Princey's Unexpected Journey

CHAPTER IV

As my father was ruining my sister's wedding, I snuck out of the courtyard with Prince Jonathan. I led him to a spot near the nearby river. It was surrounded by trees, so no one could spot us. I sat on the lush grass that surrounded the river. Prince Jonathan sat down next to me. He was still holding my hand. On the way to the river, he refused to let go of my hand. Did he feel safer when he held my hand? I guess. I decided not to ask.

We sat in silence for a short time. We watched the river as the water flowed south. The water from this river would soon be in the ocean on the other side of our kingdom.

The stars were out, the birds had stopped chirping, and the wind was picking up. I sighed heavily. Prince Jonathan looked at me. He wasn't smiling anymore. His eyes seemed to be filled with tears. "Manuel," he asked me, "did I do something wrong? Did I-"

"Prince Jonathan," I interrupted, "you did no harm. What took place tonight was all my fault. If I would have told you about my kingdom's rules, then we wouldn't be in this situation. Quit blaming yourself for something that you did not have any control in or over." I looked at the river.

"If I would have told you about our laws against...these kinds of relationships," I expanded, "then we wouldn't have been here. We would have never danced together, we would have never held hands, we would have never talked to each other in the forest earlier, and my sister's wedding would be preceding like nothing had happened. I would probably be dancing with the maiden that my father wanted me to dance with, and she would have probably liked me. Most of the maidens who are in need of suitors enjoy interacting with me. They sometimes get together to obsess over me. I cannot fathom why, but they do. Anyways, she would have told her fellow friends and her kingdom all about me, and we would have courted for a while. I probably would have asked her to marry me out of respect for her well-being and because of my position in the kingdom. You probably would have found your own maiden tonight, and you probably would have followed in the same footsteps that I was to follow in. I probably would have had a child or two with my maiden, and-"

I felt a hand under my head, lifting it upwards. I watched as Prince Jonathan leaned in towards me and kissed me on the lips. My eyes went wide, my heart was beating quickly, and my stomach was in knots. After a few moments, he pulled away, still keeping his face very close to mine. I was speechless. What should I say? What should I do? So, instead of speaking to him, I just stared at him blankly.

"You talk too much when you're stressed," he whispered, "so I needed to do something to shut you up. I guessed that kissing you worked." Jonathan chuckled before he continued. "Do you want to know something? You're prettier when you don't talk."

"Wait, what is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that we need to sit here. In the silence. Alone, with no stress or worries from the outside world." Jonathan moved his hand from under my chin and placed it on my cheek. He started to gently stroke it. I leaned my head to the side, where his hand was, and I closed my eyes. Even with everything going on, this was so...peaceful.

Crack!

A twig had broken. I perked up and looked to where the noise was from. I sighed heavily. Stupid twigs, always ruining romantic scenes between people.

I looked up to find my sister and her new husband. I had completely forgotten that she knew about this hideout as well. My sister looked at me, then looked at Jonathan, and then looked back at me. She was holding her husband's hand tightly. "What are you doing here?" Miranda asked me.

"I could ask the same for you," I quietly replied back, "shouldn't you make sure that your guests are alright?"

"Well, shouldn't you make sure that you are controlling your father?! Look at the mess that he had made of my wedding! And it is all your fault!"

"Miranda, I didn't mean any harm! I swear! Please, Miranda. You must believe me."

My sister then fell onto the ground and hugged me. I wiggled my hand out of Jonathan's and hugged Miranda protectively. "I am sorry, Manuel," Miranda sobbed, "I did not mean any of that. I am under stress. That is all."

"I know, I know," I whispered to her, "I know that you didn't mean any of those words. And I know that I didn't mean any of mine. It is alright, Miranda."

She pulled out of the hug and nodded at me before standing up and going back by her husband's side. Daniel wrapped his arms around my little sister, doing his best to help comfort her. I stood up as well and walked away from the couple, heading back towards the castle.

I knew that Jonathan was following me. I could hear his loud footsteps echoing through the forest. Yet, I didn't look back. I didn't want to see the hopelessness on his face. I didn't want to see the pain, the despair, the betrayal that his face probably consisted of.

Once I reached the castle, I went to the courtyard. The courtyard was empty, and it was destroyed. The large cake that had been made was completely destroyed. I sighed as I tried to find my father. I hoped and prayed that he was calm.

I entered the castle to find my servants in distress and disarray. They ran out of the door behind me. Well, there went another group of servants.

My father was on the large staircase with a bottle in his hand. He stumbled around the steps, doing his best not to fall down. I walked up to him, weary of what he would do next. When I reached him, he grabbed my shirt and pulled my close.

"Look at what you have done," he bellowed, "you have ruined everything! From now on, I forbid you to leave the kingdom. No, I forbid you to leave the castle! You cannot leave this place ever again! You do not need to be corrupted by the other princes! I will find you a maiden, and you will marry her, no questions asked."

"But, Father-"

"Do not talk back to me! This is my final word, no questions about it!" He then let go of my shirt and stumbled up the stairs. I collapsed on the staircase as tears streamed down my face. As I cried, I heard a voice calling my name from outside of the castle walls.

"Manuel," I heard the voice call, "let me in! Please! Your guards are preventing me from entering! Manuel! I know that you're in there! Please, Manuel. Let me in." Oh God. It was Jonathan. I made my way towards the door as his pleas got louder.

I heard the guards talking outside. "You are now banned from the Lin Kingdom, and the same goes for the rest of your kingdom. Please leave immediately, and no harm will come to your family and your kingdom."

"Manuel-"

"He is not allowed to leave the castle. Reaching him will be punishable by death. If I were you, I would leave now."

My heart fell to the ground when the guards were talking to Jonathan. I leaned against the castle door, making sure that I heard every word that came out of Jonathan's mouth. The last thing that I heard from him was his beautiful singing voice, saying, "Manuel, I love you."

I had ruined everything that night. And there was no way to fix what I had done. I heard footsteps outside of the castle as I thought about what my father had said. I couldn't leave the kingdom, and I couldn't leave the castle.

You know what? Screw it! I was going after Jonathan no matter what it took. When you love something, when you are passionate about something, when you want something, you won't stop until you get it, until it is yours.

I wasn't going to stop until I saw Jonathan again.