72 Hours

Chp. 1. The Deal

            

Chapter 1. The deal

He's not bad looking...

That was Dalia's first thought when she saw Christopher. She knew the purpose of that meeting, she had been expecting it since she was 5 years old and had learned she was betrothed to a duke, one that happened to be 11 years older than her.

Dalia had been brought up to rule a country, a small island north of Portugal and west of England, home of 19 million people. Aurum Kingdom was a wealthy country, gold and coal accounted for 60% of the GDP and poverty was not very common there.

Dalia's left leg laid elegantly above her right one all the while she watched her mother, the reigning Queen, talking to her fiancé, the conversation being carried on in fluid French. She understood every single word, but she decided to ignore every single one of them, the princess felt bored to death at that precise moment.

She moved her eyes from the pair of people speaking, towards the ceiling and then the floors. Everything seemed more interesting than that particular conversation. She had always lived in the palace; she knew every inch of it by heart. Every hiding place, every decoration, every single spot, she knew them all. And yet, she felt like regarding them was her best option.

When she had had enough, she stood up, her dress falling to her knees, looking perfect, the pale blue fabric flowing as she walked towards the exit of the room. The princess walked downstairs, where the kitchen was. The staff greeted her with a small bow before they returned to their tasks. She plopped herself on one of the metal counters, picking an apple that was near and taking a big bite.

"Excuse me, Christopher, I am going to have a word with my daughter" The queen said back in the meeting area.

"I'll be here, your majesty" His voice sounded calm, his accent tinting the words elegantly, like he had been thought to speak like that.

The queen reached the kitchen in a matter of seconds. She found he daughter looking through her phone, apple in hand. That room had been Dalia's safe place throughout all her childhood, which was why Isabella, the Queen, had found her there.

"Care to explain the tantrum you just threw upstairs?" Her words rolled out flawlessly towards her daughter, who seemed still more interested in her phone.

"It was barely a scene" She answered, still looking at the screen. Her mom sighed loudly, not moving an inch from her spot "And I am no marrying him" She stated lastly.

"Why?" The queen asked calmly, taking her daughter's phone from her hand with care.

"He looks so posh and uptight" She stopped for a second, taunting her mother's reaction, before adding "and old..." That last word came from her mouth long and accompanied by a snort, which gained her a scold from her mother.

"You don't even know him" Was Isabella's answer to Dalia.

"When I was being pushed out of your vagina, he was wanking himself with the door closed" When the princess said that she had to bite her cheek to stop herself from laughing.

"Language"

"Sorry. All I'm saying is, I don't see myself being happy with him. I don't want to live like you, married to a man you don't love" That pushed a button in the queens head, but the hurt was erased from her face just as soon as it had appeared.

"You are marrying him and that's the last I want to hear about it" She gave handed her daughter's phone back to her and started walking away. She looked back just a second to make sure her daughter was following and that's when Dalia jumped down the counter and climbed upstairs, walking towards the meeting room where she took her original place and plastered a smile on her face.

"So. How old are you?" He didn't even flinch by the princess's question. Christopher just smiled and scratched his chin.

"33" The answer made Dalia flinch a little, her hands knotted on her lap. She felt uneasy.

"Do you want to take a stroll on the garden? Or something" She asked, she wanted to put on a show, for her mother's sake. She put on a smile that looked flawless, white teeth, and light that seemed to reach her eyes but in reality, didn't.

Christopher nodded, taken aback by her beauty. She was really beautiful. Her tall and thin frame was complemented by her gracious way of walking. Her skin had once been pale, but that moment it glowed a certain shade of gold, as if she had spent a long time under the sun. Her brown hair flowed down just under the middle of her back, he remembered seeing photos of her with ponytails and braids and her choosing of clothes was nowhere near what princesses wore around Europe. And yet, to him, she was gorgeous to no end.

He failed to focus on something more than the girl that walked beside him, talking about flowers, avoiding more serious topics. She was choosing her words perfectly, her knowledge of gardening vaster that he thought possible. He had the need to stop her.

"I know your birthday is in a few days, so I brought you something" The duke said, he patted his jacked and took out a long velvet box. He opened it carefully, showing the contents to Dalia, who had stopped walking and talking altogether. The box contained a bracelet with blue, delicate stoned embedded "It reminded me of your eyes. Don't take me wrong, but I've seen a lot of pictures of you, your majesty. I won't make up a story of how it has been in my family for generations, because it has not. But I acquired it when I was 18. I had a girlfriend. Her name was Anna. She was a darling. That was about the time I learned I was to marry a young princess that I didn't even know existed. I was so angry, I asked her to elope with me and gave her the bracelet. I don't really know what happened, maybe she didn't love me, but she gave me the piece a few days later, stating that she did not in fact wanted to run away with me. I was heart broken and engaged to a child I hated for all the wrong reasons" When he finished talking he looked at her. She had her brows furrowed and at the verge of laughing. She was turning slightly red and that's when she exploded in a fit of laughter. He smiled at her, amused by her reaction.

"That was so corny" That was Dalia's response. He took the bracelet and locked it in her wrist "And we've been engaged since I was 5"

"Yes, I know. My parents felt the need to wait until I was in love and off age to tell me" he retorted.

"See. I have a proposition for you" She started speaking and he looked at her with questioning eyes "I am going to be honest and bear with me for a minute" He nodded simply "I don't want to marry you. I don't know you. You are almost twice my age and this is the 21 century, I'd like to chose who I marry" she finished her reasons and he looked confused and a little bit hurt "You said it yourself, I am a child, at least for you. But here is my deal."

Christopher had to admit he was a little disappointed. Even if he did not know her, he could see she was wild, apart from the fact that she was beautiful. But still, he nodded to tell her to keep talking.

"We are going to Paris. We will tell my mother that we want to get to know each other. When we get there, we are never going to see each other again" She stated with such sweetness that would've better belonged to a love story.

"Why would I do that?" He asked bluntly, sounding harsher than he intended to.

"Because what you have in good looks, you lack in knowledge of romance stories. Anna must've been forced out of your life" It was a fact that Dalia knew, and she had to try everything to get him to agree it was her only chance. .

"I will give you 3 days to disappear, if you fail in that task, we'll come back as if nothing had happened" He said calmly and she agreed with just a nod "And if they find you after that and they still want us to marry, I will fulfil my duty" Christopher did not quite understand why he was telling her that, but he did.

"Then you, my dearfriend, have a deal" With that being said, she leaned in and kissed hischeek, giving a show to Isabella, who was looking down from the balcony on thesecond floor.