[BOOK ONE] Training Prince Arrogant (INTENSE EDITING)

Chapter Thirty-Three | Fragmented

I quickly changed our topic of discussion, “Very well, Ella is tired anyhow. It would be best to give her a rest before you boys bombard her with your questions.”

James and Marcus agree and without a moments notice, they closed their door. Sebastian knowingly followed me and lifted his arms on my shoulder. It was unlike him to start a conversation he was not confortable with so I found it remarkably brave of him to even think about discussing a heavy topic.

“How did you find out?” he asked me.

“We were having dinner and the King just stood up and announced the joyous news.” Sebastian caught onto my sarcasm.

“And how did he take it?”

“Before things got messy, Ella and I left. But you could hear everything between the King and Brendan.” I carelessly shrugged.

Talking about it might have been helping my coping mechanism, Sebastian was the only on that knew of our relationship and I was so thankful and grateful for his silence. But the fact that he was checking up on me was unnecessary.

“How are you feeling?”

Deep breath in, deep breath out. “I am perfectly fine.”

“Are you sure?” Sebastian forced me to face him.

What was I to say? No, I am not fine. I love him. I love him so much that I could cut off all my hair and burn it along with the rest of my belongings. I love him so much that I cannot stand the thought of him being with someone else let alone married to someone else. I love him and I hate myself for it because I only realized that a few moments before the King announced his arranged marriage. So loving him wasn’t enough.

“Yes, I am fine.” I repeated with an attitude.

“What do you think of his arranged marriage?”

“I told him to go ahead with the arrangement.”

“You what?” Sebastian questioned a little too loud.

“What?”

“Why would you do that?”

I had nothing else to say but, “Because it is his duty.”

But with his lead, I continued to follow him out to the front garden of the palace and underneath the largest oak tree; we sat on the grass.

“Was this was you were talking about?” I demanded, “Was this why you told me to be careful?”

“Is was always on edge whenever we talked about our future. It was as if he-”

“He knew.” I finished for Sebastian.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me.” I slowly said, not wanting to create a riff. “He knew about his arranged marriage. Nine years ago he over heard the King and Queen talking about it.”

Discussing this with Sebastian was not as painful as I thought. It was like clarifying some details with my heart and that was all right with me.

“Do not be angry with him, Sebastian. We have deal with this ourselves and I am alright with it.” I assured him, quite poorly.

“No you’re not.” He rubbed my back with his hand in circles, “Its alright to cry.”

And it was all right to cry. It was a relief, knowing that if I did cry at that moment I would be able to stay strong when the time came for the wedding. And so I did, endless amounts of salty tears rolls down my cheeks and no amount of lace would dry them up. It was hopeless, I was crying and Sebastian allowed my feelings to surface.