Chapter 3

“So, what will you do?“ Annabelle asked as she glanced at Jared who was lying on the couch in Ken’s bedroom with his sister sitting close to Annabelle. Those two had always been friends, thick as thieves, and they had made it their life’s mission to succeed in giving Ken and Jared a heart attack one of these days. Well, it would now only be Ken dealing with them since he was going to be in another kingdom, and he would not be able to deal with their antics from there.

“What can I do other than get married,“ Jared said with a sigh as his sister shot him a glare.

“You are going to be a king—the least you could do is act a little excited over that fact. Besides, the princess got the worst part of the deal,“ Jasmine said with a frown at her brother.

“What the heck are you talking about? She acts like you, and I am sure that is the worst part of the deal.“ Jared glared at his sister.

“Please, like that is possible. There is nothing wrong with the way I am; I am lovable. You are the only one who has a problem with it,“ Jasmine returned, and when Jared opened his mouth to counter Jasmine, Ken purposely cleared his throat.

“Can you two act your age? Whenever I see you two, I am grateful that I am an only child,“ Ken said with a grimace as his wife smiled at her husband. Ken grinned at his wife’s amusement, moved to her side, draped an arm over her shoulders, then drew her close to him while retaining his position. The end result was a loving embrace.

“Imagine, brother. That will be you in two years’ time,“ Jasmine said with a devious smile on her face, hoping to make her brother scared. Instead, Jared looked at his best friend who had been nothing but ridiculously happy since Annabelle gave birth to their son. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to be married.

“It won’t be a bad place to be in,“ Jared muttered instead as Jasmine stared at him in shock.

“I cannot stand you all right now. It is like everything is changing. Including the person who was always scared of marriage. Next thing we will see is me falling in love, blah!“ Jasmine ranted.

“I have never been scared of marriage, sister. I just didn’t want to tie myself down to somebody for life,“ Jared corrected, then he couldn’t resist adding. “Besides, you don’t need to worry about falling in love. Even if you do, no man will willingly want to tie himself to you. “

Jasmine looked miffed at her brother but did nothing to correct his statement which made Jared frown. It seemed like Jasmine had a fear of not being marriageable. Jared made sure to note it in his head to have a talk with his sister before he left for his next part of his life.

“So, stop keeping us in suspense. What did you and Queen Mirabelle decide on?“ Annabelle asked.

“We decided that I should stay here for a week to finish up anything, and when the week is over, I will move to Asteria and familiarize myself with the kingdom before fixing the wedding date officially. “

“What is the unofficial date?“ Jasmine asked “Five weeks from now,“ Jared replied his sister.

“Will you be okay?“ Annabelle asked Jared.

“Why wouldn’t I be?“ Jared asked in return.

Ken didn’t say anything. He just looked at his friend and hoped that Alexandra was going to be the girl to make Jared open his heart again. He had heard about the bratty heir of Asteria. Most people were not sure if she was a girl or a boy, but he knew Alexandra when they were small, before she started to destroy all separate standards between a girl and a boy. One thing he was sure that remained the same with Alexa was her stubbornness. He hoped that Alexa remained the same way because he knew that she would be too stubborn to allow Jared to be anything but in love with her. He just hoped that she would have enough motivation to make that her goal.

“When is the Queen leaving?“ Ken asked when he realized he has been lost in his thoughts for a while.

“She said that she is leaving tomorrow, and then in six days’ time, I will leave instead of the agreed seven days,” Jared said as they all turned to look at him.

“Why would you do that?” Jasmine asked with a frown.

“So that I can catch the princess unaware and see how she is on a normal day,” Jared said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“She is going to hate you,“ Jasmine stated.

“She is going to marry me either way,“ Jared replied.

“Don’t worry about the hate. I think she already does hate him for being perfect in her mother’s eyes,“ Annabelle said as Jasmine nodded in agreement.

************************

Queen Mirabelle arrived at her home weary to the bone and hoping she did the right thing.

“Mother, I cannot believe that you would travel and not tell me, your only child,“ Alexa said, striding towards her mother with her arms wide open as if she wanted to hug her.

“Behave like a lady,“ Queen Mirabelle said in a warning tone as Alexa scoffed but obeyed her mother. Instead of giving her mother the bear hug she wanted to give her, she gave her mother a light one with kisses on her mother’s cheeks.

“Now, that was better wasn’t it?“ the queen asked her daughter who rolled her eyes at her mother.

“Where did you go, Mother? Father refused to tell me anything. He said that you are the one who is supposed to tell me,“ Alexa said as her mother proceeded inside.

“I will tell you tomorrow, Alexandra. Today, I need to rest.“

“But, Mother, I have been in suspense for the past two days,“ Alexa complained, and when her mother turned to face her, she corrected herself. “I will see you in the morning for breakfast, Mother,” she said with a curtsy as her mother nodded.

As the Queen left, the princess’s maid who was also dressed the way the princess was dressed approached her mistress. “What is going on? She seems like she is resigned or something.“

The maid answered the princess. “Well, it could be that Her Majesty was just tired”

The princess frowned. “No, that is not it “

“Maybe what she went for did not yield the results she wanted,” the maid suggested.

“No, that is not it either. She would have been spitting mad, but she isn’t,“ the princess said.

“Well, we will know what happened tomorrow at breakfast but for now, it would be better if you went and changed. Your father has banned you from wearing trousers to the dinner hall and scaring the guests.“

“But there are no guests now,“ Alexa complained.

