Chapter 1

I stay deathly still, I forget to breathe, my eyes wide and my mouth open in shock. I do not cry, though I want to. My body will not obey as I hear those four words which will change my life forever. "Your mother is dead."

 It's been a year since then. As soon as I turned eighteen, I would marry. I would also have to have perfect manners, be able to dance, fight, and know how to run a kingdom. The sound of church bells woke me up. I fling out of bed only to be greeted by my maid, already waiting to strip me of my nightclothes. I gesture for her to put the clean outfit on my bed. With a flick of my finger she comes in. "So young and yet so wise" she says, trying to make polite conversation to distract me from the emptiness of the castle. The room had polished obsidian from the roof to the floor beside the door. I look at my reflection, red velvet cloak and a small gold crown atop my blonde hair.

I look at her. I never knew what my mother was like, just that she was almost as wise as I am. My father always said that I have her intelligence and more. I'm already sixteen. 'Today's the day' I think, as my maid finishes and wipes her hands. She looks at me as if she already knows what I'm going to do. "It's time," a deep voice says from behind the door. I smile nervously and take a deep and needed breath as I smile reassuringly at my maid's concerned look. "Just be yourself" she says with a bow, leaving me to change. I smile and nod up at her as I take a deep breath to prepare myself.

My father told me that it was time to move on, forget about the past. Easier said than done, but my father meant it and everyone agreed it was better for not only the kingdom, but also for the royal family. Moving on meant a new queen that everyone knew won the hearts of both my father and I, but it also meant forgetting mom forever, which wasn't hard for me since I barely knew her, but it was very difficult for my father. When my father finally got the ring, he told me who was going to be my new mom.

Father tells me as he starts to wrap up our private meeting. "Thank you father" I say, and bow as he dismisses me, I smile politely and walk away. I make my way to the first of the thousands of sixteen yr olds. I am supposed to talk with everyone before my father tells me who he's chosen. The first girl I walked up to in the room had a beast of a knight following close behind her. "Hello your majesty, I am Princess Aileen" the girl says with a small curtsey, her velvety red cloak dress matched my cloak and she had black hair with blue eyes.

I smirked. "Hello Princess Aileen. I am Prince Edward, but you may call me Ed," I said. Edward isn't my real name, but I only want my wife to know what that is. "Hello, Prince Ed" she said and looked around as she let a deep breath slowly out. "So, now what?" She asked. I knew from that, that she had never done this before. I look around at the other royals mingling as if they didn't care that they were being forced to marry "I am supposed to talk to everyone so what's your favorite color?" I asked her, she raised an eyebrow "that is the first question you ask your potential queen? Fine then. Blue, what is The first word that comes to mind when you look at me?" She asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. I stared at her blue eyes and all of the sudden I couldn't respond, I stood there trying to get a word out "uh.. wh….. re…" she interrupts my babble with a smile "speechless, well I guess I know you like me," she says and walks away, I instinctively reached out as if I could reach her "what just happened?" I asked myself aloud "you like her" a voice sounded behind me, I instinctively moved to an attack position.

 I instantly lowered my guard "father" I bowed "I made the right decision," he replied "you mean?" I asked, my father cut me off "yes. She's the one I chose to be your wife.. she comes from another part of England that agreed to ally with us when you marry" he informed. I felt nervous and excited, I didn't expect to like the girl he chose. I nodded and went to say my introduction to the other royals.

The rest of the royals from the other castles and countries seemed boring, all they did was talk about themselves and how much better their land is compared to mine. It was so mentally exhausting that by the end of the day all I wanted to do was sleep, my mind drifted to the one my father picked for me.

I didn't get to talk to her, I groaned at the thought that she would be just like the others. I was dressed for bed and alone, I looked at the small photo of me, my dead mom, and my dad I kept in the closet. The picture hung in the back, in the center of the closet. I smiled sadly, I wished for a moment I got to know what she was like before exiting the bathroom.

I laid in bed and as I was drifting off to sleep, my mind drifted to thinking about the last time I saw my mom. I was only five, I ran to her in the field with a smiling face and held out a sunflower. She smiled down at me and kissed my forehead, then my mind went fuzzy. I couldn't remember anymore as I fell asleep.

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