James did not sleep well at all that night, visions of Hugo's broken face swimming in his head. He finally fell asleep around four in the morning, after tossing and turning for hours, and woke to bright sunlight and Baileywick's voice as he yanked the curtains back.

"Time to wake up, Prince James. You don't want to miss your own wedding ceremony, now."

James pulled himself up, eyes red-rimmed and bleary. Violet set a breakfast tray down on the table, his favourite eggs and bacon.

"I'll understand if you don't finish it, your highness. Wedding jitters."

"Thanks, Violet."

The maid curtseyed and left, unaware of his pain. Though convinced that he'd be unable to stomach anything, he managed to eat half of it before giving up and walking over to the window, still in his nightshirt. Below, people were milling around as more guests arrived but he didn't see them. He saw the window catch, how it opened wide. Perhaps it would hurt when he hit the ground; perhaps it wouldn't. He reached for the window catch… and jerked his hand back as somebody knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Baileywick came back in, followed by the maids and several of his friends. Jin, Zandar, Derek, Khalid and Frederick. They were pushing a humanoid shape underneath a white sheet.

"Prince James, we have brought your wedding suit."

Zandar snatched the cover off the thing and James, in spite of himself, gasped. It was made most beautifully of black silk, with a scarlet high-collared cape and matching bow tie, grey silk gloves and polished black leather shoes. Despite his previously suicidal thoughts, James couldn't help but admire it.

"Wow! Colette really outdid herself this time."

"Actually, Colette didn't do this. Poor woman had to go take care of her sister."

James stroked the front of the jacket.

"Then who made it?"

"Khalid did."

"You did?"

Khalid had gone on to the School of Royal Fashions alongside Hildegarde when they'd all graduated from Royal Prep. He still wore his old outfit, an orange tunic and trousers with a long green cape. But he looked as miserable as James felt, trying as he was to hide it. Baileywick motioned for Violet, Suzette and Marcy to leave.

"We'll leave you to get some privacy."

"Privacy?"

"Yes. Come on, ladies."

The door closed behind the steward, leaving James confused. Then he saw how his friends were looking at him.

"Uhhh, guys?"

"GET HIM!"

They leapt on him as one and began pulling on his nightshirt. He tried to fend them off, but they got it off him and he was forced to chase them round the room, tomato red in the face and with everything on display, trying to recover some amount of dignity. Eventually, they relented and helped him to get dressed. As Frederick and Jin helped to attach his cape, he inspected himself in the mirror.

"This is a really nice suit, Khalid."

"Thanks. I also made Vivian's wedding dress. Took me two weeks."

"Wow. What'd you make?"

"Can't tell. You'll see when you're standing at the altar."

James left it at that.

"Where's Hugo? I thought he'd be with you guys."

He had been hoping and dreading in equal measure that Hugo would have been with them. Zandar, who was helping pin the cape in place, shrugged.

"He said he wasn't feeling well, so he went for a walk in the garden with Sofia."

"Sofia? And you let him, Frederick?"

"I gave him the standard warning. Besides, Sofia can hold her own if he puts the moves on."

James couldn't suppress a chuckle. Jin finished lacing up the shoes.

"There. All finished."

James admired himself in the mirror; it was a stellar job.

"I look a bit like a vampire, actually."

"I took it from one of your old costumes. You in black, Vivian in white. She always looked wonderful in white."

Khalid, again, looked as devastated as James felt. None of the others noticed. Zandar stood up.

"Right, well we'd best go get ready ourselves."

James had picked Zandar as his best man, made sense since he was his best friend, and he had been named godfather to Zandar's child when it was born. Alone for now, he stared at himself in the mirror. The outfit was wonderful, but he wished for the hundredth time that he was marrying Hugo.

Meanwhile, Vivian was undergoing the same treatment with her friends, Lakshmi, Sofia, Amber, Hildegard, Clio, Jun and Zooey were helping her into her wedding gown. It was pure white, with an embroidery of musical notes all along the hems and up the bodice. It was beautiful, and light as a butterfly's wing. Sofia finished lacing her up from behind.

"Done. You look wonderful, Vivian!"

"Thanks, Sofia. Isn't Khalid wonderful at this?"

"He sure is!"

Lakshmi waved something; the veil.

"Here. Try out the veil."

Vivian stood still as her friends placed it on her head and slung the veil over her face. It was indeed perfect, but the day wasn't. Beneath her veil, she sighed. James was nice and all, but she just didn't like him that way. It was Khalid who had stolen her heart all those years ago, but they'd never had any chance to act on it. And she didn't want to disappoint her parents, who were so happy at seeing their little girl getting married. It was a very difficult situation. The girls left her alone with her thoughts, enormous and numerous as they were. She looked at her engagement ring, silver with a pink ruby, and felt tears prick her eyes.