“I cannot do anything about the ban—only your father and mother can do something about the ban,” her maid said. “We better go before you are late.”

“Fine,“ the princess said as she followed her maid to her chambers to get ready.

“What did you just say,“ Alexa asked her mother in a deadly calm tone.

Her mother drank her tea before answering her daughter. “You heard me the first time, but in case you did not, I will repeat: your husband-to-be is arriving in a week.“

“I don’t have a husband-to-be. I am not engaged,“ Alexa said.

“Well, not yet, but you will be as soon as he arrives,“ the Queen said as she waited for Alexa to grasp what she just said. She didn’t have to wait long because the next second, Alexa banged the table with her fists. “I am not getting married.“

“You are getting married, preferably before three months,“ the queen said as her daughter sat back in her chair.

“You cannot force me to get married,“ Alexa shouted.

“No, I cannot, but I can force you to give me heirs unless you want to reject the throne,“ the queen said.

“I don’t want to give up my birthright.“ Alexa looked positively sick at the thought. She glanced at her mother’s face and saw her mother wearing a hardened expression. Although Alexa did not remember the last time she cried, she knew that if she were to burst into tears at this very moment, her mother would not change her edict.

“Mother, why the talk of heirs and marriage all of a sudden?“ Alexa asked.

“You are in your twenties, and you think it is sudden?“ the queen asked her daughter.

“You should have been expecting this for a long time,” the queen said with dry humor.

“I thought that I would get to choose who I married.“

“You would have chosen the same person I did,” the Queen said, causing her daughter who angrily spit out a curse. “And that kind of behavior is not even going to repulse him, which is saying a lot since it repulses me. “

“I will change if that is what it takes for you to cancel this farce wedding you got planned in your mind,“ Alexa said.

The queen scoffed at that. There was no way her daughter would change what has been part of her since she was eight. “There is nothing you can do to change my mind. Start preparing for your marriage, and don’t disturb me. I am still trying to recover from my travel.“

Alexa felt a little shame at that. She knew her mother’s health was not so good, yet she was disturbing her mother with this. But this was her life her mother just finished planning without asking her if she was okay with the plan. “I won’t be civil to him.“

“He has already been warned,“ the Queen replied as Alexa stood up with a shriek. She usually tried her best not to act like a girl, but she needed an outlet for her anger. She could not flip the table in anger because her mother was still there; it would be too disrespectful. Even in anger, she was still respectful, and that thought made her angrier. There was nothing she could do to show it, so instead she yelled as loudly as she could. “Father!“ Then she stomped from the table to go search for her father.

The Queen released the breath she was holding in her. She could not believe how well her daughter took it. The queen knew better than to try and believe that was how far her daughter would take it. She knew that for the next three weeks minimum, her daughter would be walking around in a state of rage; she’d better assign guards to her daughter. Alexa had never needed them since she turned sixteen, but now the guards will be there to prevent her from doing something irrational.

Jared might be the right person for the kingdom of Asteria, but the Queen just hoped he might be the right person for her daughter too.

“Father!“ The king heard his daughter’s voice and knew that his wife must have told their daughter, and for once, he wished that he could lock himself in a place where nobody would be able to reach him.

Before he could think of a good excuse to tell his daughter about why she should get married, the door of his study opened with such force that it slammed against the door.

“Alexandra. “

“We have bigger things to worry about than manners right now. The Queen wants me to get married,“ Alexa said as she stomped to the front of her father’s desk then proceeded to pace around it. “I cannot get married to somebody I don’t know. Does she think that this a joke? Well, it is not funny because I am not laughing,“ Alexa ranted as her father used his hand to rub his brow.

“You cannot just barge into my study like that. Not even sons are not allowed to do that,“ the king said instead of responding to his child’s raving.

“Father, I am serious right now,“ Alexa cried.

“I know, and I think it is time that you settled down. You are going to be queen soon. You cannot just traipse around the kingdom in your trousers; it is not right.“

Alexa paused as she whipped around to look at her father. “Father, what is going on? Mother wants me to get married, and you are asking that I change who I am. What happened to the father who said that he’d rather have a daughter who could protect herself than one who was forced to act in a way she thought was dumb.”

“I believe it was a good idea then until you grew old enough to marry, but none of the lords in Asteria wants to marry you because you are better than them in some activities meant for men,” the king replied.

“It is not my fault that hunting and horse racing is in my blood,” Alexa grumbled as she sat down opposite her father with her hands folded under her chest.

“No, it is not your fault. It is mine for encouraging you to pursue it,“ the king said softly as Alexa turned to look at her father.

“Father, did something happen?“ Alexa asked.

“Nothing, dear,“ the king said with a sad smile. “Married life is not something to be scared of. You will learn to love the man. Besides, your mother had to go and look at him herself to see if he was going to be good for you,“ the king added as Alexa’s eyes narrowed.

“He will earn my respect all on his own, and when he does, it will be because I think he deserves it, not because my parents try to sway my opinion of him,“ Alexa said through gritted teeth as she stood up, bowed to her father, and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

The King sighed. When Alexa was younger, he had been happy that his daughter knew her mind and so she would be able to rule. He had raised her to be a king and not a queen, and now it was clear that when the person the queen chose for her husband arrived, the girl was going to set the castle on fire.