Playing With Fire

by Adrienne Woods et al.

  The only question was what that would entail, my death or happiness.

  * * *

  LOUIE

  * * *

  “How could you, father. You know how I feel about Gwen. Not her, please.” I heard my brother’s tantrum from the throne room.

  “You are going to marry Magdel. That’s been decided Charles.”

  “I will never love Magdel.”

  “You will learn. We need this alliance with Spain.”

  “France isn’t enough for you. She doesn’t belong here.”

  “I have made up my mind. It’s a done deal.”

  “Not Gwen, please. There are plenty of other women that can satisfy Louie’s needs.”

  “Oh Charles, Gwen doesn’t even see you in that light.” Mother was getting tired of his tantrum.

  “I’m the crown prince, she has no choice if father would just change his mind.” He spoke to my mother as if she were a maid. He had no respect for women.

  “I will not. You are going to marry Magdel and that is final.” Father roared.

  Charles laughed. “Why is he even doing this?”

  “Your brother saw her at high tea and he is curious about her, that is it. If it will bring him home more, then I welcome it.” Mother pleaded.

  “Oh mother, Louie wouldn’t even know what to do with her. Besides...”

  “Enough,” father yelled. “This has nothing to do with you Charles. Your brother has voiced his reasons clearly and I see no fault with them. You will not interfere.”

  “As you wish your majesty.” He said through gritted teeth and his footsteps moved toward the door.

  He pushed the door open and froze when he saw me.

  His eyes were mad as hell, glaring into my soul. “Why her?”

  “You said it yourself, she is the pinnacle of beauty.”

  “Stop this please.”

  “Charles, you are marrying Magdel.” I tried to reason with him.

  “She is mine.”

  “Does she approve of you?”

  “She has no choice. I’m the crown prince.” He had that snide in his tone.

  “No, you are a spoiled brat. She doesn’t even like you Charles. That isn’t love.”

  He laughed. “Oh and you know all about love. You don’t even know what to do with her.”

  “I’ll be kind, something you still need to learn about.” I said and walked past my brother into the throne room.

  He grunted and walked farther down the hallway.

  “Louie,” my mother smiled from ear to ear.

  “You wish to see me.” I bowed down to father and kissed mother’s hands.

  “Philip answered your letter. They will come for tea tomorrow afternoon.”

  “He approved.” My lips curved softly.

  “You are a prince.”

  I smiled. “Thank you, Mother, Father.” I turned on my heel and found Charles with a sword in his hand.

  “A duel.” Charles said.

  “Charles, enough.” My mother said with a sigh in her tone.

  “No, I have the right. If you want me to marry Magdel, then I need this duel. The stakes are easy little brother. Fight me and if I win, you must change your mind. She won’t come here.”

  “And if I win?”

  Charles started to laugh. “You win. Not in my world.”

  I waited for a real answer. Silence lingered.

  “Are you serious?” Charles mocked me.

  I shrugged.

  “Fine, if you win you can court her.”

  I looked at father who was amused by this. He liked to see the rivalry between us. Said it was healthy competition. Mother on the other hand hated it.

  “Alexander.” Mother said.

  “Fine,” Father said lifting his hand up to silence mother. “If you win Charles, I’ll send Arthur a letter stating the courtship was misunderstood.”

  I hated my brother’s tantrums, but what my brother didn’t know, I had tutors in fencing at the boarding school and I was really great at fencing too.

  Charles swung his sword around and around, showing off as he circled me.

  “Give him a sword.” My brother commanded.

  “You want to do this now?”

  “You heard mother, they are coming for high tea tomorrow.”

  I turned around as one of the men working in the castle handed me a sword.

  “It’s stupid, Charles. Fighting for a woman that was never yours to begin with.”

  “Fighting for a woman that will never be yours either.” He grunted.

  “Fine,” I said.

  I blocked my brother’s sneaky attacks one after the other. He hadn’t expected this or how I ducked all of his blows, his knee kicks, and punches. My sword nipped at his arm and he started to keep his distance as he covered his arm where a tiny cut ripped his flesh.

  “You still want to do this. I’m not that pathetic little Louie anymore. I have had just as many tutors as you in fencing, brother.”

  He grunted and attack again.

  I simply stepped out of the way and nipped him on the backside. It made him furious.

  But he kept on attacking me. His first mistake. Never attack in anger.

  It was an easy fight, not like the others, and it was finally over when my knee landed on his groin. He doubled over in pain, his sword on the ground and I kicked it away.

  I pointed my sword at my brother. “I guess high tea is still on.”

  “Bravo, Louie.” My father said and clapped with the broadest smiled he ever gave me.

  What kind of a father enjoyed watching his two sons beating the daylight out of one another? He was seriously messed up.

  I threw the sword down, gave him my not impressed look, then turned around and walked out of the throne room to go back to my room.

  The next day father didn’t join mother and me during high tea. Charles was nowhere to be found either.

