The Seventh Prince

Chapter 1

Luke stood outside the small cafe in the cold. She wasn't late, it was he who was early, but he still wished that she would get there soon. Another minute passed by and he saw her turn the corner and quicken her pace when she saw Luke. 

"Hello!" she smiled brightly giving Luke a big hug. "I've missed you. Have you been waiting long?"

"Nah," Luke replied, shivering. "But, shall we go in Miss Scarlett Rose?" he asked, opening the door for her. Scarlett laughed and hurried in with Luke close behind. 

After they were seated in a small table for two along the wall, Luke asked Scarlett how her holiday had been.

"Lovely," she said. "It was great. And yours?"

"Fine," Luke sighed. "Big and busy as usual."

"You're complaining about it being big and busy?" Scarlett asked. "It was much busier than my holiday, Mr. Prince."

Luke gave her a look. "That's why we've had to wait so long to see each other. I swear I'm not sure if I left the castle once in the whole Christmas break."

Scarlett nodded sympathetically. "But at least you're here now."

A waitress came to take their orders before Luke continued. "I'm surprised I even got out of the castle at all what with the unification thing."

"You don't want the island to be one country?" Scarlett interrupted.

"No, no, no," Luke backtracked. "I mean, yeah, I do and so does everybody. But whenever there's some controversial thing going on my mother and father don't want me out of the castle much. It makes sense it's just annoying."

Scarlett tried to hide her giggles, unsuccessfully.

"What?" Luke asked.

"It's just that no one in the town or the whole country calls their parents 'mother' and 'father' like you and your brothers do. We just say 'mum' and 'dad'." Scarlett explained.

"Alright, fine," Luke sighed. He had many royal habits and ways of saying things that had been completely normal to him growing up. He hadn't thought a thing about them until he met Scarlett who would kindly explain to him what common people did. 

He was in love with Scarlett Rose and she with him. They'd met over a year ago while they were both out doing Christmas shopping for their families. They'd decided later that it wasn't love at first sight, it was love at first conversation. Scarlett's lively charm caused Luke to ask her out later that week. They began seeing each other as often as possible, which wasn't very often with Scarlett's starting school in the fall and Luke's duties as a son of King Samson and Queen Isabelle. Scarlett wasn't poor, she and her family were quite well off, they just weren't close to the wealth of Luke's family. The only people who knew about their relationship was Scarlett's mom and Scarlett's little sister, Kaya. Luke wouldn't tell his family. "Not yet," he'd say. His parents wouldn't care that she was commoner, he just knew his parents wouldn't want a girl interfering with his princely duties. But it was now just after the new year. He and Scarlett had been dating for over a year and his parents hadn't said a word.

"How'd you even get your parents to let you go out anyway?" Scarlett asked.

Luke smiled slyly. "They, uh, aren't home. They're over in East Ostaria."

Scarlett's eyes widened. "Doing what?" she asked.

Luke looked around and leaned in and whispered, "They think the unification will be finalized this afternoon."

Scarlett gasped. "Wow, that's great. And hopefully it'll mean you won't be locked up in that castle anymore."

"I'm not locked up. Just...restricted. My parents aren't mean." Luke said.

Soon their orders came and the conversation meandered until it was time to go. They stepped out in the cold and hugged each other.

"Bye," Scarlett waved as she ran off into the cold homeward. 

Luke paused to watch until she turned the corner before he began his own trek to the castle.