The Prince's Wedding

My Lady. 3

ALEXANDER
"There must be some mistake! There must be!" I yell, scanning the scroll as I pace up and down the throne room while Felipe is on a chair, watching me calmly.

"Your Highness those were the King's last requests. There is no error."

"Then it's a fake!" I yell and throw it across the table.
"He would never do this to me!"

"That's because you see it as a punishment. He's only doing this because he loves you."

"By forcing me to marry a commoner unless I lose my throne?! In front of the whole kingdom! How is that love? I don't care what you say, all I know is that pauper is going to tell me how she got picked by my father when I've never seen her before in my life!"

"Arranged marriages are normal in Nirvania, Your Highness, you know this. Why even your father's marriage to your mother was an arranged marriage."

"At least he had known her his whole life. I won't agree with this. She has a hand in this and I must figure it out. She must confess." I stop pacing now to stare out the window, observing the view that included the cellars.
She'll starve there.
And when she reaches her limit, she'll confess.

"You know you can't harm her, Your Highness. You need to release her tonight, this is why your father had her called out in front of the whole kingdom before the scroll was read because he knew you'd try to get to her."

"How do you know Felipe?" I ask and turn to him, "How do you know she's not to blame?"

He sighs,
"I wrote those words myself. Your father said it out to me. He's only concerned about you."

I sigh, exasperated as I sit back on the chair and observe the scroll.

"So I'm just supposed to marry this commoner? Set her free and involve her in my life?"

"That's why he gave you a year, to learn about each other." Felipe says as he gets up from the chair but I'm not convinced.

"No. She remains in the cellar."

He sighs and heads for the door, then turns to look at me.

"The kingdom will bear witness if anything happened to her. Is this the King you want to be? The King your father wanted you to be?"
With that, Felipe walks out of the room, leaving me to stare at the scroll.

The words stare back at me.
Melissa Redmond.

Why?
How?

I can still remember her running, pushing through the crowd, and dragging her sister as that long mane of red hair bounced behind her---
Her sister!

"Guards!" I yell and a couple of them march in uniformly.

"Where's the little girl? The prisoner's sister?"

"She is still on the castle grounds, Your Highness."

"What?"
I rush to the window and look down, far below I can see the little redhead girl crouched in the garden...crying.

"Bloody hell. Why didn't anyone escort her in?" I ask as I turn to them and they exchange confused looks.

"We tried, Your Highness. But she refuses to move until she sees her sister."

Blast!

"And no one bothered to inform me?!"
They both remain at attention but I can see the slight fear in their eyes and I sigh, Felipe's words echoing in my head.
'The King your father wanted you to be.'

"Fine, just let her out."

MELISSA

I don't know how long I've been crouched in the corner, weeping my eyes out.
How did my day turn out so ugly?
I never should have left the cottage.
And I put Halley in danger...