  “Are you excited?” Mother asked as we sat down in her garden at the table they had set up for our first introduction.

  “I am. She really is breathtaking mother.”

  “That she is Louie. If I told you how many men have begged Philip to court Guinevere, the list would be too long.”

  “Then I guess I have to thank my heritage.”

  Mother laughed. “Use it wisely, Louie. In all my encounters with Guinevere, I have to say she doesn’t impress easily. She has a deep fear of the dungeons though. Your brother once tried to win her over with fear, that was his biggest mistake. Show her how kind we royals can be.”

  I looked at her and she had a soft smile on her face. “If you hated it so much why didn’t you say anything, Mother?”

  She laughed. “Do you really think your father would listen to me when it comes to dragons. He has a deep hatred for them, just as his father had, Louie.”

  “Why did William hate them so much?”

  “I don’t know. Some say when he killed the alpha a deep darkness latched itself onto William. A darkness that was pure hatred and he focused all of that hatred onto dragons. He raised your father with that hatred and somehow his curse has latched onto your brother too. Promise me that one of my sons will stop the curse, Louie.”

  “Mother,” I sighed. “I know that story well. We are not cursed.”

  “Yes, we are.” She laughed it away. “I sometimes don’t even know who your father is anymore. He clearly isn’t the prince I married a long time ago.”

  I looked at her.

  “Show her kindness, she has a mind of her own too.”

  I nodded.

  “They are on their way,” mother whispered and she pretended not to see them. I started to laugh.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” I teased her and she rolled her eyes softly at me.

  “My lady, your highness,” Philip bowed first. Her mother curtseyed.

  “May I introduce my daughter Guinevere,” Arthur spoke and I got up from my seat as Guinevere curtseyed. She was so damn mesmerizing. I si
mply couldn’t stop looking at her.

  “Your majesties.” She spoke softly and came back up.

  I reached for her hand and kissed it softly. “My lady,” I looked up at her and then led her to her seat and she sat down as a servant pushed in her chair.

  I took my seat again and high tea started.

  “I apologize for my father not being able to be here, he had other duties to take care off.”

  “The king has more important things that require his attention, we are not offended,” Philip said.

  I looked at Guinevere. “So, Guinevere, what is it that you do?”

  “May I speak freely,” she asked and looked around.

  Mother started to laugh. “It’s a courtship, Gwen, now is the only time you get to speak freely,” mother said softly.

  I suppress my smile.

  “Okay,” she said and looked down at her plate at the few sandwiches. “I am studying at home, my lecturers come twice a week.”

  “Oh what do you study?”

  “Welfare, social awareness, philosophy. That sort of thing.”

  We started to talk about philosophy. It was one of my favorite subjects too while mother was entertaining her mother and father.

  She laughed a few times at some of my snarky comments and when the tea was finished, and the sandwiches, I asked Gwen if she would like to take a walk with me in the gardens.

  She looked at her father who nodded softly.

  We excuse ourselves and she hooked her arm into mine as I led her away in the opposite direction of the dungeons.

  I found her staring at it.

  “You don’t need to be afraid of the dungeons, Guinevere.”

  “Call me Gwen, all my friends do, and I’m not afraid.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “I was misunderstood by your mother.”

  I nodded. “You don’t like them.”

  She shook her head.

  “Would it help if I told you that I do not approve either?”

  She looked at me, confused. “You don’t approve.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “No, torturing creatures is something that Charles and my father enjoy. They might be scary but they are apart of Paegeia, Gwen. There is a reason they are here.”

  Her lips curved softly. Now I understood why Charles had failed miserably when he tried to win her over with fear. “You sure are different from your brother.”

  I laughed.

  “What, aren’t you?”

  “No, Charles and I are complete opposites. But it wasn’t always like that. And he hates me now more than ever because I want to get to know you better.”

  “I don’t feel the same about him.” She spoke fast and softer.

  “He knows, the problem is that he doesn’t care. I’m not like that Gwen, so if you feel that this isn’t working for you, you can tell me.”

  She smiled. “Well you haven’t said anything remotely stupid yet and anyone that studies philosophy and can quote Peter Annet deserves a chance.”

  I laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment. So my royal status has nothing to do with this?”

  “No,” she shook her head and chuckled sweetly.

  “Good, it means that duelling my brother for this wasn’t entirely a waste.”

  “You did what?” She asked.

  “His idea, not mine. I thought it was rather idiotic to begin with, but my father loves the rivalry coming from him.”

  “You duelled your brother?”

  “His idea,” I made it clear again, hoping she wouldn’t label me as Charles Malone the second.

  She laughed. “And won?”

  “Hey, my brother is an idiot. I might not be as brawny as him but I have more sense than him.”

  “I’m impressed Louie.”

  “You are? I heard that was a pretty hard thing to do, according to my mother.”

  “Your mother has me all wrong. It’s just that I’m bestowed with a much deeper soul than most.”

  “Okay, so kindness and compassion it is.”

