To Marry a Prince

by A. C. Arthur

  Landry turned then, almost too fast as her legs threatened to buckle. Extending an arm, she grabbed hold of the back of a chair that was thankfully close.

  “You did what?” she asked.

  Kristian turned then as well. He leaned against the railing in a move that looked so casual and so enticing. At another time it might have drawn her closer to him; tonight, it kept her still.

  “She loved to ride horses,” he began. “We have a stable...we used to have a stable down farther to the west side of the palace. She would ride in the hills and then take her horse, Trolly, down to the beach to cool down. I didn’t like to ride. Sam did. She loved it as much as my mother. They loved to do a lot of things together.”

  He looked off to the side, then back to her.

  “Sam was her little girl and Roland was her sunshine. I was her constant. She used to say that she knew what I would do and say before I did because I was constantly trying to be an adult. She was right. Instead of riding with her, I watched her ride and when she was finished I took care of the horse and locked up the stable. I was ten years old and one day, that day, I’d been reading a book instead of watching her ride.

  “I knew she was out there and I’d come to sit on the cliff to watch her, but I brought a book with me. One my father would have flipped if he saw me with.”

  “Which book?” Landry asked even though she was sure that wasn’t the most important part of this story.

  “Romeo and Juliet,” he said with a shrug. “I found it in my mother’s library. She’d had a bookmark in it so I knew she’d read it. That enticed me to read it too.”

  “I read it for the first time when I was in the tenth grade,” Landry admitted. “I’ve read it at least a dozen times since then.”

  “I was so into the book that I almost missed the fact that she’d finished her ride and was coming back to the stables. I had to run to get there in time. She was already wiping the horse down and feeding him carrots. She smiled when she saw me and said it was okay that I hadn’t been here, that she could take care of it. I didn’t like seeing her doing my job.” He sighed. “So I put the book down and I insisted on finishing up for her. There was a storm coming and she said we needed to batten everything down tightly. I agreed. And I thought I’d done that.”

  He dragged his hands down his face and shook his head. “The storm hit later that evening. We had just finished dinner and one of the staff came in to say that they were being called down to the stables. My mother insisted on going down. My father stood to go with her but I told him I would go instead.”

  “Because that was your job,” Landry said. “You weren’t old enough to rule the island yet, but you still had responsibilities.”

  He nodded. “I went out with her and two of the staff. When we got there the stable doors were swinging in the gusty wind. My mother instantly ran toward the stable. I ran behind her but I tripped over something. I still don’t know what, but in the few seconds it took for me to get up and start forward again, Trolly had gotten loose from his stall. He’d barreled through, knocking my mother down. She hit her head on the stall door and only regained consciousness for a half hour before she died.”

  Landry’s hands shook as tears filled her eyes. The sorrow in his tone was heart-wrenching; the rush of realizations and unspoken explanations bombarded her with sadness.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” she said immediately.

  “I must’ve failed to lock the stall doors.”

  “What if the wind was simply so strong it blew them open?” she insisted.

  “I should have bolted them. We knew the storm was coming and it was my responsibility. I was next in line to be leader. How could I lead effectively if I forgot something so simple?”

  “Oh, Kristian,” she sighed.

  He shook his head again as if the act was meant to shake away any pity she might have felt for him. To make his point clearer, he stood straight and took a step toward her.

  “I am the next in line to rule. Everything that happens here is ultimately my responsibility. If you were a threat to us, I should have known. But how could I if I were so busy falling...falling into bed with you like some lust-filled schoolboy,” he said.

  The words stung and Landry struggled to remain standing.

  “I should have remained focused. I should have brought Gary in sooner to look things over. That’s my job!” he yelled.

  Landry jumped at the spike in his voice.

  “You couldn’t control our attraction any more than I could,” she told him. “So no, you can’t add that to your list of failures. You and I both decided to sleep together. And don’t think you’re the only one who had doubts about that because I did too.”

  A renewed energy surged through her. Maybe it was the anger she’d begun to feel when he spoke like he finally regretted something else in his life, which was sleeping with her.

  “Do you think I wanted to come here and get so caught up in a guy, not to mention a prince of all people in this world? I’ve fought tooth and nail with my parents over submitting to a man, over giving parts of myself to someone, parts that I cherished. After that first night all you had to do was send me a text and I came running. The day you invited me to the museum with you I was elated because I thought it was a real date. We weren’t only sleeping together, we were dating. For a moment, one brief second in time, I entertained the idea of us becoming a real couple.

  “Do you know what that meant to me? No, you don’t. But you probably figure I’m like Malayka and it meant some type of power trip, or possibly that I was enamored by your riches and this island and all that went with the title of being princess. But you would be so very wrong. I never wanted marriage and a happy-ever-after and I certainly never wanted that with a prince!”

  Her entire body was shaking with rage now. She wanted to cry and to scream. A part of her ached for him, for that ten-year-old boy who had lost his mother and covered himself in blame for an accident that should not have been his responsibility to control. And another part wanted to punch him in the face for being so callous with her and what they’d shared.

