THE ROYAL ENEMY

CHAPTER 2- I'M GONNA MISS YOU

"People think being alone makes you lonely, but I don't think that's true, being surrounded by the wrong people is the loneliest thing in the world." – Kim Culbertson

LEO

The bow and arrow was heavy in my hands. Aim, shoot, fire, miss, Aim, shoot, fire, miss, that was the sequence. I imagined the bull's eye as my father but that didn't make me any better.

My dad and mum, the king and queen, had their two best friends announced as the second in charge, which meant if anything happened to them, the crown would be there's. That is until I was old enough to take over.

Those two people just happened to be Julia's parents. So when Julia's parents passed away and my mother took Julia under her wing, she also became an heir of the throne.

She has no idea though, her parents kept it from her and I refused to tell her. My dad decided to wait till she was older. My mother passed away last year and ever since then it has only been me and my father. And Julia.

So if anything was to happen to my father, and I was not here to take the throne, it would go to HER!

My mind replayed the argument with my father, when he told me I would be banished from the inner kingdom.

"You can't do that, who would be king after you?" I roared, making Julia flinch from beside me.

"Yes I can, and you know who would take the throne," he said challengingly.

Frustration and anger built up inside me as I pulled back the string and released, only to miss again.

"I think the aim is to hit the target," said a voice from behind me, her voice radiated laughter.

"Get lost," I said, not turning around, my eyes narrowed at the target. I chastised myself, do not turn around and shoot her no matter how bad you want to leo.

Aim, shoot, fire, let go of the arrow, watch it sore through the air and...

"Missed," whispered the same annoying voice from behind me.

I turned around, glaring at her. She was sitting on the brick wall, not looking at me but instead at the green grass below my feet. The suns glare illuminated her rosy face, and taking the already light tone of her eyes and making it lighter.

My voice was hard and my eyes were cold as I spoke to her. "Stay away from me; it's your bloody fault I'm being fed to the wolves!"

A flash of hurt and confusion showed in her eyes, before she quickly drew attention to her smile, "It's no fault but your own, Leo," she admitted. I wish we wouldn't talk like that, like she was an angel, like she was so god damn precious, like she was smarter than me.

Anger blew up from inside me, and my words came out in angry shouts.

"You say it's my fault! How in GOD'S name is it my fault? It's your fault, if anything. My father has never accepted me for who I am, only the failure he sees standing next to you, the noble lady knight, who thinks she's better than everyone," I ranted, throwing my arms up in frustration.

My anger died down at seeing her shocked expression but I continued with my hateful tone.

"It has always been like this, since the day I met you, you've always been ahead of me. I bought shame to my family... they would repeat the same thing to me every hour of every day..." I looked at her, willing her to guess.

She looked at me worried, her eyebrows furrowed, her hand running through her smooth blond hair. I rolled my eyes at her confused expression.

"I wish we had a daughter, someone like Julia," I mimicked my parents tone spitting out her name, the bitter taste still in my mouth.

Her eyes grew wide and a memory flashed across my eyes, and I knew she was reliving the same moment.

*FLASHBACK*

The sun was beating down on the hundreds of passer-by's, nobody paid attention to the little boy shooting arrows at the target and missing one too many times. His father stood next to him, disappointment etched across his face. The boy's eyes were narrowed in concentration, his back straight and his fists tight around the bow. His father had had enough, he had been watching for over hours know as his son missed the target again and again, and so he turned to leave.

The boy watched as his father turned away, his little heart broke in his little chest, his father doesn't care, he thought.

An arrow flew past the boy's face, missing by an inch, but hitting the target head on. The kings eyebrows rose as he turned to his son, his hope rising.

The boy looked at the target then down at his hands were his bow rested. He hadn't shot it, so then who did?

A giggle came from behind them and immediately the king and prince whipped their heads around. The prince gaped at the girl in front of him; she looked around the same age, possibly ten.

Her long blond hair fell passed her waist in waves. Her blue eyes were full of joy and happiness, and her laughter was music to his ears. Then he noticed the bow in her hand, he stared at her in shock.

His child like mind took over, but just as he was going to jump in glee and ask her to teach him how she did it, his father acted first, he obviously wasn't distracted by her beauty.

"Lady..." he trailed, astonished

"Julia," she answered and the prince was mesmerised by her soft tone.

"Lady Julia, that was amazing, how would you like to go for ice cream with me and you can tell me all about where you learnt to shoot like that," he said, amused.

"Ok," she said, her thoughts darting to her favourite chocolate ice cream.

The prince watched as his father didn't spare him a second glance, didn't offer him an invitation as he walked off with another child, not his son Leo but this show off, whose name he would later regret he learned was Julia.

Over the next six years Julia would repeat the first day they met, ridiculing him in front of his friends, his mother, his teachers, his father, time and time again.

The day he first met her he swore to himself he would become just like her. No, he would become better than her in everything he does. He would not be shown up by a girl.

He still had not fulfilled this promise to himself. But right then he made another promise. He would become better than her and every other knight in this kingdom, No matter what it takes!

Little did he know that the one thing it would take was sitting in front of him, smiling at her fondest memory of the day she met the prince.