The Seventh Prince

Chapter 12

The date of choosing was looming near. May had just begun making the ceremony a mere ten days away and making the princesses's decision just a week off. 

Alice had come to like Jack and was planning on choosing him. He was sweet and though he was the youngest of the princes, he was very mature. Her sisters, on the other hand, were not so keen on her heart's decision.

"Jack?" her sister, Faye had asked with a worried look in her eye. "He's...young."

"Yeah," Alice had responded. "Not much younger than me."

"Why not marry Luke?" Faye had tried to steer her away from Jack. "None of the others are planning on choosing him."

But Alice wasn't as sure about Luke. Every time they talked the conversation instantly turned dry, uninteresting, and awkward. With Jack, she could talk about whatever and he did too.

"He's the youngest prince, isn't he?" Nora had asked skeptically.

Alice sighed. "Yes, he is."

Nora sighed in response. "Alice," she said exasperatedly. "Why?" 

Nora was much less subtle than Faye but Alice gave her the same reply. "He's not much younger than me. You're marrying a prince younger than you!" Nora had been planning to choose George, the third eldest prince.

"But he's only one year younger than me," Nora said. "And he's not the youngest prince. And I can't marry Edmund or Oliver. You, however, could marry Luke. Who's your age."

With each confrontation with one of her sisters, her confidence in her choice fell.

The next evening, the princesses and the princes met for the last time before the choosing. Alice stared at Luke as he walked in, trying to convince herself that he could be the right one for her. Maybe, today he would be different, she told herself. He noticed her gaze and gave a fake smile but she kept staring at him with a sort of frown on her face. As soon as she saw Jack, though, she couldn't help but respond to his charming smile with a big grin of her own.

None of the princes or princesses spoke a word of the upcoming choosing as it would have been improper, but it was only thing on the prince's, the princess's, and even the king's and queen's minds.

Luke saw Alice's gazing at him and nearly began laughing at the strange frown on her face. Instead, he smiled, walked over, and began to start his dull conversation about their lovely castle that she had already heard a thousand times.

As soon as she saw Jack, though, she smiled, a real smile. Luke turned at saw Jack, genuinely happy to see her and Alice happy to see him. She politely excused herself from the conversation and Luke patted himself on the back for being such a genius.

As soon as Jack bowed to her Alice knew that he was the right choice. But throughout the evening as she caught disapproving looks from Faye, Nora, and even a strange look from her mother and father she wondered if she was going to be able to find the courage to make it.