The Enchancian Curse

Alice

Chapter 14

(Hugo POV)

My jaw dropped. Was all Prince Cole's insanity true? And if that was the case what happened to Sofia? Where was she? I then saw her amulet around Princess Alice's neck still glowing, "Where is Princess Sofia?" I asked desperately. She smiled at me and whispered, "Don't worry, I know what to do." I had no choice but to trust her so I nodded trying to think of something else I could possibly do. She turned her attention back to Prince Cole, "Cole what happened to you?" she asked looking at him. "I have been waiting for you. Alice, we can finally be together." He said coming forward wrapping his arms around her.

"Cole, I can't be with you," she said pulling away from him. He was stunned by this, "Alice, we have been waiting our whole lives to finally be together. We can rule together. Your kingdom is big and strong, mine is well endowed and obedient. Nothing would stand in the way of us being happy. I can keep you safe and we can finally have our family. This is all we wanted." She shook her head, "No Cole, you have been waiting for this, that is what you wanted. I never wanted any of this..." she gestured around the castle, "I never wanted to be a princess, let alone a queen. I never wanted to rule a kingdom or have an army or do any of this." She sighed. "What do you want then?" Prince Cole asked, "Whatever it is, I will get it for you my love. Please tell me." "Do you know that is the first time you ever asked me that. Only one person has ever asked me that before and not because he was trying to obtain me but, because he genuinely wanted to know."

I couldn't help but think about how no one had asked Sofia is she wanted to be Storykeeper or if she still wanted to be Protector and how I still hadn't asked her what she wanted.

My attention was brought back to Princess Alice as she began talking again, "Cole if you had asked me that two millennia ago, I would have told you that all I wanted was a simple life and to have a small family," "Then let's do that love" Prince Cole interrupted but Princess Alice put her hand up, "I already lived the life I wanted with the man I loved and now I am at peace." "No, no you can't be at peace. We loved each other, that life could be ours now. Just you and me." "Cole, you aren't listening to me." she sighed. "I have loved, love and will love my husband Joshua. We didn't love each other." Prince Cole looked at her and kept shaking his head, "No, we love each other. That man just confused you, he blinded you to your feelings for me but, it is ok. I still love you and we will straighten your head out again." He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away but she stayed still. "Cole, I never loved you. We were friends at one point in time but, we never loved each other. What I had with Joshua, that was love..."

(Alice POV) Flashback

My wedding is coming closer and closer. Everyone keeps congratulating me and telling me how happy I am going to be as a queen. I ran out to the garden after my final fitting was done for the wedding dress. I knelt down, everyone just assumed that I am happy about this. My parents were just happy to have the alliance finally that they never thought to ask me. "Are you alright Miss?" A voice from behind me asked. I turned and saw a sailor. He was carrying some barrels into the castle no doubt for the wedding. "Yes, don't worry about me sir," I said trying to wave him away. He put the barrel down and sat down on top of it, "Yeah, no you clearly are not alright. You don't have to talk about it but, don't try lying to me. I can tell it is kind of my super power." I let out a laugh at the last thing he said, "That's good but, I think I can do better." He said rubbing his hands together and leaning back, only he leaned back too far and fell off the barrel "OOF" I stood up and walked over to him laughing, "Are you alright?" He started laughing to as he took my hand to pull himself up, "My ego is bruised more than anything else." I held my hand for longer than I should have and blushed when he said, "I'm going to need my hand back." He started laughing again. It was this laugh that was so full of joy and life. He didn't seem to have a care in the world and it was amazing.

