6. XAVIER — " I can explain"

The knock sounded on my door a second time and I fought to contain the smile that stretched my lips thin.

When my father instructed me to make the journey to the South, taking a liking to my too-be-bride was the last thing I envisaged for.

I had seen enough arranged marriages in my life to understand that choosing one's partner was important.

I was the next king of the northern kingdom and the next alpha of the moon pack– both came with tremendous responsibilities of which I was very well aware– but I had made it a point of duty to always remind my parents that an arranged marriage was the last thing I would engage in.

They seemed to agree with me and all was good until this fateful morning when my father hit me with the bizarre news of my betrothal.

Now, it did not seem so bizarre anymore. It was only a few hours since I met Princess Ariel and I had a good feeling about this already.

In the morning, I would formally meet her parents and when my family arrived in the evening, we would all have dinner together as was customary.

The knock sounded again followed by a male voice. "My Prince, I'm here with what you asked for."

"You may come in," I responded.

The guard gently opened the door and came in, back first and with bowed head holding a small box away from his body.

I could not quite recognize him but he wore the northern warriors' uniform with the moon emblem on it and that was enough for me to know he was one of the many guards assigned to me by my father on this trip.

"Where is Sean?" I asked my guard. I had entrusted Sean with the duty of finding a suitable gift for the princess since our departure from the north had been impromptu and I was unable to arrange any present for the princess.

If I was being honest with myself though, I hadn't been the slightest bit interested in the princess until I met her.

"He's tending to your horse."

I nodded and poured wine into the glass on the coffee table at the foot of my bed. I took a small sip and savored the taste as it went down my throat.

They had some good wine here in the South. Realizing that the guard still stood there, I gestured for him to leave the box on the vanity table and dismissed him with a wave of my hand.

He scurried away and shut the down behind him, leaving me to decide if the present was to my liking.

I emptied the wine down my throat and set the glass down on the vanity before picking up the box.

Inside lay two Jade figurines of Cinderella and snow white. It seemed appropriate since she mentioned earlier that she had a liking for fairy tales.

A part of me wanted to present this to her in person but I decided against it because it seemed too desperate.

Besides, it did not feel right to visit the quarters of an unmarried young woman this late at night even though she was soon going to be my bride.

The thought of her beautiful smile when she received my gift incited a small thrill in me and I could hardly wait for dawn to come.

***

Morning came quickly and after Sean helped me get dressed in my princely attire, I navigated my way to the main palace where the king and queen together with other royals of significant relevance resided.

As was the tradition, they were to receive me at the Big Hall in roughly two hours but I wanted the opportunity to explore the grounds before that happened and I was also curious about what the princess was up to.

Why was she yet to say anything about my gift? It grated on my pride to think that maybe she had not liked it.

We were out in the garden of natural spring now. "I'll go alone from here," I said to Sean and the retinue of other guards behind him.

He looked stricken as if he imagined that any harm could come to me within the palace walls. Before he could open his mouth to air his reservations, I gave him a stern look that sent the words back into his vocal cords.

"Okay, my Prince." He said, turned, and left with the others. He looked disappointed and I couldn't blame him.

I was sure my father had instructed him to never let me out of his sight until the alliance had been officially accepted and the marriage confirmed.

The South was after all still our enemy until this marriage successfully went through.

When I was sure they were out of sight, I tried to casually find my way to the princess' quarters but I soon realized it was a herculean task especially as there was no one to give me directions.

The southern palace differed from the one back home in a lot of ways so I had trouble telling the numerous buildings apart.

"Are you lost?"

I spun around so quickly that I almost lost my footing. Princess Ariel was standing before me with a giant smile on her face, it almost felt like a dream.

"You're lost." She said when I did not immediately answer.

"I hoped to run into you," I admitted. "And here you are."

She looked pleasantly surprised to hear that. Her eyes sparkled with the light of a thousand stars and her lips curled up in a shy smile.

"We saw each other last night." She said with a coyness that I liked.

"I was going to see your parents later. I thought it would be nice if I saw you first."

As I spoke, her face grew darker and darker until it seemed like she might cry. Was there something troubling her or did I say something wrong?

"Are you okay? You look a little sick." I said bringing my palm up to her forehead to check her temperature.

"Oh, I'm fine. You don't need to be concerned." She said brightly but behind her dazzling smile, I could tell that something bothered her.

"Follow me," I said holding out my hand to her. "I know just the place to cheer you up."

At this, she laughed and I could tell that she found this amusing.

"I'm pretty sure I know every crevice of this palace." She muttered but she took my hand and let me lead her anyway.

I led her back to the garden of natural spring and watched her reaction. She only scoffed.

"Is this it? When I was younger, I used to come here every evening with Princess A–" she started to say but she did not complete her sentence. Instead, she looked back in the direction where we came from and made to head back.

It was a good thing that my surprise did not end there.

"Do you know that a cave sits behind this spring?" I asked ensuring a tighter but still gentle grip on her hand.

This got her attention. "No way." She breathed.

I shrugged. "I can show you, but you can't go in that dress."

Her eyes twinkled with mischief at my statement.

"Does this mean you now know a secret passageway into the South?"

"Well, the cave does lead to a tunnel but I'm not sure where that leads," I replied.

I would not be sharing my findings with anyone usually but since I was now open to this marriage, this was reasonable.

"You are so smart."

Her eyes held great admiration when she said that and oddly, it made me happy.

What I did not tell her was that my discovery wasn't a product of ingenuity at all and that there was an equally enchanting garden back at the northern palace that held the same secret.

We decided to head back with the promise of meeting up before my family arrived for dinner to check out the cave. She said there was something she needed to tell me when we met up later and I wondered if it had anything to do with the gift.

"You don't have to come with me to the princess quarters." She said as we approached the stone walls surrounding the building.

"I want to. I want to see you go in before I head for the big hall." I replied chivalrously but her facial expression stopped me in my tracks. I noted that the color had left her face and that she was staring at something behind me.

I turned to appraise the object of her dissatisfaction. It was a maid.

"Princess Roseline, I've been looking everywhere for you." The maid panted when she got within a few feet of us. She curtseyed to me and Ariel but she did not continue on her way like I expected her to.

"Princess Ariel requests your presence." She said. And she was staring directly at Ariel.

In confusion, I turned to look at the princess. She looked like she had been forced to swallow poison.

"I can explain." She breathed. 

What. The. Fuck?