The Key to Ruling a Broken Kingdom (Girl x Girl)

2: Persephonie

Louis was chasing me with his new wooden sword. I was around five years of age, he had just turned eight. The sword had been gifted to him by my father, King Patrick. I hid behind a pillar and looked around it, searching for Louis.

I didn't see him.

Sighing in relief, I turned around, ready to head out, but I was face-to-face with Louis. He pecked my lips and grabbed my wrist. "Why did you run away?"

I searched his face, wondering why he didn't know the answer to that question. "I didn't want you to hit me with your sword."

A cocky grin covered Louis' face. His hazel eyes stared deep into my nearly black ones. "A true prince will always be there to save his princess. But if his princess disobeys him," he dragged his wooden sword across my bare arm, bruising the tender skin. I slapped him across the cheek, and ran away again, with tears in my eyes.

Now don't get me wrong- Louis is a nice boy. He respected women, and he especially respected me, but he could be a tad bit sexist at times. I had to learn to put up with it, because he was supposed to become my husband after I turned 16. I had been promised to him, as soon as my father heard I was a girl.

It was a late Summer night, so Louis and I had been able to leave my father's castle without being stopped. I had worn my favourite dress: a solid pale blue dress, that stopped a couple inches above my ankles because the tailor had measured it wrong. My mother, Queen Sophia, had insisted on throwing it away, but I threw tantrum after tantrum, begging her to let me keep it. Mother let me have it, but only let me wear it when I was out of sight of everyone else.

The dress had originally been made with sleeves, but Louis had accidentally ripped one of them a couple weeks ago, and so, to make my dress look better, he helped me completely rip off both sleeves, thereby revealing my skin to be harmed by his wooden sword.

I could have gone home to complain to my mother, but she would definitely throw away my dress after she found out that the sleeves were ripped off, so I aimlessly wandered about the courtyard. I was starting to get tired, and my arm was beginning to hurt a bit, so I decided to find a guard to show me the way back to my room, but that was when the setting sun's light illuminated her figure.

I saw a girl, not much older than me, picking some things off of the bushes near the outskirts of the courtyard. From what I could see, she had mousy brown hair, and a sooty face. I ran to her, curious as to who she could be.

When I reached her, I was panting. She seemed startled to see me, and made to run away. "Wait!" I wheezed. "I am Princess Persephonie. Who are you?"

The girl looked hesitant, but smiled. "I'm Megan." She curtsied, and turned around, ready to leave.

"Wait!" I called again. "Why are you so eager to leave?"

"Ma is sick" she said, sadly. "The bad spirits caught a hold of her, and she really likes these berries. I want to give her some before she leaves for the next world." Megan held out a small basket containing some strange, small, blue-colored berries. My mother had warned me not to eat them.

I looked back at Megan. "Are you sad Ma is going to the next world?"

Megan nodded. "Pa is sadder though. Emily and William too. But I don't know why. Ma says she will be in a better place, and I'm happy for that."

"PERSEPHONIE!" I heard my mother bellow. I glanced back at her, then looked back at Megan. "After Ma leaves, come back here and tell me all about it! We can talk about it over tea and biscuits." I leaned closer to her, and whispered, "That's what grown ups do." Megan nodded in agreement, looking excited.

"PERSEPHONIE, YOU IMP! GET OVER HERE- THIS INSTANT!"

Megan curtsied once more, and hurried away. After that day (Mother got rid of my pale-blue dress, but Louis had his tailor make a dress exactly like the blue one, and wrote to me, saying that he would give it to me the next time we saw each other. Father laughed when he read the letter out loud to me, and we both agreed not to tell Mother), I went back to the courtyard every day, to see if Megan had come. She came two days later, and we did exactly what I told her we'd do. Over tea and biscuits, we talked about Ma leaving, and Megan told me that they buried her near the church, and everything else that happened.

So, you see, at this very moment, I never thought I would fall in love with Megan, the way I was supposed to fall in love with Louis. But that's because I wouldn't fall in love with Megan for a long time to come, and I would never get the chance to see Louis in his wedding robes.

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