (MC) for the sake of differentiation between these and my two other main wee lovelies Istvan and Viktoria.  Hope that makes sense! And hope you enjoy friends – VP 💖

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The explosion rocks the palace sending a mass of rubble falling right above Liam!  It all happens so quickly, Constantine yells,

“No!”

Liam stands frozen as Clara shrieks,

“Liam!”

unable to reach her fiance, enveloped by a cloud of dust.    What seems like an eternity later, when visibility returns, Clara sees Liam standing a few feet away from the collapsed ceiling, a pile of rubble where he had been positioned moments before.  Liam’s elegant red uniform now chalky with plaster dust, colour drained from his face as thought he’d seen a ghost, a cry of

“Father!”

leaving his throat. Regina has watched in horror as the whole scene unfolded from a distance, her screams of

“Constantine!”

ring out around the ballroom.

 

Under the rubble, Constantine lies motionless.  Liam and Leo rush over and throw pieces of debris until they can drag him out.  Constantine gasps and wheezes,

“Come now, this is a better end than an old man like me could’ve hoped for.   The chance to die a hero instead of on a hospital bed.”

Constantine coughs, a trail of blood leaking out of his mouth.  Liam whispered with tears in his eyes, crouched over his father,

“You shouldn’t have sacrificed yourself. Not for me.”

His father smiled a wincing smile, gripping Liam’s hand,

“Liam…  You’re Cordonia’s future. You are Cordonia. Everything I did, it was for you… Whether or not it was right. Goodbye… My sons.”

Liam’s voice, barely audible,

“I love you, Father.”

Constantine smiles as his wheezing slows…  And slows… And stops…

Leo stands there, a hand raking through his blonde hair, chest rising and falling heavily.

Liam’s free hand flies to cover his mouth, a guttural sob involuntarily leaving his throat.  His pale eyes flick upwards to Clara. She crosses the space, getting down on her knees beside him as she wraps him in a tight embrace. Liam’s face is buried against her neck, he’s shaking and she can feel his hot tears against her skin.  

“It’s ok Liam, it’s ok…”

she whispers soothingly, knowing that it’s not. How can it be? How can it ever be ok again after this? By now, the security team has whirled into action, trying to clear the area and escort everyone to safety.  Clara signals to Bastien,

“I need to get him out of here, now.”

She rises, helping Liam to his feet, his strong frame weakened with shock, effortlessly led by her movements without question like a child. Bastien grips her arm,

“Panic Room, at the end of the hall.  Go now, Antonio will escort you.”

Clara wraps one arm around Liam’s back and starts to lead him out of the room. Liam becomes agitated as he realises they’re exiting the ballroom,

“My Father, I can’t just leave him there! Clara I need to go back, we can’t just leave him alone in there!”

He tries to break free of Clara’s grasp, struggling to make his way back. Clara manages to get in front of him, gripping the lapels of his dust-covered jacket,

“Liam! Liam! Listen to me, Liam. You can’t do anything else, I need to make sure you’re safe now Please baby, please just come with me.”  

She searches his eyes anxiously, reaching up and cupping his pale cheek in her palm, running the other hand through his wavy dark blonde hair,

“Please?”

Liam nods as she grasps his hand, half-dragging him the rest of the way to the small secure space. Once inside, Clara grabs a couple of bottles of water from the small fridge, pressing one into Liam’s hand as she helps him to sit with her on the small armchair facing the monitors.  He’s still shaking as he curls into her body, his head resting against her chest as she gently runs her thumb across his face, bending down to place soft kisses in his hair, trying anything she can think of to soothe him.

“How did this happen Clara? This is my home. It was my Father’s home. Someone came here, and killed my Father, in his own home… It’s like losing my Mother all over again. This isn’t right Clara… How could…”  

Liam’s voice trailed off, lost in his own thoughts.

For the next couple of hours, Clara held Liam close as he wept waiting for the OK to leave the Panic Room.  When news finally came, Lady Clara was advised that the palace was fully secure and it would be ok to go back to their rooms. Liam looked at Clara, his voice small,

“What about my Father?”  

Clara took her fiance’s hand in hers,

“Li, they’ve taken him to the mortuary…”

His eyes filled again as he looked to the ceiling, blowing out a shaky breath before nodding his understanding to Clara.  She wrapped her arms around his middle as she whispered to him,

“Come with me, you need to sleep , you’re exhausted Liam.”

She led him to his suite within the palace, closely tailed by Antonio. Clara turned to the guard,

“Antonio, can I assume the King and I have your discretion?  I will be staying in his suite with him, he’s in no state to be left alone tonight, and I don’t give a rats ass about propriety after what’s happened this evening.”

Liam stood staring bereftly out of the window towards the maze. The young man nodded,

“Of course, Your Grace. If I’m not too forward, I don’t understand the issue, as you and the King will be wed imminently.  I will keep it between us and Bastien alone.”

