Happily Never After

1

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Evermore, there lay a young, handsome prince just shy of his sixteenth birthday, who was having an argument with his parents, King and Queen James.
"Caspian Arthur, how dare you use that tone of voice with me!" Queen Catherine shouted.
"I'm sorry it's just-!" Prince Caspian cut himself off, lowered his head, and dropped his volume significantly. "I'm sorry. It's just that... I'm too young for this." When his gazed lifted from the floor and found his parents, he saw they were laughing at him in unison.
"Too young? That is absurd, son. Your mother and I were married by the time she turned sixteen, and neither of us felt we weren't ready for it." King Carter recalled.
Caspian was infuriated. "Well I'm not you okay! I want to actually do something, be someone, go somewhere. Not just sit here and rot in this castle with a woman I only married to forward the bloodline! That's all pointless." The King and Queen stood shell shocked at the Prince's declaration.
"Caspian-" the Queen began, her tone apologetic.
"Save it. I'm going to bed." The Prince slumped to his bedroom, flung open the door, and slammed it shut behind him, the sound like a slap in the face to the conflicted King and Queen.
"He'll be fine," King Carter reassured his wife.
Meanwhile, enclosed in his king, or rather prince, sized four poster bed, Caspian was most certainly not fine. He still had a slight resentment for his parents, but a measly part of him felt guilty as well. 'They do only want the best for me,' he thought to himself, biting his lip in turmoil.
Shaking his head to clear his racing thoughts, he decided to focus on something else. An eager smile appeared on his lips upon his realization that he now had time to finish the book he had been reading! He stood and paced toward the massive bookcase lining his entire back wall. Selecting the only book he had left lying open, he sat once again on his bed and began to read.
"Poor Rapunzel," he sighed, momentarily casting aside his book to reflect on the story's progression thus far. "Sometimes I feel as if we are in the same story, except no handsome traveller is going to come riding up on his stallion and save me," the prince sighed, lay the novel on his bedside table, turned off his lamp, and dreamt of happy endings.
As this was happening, just below Caspian's window a young thief grinned mischievously as he watched the Prince's light turn off.