Not Princess Material

Chapter 7

He flapped an arm after her. "See, she's impossible! She doesn't listen!"

"You are the impossible one. You took away the only person she could have gone to for comfort when Darrien died."

He grumbled. "It was for her good. I was protecting her."

"If you had given them a chance what was a friendship could have been so much more. You never paid much attention to the two of them when they were together. She and Codey were much more than friends; they simply never had a chance to realize it."

"That is exactly why they needed to be separated!"

She rolled her eyes. "That's an idiotic reason to separate them."

"I was protecting our daughter." He repeated as he glared at her.

"Exactly what were you protecting her from, from Codey? He's just a man! And in case you haven't noticed he's grown up to be a very fine one at that! Have you seen him wield a blade? His father would have been quite pound. I think he's even better than his father was."

"It doesn't matter. She will marry Edwin." He slashed a hand through the air and headed for the door, stopping before he left the room to look back at her. "It is for the best. She is far better off well away from Codey."

She made a small sound of exasperation once he'd left. She couldn't understand why he didn't wish for Skylette and Codey to have a relationship. It wasn't as if he disliked Codey. In fact, he'd been excellent friends with Codey's father!

***

"What in the hell was that about?"

Codey glanced at Arthur. "What was what about?"

"Are you seriously going to try and deflect?"

"I'm not deflecting anything. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You called the princess by her given name. Not only by her given name, you have your own nickname for her! Care to explain?"

"There's nothing to explain. It was a slip, heat of the moment and all of that," he explained while waving a hand around in the air.

"That is the biggest load of horse manure you've ever shoveled and I bet you've shoveled quite a bit in your time. You know her."

"And you don't know squat."

"Look Codey, don't try and bullshit me. I'm a prince remember? I've spent enough time in a royal court to know bull when I hear it. That girl used to spend half her time in the stables and you worked there. You want to tell me you don't know her. Bull and shit."

Codey wished he could smack his friend, but Arthur was in fact a prince. It didn't matter that he was here to train, in reality he was the youngest son of the king of Arieland. His father had sent him here when he was eight to foster. Arthur wouldn't inherit the throne; he was the youngest of four. With two older brothers and a sister, he was last in line. His only choice was to become a knight or marry a princess from another kingdom. His father had chosen to send him to Erilia to become a knight.

"As descriptive as that was, I'm sorry but the princess and I are not well acquainted. I saw her in passing, but that was all."

Arthur snorted, making his disbelief obvious. "Whenever you're ready to come clean let me know."

He shook his head. "What do you make of this attack?"

"Everything you said was right on. I don't buy that it was Velash. That would be too obvious. Something stinks about this entire thing."