Separate Crowns of One Heart

Twėnty-Thrėė

I roll over and feel the crinkling of parchment under my head. Peeking through one eye, I lift my head and pick up the small scrap. It's a note from the Prince. I sit up to read it, ignoring the voices outside of the tent and the Prince's empty sleeping bag.

𝐀𝐬 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧, 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬-- 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

-- 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞

Folding the note in my hand, I slip out of the sleeping bag and outside into the morning air. "Good morning, Your Highness," Yuunis greets me. "I'm glad to see you survived the moon."

"No thanks to you." I toss him a playful glare before waving at Mila. She waves back with a look on her face that lets me know she has much to recount to me about her moon with Yuunis. I head towards where the Prince sits on a log, wearing a short-sleeved shirt with his hair tied back messily. He hands me a plate of breakfast food as I sit with him. "Thank you." He nods with a smile. I lean in towards him and lower my voice so the other two can't hear. "You left me a note."

"I promised I wouldn't miss a day ever again," he replies. "What, did you think that only meant while we were at the Palace?"

"Yes," I answer truthfully, looking down at the food on my plate. "It might be one of my favorites yet."

"You have favorites?" I just smile and push a spoonful of still warm eggs into my mouth. "What do you do with them after you read them? Do you just put them in the bin? Because I might have to stop if you do."

"No," I laugh. "I keep them. And the letters you've written to me."

He looks away with a shy smile just as Mila and Yuunis sit across the fire pit from us. "What are the two of you whispering about?"

"How to begin the conceiving of an heir," Yuunis smirks at his cousin.

"I think the two of you are doing enough conceiving for the whole Kingdom," I jab right back. That shuts Yuunis up and Mila's light skin darkens with a blush to match the love marks on her neck. I elbow the Prince to stop his snickering. "So what does everyone want to do today?"

"Oh!" Mila starts excitedly. "Did you bring the hammock? I saw that it was on your list."

"I did. I brought two." We finish breakfast and Mila immediately drags me away to find the perfect trees to hang our hammocks while the Males go on a nature walk after Yuunis theatrically promises to keep "my prince" safe.

Getting the hammocks up and into place is more of a struggle than I anticipated. Both Mila and I end up tangled up in what is supposed to be a lounging object more times than I would like to admit. We finally get them secured side by side between tall trees with thick trunks sometime before lunch.

The sun shines down at us through the green leaves that provide us with shade way up above. Mila sighs with contentment and I turn to look at her. "This was worth the struggle."

"It was." I fold my hands behind my head and turn my body to face her. "So..."

"I was just waiting for you to ask," she says with giddiness. I laugh, ready to hear all the raunchy details of her moon with Yuunis but we're interrupted by heavy footfalls and loud laughter.

The Males have returned. "Princess!" The Prince calls loudly through the trees as they approach. "Princess Cyrah!" I roll my eyes, feeling as though the time away from him was much too short. The two of them step out of the trees, trays in their hands. The Prince grins when he sees me. "There you are."