Clara patted the guard’s shoulder as she unlocked the door to Liam’s quarters, helping him inside. She kicked off her high heels and set the kettle to boil in the small kitchen area before approaching Liam where he stood looking out of the French Doors of the balcony. Clara placed a hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch sharply,

“It’s just me baby, it’s only me.”

She stared into his beautiful blue eyes, they looked wild tonight as they flooded with tears once more, he breathed,

“It’s all my fault. They wanted me, not him.”

Clara leaned in and kissed his cheek as she whispered,

“Liam, stop it, it’s the terrorists fault, no one else’s. You couldn’t have known. I’m just so grateful that you aren’t hurt…”

They stood in a silent embrace for what seemed like eternity before Clara heard the kettle click off.  She helped Liam out of his ruined jacket as she walked with him to the bathroom,

“Get in the shower, I’ll have some tea ready for you coming out.”

A weak smile played across Liam’s perfect lips,

“Clara… I don’t know what I did to deserve you, my love. You take such good care of me.”

She frowned at him,

“I love you Liam, I’m always going to look after you… I could have lost you tonight.”

As Clara poured the hot, sweet tea, she could hear him sobbing in the shower as though his heart was broken.  He was sobbing to the point where she was beginning to panic that he would choke. Quickly sticking her head out the door, Clara advised Antonio that she would need the palace doctor to drop off something to take the edge off things for Liam this evening.  She decided to let him grieve privately for a short while, but if he started to sound worse, she was going in there… Clara removed her sparkling ruby gown and found a t-shirt of Liam’s to use as a nightshirt, turning down the sumptuous bed sheets for them.  A short time later he appeared wearing just a white fluffy towel, water still glistening on his upper body. Under normal circumstances Clara would find it very difficult to control herself, to stop herself from pouncing on him when they were alone together, but tonight he looked so vulnerable, so lost, even if it would temporarily distract them both and make them feel good, it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do.  She walked over to where he stood, his pale skin pink from the tears that were still silently falling from his gorgeous blue eyes. She reached up, caressing his cheek in her hand, smiling softly at him,

“Liam… Baby, come here…”

Clara embraced him tightly, her arms wrapped around his broad back, one hand reaching up, soothingly stroking the short hair at the nape of his neck. Liam buried his face in her shoulder as she placed gentle kisses into his hair.  Raising his head and smiling wearily, trying to restore some sort of normality to the evening, he played with the end of her golden fishtail braid as he murmured,

“My t-shirt looks better on you, my love.”

Clara scrunched up her nose and kissed him cheek, teasingly, admonishing him,

“Liam, you silver-tongued devil…”

A knock on the door broke their embrace, it was Antonio, he spoke in a low voice, letting Clara know that the doctor had just arrived and would be with them in ten minutes, she thanked him and closing the door, she turned to see her fiance in his robe, out on the balcony, holding tea, staring into space.  Clara followed him out,

“Liam? Come inside… Liam?”

He looked a million miles away as she wrapped a slender olive arm around his strong frame,

“Baby, you’ll catch a cold out here.”

Liam turned to look at Clara and nodded as she gave him a concerned look. He took her hand, running his thumb over her engagement ring as he sighed,

“Clara, are you sure you want to marry me?  To be thrust into all of this?”

Clara’s dark brown eyes widened,

“Liam, please… I want more than anything to be your wife! Don’t think for a minute that what happened tonight changes that! I love you!”

Liam frowned at her, a sadness emanating from him,

“My love, my Father has been murdered in his own home by terrorists who wanted me. My dear mother was poisoned by the enemy…  She was a beautiful, kind, artistic soul Clara; she never hurt anyone… But they killed her anyway. Clara, what sort of life is it for a wonderful young woman like you, to walk around with a target on your back, to always be watching over your shoulder? I have no choice, but you, my love? I’d understand if you decided this isn’t for you…”

Clara’s bottom lip quivered as she looked at him, her voice barely a whisper,

“Are you breaking things off with me Liam?”  

He shook his head and sighed, squeezing her hand tightly,

“Clara that’s the last thing I want. But my Father died for me. I’m going to live my whole life with the weight of that on my shoulders. I need to know, that if you are going to be my wife, your eyes are wide open…”

Clara pushed him hard in the shoulder, hurt,

“Have I not already proved myself to you Liam Rhys?? Everything I went through to be your fiancée! I love you! You’re all I want, despite all the dangers that come with the monarchy!!”  

He clutched her hand, unballing her fist,

“Clara, I’m sorry, of course you’ve proven yourself. I just want to protect you…”

Clara’s heart cracked in two as she looked at him, still so young but so broken in this moment: Liam had dealt with more in his twenty-six years than most people had to deal with in a lifetime. She understood why he was saying this, and it made her love him even more… She whispered,

“I know, I know… I’m going nowhere Li…”

as she pulled him close to her as he melted into her touch: Clara never wanted to let go of him.    

 

TBC- VP <3