Be My Princess [Editing]

I Know You . . .

Chapter 1

It had been nearly 9 years since that fateful day the young prince entered the town. I still thought about it, on nights we'd sleep out under the stars. I'd see his face, frozen in time...I'd see that smile that could melt just about anyone. The conviction with which he'd spoken. The promise he'd made. I could remember it all as if it was yesterday.

By now I'd accepted it for what it was, a childish fantasy and the fickle nature of childhood. The Prince had come into town once upon a time and thought he'd seen something he liked. Years of real worldly exposure and no doubt more princesses than he could remember and it was a surety he'd long since forgotten the dirty, whimpering street girl he'd likely saved the unpleasantness of a black eye.

If I tried hard enough, I could remember the clothes he'd been wearing and the shape of the dagger he'd pulled from his belt. It's funny, those details never left but if you asked me what guards had arrived in the alley way with him or what I'd been wearing, I wouldn't know what to say.

I wasn't a child anymore, not in the way some considered a girl of 17 to be. I didn't sit around pining after fancy dresses. My hair was among the least of my concerns. I didn't spend my days daydreaming about the handsome prince locked away in his castle tower or other frivolous things that an easy upbringing might encourage.

Survival; that was the word solidly etched into my mind. Each day was about survival, not only for myself but for everyone else in the group.

Over the years, our small family had grown, not only in age but in number. All without a family or a place to call home. All forced to find home and family in each other.

It wasn't so bad.

Our raids were more sophisticated, the stares we received each time we went into the village all the more contemptuous. We were hooligans. Scoundrels. Rats. Leeches. Parasites. According to one Priest, we were the result of a God less past and were what the kingdom was doomed to become if they didn't turn to faith. There was something to be said about being held as an example for others. It'd been an interesting feeling, to say the least.

Occasionally, the King would still grace us lowly common folk with his presence and on the particularly rare occasions, he would be joined by his Queen—but never the Prince. We all wondered why but none of us cared enough to try finding out. There was much too much to do to be sitting around worrying about the lavish life of a prince who was far better off than the rest of us. His breakfast could keep us fed for a week, we were sure. His bedroom, we suspected his bedroom could house us all. I confess, there were times we'd sit around idly after a successful raid, eating our spoils and making wild speculations about the royal family but on an average day, we were much too busy.

On that day in particular, we'd made grand plans to swipe ourselves a mini-feast from the palace itself. The stony fortress with walls that once seemed impenetrable was now under consideration. We had enough "soldiers", we had a solid plan and most importantly, we had a craving for particularly rich food. Why should they be the only ones to eat well, had been the reasoning. Samuel had thought up the idea but it was Chloe who gave it the okay.

After our old leader left us to find proper work, it'd been unanimously decided that Chloe would take the reins. Her rise to leadership had gone relatively opposition free. The years of hardship had turned her into the sort of leader we'd all thought we needed and for the most part, she hadn't let us down. Chloe made the tough decisions that no one else wanted to make and she did so without flinching.

Sometimes, at night, huddled together in our tent, I could see the way the years had worn her down. I could see that in some ways, she wasn't the vibrant little girl who marched eagerly through the village as if it would all belong to her. Make no mistake, her confidence had gone nowhere. She was still as brash and as bold as the day she'd sprung into this world but there was something different about her...something dark and heavy.