The Queen in the South

Midnight Meetings

I kept tossing and turning in bed.

I couldn't sleep.

Here I was thinking that a meeting with the king would put my mind at ease, but goodness how wrong I was.

I didn't expect the king to be so harsh.

Call me naive but I guess I was expecting a kind and understanding man especially after meeting Queen Sheila.

The king had threatened me. That was clear.

He had basically given me no choice.

I would have to marry Prince Aiden or lose him as an ally.

The thought made something want to claw through me.

What was I now? A prisoner?

They kept calling me a princess but all I had been feeling so far was trapped.

Was this what being royalty was really about?

Having no say in your life, whatsoever?

I got out of bed and walked to the wall that held the painting of my parents and me as a baby.

I had to live this life because I bore the Trescott name. Because I was a pure bender and the blood of kings and queens ran through my veins.

Would it have been different if they hadn't died?

Would they have still made me marry a man I did not even know.

Oh but if they were still alive, I would have known Prince Aiden because I would have grown up in this castle.

I would have known my duty and my responsibility from birth.

I would have been trained in their ways.

It's the people in Tren who I wouldn't have known.

Mama and Papa wouldn't have had to leave their lives in Trojan to move there.

I wouldn't have known Stella or Matilda or Mr Barnes, not Mishal nor Stefan... and definitely not Flint.

We would have never met.

I would have never set eyes on the beautiful boy with a knack for trouble who lived right next door to me.

I would never have kissed him or touched him...

He'd probably be with Kai or Stella...

Stella and Flint could be compatible if their need to be the centre of attention didn't get in the way all the time. They were both gorgeous and interesting people who were used to having people want to be around them.

Flint would still be Flint if he hadn't met me.

He has had more of an impact in my life that I have ever had in his.

That would have made this all the more easier, actually, if I had never met Flint.

If we had never fallen in love...

Mama always warned me.

I didn't understand it at the time. I had just thought she didn't like Flint for me.

When Flint first started showing interest, she warned me not to get too close.

Too attached.

I wish they had told me the truth then.

But would it really have stopped anything?

Would it have stopped the way we looked at each other, the way we smiled at each other? The way we had always known the other was meant to be with the other?