He looked around and then back at me, "Do you think you can spare a minute from what you were just doing and take a stroll with me?" I smiled at the question, "Yes, I would love to thank you." We started to walk and conversation felt so natural. He was a captain on the boat and was sailing off again soon. He was so much fun and had such a wonderful life. He got to sail the seas, see new places and could do whatever he wanted. "What do you want to do?" I asked. He thought about it for a second, "For now I am content to continue sailing from port to port and see where the world takes me but, one day I would like to get married, have a family. Share my little life with someone else and know that we will make each other happy." "That seems like a dream" I unintentionally said out loud. "Oh does it, and what about you what do you want?" I stopped walking. No one had ever asked me that before, everyone always assumed I wanted the life that I had, "I don't know, I just know that I don't want what is happening now. I want to have a family and now they won't be forced to do anything they didn't want to do. I want to be able to make a decision about myself that won't have lasting influence on others." He then looked over at me, "It is your wedding that I am unloading for, isn't it?" I nodded. "Well is this wedding what you want?" "No," I said out loud. I quickly covered my mouth, "I've never admitted that before but, no I don't want to marry him." "Well then, let's keep walking." He held out his arm and I immediately took it, "You know, you still haven't told me your name..." I began. "Joshua," he smiled. "Nice to meet you Joshua, I'm Alice."

-the day before the wedding-

I was out in the garden again. I had sent everyone away. I needed a moment to think, today Prince Cole had given me a ring for our engagement. I was staring at it, "It is a nice ring." "Josh," I smiled saying his name, I turned and saw him standing there. His expression was sombre. Something wasn't right, "Josh what is wrong?" I asked. "Alice, we can't keep doing this... we can't keep this up." "Josh, I-" He interrupted me, "I am leaving tonight Alice, I was supposed to leave days ago but I stayed longer because..." "Because?" I asked wondering what his reason was, "It doesn't matter. I should get going and let you get ready for your wedding." He tried to walk away from me. I grabbed his arm and turned him around, "What do you want?" I asked. The space between us was small and I let go of his arm. Neither of us moved. "Alice I think you know what I want," he said. "No, I need to hear you say it" I said. He grabbed both my arms, "Alice I want you." "Josh I want you too." We leaned in closer together. "Josh," I whispered, "I think I love you." "I don't think I love you Alice," I whimpered as I looked up at him. He moved a strand of hair out of my face, "I know I love you." The gap between us closed and he planted a kiss on my lips. "Come away with me," he said. "OK"

-later that night-

We waited until it was dark before I left my suite. I snuck through the service areas and went down into the gardens. I was just about to leave the kitchen when someone pulled on my arm, "Alice what are you doing?" "Asteria, I can't marry him," I began to beg. "Alice you are a princess it is your responsibility," "We were not always princesses. Look I never asked for this life, I never wanted any of it but, no one seems to care to ask what I want except for him. I can't marry Prince Cole I just can't." We went back and forth like this for a while before someone came in, "Alice." "Joshua," I said turning around and wrapping my arms around him. "I got worried you were running late. I thought something bad had happened." I turned back to my sister. "Asteria, you want to be a princess, and you would one day make a great queen. Much better than I would ever be able to be. Please don't force both of us to be unhappy for the rest of our lives." She nodded, "I will tell Prince Cole that you ran away tomorrow." She came up to me, "This is the last time we will be able to see each other. If you ever come back, I don't want to think about what may happen to you." She wrapped her arms around me and I wrapped mine around her. "Take care of my sister," she glared at Josh. "That is all I want to do."

We rode off to his boat and set sail as the sun began to rise. "Alice?" "Hmmm" "What do you want?" He whispered into my hair. "To spend the rest of my life with you" I smiled as I turned and he planted another kiss on my lips.

(Hugo POV)

"Cole I am incapable of ever loving someone like that again. He was, is, and will always be the love of my life." I think it was beginning to sink in. "But I love you," he said again his voice was dripping in defeat, "Cole you do realize that you never told me that while I was still alive right. You never once told me you loved me before you were supposed to marry me. You never even said you like me." I then remembered what my dad had asked me when I was figuring out my feelings for Sofia. "Prince Cole I need to ask you a question: what has been holding you back up until this point on telling her how you feel? Is it because you are scared or is it because you don't actually like her but rather the idea of her?"