[Story will be available on Radish] Prince Benedikt is on a mission to find his True Love, but more so, he has a duty to his kingdom to fulfill. As a prince of Stalvart, he must find his True Love by his twenty-first birthday. At twenty-one, he will...
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Benedikt gave Grielle an apologetic look. Their faces were only a short distance apart and he thought he might have seen something like hurt in her eyes. She helped him closer to the coffin. His chest hurt all over and he fully expected to see dark bruises across it if he removed his shirt. The others gathered around, except for Moose who was tending a nasty wound on the back of Berne's head.
Ludvig and Reyn hoisted open the glass lid, which caught the sunlight and cast thousands of specks of multicolored light across the princess and the greenery that surrounded her.
"Unae," Talitha moaned as she grasped her sister's unmoving hand. She gave Benedikt a pitiful, pleading look.
Benedikt glanced at Grielle who pressed her lips closed as if she were desperately trying to suppress something she wanted to say. The look in her eyes made Benedikt ache in a way that made him wonder if she truly did feel something for him she wasn't allowing herself to show. He turned and gazed down at the peaceful, slumbering Unae. After coming all this long way he couldn't not kiss the princess on some vague hope that Grielle's feelings had shifted in his favor. He still had a duty to Stalvart.
Benedikt knelt down beside the sleeping princess, his sides aching in protest. This was, perhaps, the moment for which he had been waiting for the past twenty years. He had gotten this feeling every time he'd knelt to kiss a princess — but something about this moment felt different. He was more ready to take up the crown than ever before. He was ready to rule. His eyes unwillingly turned to Grielle who looked like she was about to cry, but instead of letting him see whether she would, she turned her back to him. The others turned their backs as well, to give him his moment. All except Talitha who still desperately clutched her sister's hand.
Benedikt positioned himself over Unae and took in the flawless lines of her face. Fifteenth time's a charm, he thought as he pressed his lips to hers. They were soft and warm.
And very much unmoving.
He withdrew and took in the princess's serene face. A beat passed and she didn't stir. He pressed another kiss to her lips but she still remained asleep. Anger and frustration burned to the edges of his limbs, but something else stirred in his chest. Relief? he wondered.
"No!" Talitha moaned. "No!" The others spun around to take in the sleeping elf and her sobbing sister. Benedikt sank back onto his haunches and hung his head. Talitha's gentle crying echoed through the clearing and the dragon gave a sad rumble as if to say she was sorry too. Benedikt placed a hand on the edge of the coffin and struggled to his feet. He ran a hand through his dirty, dampened hair.
"Benedikt, I'm sorry." Grielle's voice was gentle.
Unable to listen to Talitha's crying, he hobbled into the green of the forest. He filled his lungs with air that smelled like ash, and defeat. The earth trembled around him. Or perhaps it was he who was shaking. Benedikt fell to his knees and dug his fingers into the mossy ground, trying to stop his mind from reeling. How could he have failed again? And at something so simple? Kiss a princess under a curse. Return with your queen and True Love. What would he tell his father? Would his regency be postponed or would he be stripped of his title as heir?
