The lost prince's ploy

2019, March 4th

Caines, Terres Somnia (James)

As Zoey digested that for the second time in her life a proposal of marriage had come to her under the most unusual of circumstances, my phone rang. The screen lit up to reveal Emily's name. After the ringing stopped, I looked at the screen. I had 53 unread messages and 71 missed calls.

"Shouldn't you call her back?" asked Zoey's shaky voice.

"She's the woman in the photo with Aaron," I answered coolly.

My face morphed into a look of disgust.

Emily, sweet Emily. She would never be sweet Emily again. Not to me.

"I see," Zoey answered, looking down at her feet. Her cheeks were hot with anger and embarrassment. "She's your girlfriend, right?"

"Fiancée." I held up a hand, made a fist, and bit into it. "Former fiancée," I corrected myself.

I turned to her then and could practically see her neurons unravelling.

Looking to somehow put her at ease, I said, "I have no expectations of this marriage. It would be much the same thing as what was going to happen between you and Aaron."

Never in my life did I think I would sound so matter of fact about marriage. My marriage. My words had frightened her. I hesitated a moment. "This is as much for me as it is for you, of course."

"For me?" she asked, surprise in her voice.

"A marriage to me will protect you from being used as a tool in this political war between King Henry and Duke Arden."

My eyes glazed over again, my body stiffened, and my face hardened. Zoey could probably feel the chill coming off my body. I would form no warm attachment to her. I wouldn't try to please her, or make her laugh. Could we live like that?

Her car door opened then. I was leaning over her, my hand on the car door handle, eyes boring into hers. It was that same look I gave her when I saw her a few minutes ago. In a moment, it was over and Bart was knocking on the door.

"Come on, Zoey, the place is ready," said Bart, looking between Zoey and I suspiciously, not missing a beat.

"Sure," she said, absentmindedly getting out of the car.

I tugged on her hand. An unexpected, warm familiarity spread through me as I held her hand.

"In two hours, I will come back to this exact spot. Should you wish to accept my offer, be here."

Zoey just nodded. I closed the door and sped off. The rage was coming in hot and heavy now and I didn't want to scare her any more than I already had.

Even after everything that had happened, I didn't want Emily to be surprised by the news of my impending nuptials. It was by no means certain that Zoey would accept my proposal, but if she did, things would progress quickly. I would have to put everything away. This was business now, nothing more. I felt my pounding heart slow at this thought as I called Emily.

"Hello James," Emily yelled, frantic.

"Meet in ten at the place."

"What did he say?" Aaron asked from somewhere in the background.

Abruptly, I ended the call, not wanting to acknowledge that I should have known that he was with her.

Ten minutes later, I arrived at the fountain situated in the centre of the rose garden, only to find Emily and Aaron already there, arguing.

This ceased almost the moment she spotted me. Emily walked up to me slowly on unsteady feet, looking like she wanted to be moving both faster and slower at the same time. In the minute it took her to reach me, I saw the last seven years flash before my eyes. All the time I'd waited to touch her and claim her as mine. My mind went back to the moment I had asked, "Emily, will you marry me?" and then to the moment that she'd ruined it all.

Heavy, grey clouds crept up behind her. With every step she took towards me, more and more images of her kissing another man flooded my brain.

Emily was now close enough to me to see my face. It was tight and devoid of emotion. I had shut myself off completely. My hands were in my pockets, my hooded eyes opened and looked into her guilty, stormy ones.

"James, I'm so sorry. Father had just found out about you and—" she rambled in a panic.

"The House of Beaumont hereby withdraws its proposal of matrimony to the House of Maine," I announced, like a walking telegram.

My voice was robotic. I didn't know if it would ever sound like anything but again.

"James, please," she pleaded, a single tear running down her face.

"I am only here to inform you I have decided that it is in my best interest if I marry someone else. I no longer want this marriage."

I looked her straight in the eye as I said this, watching the woman I loved come apart. I wanted to reach out and say it didn't matter. Say that I understood and if she still wanted me, she could have me. I knew about her father's outburst and had pieced together what had likely happened. If only she had come to me, if only I was staring this betrayal down for the first time. Maybe I would have been able to put it aside. But this wasn't the first time. I had already looked the other way once. I had been a fool.

"What?" her voice fell in disbelief.

"The marriage will become public knowledge within the next 12 hours."

"You can't be serious."

"Lady Zoey Arden must marry a prince of Terres Somnia to dissuade the people of any lingering animosity between the House of Condor and the House of Arden and spare the country civil war."

"What are you saying? Who do you intend to marry?"

Emily was screaming questions as loud rain started falling and soaked us both through. Questions she already knew the answers to. I couldn't look at her for this part.

"By morning, I will claim my title as crown prince of Terres Somnia as the first-born son of King Henry. I will also announce my marriage to the new crown princess of Terres Somnia, Princess Zoey Condor."

Emily was flat out crying now, choking back sobs.

"Jimmy, don't do this. What will become of you if your claim is disputed? Don't you remember how it was five years ago? When they banished you?"

I remembered alright; how could I forget? That day might haunt me forever. I turned my back on Emily and started walking away. Then I stopped, looked over my shoulder and said, "Let them dispute it if they dare."

(Bart)

We had just arrived at the cottage where we'd be spending the night when Zoey's phone rang. I dug it out of my pocket and saw Aaron's name flash on the screen. Against my better judgement, I answered it. "What?"

"Don't do it Zoey, don't marry him," Aaron screamed into the phone.

A car door banged shut in the background. The line went dead. I looked at my sister and sighed. Zoey was staring out the window, lost in thought.

"Zoey, what did James want?"

I came to stand before her. She looked at me briefly and then returned her eyes to the rain that had just started up again.

"From the look on your face, it seems you already know the answer," she replied calmly.

"Did he ask you to marry him?" I took her silence as confirmation. "And? You said no, right? What the bloody hell is he thinking? I know he's pissed, but he can't be this stupid."

Again, Zoey said nothing. When she had been staring out the window as if in deep thought for five minutes without answering, I had a crazy thought. "Zoey, you aren't actually considering this, are you?"

"A handsome, rich man asked me to marry him. Tonight. Why shouldn't I?"

"Tonight?" I could not contain my incredulity. "Look, Zo, you listen to me and you listen well. You want to get crazy drunk? Marry someone else? I don't care. Marry some random dude off of the street. Dye your hair purple. Get a crazy, embarrassing tattoo for all I care." I looked her straight in the eye. "But you cannot marry this man."

"Why not?" she asked, completely detached from the situation, as though it were happening to someone else.

A vein on the side of my face was now engorged. I took a breath before answering Zoey. "Because Zo, James Beaumont is Prince Aaron Condor's half-brother. James Beaumont is actually Prince James Condor."