Royals (Book 1)

Chapter 8 : The Stray

"It's such a shame you are a virgin, you could have some serious fun with Alarik." Marina told me as soon as the movie finished. I thought the topic had been dropped already but I guess I was wrong. Why she mentioned Alarik of all people was a mystery on its own. 

"I do not wish to do anything with him, virgin or not. I think that would be torture." I rolled my eyes at her.

"But why not? You don't need to like someone to have sex with them." She said and I cringed at the word.

"Marina, what is your obsession with Alarik and I doing something?" I finally asked her. "Were my rants of how miserable he is not enough to lead you away from that idea?"

"I think it would be interesting for you, and entertaining for me during my stay here." She shrugged.

"Your life seems entertaining enough, you do something almost every night when you are home." I reminded her and she sighed.

"Yes, but eventually I will have to be sent off to who knows where to marry some man I might not even like. It just does not seem like not enough years to live before I have bear the responsibility of a whole country." Her confession was something I could resonate with deeply. "I want you and I to live our lives to the fullest extent before that inevitable time."

"Well I appreciate it, but I do not think my life will be full just because I decide to...fornicate with some man I do not like." I told and she nodded like she finally understood.

"But he's hot." She whined after a period of time, playfully thrashing around like a child and I only shook my head at her. I was not going to verbally agree with her, but I knew that deep down that was something I could not deny.

I rested my head on her shoulder, and she met my gentle show of affection by resting her head against mine. My talks with Marina were what I thought talks on the school yard were like, stupid chatter about boys amongst other things. It made me feel a little more human to be around her, like the whole world finally stopped looking at what I was going to do next.

I felt my eyes starting to drift, my lids going up and down as I began to fight the sleep deprivation I was experiencing. I quickly took my head off of her and tried to shake myself awake. Marina looked at me with a curious expression.

"Are you alright? You look sick." Marina asked, concern trailing in her tone.

"Yes I am fine, just tired." I let out a heavy sigh, the stress of these past events have been effecting me more than I thought. Sleeping was an issue, but it has never reached this high of a streak. A princess kept her chin up and dealt with her problems with grace, so why was everything affecting my head so badly?

"You look like you need to rest, you have the evening to yourself." She grabbed my arms, pulling me off the floor and dragging me back to my room. Luckily I was already dressed in clothes that were comfortable enough to nap in. I climbed into bed without resistance and curled up against my pillow. "Sleep for an hour or two, if you don't wake up I'll come get you." She pushed a lock of hair behind my ear, leaving the room.

Of course the moment I was dedicated to sleeping, my mind decided to run rampant with the things that Marina and I discussed. The past eighteen years of my life were spent cooped up in the same collection of walls, and I only had a little less than three months before I truly became responsible for what happened outside of them. I would have to be wed, I would have to make life-altering decisions for the people of my country. I did not even know what their faces looked like.

I stood up to look out of my window, my arms being used to hug myself. I was not used to such a change of pace, with so many expectations thrown at me that I was not yet used to having. That's when I saw Alarik walking in the grass, looking like he was heading for the wall. I stared at the collection of bricks separating me from the outside world. He gets to do what he wants as he sees fit, I bet even back home he roamed freely. How come he gets to travel like a stray cat, exploring every inch of area he wanted?