  She laughed again. “You sure you didn’t stalk me before this high tea.”

  “I’m not a stalker. I too sometimes feel that I don’t belong, especially in my family. I sometimes feel like an outsider. That my mother found me in the forest and decided to raise a poor orphan baby.”

  More laughter escaped her. “I can relate, not that I feel that with my family but have seen it many times, especially the outsider part. It’s not always easy.”

  We walked around in mother’s garden. She had beautiful flowers and I found the biggest oak tree and sat on the grass. She laughed again. “What no blanket?”

  “No, I’m not Charles.”

  “Why is he like that? So robust and arrogant.”

  “My father treated us different as kids. I’m sure he believed that because Charles is the crown prince, he needed those qualities to rule with a strong hand.”

  “Strong hand? What is wrong with compassion and love?”

  “My point exactly.” I said.

  “So you really didn’t want to be king.”

  “Hell no. I love my freedom way too much.” I said.

  She changed the topic to something that was taboo in Paegeia. Dragons.

  She didn’t have an ounce of fear. She was really intrigued by them and wanted to know what I thought about them. About the war that had been going on for so long between humans and dragons. She had great theories and she was filled with a longing for peace. I was too.

  “You think they can be reasoned with?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. Nobody has ever tried before.”

  “True.” I said. “My nanny told me once…” I looked at her and started to laugh as she did. “Sorry, I forgot she is your grandmother.”

  “That she is. Her stories are amazing.”

  “How did she come to know so much about dragons?”

  “I don’t know. Probably from her mother. Stories being told before all of this went haywire. I truly believe that there was a time when dragons and humans coexisted. Before evil seeped into this world. I wish I could believe what she believes.”

  “Me too. She makes it sound so magical. Especially when she talks about their abilities. You would think it’s real.”

  “I don’t know.” She laughed again.

  “She must be an amazing grandmother.”

  “That she is. She only had great things to say about you Louie.”

  “Call me Louie. And you asked her about me?”

  “Of course I did. She was the one that warned me in the beginning about Charles. Said she loved him to bits but that he was a bit spoiled. Always getting what he wanted and if he didn’t...well, that had never happened before.”

  “Until now.” I looked at her. Her cheeks slightly reddened.

  The wind started to blow and she shivered slightly.

  “I think we need to go back before a tornado blows us away.”

  “I wouldn’t mind the tornado. I have wondered so many times what the world was like before the wall.”

  “Me too.”

  I got up and offered her my hand. She took it softly and something magical flew through my body. It tingled from my fingers straight into my palms as I lifted her up. She was as light as a feather.

  The walk back was much better than the walk there had been. Her arm was hooked in mine again but she walked closer, trying to keep warm. Wherever this wind was coming from, I needed to thank it.

  We talked about the other side for a while. Both imagining what it was like.

  Still I couldn’t imagine what a world without dragons would be like. They had been a part of my life for so long that I couldn’t imagine not having them around.

  “Would you like to do this again sometime?” I asked her as the high tea table, where mother and her parents, sat came into view.

  “I would love to, Louie.” She said.

  “I’ll send a note in a few days.”

  “I’ll be waiting
patiently.” She smiled sweetly.

  When we reached the table I kissed Gwen’s hand and retreated into the castle.

  It felt as if I was walking on clouds and nothing, not even my brother, would be able to drop me back down to earth.

  I wanted to see her again.

  Chapter 3

  GUINEVERE

  * * *

  Father didn’t like it that I didn’t give Louie the cold shoulder. I wanted to lie. To make him believe that I did, but I couldn’t. It was evident on my face that I liked him more than I should.

  I listened to mother and father talking late into the hours about what this could mean for us if Louie discovered what I truly was. How dangerous it was.

  “Delilah told me that he isn’t like that. He’s not Charles and I saw him that day, Arthur. He hates everything Alexander is doing to the dragons.”

  “I know, I was there. I saw it in his demeanor but the boy didn’t speak up once.”

  “Speak up? He isn’t the one that can make any changes, Philip. If he were the crown prince, it might be a different story. Your daughter isn’t stupid. She is a well educated lady, that will die with our secrets.”

  “I hope you are sure about that.”

  “Besides, if he isn’t the right one for her, she will break it off. She told me that he gave her that option. He will let her go. He isn’t Charles.”

  “Okay, I’m just worried Petro. That is all.”

  “I’m too. But we have to believe that she will make the right choice here.”

  I tuned them out and smiled again as Louie jumped into my mind. Hopefully from now on I would dream of him and not the evil happening in the castle’s dungeons.

  I couldn’t wait for his note to arrive.

  I closed my eyes and dreamed the weirdest dream.

  Louie was there, the wind was howling so much, and then I just morphed in front of him.

  His face was numb. No emotion as he stared at my true form and when he opened his lips, a tapping noise escaped. Just that, a tapping noise.

  I didn’t know humans could even make that sound.

  It didn’t stop and I slipped out of the dream.