The ceremony would take place in the castle gardens, as the ballroom wasn't large enough to hold everyone. A long aisle lined with comfy chairs led up to the altar, which stood in front of the fountain. Already, guests were beginning to take their seats; families of the bride and groom at the front, with friends behind them. Hugo, looking like he had a bad head cold, took his place in the third row, behind the seats where James' grandmother, aunt and uncle were sitting. He was wearing one of his favourite suits, the one which he'd worn during his first professional Ice Dancing recital; it was a kind of navy blue, with a white shirt and a black bowtie. Guests all around him were chatting with each other but he sat silently, in his misery. It didn't go unnoticed.

"Now why the long face, buster?"

The voice was female, loud and friendly. Hugo jerked his head up in surprise to see a robust and smiling woman observing him from the seat in front. She was wearing a beautiful gown of jade green, but was also holding a yellow umbrella and a tatty looking old carpet bag. The man next to her looked round and Hugo recognised him with a gasp.

"You're Sir Bartleby, the Silent Knight!"

He smiled graciously. Hugo looked at the woman.

"Then you must be James' Aunt Tilly!"

"That I am! And Sofia's, and Amber's. Also Roland's sister, Miranda's sister-in-law and various other things. Oh, and this fine gentleman's wife!"

She nudged Sir Bartleby, who blushed. Hugo smiled.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you, dear boy. But why are you not happy?"

"Um."

"Oh, now don't try and hide it. I can tell if something's wrong."

Hugo breathed in.

"Oh, well, if you're not going to tell me then I'll just have to work it out for myself. Let's see."

She looked him up and down.

"Silver buttons with the Bruma kingdom crest, dark eyes, darker hair. Oh! I've got it! You must be Hugo, the boy James is always going on about!"

Hugo nodded; this woman was sharp as a tack under all that kookiness.

"Yes, I'm Hugo."

"You must be very important to him, the way he's always mentioning you."

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"And he must be very important to you."

"Yeah. Yeah, he really is."

He'd gone misty-eyed, and she noticed.

"AH-HA! I knew it! You love him, don't you?"

"Tilly! Don't embarrass the poor boy!"

Sir Bartleby had an unusually high pitched voice for such a big and strong knight, but Hugo barely noticed.

"Ssh! Keep it down!"

"And he loves you, doesn't he?"

Hugo opened his mouth… and a choked sob came out of it. He got up and rushed away, aware of Tilly and her husband chasing him. He ran into a tent and leaned against a support pole, fighting off the grief he felt. Tilly and Sir Bartleby came in after him, the former looking remorseful.

"Wow, you must really like him. I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's fine."

"It's obviously not fine, sweetie. Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't James?"

"Because he doesn't want to disappoint his mother and father."

"Disappoint them?"

But before they could speak any further, a bell began to ring loudly outside.

"Oh, that's our cue! The ceremony's about to start and we can't be late, it's not our wedding!"

Hugo smiled; "I wish it was mine", he thought.

They went back to their seats, Tilly giving him a reassuring pat on the hand. With a pang, Hugo spotted James standing at the altar. He was wearing a black outfit with a scarlet cape that fit him to a T; it took all Hugo had not to just run up to him and hug him on the spot. As he sat down, James looked his way and their eyes met for a moment; the familiar connection occurred again. But at that moment, the band began to play. "Here Comes The Bride", it was. As one, the assembly rose and turned to look. Vivian, in a beautiful white dress and veil, was walking down the aisle, arm in arm with her father. King Marcus looked positively about to burst with pride and excitement as he led his daughter to the altar. James smiled a little; this was a wonderful occasion. When they reached the altar, Marcus bowed to James and went to take his seat next to his wife as Vivian lifted her veil, smiling shyly. James and Vivian took positions facing each other as the official stepped up to the podium.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of these two souls…"

James was blanking it out; he could see Hugo out of the corner of his eye over Vivian's shoulder. Hugo was looking at him, with such devastation in his eyes it was painful to see. James moved his gaze over to his parents, who were smiling, then to Vivian. She was looking at her feet, rather miserably. James took one last look at Hugo, then came to a decision.

"Do you, Prince James, take-"

"Stop! Stop the wedding! This isn't right!"

And James finally loses his restraint. The next and final chapter will conclude on a happy note, no suicidal thoughts or angst. And for those of you who wonder about my choice for Sofia's fiance, Prince Frederick, he was one of the background princes who I felt deserved a chance to shine here.