  “But you know what, Your Highness? I’m a big enough person that I can admit my faults and accept when I’ve made a mistake. I came to you willingly. I should have known better. I did actually, but I ignored the warnings. I did what I always do and took a leap. Now I’ll deal with the fact that I was wrong about you. I thought you were strong and admirable, but I should have known you were just another conceited jerk believing in your own self-importance more than you actually believed in yourself.”

  Her heart was thumping, her arms were chilled as she stood there squaring off with him. He looked like he was ready to explode, as if he had so much more he could but of course would not say to her. Landry realized at that point that she didn’t give a damn. Whatever else Kristian wanted to say to her, she just didn’t care. Not anymore.

  “I’m going back to my room now and I’m going to pack my things. I’ll be out of here by tomorrow morning. Investigate me some more if you still think I slept with you just so I could plant a bomb in the palace and possibly kill you and your family. Do whatever you have to do.”

  Landry prayed she wouldn’t pass out as he moved. The perfect ending to this scene was her walking out with her head held high. She managed it, on bare feet and wearing a silky nightgown. When she finally arrived at her room she slammed the door shut and slid to the floor where she sat. She cried and then finally, she picked herself up and began to pack, determined to move forward, just as she always had.

  * * *

  In the morning Kris had received word that Landry was gone; he was still sitting on the balcony when Sam came in.

  “I heard about what happened while I was safely tucked in my room last night. I won’t tell you how big of a jerk you are because you’re my brother and I love you,”
she said as she sat on one of the lounge chairs beside him. “But wow, you are a jerk!”

  Kris leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

  “I don’t need you to tell me what I already know,” he said.

  How many times had he had that very thought in the hours that he’d been out here?

  “She didn’t do this,” Sam said.

  “I know.”

  “She’s gone.”

  He tried not to react too much to those words.

  “I know.”

  “You’re in love with her,” Sam continued.

  “I’m no good for her,” he replied.

  Sam chuckled. “That’s such a sorry cop-out. And you’re too smart to say things like that.”

  Kris agreed. He was smart. He’d always performed well in school and had done even better in college. He was ambitious and tenacious. He’d been trained to be a pillar of strength in the midst of any adversity. He could negotiate with the best businessmen but always kept his eye on his bottom line. He was not a lover and had never dealt with any relationship issues, ever. So yeah, he guessed that gave him a pass to say some things that weren’t so smart, at least once in his life.

  “I wasn’t smart enough to handle the situation better,” he admitted.

  “Well, inexperience has to count for something,” Sam said.

  Trust his younger sister to be the one dishing out words of wisdom. Whenever he and Roland used to argue Sam would come along with one of her many dolls in tow and mediate with such calm maturity Kris had often wondered if she were really meant to be the oldest.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he told her. “I have to deal with whoever is trying to kill us, or Dad, or whatever is going on here.” Dragging his hands over his face he came to stand. “I’ve got to shower and meet with Dad and the guards. We have to get to the bottom of this.”

  Sam waved a hand. “Dad and Roland have been in a closed-door meeting with the guards and the police chief for the past hour.”

  “Why didn’t they call me? I’ve been up. If there was going to be a meeting I should have been there,” he argued.

  “From what Roland told me, you carried Landry down to the health suite. Then you insisted on bringing her up to your room after the doctor had examined her and given her pain medication. He presumed you would not want to be disturbed this morning. I, on the other hand, went to check on Landry in her rooms where I thought she would be. Imagine my surprise to see her packing.”

  He dismissed the image of Landry packing to leave from his mind. “This is my house, my job!” Kris insisted. He cursed and headed for the door.

  “That’s not all there is to your life, Kris,” Sam said.

  She’d stood as well and now had her hands perched on her hips. The stance and her words reminded him instantly of their mother and Kris swallowed hard to keep the grief at bay.

  “Nobody doubts that you’re a good leader, you’ve been tossing that in mine and Roland’s faces all our lives. You’re Dad’s right hand. You know more about the banks than he does. And your birth rank overrules any argument about who will rule next. But, Kris, you’ve got to live too. Go bike riding, jet skiing, try sky diving, something! Get out of this palace and live a little. The title and all that goes with it will still be here and it’ll still be yours.”

  He sighed heavily and walked to her then. He didn’t do this often and he knew he probably should, but Kris pulled Sam in close for a hug. He kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I don’t know if I should be leading this country if my baby sister is so much smarter than I am.”

  She’d wrapped her arms around his waist and laughed. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  Chapter 16

  Two Weeks Later

  Astelle took the long fork she had been using to hold the ham in place while she sliced it to poke Heinz lightly on the arm. He was trying to steal a slice and she had to remind him in a gentle tone, “The ham is not for you. There’s a pan of baked chicken right there.”

  With a frown Heinz pulled his arm back. He then reached over to the pan of baked chicken and used his fork to pick up a thigh.

  “You’ll love it, Dad,” Landry said, leaning over to whisper in her father’s ear. “I had some of the spices I picked up in Grand Serenity shipped here and when Mom wasn’t looking I sprinkled a bit on the thighs and legs because I know they’re your favorite.”

