Falling of the Stars

Chapter 5 - Rowena

The next week went by in a blur. I spent the days with Prince Phillip, who teased and flirted with me to no end. His infectious smile made my icy heart thaw little by little the more time we spent together. I really hated to admit it.

We did have a day that we simply kept a companionable silence as we read our own books, occasionally sneaking glances at one another. The next, we played billiards, and darts, and other mindless games to pass the time. The day after that, we walked all over the grounds and the gardens, Phillip demanding that I give him a tour personally and stop in all of my favorite places. They were some of the most relaxed and peaceful days I've spent in quite a long time, and not feeling so alone... it made it all the more sweet.

He asked about Eldoria inbetween, my countries customs, the people, everything.

When I had inquired why he wanted to know increasingly more specific things, he had given me a dashingly boyish smile and had merely said, "They're about to be my people too. I want to make sure they know who to trust," and after a moment he quickly glanced at me almost sheepishly, as if shy to finish with, "Us."

I couldn't deny that.

He asked about me a lot. About my family, to share more personal things I had yet to tell, and pushed in ways that made me want to chip away at the negative feelings I had.

I eventually came to the conclusion that he probably was just as unhappy about this marriage as she was, but only one of them was handling it with grace and a smile and actually was trying.

I felt like I could at least offer the same sentiment, but while I offered small smiles and shared laughs and little tidbits about myself here and there, I never forgot to remind him what was underneath all the pleasantry.

Occasionally he'd push a little too hard with his nearness, his questions. Always pushing my boundaries. I'd snap at him with teeth and claws, before covering it up with a disingenuously beautiful smile. He would grin like a fiend in response. As if he enjoyed that side of me more, but never made any comment of it as he'd take the hint and back off in any way I silently requested.

I respected him for that, at the very least. I knew plenty of the other princes certainly wouldn't take a hint.

Then suddenly, it was the day before the wedding. I was meant to keep to myself as much as possible, as any dutiful bride would, to be mentally and physically preparing myself to be given away. Instead, I found myself in the library. My first most favorite place I had shown Phillip.

I wasn't exactly supposed to be here at this hour, as it was lunchtime and the many honored guests that were to attend the ceremony had started arriving yesterday. This would be the busiest time of day that they wandered the castle sightseeing and treat this trip as if they were on holiday. My mother and father kept them entertained though, having barely seen them, and I was to be kept hidden away.

I was a mysteriously, beautiful, prized jewel that had been auctioned away to the highest bidder.

But they wanted to keep the surprise of me, in all of my glory, exactly that. To as many people as possible, they wanted to surprise them with my infamous beauty and make this wedding the talk of the century, as they had done to my mother once.

She was beautiful. There was no other way to describe her. With her silken, golden hair, and large doe, honey colored eyes. Even in her mid-fifties now, she was gorgeous and looked far younger than she was by decades. She had a classically beautiful, elegant face, that had been compared to the staple of what the goddess of love might look like in the flesh.

I would agree I resembled her, but not in the way people liked to gossip and spread rumors as they had. I felt like everything about me was simply above average, but add a little bit of royal upbringing with all of the finery and glittering jewels, and people liked to claim a more dramatized description. Personally, I think they just like to look at the wealth and power and figure out what they could gain by complimenting me, more than anything.