🦋 ARIA 🦋
With my heart beating fast and my senses heightened, I followed behind the palace guards. We got in front of a chamber, and they stopped, motioning me to keep going.
"Aren't you coming with me?" I blurted out, "I won't go in there alone; you are supposed to protect me."
With their heads hung low, they calmly responded, "I'm sorry, my princess… No one has ever entered the prince's chambers, no one is allowed to, for we shall face our deaths if we do so."
My mind reeled, "If he is so ruthless, why send me in there alone? Are you trying to get me killed?"
"We do not believe the prince would hurt you," they calmly responded.
"But you don't know that," I snapped. "Nobody does. I won't go in there and face my death if none of you are going in."
"Get into the chamber, Aria," a voice echoed behind me. I looked back to see the king standing behind us watching, "He's your husband now, he's yours to deal with."
"Perhaps you sealed this marriage so he could kill me," I retorted. "What am I? A sacrifice? I might as well fight you since I'm going to die anyway."
"My son is no killer," the king stated calmly.
"So why is it that no one seems to go close to him? Not even you," I voiced, "I do not wish to be married to him."
"Don't you think it's a little too late for this? The marriage is over, the man behind the door you are scared of is now your husband," he declared. "Force her in."
With my heart lurching in my chest as if it had momentarily forgotten how to beat, a chill swept over my skin, leaving it deathly pale, and my breath caught in my throat.
I was pushed into the room with the door slammed shut after me. I trembled in fear and rushed towards the door, trying to run out, but there was nothing I could do other than turn around to face whatever was in the chamber.
I slowly turned around, unable to stop my legs from trembling. The room was dark, and I had to trail around the room using my hands on the wall. soon I got to where a lantern was and lit it.
I picked up the lantern and turned around, breathing heavily. A man was lying on the bed with his legs crossed and his arm folded across his chest, with no care in the world about whatever was going on.
He had a piece of clothing covering his face and only his eyes, nose and lips were visible, but at least I was sure about one thing, he doesn't have the head of a frog.
"Hello?" I called out fearfully, the only thing I was grateful about was the fact that he wasn't attempting to attack me, he didn't even care at all.
Summoning my courage, I moved closer to him, each step I took made me tremble as though I was walking closer to my death, but I didn't stop anyway, there was this force of interest that was pulling me towards him.
I got to him and stared down at his masked face, inhaled sharply and placed my hand on his face.
Swallowing hard, I started to pull away the fabric on his face.
In a swift moment, faster than I could ever imagine, his eyes flew open, his hazel eyes piercing through me.
I froze, my heart beating faster, he didn't stop staring, and finally his Irresistible manly voice rang out, "What are you doing?"
Fear forced me into taking two steps back, "I thought you were… Dead," I blurted out without thinking, "I was just making sure I wasn't being forced to lie with a corpse."
"Who are you?" He asked, gawking at me enough to make me fall to my knees and plead with him to stop.
"Weren't you told?" I responded sarcastically, "That you were getting married today."
"My father does whatever he chooses, even if I don't approve of it," he muttered. "Are you my wife?"
I slowly lifted my gaze towards him at the mention of the word "Wife", and our eyes met, sending a sense of shock through me that I immediately looked away.
"Well, at least we agree on one thing, I do not want to be married to you either, but my mother believes I have to keep the family going," I declared, "Can you stop looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" He growled.
"Just don't look at me," I retorted.
"I don't like the fact that you are here, and don't ever try to look at my face again… the guards must have told you it could cost you your life," he stated in a threatening tone.
"Not really," I voiced, "I was told you'd kill anyone that tried to get into your chamber, I'm wondering why I'm still alive."
He turned his back to face me and then whispered, "Because you are my wife."
Exhaling sharply, I looked around; I wasn't worried about where to sleep because I knew I definitely wasn't going to get a sleep that night, so I crawled up to a corner and sat there, staring at the prince to be sure he wouldn't make any move and attempt to kill me.
When I woke up the next morning, I wasn't cuddling myself in a corner, I was lying carelessly on the bed with zero worries on my mind, I slept like a child yet in the room of someone I portrayed to be dangerous.
I dragged myself up with countless thoughts of how I got to the bed, but no matter how hard I tried to regain memories, I couldn't figure out how.
But with the kind of fear I had built up for the prince, I knew I wouldn't dare walk towards the bed he is asleep on.
"Right, the prince," I thought, looking around in fear, but he was nowhere to be found.
I rushed outside and found two guards guarding the entrance to the chambers, and quickly motioned for them to come closer.
"Where's the prince?" I calmly asked.
They bowed and responded, "My princess, the prince has gone to meet your mother."
"My mother?" I asked in shock, "Why would he want to see my mother?"
The guards shared glances, contemplating whether or not they should tell me what was happening.
"Speak!" I commanded.
"The prince argued with the King this morning, he claimed to not be interested in this marriage," they blurted out, "He went to see your mother under a threat that he would kill you if she didn't take you back and cut off the marriage."