Now, this may seem like it rushes, but the story is supposed to be like this. :)
Enjoy!
"Are you okay?" Mara asked, laying her head on Jerome's bare chest as he traced patterns on her back.
"I'm not ready to be king." He said.
Mara lifted her head and looked at him in the eye. "What are you talking about, of course you are."
"No," he shook his head. "My father's wrong. I'm not ready to be king. It's too soon."
"He thinks you're ready, and I do too. You know why?" she smiled.
He looked at her expectantly, arching an eyebrow.
"Because you think you're not ready." she replied with a quiet chuckle.
"Darling, that's not going to make me a good king." He pointed out.
"I'll be right there with you. You have nothing to worry about." She promised, kissing him.
"Well, if you're going to be there, I suppose I can manage." He grinned, pushing her beneath him and catching her lips with his again.
"Good morning, Alfie, how are you?" Willow smiled.
The dark-skinned man looked up from filling a pale with food for one of the horses and smiled. "I'm fine, how are you, Willow?"
"I'm a little sad because I haven't seen Princess Amber in so long." She sighed.
"I know how you feel." He mumbled, picking up a second pale.
"Can I help?" she asked, her green eyes shimmering in the afternoon sun.
"Sure, just grab that pale." He instructed and she did so, following him to the end of the stables. He hung up the first pale, and then the second, while Willow hung hers for the house beside the ones Alfie had just fed. "So, you're a wiccan, huh?"
"In training," she corrected, bouncing on her feet as she walked with him.
"What does a wiccan do exactly? Isn't that a type of witch?"
"No, wiccans worship nature and practice magic. It's not the same thing as witches. Witches are evil, while wiccans only want to help people with medicine and prayers."
"Oh," he nodded slowly and squinted when they stepped back into the sunlight.
"I have to go. I have beds to make. I'll see you later, Alfie." She smiled, leaning forward, hand on his shoulder, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. He stared at her and she waved, skipping off.
"So I've got good news, bad news, and funny news." Jerome smirked, sitting beside his cousin in the garden.
Eddie looked up at him with drooping eyes. "What?"
"You know, you don't look good. Maybe you should forget the date." He said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.
"No, I'm fine. Give me the good news first."
"I found out what your family's name is."
"Great—"
"Bad news is that it's not going to save you."
"But—"
"Funny news, your family name is Sweet." He stated just before he laughed loudly at Eddie's shocked face.
Eddie's eyes glared holes into Jerome's head as the blonde slowly calmed his guffaws. "Why can't my real name save me from getting married?"
Jerome sobered immediately, sitting back on the bench. "You're going to become Duke of Legayn."
"I can't be Duke unless you're King…" his eyes widened in realization. "When is the ceremony?"
"Next month," Jerome replied.
"That means the wedding date will be moved up."
Jerome nodded silently.
"I'm not going to get out of this. I'm not going to marry Patricia. I…I couldn't even get her to fall in love with me." he said in defeat.
"Hey, let's not give up just yet. You have two more weeks to do this. Mara and I will help as much as you need us to. Amber's convinced that you and Patricia will make it. We'll figure it out. If not through your family, we'll do it through King Millington himself without messing anything else up."
"The wedding's date is even closer now." Amber sighed hopelessly, sitting down on the sofa in front of the window that overlooked the garden.
"Yes, but we'll figure it out. We just need to keep trying." Mara said encouragingly.
"Mara, it's no use. My father and Eddie's parents have made up their minds."
"Maybe if we can find out why they you two to be married, we can use that to break off the betrothal."
"What if they don't have a reason and they just hate us?"
"No, Jerome and I were betrothed before you and Eddie were. They must have a reason. Just…joining the kingdoms doesn't make any sense. Producing heirs doesn't make any sense. More power, no. More money wouldn't make any sense, all of our kingdoms are wealthy. Not a large span of trading either."
Amber stared down at the garden where she saw Eddie and Jerome talking. "Eddie will never be with Patricia and I'll never be with Alfie. This is it."
"No, Amber, don't give up yet. I promise will fix this." Mara said quickly giving her hands a squeeze. "I'll see you later, I'm going to go talk to Jerome."
"Hey," Eddie smiled faintly, standing in the doorway of the library, his arms crossed over his chest.
Patricia looked over a stack of books she was carrying and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"
"Mind telling me why you're mad at me?"
"You lasted a night." She noted with a nod. "Are you going for the second?"
"I don't know yet." He shrugged.
"That's what I thought," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes. She put the books back onto the table and placed her fists on her hips. "I'm mad at you because you kissed me and then turned around and played perfect boyfriend for Amber. I don't care if you're a prince and she's a princess, you were mine first."
Eddie raised his eyebrows in shock.
She closed her eyes with a groan and ran her fingers through her hair. "That came out wrong."
"I didn't know you could be so possessive." He grinned.
"Shut up, Slimeball; don't talk about it." she snapped.
Eddie nodded and looked at the floor. "I can't do anything about it anyway, I guess."
Patricia opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but he continued.
"I would sleep in that bed for a date, even if…I can't keep my eyes open and I can't move my neck. But I just found out that I'm going to be getting married in two weeks, which doesn't really leave too much time to convince my dad that Amber and I shouldn't get married."
Patricia pressed her lips together, standing stiffly in front of him.
"I really want to be a normal guy right now. Then I'd be able to spend time with you, fall in love with you and marry you in a normal way, but…I can't do any of that. And I didn't do anything, even if I could. I teased you, I caused trouble for you, and I made you hate me, while I fell in love with you. But we won't get married. Not like I thought we would. I thought I would have enough time to change my fate as well as helping you fall in love with me. I was an idiot." He looked up at her and found her glaring holes through. He scratched his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, that was a little cliché."
"You are an idiot." She chuckled, picking up the books again.
Eddie sighed and turned away a second after she did. He fiddled with the hilt of his sword as he walked toward the library doors, but then he stopped looking back at her. She made a face at one of the book titles before putting it up on the shelf. When she found a book that looked interesting, she slid the book behind all others, hiding it from view. Eddie smirked in amusement.
Why was he giving up on her again?
"Hey, Yacker," he called.
"What, Weasel Face," she responded boredly.
"I can handle one more night in that bed." He grinned when she whipped around to look at him in shock.
"What happened to not being able to get out of the wedding?" she demanded.
He shrugged a shoulder. "I guess you're just worth it."
He winked and turned back to the doors. When his hand landed on the wood, about to push it open, Patricia caught his attention,
"Hey, idiot,"
He peered over his shoulder at her and she kept her back to him as she continued putting books away.
"…I love you."
Eddie grinned and left the library without another word.
Review?
"I used to be a ghost, floating aimlessly, so they couldn't see. What I think hurts the most, I felt like it made me, hate me. But I won't apologize for being different. I can be who I am, and yeah, I felt so dead inside. But now I feel so alive, for the first time." -Feel, Sleeping With Sirens
-Rachel