The One For Me <3

Chapter One

Landen and I make our way to the palace garden, my favorite place in the palace, and I know Jem is following behind us because he is responsible for watching over me. I saw Landen look back from the corner of eye and he suddenly stopped walking. He turns around and addresses Jem.

"I do apologize, but," Landen says. "this is a private walk with the princess and I. I must ask you not to follow."

"I am the Princess's personal guard," Jem replies sternly. "so I must follow her wherever she goes."

"Well I'm sure we'll have plenty of protection in the garden. There are other soldiers here in the castle, besides you."

"I have a sworn duty as-"

"I have ordered you to leave it be."

Both of them were silent for a while. Before Jem could speak again, I spoke up for the both of them.

"Enough please," I say. "Jem, I think I will be fine. You can watch from a distance, right? I don't think you need to be right beside me." Jem looked at me with shocked eyes. Before he could say anything else, I added, "You can get to me in time. The test this morning proved that." Then I smiled and pulled Landen towards the door.

"I'm glad you agreed," Landen said to me once we were outside. "Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to you."

"I'm sure of that as well. I have plenty of good fighters here in the castle willing to rescue me the instant danger comes along."

He nods. My heart keeps fluttering at every step we take together. When we reach the garden, I see some of the usual servants and a few soldiers roaming around. There's  a small lake in the garden and I wanted to lead Landen over there, but I saw a familiar figure already standing beside the lake looking towards the village. Jem beat us there. How was that even possible?

"I see that guardian of yours is a stubborn one," Landen says when he sees Jem. "Let us just go towards those flower beds over there." 

We head towards the opposite direction of where Jem was, where we had various flower beds with different kinds and colors of flowers planted. This was known as the Queen's Garden because they were my mother's plants. In the middle of them was a bench where Landen and I took a seat.

"Do you perhaps not remember me at all?" Landen asks.

I blush in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember you. I barely remember your father."

"That's alright because the last time I saw you I believe you were three years old?"

"My, that's so long ago. Figures. Haha."

He smiles and we spend a couple of hours just sitting there talking about our lives. A few times I caught Jem looking over at us with protective eyes. Soon, King Jonathan finds us and wishes to speak with his son. I nod and Landen kisses my hand once more and leaves with his father. I stay on the bench watching them walk away. Immediately I felt someone stand behind me.

"You know, you don't have to be so worried about me," I say without turning around. "Even though you're my personal guard, sometimes I need those private times with other people."

"Why do you suddenly sound so offensive about my presence?" Jem replies. "You always appreciated me being with you all the time and suddenly you don't want me there."

"Well, Landen did make a good point about other guards being able to come to my aid."

"So this is about the Prince? He's your chosen one, isn't he?"

I don't answer. I don't move. I feel Jem move to sit down on the bench next to me. He doesn' say anything either.

"You're in love with him," he finally says. "That's why you're acting differently. You want to spend some time with him alone. Lorena, I can understand that. You could of just told me and not get so offensive about it."

"Do you think he is a good choice?" I ask. "I don't want to make a mistake on choosing my future husband."

"Do whatever your heart desires. There is no mistake in that." He stands up and then offers me a hand. I take it and stand up. I then take his arm and we take our daily walk around the garden. We usually talk, but my mind was on the Prince. I think he's the one.

A couple hours later, I stand at the door of my brother's bedchamber. I go in and find Will at his desk sorting papers as usual. Jem waits outside by the door. I needed to talk to my brother about this whole suitor thing.

"Lorena," Will says. "What brings you here?"

"Will," I begin. "About...about Landen..."

"What about him? Is he not to your liking?"

"No. That's not what I meant. I don't know if I should choose him."

"So you do like him. Well it depends on you sweetheart. Any choice would be fine because they're approved by Mother and me. Most are approved even by Father. There's nothing to be worried about choosing except for your own feelings."

I thought for a bit.

"But if you really want to make sure you choose the right person, go ask Mother. She went through this as well you know."

I nod and I leave his room. I was debating whether to visit my mother or not, but decided against it since my questions would remind her of Father a lot. I don't want to make her cry or anything. Jem follows beside me, giving me an expression as if asking what's wrong. I ignore him and head to my chambers where Anna was waiting for me.

"There you are Lorena," she says when I enter the room. "Come, it's time for your bath."

Jem took that as a cue to leave. I follow Anna to the bathroom where she prepares the hot water and she helps me into it after removing my dress. As she washed my hair, I thought about my decision. It Landen really the one? I think I should wait at least a month before officially choosing my suitor. I think that's my best choice so far.

"You're awfully quiet," Anna says. "Is there something wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"It doesn't see like nothing. But I guess I can just leave it as is."

After my bath, I sit on my bed thinking again. I'm alone in my room now since Anna had other errands to run. Surprisingly, someone knocked on my door. Most likely it would be Jem.

"Come in," I say.

And to my surprise, again, it was Prince Landen. "Good evening, Lorena," he says with a smile. "I do hope I'm not interrupting you of anything."

"Oh no," I reply getting up. "You're not interrupting at all. Is there something you need?"

"I just wanted to talk to you. Something about your guard."

"Jem? What about him?"

"I don't think he's very loyal to you. At all..."