Princess of Ayden

Chapter 5

Meyer

It had been four excruciatingly boring days in the palace and Meyer and Sadie were sitting on a couch in the drawing room like every other day.
So far, about two or three girls were pulled out of the lounge a day in order to spend time with the prince. Neither Meyer nor Sadie had been pulled out yet. It seemed as though Sadie's father being on the king's council had not been working to her advantage quite yet.
The girls who had been pulled out had been very secretive about the time they spent with Prince Charles. Usually, it had been around meal times, though, so Meyer and Sadie concluded that they were simply taking meals together. At that moment, it was just before lunch and no one had been called yet.
There would be an elimination that Saturday, exactly a week after the first one, and Meyer was worried about her chances if she didn't get to spend some time with the prince soon.
Things between her and Sadie had been surprisingly good during the first stages of the competition. When they arrived at the airport, Sadie had pulled her aside and made her promise that they wouldn't let the competition wreck their friendship. Up to this point, they had made good on their promise.
"Ms Meyer Hamilton." A footman at the door called out.
Meyers eyes widened and she looked straight to Sadie. She thought she could see a flash of something like jealousy cross Sadie's face before it was replaced with a wide smile.
"Get it, girl!" Sadie whispered into Meyer's ear.
Meyer tentatively made her way to the door. This was the moment she had been dreading. She hated the monarchy and was not too keen to get to know the prince she had despised since she fully understood what his family meant to her country. What gave this guy the right to make up laws and live in castles just because he was born into it? It made her blood boil.
"Follow me, please," the footman said and led her down several passageways and into the gardens. Standing there, waiting, was Prince Charles.
"Good afternoon, Ms Meyer," the prince calmly stated.
"Good afternoon, your highness," she managed to get out without rolling her eyes. She hated having to bow and scrape at the foot of the prince, but her life was on the line here.
"Shall we walk?" He requested while beckoning for her to give him her arm. Do I have to? Meyer thought, but gave her arm all the same.
"I was thinking we should take a picnic by the lake this afternoon, if that's alright with you?" The prince asked.
"Sounds great, I'm starving!" Meyer exclaimed.
The prince burst out with laughter. Her lack of decorum was something he was not familiar with. All the other ladies had put on their best airs and graces.
"Sorry, your highness." Meyer blushed.
"No, not at all," the prince said with a grin. "I find your honesty refreshing. Also, you can call me Charles."
They got to the picnic area. Meyer was shocked. There was a wide assortment of charcuterie, deserts and champagne. It looked wonderful. They settled down and began eating. "So how do you find the palace?" The prince asked. "Everything as you want it? I know some girls were complaining about having to spend so much time in the drawing room and in the company of girls they're competing against."
Meyer quickly swallowed her mouthful of food and answered the questions. "Oh, everything's perfect, thank you. The palace staff have really gone over and beyond to make our lives as comfortable as possible." She explained, "for the whole spending time with the other girls thing, I'm actually perfectly fine with that. You see, my best friend and I came here together, so we keep each other company. It's making the whole process a lot easier now that I get to spend time with her."
"I see," the prince replied, seemingly in thought. "It must be hard for you, though. Knowing that one of you will eventually have to lose the other," he looked like he wanted to say more, but held back. To his credit, Meyer saw he looked quite frustrated by this fact. Maybe he wasn't the heartless monster she had him chalked up to be.
"It is, but we promised each other that we wouldn't dwell on that."
There was silence for a moment.
"Do you have any bread?" Meyer broke the tension.
It worked. Charles laughed again. "No. My mother advised the staff to limit your carb intake- you can't have a future princess looking anything less than perfect." He explained this as if it was common sense. "Why would you want bread anyway? We have tastier food than that."
Meyer frowned. "My dad liked to bake for us on the weekends, so we would always eat fresh bread for breakfast. He says it's a type of European thing."
The prince considered this. "Well, we do have cake. As a treat, I'll have some sent up to your room later."
Did he really think those were the same thing? And had the queen never heard of intuitive eating? She decided to simply thank him and bring the conversation back to the competition.
"This must be pretty difficult for you too. I mean, you have people's lives in your hands. Are you coping alright with that?" She never thought she could be worried about the prince of Ayden, but here she was, asking him if he was ok.
Charles looked confused for a moment, then replied; "It's actually been really difficult. My advisors want me to narrow the list down to twenty-five girls by this Saturday, but I feel like I've barely gotten to know any of you well enough to know if I even like your company or not," he scoffed. "Thank you for asking though," he said, "no one has asked me how I was doing throughout this entire thing. I really appreciate it."
"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, just know I'm here for you." She didn't like the fact that she would have to compete for this man's hand, and she didn't like the idea of the royalty as a whole, but she could see the guy needed a friend.
"Hey, catch!" She threw a grape into the air. To his credit, Charles made a valiant effort, but it ended up hitting him in the eye and bouncing down the slope and into the lake. They both burst out into laughter.
"You know; this is easier than I expected it would be," Meyer voiced to Charles.