  Heinz smiled at his daughter. “That’s my girl.”

  “I thought I was your girl, PopPop,” Giselle, Landry’s sister Paula’s four-year-old, said after taking a bite of her corn on the cob.

  Her niece’s plump cheeks now displayed bits of corn as she chewed earnestly. Landry smiled and picked up a napkin to wipe her face.

  “You’re my special baby girl,” Heinz told her and promptly leaned down to plant a kiss on her newly cleaned cheek.

  “Spoiled rotten,” Astelle said after slicing the last bit of ham and taking a seat. “Every girl child in this household has been spoiled to the point of no return.”

  “Tell me about it,” Heinz Jr. remarked.

  “That is so not true,” Landry added. “How many times did the boys get out of chores while Paula and I had to clean this house from top to bottom?”

  “Boys shouldn’t do girl work,” Gramps added.

  Landry could only shake her head at her grandfather’s comment. She should have expected it because she’d heard similar sentiments from him before. It still never ceased to amaze her.

  “It’s a different generation now, Gramps,” Paula chimed in.

  “Yeah, one where women are bringing home just as much money as the men. So if they can share in paying bills, they should be able to share doing chores too,” Landry declared.

  “Oh boy, she’s definitely back,” Dominic quipped. “Get out the soapbox.”

  Her brothers laughed but Landry wasn’t surprised; the Norris boys always stuck together.

  “Well if somebody has to say it, I guess it has to be me,” Landry continued. “Women are always tasked with being independent and resourceful, while men get to work whichever jobs they want and then come home and sit on their butts.”

  Heinz Sr. shook his head and continued to eat his baked chicken as if he knew where this conversation was going. Astelle tended to her grandchildren and took small bites of the food on her plate.

  “That’s right. I take care of both my children and I work two jobs. Does that mean their father should be allowed to work his part-time fast-food shifts and then come home and lie on the couch for the remainder of the time?” Paula asked.

  Geoffrey shook his head. “Nobody’s saying all that.”

  “Good!” Paula exclaimed. “Because that’s some bull and it’s precisely why I sent him back home to his mama. I can do bad by myself.”

  “Takes some people longer to come to their true calling in life than others,” Astelle finally spoke. “We should never be so quick or harsh to judge others.”

  “Oh goodness, she’s going to the Bible,” Paula whispered.

  Astelle and Heinz Sr. heard her and sent warning glares her way, but Paula continued to eat, unbothered.

  “So glad I’m in my own place and doing my own thing. I don’t have to worry about the balance between men and women in relationships,” Landry said.

  “Hard work never hurt anybody,” Astelle started. “Relationships are hard work, but they’re worth it. Ain’t that right, Heinz?”

  Landry watched as her father nodded. “Absolutely right, my love,” he said when he finished chewing.

  Landry resisted the urge to frown. She’d had another try at the relationship thing, even if what she and Kristian were doing was a little on the strange side. Still, since coming home, she’d decided she could forego the entire game of love for the dur
ation of her life if need be.

  After a few hours had passed, first and second helpings of the meal were done and Gramps was already calling for his dessert. Regardless of their prior conversation Landry and Paula stood to help Astelle gather the dinner dishes and take them into the kitchen. Paula had taken the chocolate cake out to the dining room and Landry followed her with cake plates in one hand, a gallon of vanilla ice cream tucked uncomfortably under her arm and spoons in the other hand.

  She’d just made it to the table when Paula started to yell.

  “Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!”

  “What is that child yelling about now?” Gramps asked.

  Giselle had gotten out of her chair to go to her mother’s side, looking at her with curiosity as she continued to yell. Paula’s oldest child was Charles Jr.; he was nine and not impressed by much of anything the adults in this family did or said. So he remained in his seat playing the handheld video game Landry had given him for his last birthday.

  In seconds everybody, except Gramps, was up from the table, joining Paula where she was standing in front of the bay window. Heinz Jr. pulled the curtains all the way back and almost knocked over one of their mother’s plants.

  “Dayum!” Geoffrey crowed as he peered out the window and then bent down to scoop Giselle up in his arms. “Look at that limo.”

  “Who is that? Y’all invite somebody else to dinner?” Dominic asked.

  “No,” Astelle said, coming out of the kitchen. “I didn’t invite anybody.”

  Landry hadn’t moved. After putting the ice cream onto the cherrywood table covered in her mother’s old lace tablecloth, she’d set the plates down slowly. The spoons were still in her hand when she chanced a look out the window. That’s the precise moment her heart stammered in her chest.

  It couldn’t be.

  No, she told herself. It wasn’t.

  He was thousands of miles away, running his island without her there to distract him. Kristian had let her walk out of his room and subsequently out of his life. She’d only spoken briefly to Malayka who didn’t seem at all fazed by Landry’s announcement that she was resigning and would send her a list of recommended stylists to choose from. Her flight had left the island later that morning and since then she had not heard from or seen anyone from the DeSaunters family.