A Million Mistakes

Chapter 7:

"So your staying here for a month?" I asked.

"Si," Maria said. "Yes. Mi Madre said she is going back to Spain but that it is unsafe for me to come along."

Maria rolled her eyes and turned down another path. We were on a walk in the garden, and as our royal etiquette had taught us, I was escorting her. She had begrudgingly took my arm and allowed me to walk her around the gardens. I knew she could care less about garden walking etiquette, but my mother cared.

"That's weird. There hasn't been any threats to Spain in years," I inquired.

"Exactly. No rebel. No mutiny. No threat in Spain."

"That is interesting," I agreed.

"But I got real reason from maids," She said, letting go of my arm and turning to face me excitedly.

"You shouldn't believe what the maids say. They're the biggest gossips you'll ever meet," I advised.

She ignored me, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet.

" So I was getting my roots redone," She said gesturing to her bleached blonde hair. It's originally a dark chocolate brown that matches her tanned skin. But as soon as she turned 13, she snuck out of her palace and got it dyed  blonde. "And I was talking to Lucy" I rolled my eyes. Lucy. She was one of the biggest gossips I knew. Which is kind of weird because she's very shy and quiet. After I was directed to Lucy to help get out of the palace she had become a close friend. And she is always quick to tells me which maid is dating which guard and all the other gossip. "And she heard this from the maid who delivers the tea to the conference room. The advisors want me to stay here so that we get used to each other. Because if you don't find a suitable wife within the end of the year, they are going to arrange a marriage between us."

"That's not real. Our moms are best friends. They've been hoping we would get together since we were babies. They purposefully had us the same year so that we would be close in age. It's just an on going joke," I said, waving off the matter.

"Not a joke this time!" Maria yelped, stepping in front of me, her broken English showing through. "Your father is growing tired of you not looking for wife. Your mother trying to buy time, but your father is insisting I stay here so that we prepare ourselves. They won't tell us it Maxon but I fear it true."

"You don't sound like you're worried about this?" I said, praying that what she was saying wasn't true.

"Oh. Don't worry. I wouldn't be caught dead married to you. I'm a free soul, Schreave, and I am not gonna settle down any time soon. None the less with the likes of you. I'm 24, I've got so much life left to live before I even think about giving my heart to someone," She explained.

"Don't you worry your parents will ship you off to some country to marry some foreign prince before than? To strength alliances?" I asked.

"Oh god no. If they did that I wouldn't even know what to do," She muttered.

"Isn't that exactly what our parents are going to do?"

"It's different. They know we're friends. They know we could be happily married even if there was no spark there. But they would never have me married some person I didn't even know."