"what is?"
"Spending time with you. You're a prince and all that and I'm just a regular girl. I really expected to hate you, but I don't," she confessed and immediately wanted to take back. How would he possibly fall in love with her if he knew she had doubts about them getting along?
To her surprise, he grinned at her and nodded. "Honestly," he began, "I was expecting for you all to hate me, too." Meyer gave him a confused look. He explained, "Your lives are in my hands. I could be a total asshole, excuse my language," at that she laughed "and force one of you to spend the rest of her life with me. Well, actually, all of you will be forced to spend the rest of your lives with me, however long they may be."
She let him stare off for a minute.
"Well, for what it's worth," Meyer consoled him, "You're not a total asshole. Not from what I can see, anyway."
They shared a smile. Just then, a footman came jogging up to them. "Sorry for the interruption" He said, "but you're needed in the council meeting urgently."
"What's happened?" Charles demanded. The footman looked from Charles to Meyer and shot the prince a questioning glance. "She can hear," Charles dismissed with a wave of his hand.
The footman nodded and continued, "It appears the United States has declared war on our beloved country of Ayden once again." Charles cursed under his breath.
"I'm so sorry to have to cut this date short," he whispered to Meyer. "It's really been the most fun I've had in a while." With that he kissed Meyer on the cheek and quickly, but gentlemanly, got up and made his way to the council hall. Meyer was left reevaluating her relationship with the prince. She couldn't like him, could she? She shook her head at herself. She hated everything about him and what he stood for as a member of the royal family. She had given away that she had negative feelings towards him but maybe that could work to her advantage. Maybe if she acted falling in love with him she could convince him to fall in love with her too. This was all too complicated for a first date.
She had more important things to think about anyway. War with the US? That couldn't be good. She remembered learning in history class that Ayden had been at war with the United States three times in the past. They never succeeded against the Ayden dynasty.
The first time they invaded was when President Conrad Ayden (who would become known as king Conrad the first) staged a coup with his supporters against the government and inserted himself as king. The invasion lasted only twenty-five days before Conrad's army and newly found allies laid them to waste.
America aligned themselves with upset citizens of Ayden and attempted to overthrow President Conrad and restore democracy to what was then known as South Africa. The capital city of South Africa, (now Layport), had achieved democracy after the oppressive Apartheid government was abolished and President Conrad Ayden laid that to waste. Meyer hated him and his entire bloodline for it.
The second time the United States declared war was when the Social Score system was put into place, about seventy years ago. The third came with the first competition for the hand of a prince, the current prince's late grandfather. Meyer wondered if this declaration of war was in response to the current competition going on. She secretly hoped that the brave Americans would come and save her and the other girls from their imminent doom. Would the invaders spare the prince's life if they were successful? She had to remind herself that she didn't care.
Meyer made her way inside the palace. Where should she go? The rest of the girls were all in the great hall having their lunch with the royal family. It was strange, they spent meal times with the royal family (the king, queen and their only child and heir; Charles) yet they had never spoken to the queen, and only to the king in their initial interviews.
Meyer supposed the queen would join them in the ladies' drawing room at some point in time. It had been less than a week. And that was where Meyer found herself walking to.
She had barely sat down and taken out a book when a footman came rushing in. "Oh, there you are! Ms Meyer, you are needed in the great hall at once. There is to be a big announcement."
"Of course, I'll head there immediately." Meyer was led by the footman to the great hall where all the rest of the girls and the royal family were.
"Ah, finally." King Conrad the second proclaimed to the room. "Have a seat, young lady. You'll need to be sitting for this," he addressed Meyer. Had she not been in shock at being spoken directly to by the king, she would have been more offended by his implication that she couldn't stomach the news of a war.
"Now, I won't make light of what I'm about to tell you, as I think you deserve to hear the truth. Things are not well with our country." The girls all shared worried and confused glances. Sadie, who happened to be seated to Meyer's left, squeezed her hand. "We are at war with the United States of America," he announced. Some girls gasped. Among them was Fiona Swanepoel, the girl who sat to Meyer's left. Much to their credit, neither Sadie not Meyer were.
"It appears they are objecting, once again, to the way we decide the identity of our next queen."
Thank goodness someone is, Meyer thought. But she managed her facial expression. It would do her no good if the king knew of her own objections to the competition. He would probably kill her immediately.
"The national defence force is being deployed to protect you all as we speak," the king assured them. "The palace is the most well protected property in the country. You will not be in the way of any harm."
Fiona heaved a sigh at this. The general atmosphere of the room seemed to lighten as well. Meyer wondered why the girls were all so worried about the USA attacking Ayden. Wasn't the point of their attack to save the girls from the humiliating and inhumane competition they were being forced into?
"You're dismissed," the king addressed the room, raking a hand through his greying hair.