Jily oneshots

The Stag Prince

by writeringoodfaith

Once upon a time, there was a king named Fleamont and a queen named Euphemia who ruled a large and mighty kingdom. And yet they were sad, for they were growing old and had no child to inherit the throne. Then, happily a son was born, a prince, and he was given the name James.

Kings and queens came from far away to offer their gifts to the young prince, among them, King Henry, Queen Grace and their young daughters - Princesses Petunia and Lily. Petunia was a dainty little thing, tight blonde curls and an oval shaped face. At five, the weight of being crown princess already weighed on her dainty little head and manifested in her unwillingness to play with other children or get her hands dirty. She was several years senior to Lily, who was but a babe with shocking red hair with the temperament of an angel.

Queen Grace carried Princess Lily to the baby prince lying in his crib and helped Lily drop a pocket watch, etched with their kingdom's coat of arms - a stag and his proud antlers - into the crib for baby James to play with. He put the pocket watch in his mouth immediately and began sucking on it. Baby Lily let out a delighted laugh and Queen Grace set Lily down in the crib with James to play together, a look of wonder on her face as she turned to face her old friend and neighbour across the sea, Queen Euphemia.

It was at this moment that Queen Grace and Queen Euphemia happened upon the same idea. They were of each other's age, they were of similar birth and they would be a great excuse to get their husbands to travel. Lily and James would be brought together each summer in the hopes that they would fall in love and establish goodwill between the kingdoms forever.

They watched their children play together in James's crib and smiled smugly. This was such a good idea. It would be a match made in heaven.

James eyed the girl with red hair descending from the carriage with wary eyes. His mother had told him that he was supposed to treat her real nice because she was very special and something about mat tree money that he didn't really get. What did he need tree money for anyway?

His mother, Queen Euphemia stood behind him with a hand on his shoulder. His father, King Fleamont stood on his other side.

The little girl stood in front of him, also flanked by her parents and by her mean older sister. Sweeping her large pink skirt before her, she said, 'I'm very pleased to meet you, Prince James.'

His face scrunched up in a grimace and he tried to squirm but his mother must have known this would happen because she squeezed his shoulder. "Mother," he hissed in pain.

"James," she scolded. "Remember what we practised," she said through her teeth and smiled at the foreign people.

He tucked one arm into his middle and let the other flourish behind him as he bowed down, as practised. "Pleased to meet you, Princess Lily." He felt his glasses fall down the bridge of his nose and subtly tried to push it back up with the hand at his chest. Then he held onto the girl's hand, as was practised, even though this hand was a lot smaller than his mother's one and didn't have any rings on it. As he was bending down to press a kiss onto it he caught the princess's face looking at him like the way he looked at brussel sprouts and he almost backed out of it completely. But his mother coughed loudly and he knew he'd never hear the end of it. He scrunched his face and - mwah.

She snatched her hand away and wiped it on her dress in disgust, her ears turning red.

He wiped his lips on the back of his hand, his face scrunching up again.

Queen Euphemia and Queen Grace met each other's eyes and smiled.

Lily had picked up one of his wooden swords and was swinging it around while their parents were walking through the castle.