The Prince and the Parchment

Chapter 3: Cassius

The sound of clashing metal grated in my ears as Fredrick's longsword came down near my shoulder. It was met with my own, raking down the length of it, causing my ears to nearly bleed. I pushed him away, backing up a few steps myself.

Fredrick, knight of Voria, just stared at me and laughed. "You seem distracted, Cassius. Where is your mind, because it clearly isn't here!" he teased, launching at me again.

I simply avoided him and wacked at his weapon carelessly. "I'm tired," I complained. "My head isn't here because it's nowhere. The negotiations have completely numbed me to thought. I don't understand how there is so much to talk about in our relationship with Dyluth. I understand it's important, but—"

Fredrick kicked me with the force of a ox, sending me plummeting to the ground. He burst into laughter, pointing his sword to my neck. "Look, your highness, no offense intended, but you talk to much."

"Ugh," I groaned. "No offense, but when am I ever going to have to fight?"

"Do I really have to answer that?" He offered his hand to help me stand, which I took graciously.

"No," I sighed.

"Cassius," an all too familiar voice called for me.

We turned our heads to see who had so rudely interrupted our training. (Our basically pointless training, for what wars did we have in Voria?) Clad in a long, elegant, white dress strode the queen— my mother— into the yard. Every knight and soldier in training stepped aside and took a bow to her, even Fredrick beside me. She was impeccable, as usual, with her hair up in some sort of elaborate manner. Long sleeves complimented her train as her crown sat atop her head. Truthfully, I think she wore the thing to sleep every night. There was not a day on the planet that she did not wear it. "Consolidating power," she claimed it was for, but Father and I knew it was just for her own vanity.

She waved a hand casually. "Go on with your training," she commanded. "I've just come for my son."

Everyone quickly returned to their tasks, and Fredrick stood beside me and sheathed his sword.

I did the same, thumb caressing the royal emblem on its hilt. My eyes met Mother's and I knew immediately that she was going to tell me to do something or the other. Then again, that's all she ever did. Do this, Cassius, do that. Go find a woman to marry, you're not getting any younger.

My own thoughts must have jinxed me, because she said something that was probably the last thing I wanted to hear.

She cleared her throat and stared at me with the force of an army. "Cassius, darling," she said, as if she could consolidate her torture with pet names. "You're going to ride with Princess Sophia today and show her around the nearest bits of Voria. I expect it to be a lengthy trip. Take her out to eat, charm her, just don't do that thing that you do."

"What thing?" I spited.

"The thing where you run away from your poor suitors, or scare them off, or any of that nonsense," she chided.

My eyebrows furrowed, my mouth hanging open slightly. "Do you think I'm daft?"

She clicked her tongue. "Sometimes, yes. I've already informed her of your trip. Please, for the love of all, do not mess this up. She truly is one of the nicest women that you'll ever meet, and she's so intelligent. She'd make one of the finest queens that this land ever did see."

I gritted my teeth and shut my mouth, for I could not insult my mother here like she insulted me. She must have harbored a disappointment in me and my many achievements, because I did not deserve her critique. Anyone would agree. "When do we leave?" I mumbled.