Royal Runaway

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jaylin! Madeline gasped as she watched Jaylin run down the aisle toward her. He looked... well he looked like he had been in jail. His clothes and face were dirty, his blonde hair was grown out and ascue, and he looked skinnier than normal. But he still looked like Jaylin. Her Jaylin.

Madeline rushed down the steps of the stage and run into Jaylin, wrapping her arms around him. "You're here," she whispered in his ear, tears threatening to escape her eyes.

Jaylin chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I am. And you're getting married and you're also apparently the a princess and queen to be of the country," he whispered back.

Madeline tried to pull herself away to look at him, but he wouldn't let her. "I'm not letting you get away again," he whispered, sending pleasant shivers down Madeline's spine.

"What is this?" shouted a voice behind them. The two stepped apart turned to see Quinten, looking very irritated and flustered. "Who are you and how dare you interrupt my wedding!"

Madeline glared it him. All the anger she had felt towards him rose up inside her, like a volcano ready to irrupt "You know exactly who he is Quinten and you're the reason he's interrupting your wedding. If you would have let him go and not sent him to jail on an accusation of false kidnapping, this wouldn't be happening." Madeline shouted at him, her anger overflowing.

Her father and mother, who were sat in the front row, stood up. "Madeline, darlin, what is going on?" asked her father calmly.

"I'll tell you what's going on," Madeline said, marching back up to the stage, turning to address the crowd of guests. "This man," she pointed to Quinten, "Is trying to take over your country. It is no surprise to any of you, that I went missing a few weeks ago. Quinten here, said that I was kidnapped, accusing Jaylin," she pointed at Jaylin now, who looked very flustered, "of kidnapping. I was not kidnapped, I ran away because Quinten threatened me into this marriage through blackmail. All he wants his to control the kingdom. He has no intention of helping us out with our financial situation."

Jeffrey stared at Quinten. "Is this true?" he asked Quinten, the pain clearly in his eyes.

"Of course not," Quinten said, clearly flustered. "She's making up falsehoods, the stupid girl."

Jeffrey stared at him. "Don't call my daughter stupid, you bastard. I can't believe I ever believed that you really intended to help us. And you too," he said, turning to Lord James and Lady Rebecca who sat in the front row on the other side of the aisle, "You're almost as bad as your son."

Lord James and Lady Rebecca looked down at their hands in shame. Quinten sputtered, trying to come up with something to say. "You have nothing you can say that will help your case now, Duke Quinten," Madeline said, turning towards him. "Guards," she shouted, as a handful of guards rushed into the room. "Please escort Duke Quinten, Lord James and Lady Rebecca out of the palace."

The guards rushed in and grabbed the three by there arms, and pulled them out of the throne room. "You'll pay for this," Quinten shouted, as he was dragged out.

The crowd cheered and Madeline smiled, knowing she didn't have to marry Quinten anymore.

"But your majesty," called a voice from the crowd, "What are you going to do about our financial situation?"

Madeline sighed. She turned towards her father, who just nodded in her direction. "I don't know. But I promise I will not let you down. I vow, as your future queen to do everything in my power to help out my kingdom."

The crowd cheered, leaving Madeline glowing with pride and happiness. All would be okay. She glanced down at Jaylin, who gave her a huge smile. All would be okay.

~

A day passed and everything went back to normal. Or as normal as it could be. Jaylin was given a room in the palace and was taken care of. Madeline went into further detail about all that Quinten had done with her father, who was able to charge him. Quinten would be spending quite a lot of time in jail.

Madeline and her father had spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to help the bankrupt Osprey. But for the life of them, they couldn't seem to think of anything to help. "We'll figure it out, don't worry Madeline," her father said, patting her on the shoulder. "Now, why don't you run along and talk to that boy of yours." Her father lifted his eyebrows up at her, his eyes twinkling.

Madeline blushed but got up anyway and made her way outside, where Jaylin was sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard, reading a book.

She ran up to him, her summer dress flowing in the wind as she did. She came up and sat next to him. "Hey," she said, smiling at him.

He looked up from his book and smiled back at her. "Hi,"

"Okay, so you need to tell me, what the heck happened? How did you get here?"

Jaylin gave a small chuckle. "Well, after they came for you, Quinten's guards took me away to this dungeon type thing. I swear, it was straight out of horror movie or something. Anyway, I basically just stayed there for what seemed like years. They fed me, not very well, but I didn't starve. Then finally after what seemed like forever, this guy shows up in the dead of night and breaks me out. He'd said he was your friend and was going to return me to you. Then we rode on horses, which is freaking cool by the way, here to the palace in the middle of the night. He hid me in the barn until the wedding and you know the rest."

Madeline looked at him, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'm so sorry Jaylin. That must have been awful. I'm so sorry you had to be put through that and it's all my fault! I tried to find you, I really did, but with Quinten running the place I didn't know what to do and-"

Madeline was interrupted by Jaylin's lips on her own. Madeline sunk into the kiss, kissing him back with such force and passion. She kissed him for all the times she'd wanted to but wasn't able too. And Jaylin kissed her back, with just as much heart. Madeline wrapped her arms around Jaylin's neck, where Jaylin's hands found the small of her back and pushed her closer to him. When they finally pulled apart for air, they were both smiling. Jaylin leaned his forehead against Madeline's, his breath hot on her mouth.

"Hey, don't worry please. I would go through that a million times if it meant I could be here with you in the end, okay?" Jaylin said, his voice deep.

Madeline's breath hitched in her throat. "You're not mad at me?"

"Why on earth would I be mad at you?"

"Maybe because I didn't tell you that was engaged to a jackass because I was the future queen of Osprey?" Madeline said, smiling slightly.

"Oh, that. Well, I was a little mad about that at first but then I realized, it's fine. Was I planning on falling in love with a princess? No. But am I okay with it? One hundred percent." He smiled at her and Madeline's heart fluttered.

"You love me?" she asked.

"Yes, Princess Madeline of Osprey. I am in love with you and I wouldn't have it any other way." And with that he kissed her again and Madeline kissed him back with so much love that her love could buy out all of Osprey.