Royal Ice( a Sofia and Hugo love story)

Chapter 1

HUGO

It took a second for me to realize what was happening, people were buzzing everywhere. Lights were flashing and everyone was watching me, commanding me to do something. I could not feel anything or move, and my chest felt like a hollow pit of sand. Every time I brought myself to say something nothing could come out. I just laid there, body still completely in shock, no clue what was happening.

All I remember is closing my eyes and never waking up, I am in a different room now. It is dark and I cannot see anything, the searing pains are gone but I have a funny feeling in my right shoulder, I am shot and there is a pool of blood forming all over my body. I try screaming for help, but my voice just echoes in my head, no sound coming out of my throat.

The door opens and a bright light shines through. A shadowy figure crouches down and starts moving towards me, sweat bubbles start beading all over my head and I am shaken with fear.

He starts moving his hands in a slow motion trying to indicate that he means no harm, but I immediately decide I am not taking any chances; I move my hands around surveying the room looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. A metallic icy cold chain reaches my hand, I grip it and start swinging it round like a whip.

Based off what I could see from looking at him I did not know whether I could trust him or not. So, I decided it was safe to keep hold of the chain. As soon as he stepped into the light, I recognized him immediately, it was my uncle Stephan.

"You must be so confused Hugo, see this is all a part of your training to be the next king, it is important that you are ready for any type of situation that can happen. This is all a simulation; it is not real."

Oh god, you have to be kidding me, ever since dad died, he's been going mad with these whole crazy ass training to be king sessions every time he visits. I cannot believe he kidnapped me in the middle of a game for this. He pulls a golden stone out of his pocket and points it at me. My throat clears and I can feel the weakness leave my body, my shoulder pain leaving along with it. I wonder what is in that stone.

"I've told you; king sessions can't interfere with hockey; I don't even want to be king."

"You must fulfill your duty to the kingdom as the last prince, your brother axel is weak just like your father, running off to marry some village girl, and I expect you to be the one to step up now. You are the last hope of this kingdom now, do you understand me boy?"

"I don't want to understand, I'm not a kid anymore and I can make my own decisions if I don't' want to be king then I am not going to be king, to hell with the kingdom."

He starts to walk toward me but stops himself eyeing the chain in my hand, and I tighten my grip on it.

I stand up and headed for the door. H grabs my shoulder stopping me.

"I understand son, all this responsibility is not for everyone, but I need you to be our next king whether you want to or not. I will not have you waste my efforts of making this happen so if you choose not to do this, I will make sure your hockey career is over. It is important for you to become great like our past rulers. I do not want to do that, but I must do what is best for the kingdom, maybe one day you'll understand."

He lets go of me.

I am already pissed off and I don't know what to stay at this point, so I just walk out the door. There are two guards outside, and they hand me my phone and clothes. There are twelve missed phone calls from the coach and texts from Khalid.

Khalid: Where are you man? coach is super angry, and he said he might suspend you for the rest of the year I told him that you had some family issues yk with your dad's death and all, but you got to hurry up and get here.

Me: Do not worry I am on my way thx for looking out sorry I had to put to you in that position.

I do not really like most people because they can be annoying. But I have known Khalid since I was kid, and he has always been a good friend. He is one of the only people still in my life. You see the reality of who cares about you when you experience grief, and he has never stopped being there for me. I would not tell him, but I am grateful for him.

Khalid: no, it is cool I'm always here for you glad you're okay.

I want to get Electra, my horse, and fly to the stables but I could honestly use a run to cool me off. Whenever I get super stressed or it just gets hard, exercising distracts me, it has been my coping method for years.

I reach the coach's office and he is turned around in his chair eating a sub.

"Sit down, kid."

I sit down on his small stool, my legs awkwardly laid on the floor because he refuses to waste any money on worthless things like better seating. It almost makes me laugh every time I see someone weirdly positioned on these.

"Your uncle called me."

Oh no, I do not want to be treated any differently just because I am a prince. It is one of the reasons I decided to go to a non-royal academy because I wanted to be normal and work hard for what I achieve not get an easy pass.

"I understand you had urgent royal matters to deal with Hugo, but I need reassurance that I can count on you to be here with playoffs coming up. This is your last season here, and I need you to make it a great one."

"I understand coach, I promise this is not going to happen again and I am going to continue to do my best. So what is my punishment? Sitting out a game? Cleaning the lockers?"

"No, I'm not going to give you a tough time not because of your royalty so don't get upset you know I don't care about all that, I'm only letting you pass because I know you have finals coming up and I don't want to add on to your stress. Do not go tell the guys I let you slide; I do not need them slipping up. Got it?"

"Yes coach, thank you, I promise I won't let you down."

I do have so much studying to do because of finals so I am grateful for the coach's kindness. I honestly just want to head home and take a hot shower. Today's been a lot.

I take a coach to the stables first to get Electra ready for the weekend, I have staff to take care of my horse, but I like to help because I care about Electra. She is my pet I guess even though I do not see her that often and ride her for competitions. but she is getting a bit old, I have had her since I was young, and she has been a constant in my life.

I just want to spend a little time with her so she knows that I am here for her and so she will feel like she was loved in her last years. I do not know if my dad knew I cared about him, so I want to do better for Electra. My advisor said it was a good idea. So, when it reaches sunset, this is what I have been doing for the past year and a half. Mucking stables and cleaning a horse to get over my dad. Wow, life could be worse, I guess.

I head home and celeste, my housekeeper is in the corner of my room cleaning my drawer. She looks over and when I tell her the room looks nice, she reddens and giggles before pressing a hand to her mouth and muttering a silent thank you exiting my room.

She does that every time I talk to her usually, we just got back to our normal interactions after I told her I was not interested in being with her two months ago. I tried to tell her she is a pretty and optimistic girl, but I am just not ready for a relationship with all I have going on right now, but I can still tell how I hurt her feelings. I am glad we are okay now. I hate it when things get awkward.

I walk to the bathroom, and I look at myself in the mirror, I hardly recognize the person standing in front of me. I have gotten more leaner over the last year and my hair falls over my eyes now. The change is more in the way I look at myself now though.

I fill up the tub with hot water and submerge myself into the water I think showering is honestly one of my favorite things, I can't explain the peace I feel, the way my body relaxes in the water, and I feel weightless, but I feel warm and comforted somehow, the silence and this feeling of serenity washes over me. Suddenly, I feel like I can hold in there just a little bit longer.

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Sorry this chapter was a little sad, I just had to show the grief with his dad next chapter will be happier with Sofia. 😊