ROYALS

1

this chapter has been revamped.

"rise and shine, bitch." reese greeted sassily as their royal maid, martha, opened the curtains hanging in front of the gigantic bedroom windows. "reese!" the maid exclaimed, sternly, as zach laughed loudly. "reesiedoodles, you can't say mean words like that." he said. reese pouted, and crossed her arms with a huff. "but you say mean words all the time!" she argued. "nuh-uh, i don't!" zach protested. "yes you do!" reese yelled, giggling. "a few days ago, when you hit your toe on the dining table, you said fu-" she began, but zach quickly got up and covered her mouth, smiling apologetically at martha. "i did not." zach said, waving his finger in front of his little sister's face to make a point of it. she groaned. "you're annoying." she complained, starting to walk out of the room. "you're hurting my feelings, reese!" he yelled after her, rolling his eyes. "good morning, prince zachary." martha smiled. zach laughed. "you know to just call me zach, martha." he corrected. she nodded. "of course, zach." she said, and continued opening the the curtains on his other windows. "breakfast is ready downstairs, the king and queen wants to speak with you." she told him. "what do they want to talk about?" zach asked, on his way to his bathroom. "i am not quite sure..." she said. "but it seems like it's a serious matter. be ready for some decision-making." she finished, and started to look for his dirty clothes. "oh no, i'll just take my clothes from yesterday to the washroom myself, it's fine martha." zach said. she smiled gratefully at him. "thank you, my prince. i'll leave you to it. have a nice day." she said, and walked out of the room, closing the door silently behind her. zach breathed out, entering the bathroom and locking the door behind him. what did his parents want to talk about? why did they have to make everything so formal, with a whole breakfast and announcement? they could just tell him, like normal people. but no, they're royals, so everything has to be a big deal. zach sighed and combed through his hair, brushed his teeth and changed quickly into a white shirt and some casual black suit pants before heading down to the dining room. he was greeted by the smell of deliciously cooked eggs and bacon, toasted bread and his favorite grape juice. the prince was used to luxury, growing up with it around him at all times, but this seemed like something very special. or very important, whatever. anyways, there was food there, so he had motivation to sit down and eat. ryan, zach's younger brother was sitting in his seat eating his usual omelette and toast with orange juice, but reese was nowhere to be seen. the king and queen were both seated at the very end of the table. "good morning, baby." the queen beamed at her son. "good morning, mom, good morning dad. what's the special occasion?" zach asked, taking his very first bite of the grand breakfast. his parents looked at each other, with almost uneasy expressions, before turning back to look at their son. "we have something to tell you." the queen said, her voice calm yet firm. zach stopped eating and looked up. "is anything wrong?" he asked, starting to feel worry creeping up on him. he tried to brush off the thoughts piling up in his mind, but it was almost impossible. the prince had always been an overthinker, he was quite an anxious child, actually. it wasn't unusual for him to picture the worst scenarios possible when stressed. he took a deep breath and waited for the response, every second feeling like an hour of agony. the king breathed in sharply, and smiled calmly at his son. "as you know, you are now turned 18 years old. kingdoms are starting to request your hand in marriage, to make alliances and such. and you know, i'm starting to get old, so you need to get ready to take over the throne when i go." he explained, looking at his son with a sad smile, yet with a huge amount of trust and love in his eyes. "and as you also may know, our relationship with Diavolo isn't exactly ideal, considering their army is so big." myta, the queen, began, but paused and looked at the king. "so we found someone that would be perfect for you, and the kingdom." the king finished for her. zach felt like time had stopped. a bethrothal? "i'm barely 18, and you're already promising me to someone i don't even know?" zach said, anger starting to build up. his mom looked at him with a stern expression. "zachary, we know this is quite the shock to you. but you know how this goes. these days, royal marriages are based on betrothals." she said. zach huffed, but calmed himself. it wasn't worth making a fuss over. "who is it then?" he asked. the king and queen exchanged worried looks, before looking back at their oldest son. "you should probably process this a little further before we tell you." zach's dad said. zach felt like they were pushing him. first they break these news to him, now they won't even tell him who he's going to spend the rest of his life with? he scoffed and got up from his seat at the table. "are you fucking serious?" he exclaimed, to the horror of his family. "zachary! sit down this instant!" his mother yelled. he ignored her, and marched straight out of the room without looking back. what good would not telling him do? and who could they trust more than their own son to rule their kingdom? zach walked with quick steps through the halls, his heart beating like a drum in his chest. salty tears ran down his cheeks and blurred his vision. he felt like the world was falling apart, piece by piece, with each step he took. but suddenly, he ended up straight on the floor. he rubbed his head with a groan, not believing he was stupid enough to bump straight into something. "are you going to say sorry, or..." a voice suddenly said. zach's head snapped up, and he stared straight into a pair of shining crimson red eyes. he quickly got up, and brushed off himself to make sure he didn't look like a total fool. "excuse me?" he said, now turning his full attention onto the stranger. it was a good looking guy, in his early twenties it seemed, very tall. slightly tanned skin, a nice jawline. he was wearing a suit, oddly enough. formal-looking. good posture. why was he in the palace? "hello?" zach snapped out of his thoughts when the stranger snapped his fingers on front of his face. he felt irritation build up inside him, but took a deep breath to calm himself. he wouldn't want to lash out on a complete stranger, after all. "oh, uh, what did you say?" he said. the stranger rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh. "ugh. i asked, are you going to say sorry to me so we can both go on with our days?" he repeated. "huh? say sorry for what?" zach asked. the man huffed, noticeably annoyed. "you're supposed to say sorry when you bump into people. didn't your parents teach you proper etiquette?" he snapped. zach narrowed his eyes. "well that's unnecessarily rude." he mumbled. "the only thing that's unnecessarily rude is the fact that you ran straight into me." the stranger responded with an annoyed pout. "i, what?" zach stuttered, completely shocked at the stranger's plain rudeness. "you heard me." the stranger replied, crossing his arms. zach felt the anger rise to the top, and his whole face reddened. "excuse me, but do you have any reason to act like a total dick towards me? i ran into you, and i'm sorry for that, but why are you making it into such a big deal? do you have any logical explanation as to why you're acting like a douche towards someone who is obviously having a bad day already?" he raged on, clenching his fists so hard that his nails dug harshly into his palms. the stranger looked like more unbothered than physically possible, with a raised eyebrow and an unamused expression. "thanks for that little rant, clumsy. but i need to get on with my day. excuse me, will you?" he said, straightening his tie and fixing his perfectly styled hair before beginning to walk away from the prince. "who even are you?" zach yelled after him, annoyed. the stranger didn't offer a response. he just walked away, and out of sight down the hallway. zach sighed loudly. "some people are just fucking unbearable." he thought, continuing the walk towards his room.

—
yo yo yo
it's me, ya boy
i'm back 😎 and better than ever
all jokes aside, sorry for abandoning this book for over a year lmao
but like i said, i'm back now, and ready to revamp this story! hope you liked the first chapter, i know the end was shitty but i'm too excited to dwell on it.
sorry if there are any grammar and spelling mistakes.
thank you for all the love and support (:
& get ready for one hell of a ride