Amethyst (A new Kingdom)

Part 6

The night was fair; as far as balls go, it was lackluster, but I could dance with my friends and sister at least this time. I was true to my word and only made the prince dance with me once. It was all part of the plan. Near the end of the evening, the prince slipped off into the night with Cora, likely hiding her from his father. 

Once I was back in my room, I knew I had to answer some questions. 

"Estella, why did I have to spend my meal with that hateful girl," Helena said. It surprised me that she disliked her so intensely; Helenna was typically always looking for the good in people. 

"hateful, what do you mean," I asked, sitting with Faith before removing my shoes. 

"answer her question first," Pricilla demanded, walking around in her underthings as she stretched her back. 

"I needed you to get to know her so I can know what type of girl she truly is since she seemed to be covering that up with me," I explained.

"well," Pricilla started, "let me tell you. she is a beauty, and she knows it, expects people to bend over because of it. Her father has land, so she is used to getting what she wants. The girl is loud and can hold her liquor. She talked about how the prince loves her. not that she loves him. She never said that. she spoke of the lavish gifts he has bought her and how he wants her to carry his child because he thinks it will get rid of you." 

"that is a lot to digest," I said 

"you did not tell her the best part," Dianna said as she sat on my other side. "the prince may want to get her pregnant, but he has failed her courses started on the road here. she told one of her friends at court while I may have listened." 

"she is not with child," I said excitedly. 

"Now we just have to keep it that way," Faith added

"Leave that to me, dearest" Pricilla strolled out of the room in her night robe without a care in the world.

"well, at least we know she won't kill the girl," Helena said. 

"yes, but she is not above making her baren," I mumbled out. Faith and Dianna started laughing. 

"Alright, to bed with all of you," Dianna announced. I laid down after faith, and Helenna had left. Dianna crawled into my bed and pressed her head onto my shoulder. 

"don't you need to go to your bed," I asked? 

"no, I think you may need me" she pressed closer, holding me. "I know this isn't what you expected, and you have locked your heart away to keep it from hurting, but I want you to forget what father told you about your job here. Love is not a thing you can plan or force. and you will need to use your whole heart if you want this to work." 

"I don't think I'm cut out for that," I responded. Dianna nodded into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry this burden fell on your shoulders, but maybe it was fate intervening," she whispered, "did you see Faith with Ziv tonight?" 

"yes, I want to tell her to be careful since she is so quick to love, but I would hate to ruin anything."  

"I'm afraid for that, but more so, I think that she will get attached to the prince as a brother living here as you get closer to him, and if he hurts you, he will be breaking more hearts than one," Dianna said. I grabbed Dianna's hand and held it in my own, so we were holding each other. 

"is it weird I respect him for hating me" I whisper? My voice is shaking a bit. I know that if my dad ever heard these words, he would be livid. "it reminds me of you and Luis fighting for your love. I know that is all the prince is doing, and I respect that" 

"It is not weird you can feel any way you want about the prince" my eyes started to close sleep claiming me. "I just hope it is the love he is fighting for" I'm not sure if she intended me to hear the last bit of that sentence. 

****

In the days to come, I scarcely saw the prince, except for our forced interaction every other day. he would summon me to the small mountain-facing dining room, and we would eat in mostly silence. He only ever gave one-word answers and didn't want to get to know me. I was raging on my hormones and frustrated at his behavior. I guess he didn't appreciate me forcing his hand. 

One day before meeting the prince, I wondered the castle trying to blow off some steam since the silence was bound to set me off. I was on the opposite side of the castle when I saw the prince sitting alone in a different dining room. This one faced the cliff drop, and the wall was almost entirely windows. I was mesmerized by the scene. The clouds are touching the mountain tops as far as the eye can see. I almost didn't notice when the prince rose from his seat. I ran so I wouldn't be caught until I came to the doors to a room of all glass. I opened it. 

It was like standing outside, but you were warm instead of the frigid temperatures outside. There were plants on every flat surface and candles scattered around, ready to light up the room. I sat myself down on the bench to admire the beauty of it all. 

"marvelous, isn't it?" my heart stopped at the sound of the king's voice behind me. 

"How is it possible, who built it?" I asked as he sat next to me. 

"How is that my grandfather brought in the greatest builders of the time to make this. But the real question is, for whom did he build it. The answer is his wife. which is why this is called Queen Amethyst's garden." 

"Queen Amethyst, he must have loved her to build her this." 

"he did. She was from the southern lowlands and loved to garden, so when she was given to him in a peace treaty, he built her a piece of home so she would be happy." 

"they had an arranged marriage, and he still loved her this much" 

"my grandmother was a hard person not to love. and yes, officially, they were married as part of the peace treaty, but the story she told me was that they loved each other before the battle, and so when peace was needed, they were the ones to suggest the arrangement." 

"Oh," I deflated a little with that they already loved each other they didn't need to learn it like the Prince and me. 

"Dimitri will come around. He is stubborn, not a bad trait, but it can be a problem. For instance, I know he is mad at me for the marriage, and so he is refusing to do his work for the kingdom until I have the marriage unnoled, but I know if I keep waiting, I will outlast him" the king smiled at me "all you have to do it out last him my dear." 

"Princess," a servant walked in, getting our attention. "the prince is waiting for you." 

"would you be so kind as to tell the prince that I tire of our normal dining room and I wish for a change and then could you have them bring the food to the dining room nearest here with the large windows" I smiled, and the servant as they ran off and then turned to the king. 

"I find that when dealing with a stubborn person, sometimes it is best to throw them off their game" he gave me almost a wicked smile in understanding as I left the garden.