Casey Anderson isn't expecting much from her Mark - but when her soulmate turns out to be Prince August, the boy next in line for the throne, everything changes.
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In a world much like our own, Casey Anderson is trying to navigate her senior...
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"So, August," my father says, putting down his fork and looking at me over the top of his glasses. "Your birthday is a month away, correct?"
I swallow my bite of toast and nod. "Yes."
"Do you have any plans?" His voice is deceptively curious. My mother smiles at me before taking a small sip of her tea and returning to her crossword.
It's a trap, of course, though delicately laid - the King and Queen have doubtlessly strategized this moment. The choice to have my father bring it up, is exactly that - a choice they made.
Many of my conversations with my parents read like a game of chess, each side playing three steps ahead in an effort to win.
Not that I will win the game, of course. Occasionally, I win reprieves, especially on this subject: girls.
Specifically, any girls I may be spending time with.
"No, sir," I say quietly. "Not yet. There's the Gala, of course."
"No friends to spend it with?" My mother asks. "No... significant others?"
"I don't have a girlfriend, Mother," I say, placing my toast down on my plate and resigning myself to this conversation. "You know that."
"We just want to make sure, August," my father says. "We like to check in with you."
"There are no secret girlfriends, father," I say. "My birthday falls on a school day, so I will be in classes with my friends. I'll see most of them at the gala, anyways."
"Good, good," my father nods, satisfied that I'm not planning any blowout, international-incident drunken raves for my eighteenth.
"We wanted to discuss another manner with you, August," My mother says, folding up her newspaper and placing it gently on the table.
I nod and kill any hope I had of leaving this conversation. As queen, my mother is good at many things, but her tone of command is unsurpassed by anyone else I know. She can even make my father listen.
When my mother makes a decree, you just nod and go along with it.
"Your soulmark," she says delicately, exchanging a glance with my father.
I've never asked them if their Marks match, and as far as I know, neither of them have ever discussed it in the hearing of anyone other than, I'm assuming, the head of the security team. Possible also PR, just in case.
Anyhow, I already know how this conversation is going to go. "Will not be an issue," I finish firmly. "It won't change anything. I will marry the appropriate girl when the time is right, hopefully one who shares at least a portion of my interests, and I'm hopeful that in time we may learn to care for each other. "
My mother and father exchange glances. "You're handling this very sensibly, August," he says approvingly.
I shrug. "I will be king one day," I say. "I need to do what's right for the country. I don't even know if I will find my soulmate, let alone whether or not we will be truly suited to one another. It seems an awful risk." I take in a breath and meet my parents eyes. "I only ask that I be able to wait a while to marry. Perhaps until after university. I don't - I'm not ready, yet."
