When she awoke, Natalie was not entirely sure that she hadn't dreamed it all, but one look at her hand and the ring on it, and she knew that it had been real. She was really going to marry Brendan.
She donned a white cotton blouse and a chocolate brown ankle length skirt. That was another thing she missed about the future. Chocolate. Air conditioning she had eventually learned to live without, but she still woke in the night with sudden urgent cravings for a good old Hershey's bar.
She left her room and began to make her way to the dining hall. Halfway there, Natalie met up with Brendan. He smiled at her.
"Good morning, love," he said.
"Good morning," Natalie replied.
Brendan offered her his arm. "Would you care to accompany me to breakfast this fine day, my dear?"
Natalie smiled coyly and said, "Oh, kind sir, I am sorry. But I fear that I am already engaged, and the handsome man may not approve of my relationship with you."
He scowled menacingly and Natalie giggled. "I shall fight this gentleman to the death for you, lovely lady, although, I am sure he is very handsome indeed! If only you would accompany me to breakfast?"
Natalie took her fiancé's arm and leaned into him as they walked into the dining hall. They sat in their usual spot with Tara and Gabriel. Ben had not yet made his way into the dining hall. Brendan began to stand, but Natalie pulled him back into his seat, careful to keep the ring hidden from her friends' view.
"Wait for Ben," she hissed to her fiancé.
He nodded and glanced toward the entrance. After a few minutes, he touched Natalie's arm and gestured toward the doorway. She glanced over and saw Brn entering. She and Brendan stood and began to make their way to the front of the enormous dining hall. Tara gasped as she saw the reflection of light off of Natalie's ring.
"Brn," she began as he sat down at the table. She knew how much he loved Natalie. Everyone did except for Natalie herself. "I think there's something you ought to know…"
She was cut off as Brendan addressed the people in the dining hall. "We have an announcement to make," he said, raising his voice so that all could hear. "I have asked Natalie, and she has said yes. We are going to be married." The announcement was short, sweet, and to the point.
Ben's world came crashing down around his ears amid the thunderous applause that this announcement was greeted with.
Not one, but two royal weddings!
Tara and Gabriel cheered and whistled as loudly as the others in the hall, but Ben just sat in his seat, mouth hanging open in disbelief. He said not a word as Natalie and Brendan returned to the table. He ate in silence as a steady stream of people came to congratulate both the couples. As soon as he finished eating, Ben slipped away, out of the dining hall.
Ben wandered across the courtyard and into the stable. He hardly knew where he was going. His mind reeled. She couldn't marry Brendan. Ben loved her too much. The same thoughts were repeated in his mind for a long while. Finally he made the decision to tell Natalie how he felt.
Ben reported for his riding lesson at the usual time. He saddled the quiet grey mare named Gariah that he had been using. Leading her to the large practice field behind the castle, Ben began to walk then to trot her in circles.
"Hold your hands higher," Natalie called from the fence.
Ben startled. He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard her approach. He noted with gratitude that Brendan was nowhere in sight.
Pulling Gariah to a halt alongside her, Ben said, "Natalie, I want to talk to you." Ben's heart beat so hard he was afraid it might leap from his chest. "I don't think you should marry Brendan." He waited for her response.
Natalie frowned. "Why shouldn't I? I love Brendan and he loves me. What reason do I have not to marry him?"
"Well, it's just, you're too young," he said, grabbing at a straw.
She snorted. "By the future's terms, maybe, but here I'm practically an old maid! I'm seventeen and still unmarried! People will wonder what the heck is wrong with me, that no man wants to marry me!"
"Okay, but Brendan's too old for you!" He tried desperately to find a reasonable excuse. He was failing miserably.
"No, he's not. He's only two years older than I am! You know what I think? I think you're jealous."
"I'm not! I just don't think you should marry him, that's all," Ben defended.
Natalie gawked. She was the only one in the castle who had never caught on to Ben's affection. She had never been aware that it was anything other than a friendship for him. "You are jealous, aren't you? You don't want me to marry Brendan because you like me yourself, don't you?!"
Ben stuttered, still trying to deny it. "N-no, I just – I – no!" He finally cracked under the intensity of her gaze and threw up his hands. "Yes! I admit it! I'm jealous! I always have been! That's why I don't want you to marry him! I love you!" He turned Gariah and galloped out of the practice field. He did not stop at the stable, just kept on going.
Ben finally stopped his headlong dash when they entered the forest. He didn't even notice when the trees around him began to get dark.
Stopping Gariah completely, Ben turned his face upward, into the pouring rain.
"This isn't how it was supposed to go!" he yelled at the sky, closing his eyes as the rain streaked down his face. "It wasn't supposed to be like this at all!" He dropped his voice to a whisper and dropped his chin to rest on his chest. "How am I supposed to go on now?"
Through the stillness of the forest, a familiar sound came to Ben's ears. His heart stopped and it took him a long moment to identify the sound.
"Cars!" he said aloud. He continued forward until he saw a road. He heard the roar of the engines and the flash of headlights as cars passed him. A car passed on the side of the road closest to him and Ben watched as it ran headlong into his bike, which had been, until now, still sitting undisturbed on the pavement. He struggled briefly to calm Gariah, who had been frightened by the noise that the car had made hitting the bike, while thinking of how easy it would be for him to just go back. For him to leave this time and the pain that it held.
Ben sat, deciding, for a long while. Finally, he turned Gariah's head back toward the castle. He noticed this time as the forest grew light again.
He led Gariah through the stable to her stall. He ignored Natalie and Brendan standing in the aisle, whispering. Natalie opened her mouth as though to say something, but decided otherwise. She and Brendan exchanged glances.
Ben did not look up as he heard footsteps approaching. He continued to concentrate on the spot of dirt on Gariah's hide.
"I'm sorry," Brendan said.
Brian continued to ignore him.
"I don't know what else to say," Brendan told Brian. "I really don't. I wish I could tell you that I've changed my mind. That I don't love Natalie anymore and that the engagement is off. But I can't tell you that."
An awkward silence hung in the air for a few moments, during which Ben tried desperately to ignore the prince standing next to him.
"I really wish things were different," Brendan said quietly.
"Look," Ben finally said, "I know you're just trying to help, but don't. It's not working. Just leave me alone."
"I," Brendan began, but Brian cut him off.
"I said leave!" Then Brian pulled his arm back and punched the prince square in the face. There was a moment in which they stood staring at each other in silence, Brendan with blood streaming from his nose. Then, shocked at his own anger, Ben dropped the brush he'd been holding and fled to his room in the castle, knowing full well who he had just reminded himself of.
Weeks passed and preparations for the wedding were made. The whole castle was buzzing with excitement over the wedding in a day's time. The two royal couples had decided that Brendan and Natalie should go first, as Brendan was the oldest of them, and also the heir to the throne.
"And besides, we've got longer to live than you old geezers," Tara had joked.
Ben emerged from his room during this time only to get food from the dining hall. Then he would return to his room to eat.
Ben celebrated his eighteenth birthday by attempting to commit suicide. The knife didn't even penetrate his shirt, however, before Ben gave up on the idea. Afterward, he called himself a coward for even thinking about trying to escape that way.
The only person Brn permitted to enter his room was Gabriel. Gabriel brought him news of the happenings around the castle in an attempt to cheer him up.
"You really ought to come out riding with me," Gabriel told Ben for the hundredth time. "It isn't good for you to be cooped up in here all the time. And besides, people need to get used to seeing you again for the wedding tomorrow."
Ben just shook his head and gave his usual reply. "I just can't bring myself to do it. You know I can't. I'm too ashamed."
Gabriel sighed, got out of his chair, and left the room.