Without love no man is a king

16.

Weeks past and it was becoming more and more obvious that the prince was not in a harmonious happy marriage. They had not been seen together since their wedding day. Castle staff knew the prince and princess slept in separate rooms and rumours that their marriage had not yet been consummated were rife. The princess had refused to see the prince after the feast so any rouse they had planned fell through.

"Father? Have you seen Inara today?" Prince Roland walked into his office determinedly
"Indeed" the king smiled at the girl sat on the floor with her flashcards
"What is she doing?"
"She asked me to teach her a few new words today. Her vocabulary is growing. She is a smart girl."
"Oh. Perhaps I could help teach you princess Inara?" The prince sat down next to her "tree" he pointed to a drawing "this one is a...." he trailed off when Inara gathered her cards, stood up and walked out of the room "she will not even be in the same room as me! We are not going to pull this off father. I have no doubt.....oh hello again Inara" he smiled when she returned "can I...."
"Witch!" She slid her finger across her neck "pig!" She snuffed at him, slamming the door loudly
"I think she merely forgot to slam the door in your face. She knows it annoys you. Like I say she is smart." The king chuckled "you were saying"
"I was just saying that I have no doubt...." he was cut off by Inara storming back in, slapping him across the face and slamming the door again. "For goodness sake!" The prince stood up angrily, going to follow her.

"Leave her be. Continue."
"Her father will no doubt...." he paused watching the door in anticipation "no doubt send someone to check on his daughter. It is not as if she can write. He can not read! We should expect visitors from Dreconton sooner rather than later, he will not wait a year for me to return her for a visit."
"Agreed." The king nodded sorting his books
"Well! What are we to do father! He will ask her! Of how she has been treated. Of our marriage. If she is happy."
"And?"
"And what exactly? What answer do we give him, what answer will she give him?"
"You want my honesty? I do not know. She wants peace. She knows she will not get it if she tells the king of your indiscretions. She also knows he will expect her to bare children. They hold great pride in large families son. She is one of ten. The only daughter, most if not all of her brothers have died in battle. From what I can gather. We have bonded a little. As you saw. In their tradition, the grooms parents become the brides. She has no Queen to go to so I am the next best thing. She trusts Digory and myself."

"There must be a way father. Never mind consummating this blasted thing just getting her to be in the same room would be a start! What of lady Stephanie? What news is there?"
"She does not bare your child if that is what you are asking."
"Yes and no. How is she?"
"She is no longer your concern. Take her name out of your mouth, do not let the princess hear you say the name again. She recognises it."
"I know she does...is she still in the dungeon?"
"What did I just say!"
"We can not keep her there forever! Indefinitely!"
"Would you rather I hung her?" The king asked shortly "well? Or let your wife slit her throat? Or send her to Dreconton to be punished by their laws? Which would include me sending you with her!"
"No." The prince walked over to the window "no of course not."

"I do not know what to do father" the prince sighed "if I could turn back time and change what happened that day I would, but I can not. So what do I do?"
"If I had an answer to that I would have given it to you weeks ago." The king joined his son by the window, smiling at Inara walking across the courtyard to the stables "I'd say start again but that requires both of you to cooperate. Right now.....I do now know son. I am sorry. I knew it would be difficult and delicate. I trusted you were up to the challenge. I made a mistake. Let us hope she is a good actress when her father arrives."

"If she loved me I could understand but she doesn't."
"So you would be happy to walk in on her and Digory, in the same situation you were in with your tart? On your wedding day? The chance of his heir growing in her belly instead of your own?"
"Well...no. Obviously not. I can understand the upset father, of course I can, but not the degree of the upset."
"Then you do not understand. You had an agreement between you. You broke that agreement. Your wedding day was always going to be a difficult day for her, you made it worse, it was beyond disrespectful. I do not see how you still can not see this. If you had agreed to a farce marriage with lovers behind closed doors, fair enough, but that is not what you promised her or her father. She watched a man she cared for die...by your hand....for you. To protect you. To protect peace. She declared her loyalty to you before we left Dreconton. You did not give her the decency to show her the same respect back. Yes you are not a love match. That did not give you the right to do what you did, especially when you did."

"This still does not help me...or her. She looks so sad"
"Because she is! She is loyal, you are not."
"I am!"
"Clearly not!"
"We were not yet married!"
"There is your problem. To her, you were. You might not believe you were because it was not in-front of your god but it was in front of hers. You were married son. Are you telling me if she came in now, you could resist her? Or any any other woman throwing themselves at you? I am not blind! I was once a young prince myself. I know how these things are. You do not think I had my fun? I would never betray your mother on our wedding day, even if we had not yet fallen in love and only just met."
"You have clearly not forgiven me yet either"
"Honestly. No. I haven't."

"The more time I spend with that girl the more I see....son she is a well suited match to you. Dreconton aside, if she had been presented as a potential bride for my son....from somewhere else, I honestly think I would have considered her and I think you would have too, and liked her."
"I was starting to think the same thing. Small things. Little things. Tiny glimmers. We'd shared smiles and laughter, moments of happiness, tenderness. I ruined it beyond repair. We could have been happy together. Or at least civil. Have a friendship."
"Yes you could. Win her back son. Forget about peace and the Drecontonians. For her and you, try and at least get back on good terms. I genuinely think you'd like her and get along. You were getting along however difficult it was, you do not think I saw her flinch away from people and towards you? Hold your hand for comfort when she was scared? Which you gladly and willingly offered and provided without being asked to be myself or anyone. She was seeking you out, she trusted you."
"She did" the prince smiled "I hoped to build on that with her. I was scared also, needing a moment of release. Not knowing if my own wife would give herself to me. One last moment of freedom. Of pleasure. It was not worth it."

"She has a sense of humour you know. She can not help certain things. She is willing to learn though. She finds our food very....excitable, I guess is the word. Her face lights up and she can not help diving in with her hands. Enthusiasm takes over. Bless her. She loves books. Like my bookworm son. She had never seen a book before coming here, she likes to smell them" the king laughed lightly "She is missing her mother. I know that much. She drew this for her, she is a skilled artist, I think she may have been responsible for the many drawings on the stone walls of your room in Dreconton." the king showed the Prince a detailed etched drawing of the castle "I think she wished to show her mother where she was living. To reassure her. She asked me to send it to Dreconton, to her mother. Turn it over. It is like our signatures."
The prince smiled at the outline of Inara's hand "it is endearing in a way. I will continue trying father, you have my word. However many times I get slapped in the face."