Honor

Chapter Four: Daughter of France

A week later, the train of carriages containing Princess Annie and her dowry had arrived in France. Determined not to like it, Annie gazed purposefully towards the carriage wall. She refused to even glace out the window. Reva, on the other hand, stared eagerly outside as she took in the landscape with muffled 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. Annie cast a slightly disgusted look in her maidservant's direction, but couldn't blame the woman for being curious. If she hadn't been so committed to hating it, she would've been in awe of France as much as Reva was.

"Oh, Annie! Look, there's the castle!" Reva turned around and grabbed at Annie's arm to pull her towards the window, "It's huge! Look!"

Annie sniffed and feigned indifference. But she was just as excited as Reva. It was a huge castle, after all. Bigger than her old one in England.

The carriage rolled up a large cobblestone path that led to the massive structure. Caught up in the moment, Annie lingered at the window as the castle grew closer and began to tower above them.

Suddenly, the carriage rumbled to a halt as they awaited the castle drawbridge to be lowered. When it was down, the carriage train crossed and then came to a final halt in the courtyard. Anne and Reva moved to the door and anxiously awaited its opening.

Right on cue, Sir Arthur opened the door from the outside and held up a hand to assist Annie as she stepped down. A vassal of the French court announced her to the gathered crowd.

"Princess Annie of England!"

Annie's face fell as she remembered why she had come to France in the first place. Directly in front of her stood the intimidating King Henry of France. Despite his cold demeanor, he was smiling as he placed a hand on a young man's shoulder. The younger man had darker hair and skin than his father. He scowled at his father's touch and turned his attention towards his new bride-to-be. He gave Annie a half-hearted smile and Annie got the distinct feeling that he didn't want to be in this situation either.

"Welcome, Princess Annie!" The King's booming voice silenced all commotion in the courtyard as all eyes turned to focus on him. Annie was jolted out of her thoughts.

"Your Majesty," Annie murmured. She went down into a deep, French-style curtsy. As she did so, she mentally cursed the French formality. She had never much cared for French styles and hadn't paid much attention when being taught their way of doing things. She pulled it off though, and waited for the King to make the next move.

"No need to be so formal!" He stepped forward and drew Annie up into a great bear hug. Annie got the impression that King Henry was the type of man who bent the rules and always got what he wanted, "Soon you will be the Daughter of France, and my own daughter as well!" He released her, "Come, child, and meet your future husband, my son, Prince Jai!"

The King placed arm around Annie's shoulders and drew her forward until she was in front of the man.

"Good day, Princess Annie," Jai offered. He clenched his jaw slightly.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Annie replied, "Good day, Prince Jai."

'Let this end,' she prayed silently.

Thankfully, the King seemed to be on a similar thought train to Annie's, "Sir Conrad, would you please lead Princess Annie and her companions to her chamber? The journey has surely worn them out!"

Out of the crowd stepped another knight. He bowed to Annie, "Please follow me, Princess Annie. I will lead you to your new chambers."

The crowd of servants and nobles began to disperse as Sir Conrad led the group into the castle. Behind Annie, Arthur and Auggie flanked Reva. They glared possessively at anyone who got too close to their Princess.

"Well, what do you think of him," Reva asked several minutes later. Conrad had left them at her chambers, and Arthur and Auggie had taken up their post outside the doors.

"Who?" Annie sprawled out on the massive bed, "The King? He's a bossy creep."

Reva gave her an exasperated look, "No! Prince Jai, of course! What do you think of Prince Jai?"

"He's okay," Annie looked up, "And is it really your place to ask me that?"

Reva looked down, humbled, and fidgeted with the seam on her dress.

"Oh, stop it Reva, you look like a whipped puppy. I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's been a rough day," Annie shrugged, "Besides, you know I prefer it if you talk freely with me. You're a friend to me, not just my maidservant. Now, what do you think of the Prince?"

Reva colored slightly. Her eyes drifted downward while Annie smirked in satisfaction.

"Well, he's not so bad, I guess..." Reva trailed off, her gaze firmly fixed on the floor as her cheeks got even redder.

Annie continued to smirk, "I see. Well, unlike you, I don't want to marry him, so—"

"I never said that!" Reva exclaimed as she colored even more. She looked up at Annie in righteous indignation and her mouth opened in protest.

"Ah, but it crossed your mind, Reva. Don't try and hide it," the Princess grinned at her, "As I was saying, I need to think of a way to get out of this situation. And fast."

"You're going to try and break up your own marriage?" Reva gasped, "That's insane, Annie."

"What's really insane is the fact that I am being forced to marry a man I have just met and seem to have nothing in common with," Annie scowled, "Besides, he seemed as unhappy to be there as I was. Perhaps he doesn't want to marry me as much as I don't want to marry him."

The maidservant just stood there, "Do you know that for a fact?" she asked. She had learned long ago that she must be the voice to reason with Annie's crazy schemes.

The Princess stood there while she thought and quickly became flustered by the question, "No. No, I don't...But, he seemed that way. He was so cold to me," she sighed for what must have been the hundredth time that day, "Oh, I wish you wouldn't point the truth out to me so often, Reva!" she laughed at the end.

"Perhaps you should give him a fair chance," Reva suggested, "You did just meet him after all. Maybe he won't be so bad?"

The last part was more of a question than a statement.

Sighing heavily (once again), Annie rolled over with a pillow clutched to her chest, "All right then. I'll give it a couple more days."

Reva's response was cut off as the chamber doors burst open. Two young girls ran in. They stopped at the foot of the bed to stare at Annie as though she was a circus show.

"Wow," the younger one breathed, "You must be Jai's wife!"

Annie was about to answer hotly that she was no such thing, but thankfully Reva cut her off. She moved to stand between the children and the angry princess.

"Hello, girls. Who are you?" She smiled sweetly down at them.

Returning the smile, one answered. "We're Katia and Chloe!"

"Jai's little sisters! I'm Katia, she's Chloe," the other girl clarified.

"You're going to marry Jai, right?" Chloe looked at Annie longingly.

Annie decided to play along and gave a half-hearted smile, "Yup. That's what they tell me."

"Yay!" The girls gave identical squeals and fled the room. Their loud giggles could be heard as they ran down the corridor. Arthur and Auggie poked their heads in the doorway.

"Why did you let them in?" Annie demanded. She glared hotly at her guards, who promptly burst into laughter.

"Sorry, Princess, but they threatened to step on out feet," Auggie choked out. He laughed even harder at the simplicity of the threat, "'We want to meet Jai's wife,'" he imitated Katia's voice which caused Arthur to laugh even harder.

"I am not his wife! I am only here because my idiotic king of a father insists!"

Still laughing, they went back into the hallway and closed the door behind them. However, their laughter echoed through the wooden door. Annie glared at the door sourly, then retreated to the bed with a sigh.

"At least someone's happy to be here."