The Queen of England

Chapter 4 England

The door to the sitting room opens and reveals a woman in a black dress. Her hair is brown and twisted into an intricate design, and she wears far too much makeup. The crown that sits on her head doesn't appear to fit there.

She looks exactly like the queen that I met moments ago, Laila, but this girl is much different. She has an air if confidence that her sister does not possess.

"Princess Brittany, so nice of you to join us." says the queen.

"I didn't have much of a choice, Laila." Says Brittany.

Collin looks up at Brittany and stands, bowing his head politely. "Princess, I am Collin. The Prime Minister. We spoke on the phone yesterday." he says.

Brittany nods and bobs her head at him in return. Then her green eyes find mine.

I scramble to my feet and bow my head to her. "Hello, Princess. I am Prince Cody Landon, of England." I say as rehearsed.

"Hello, Prince Cody." Brittany says, bobbing her head again.

"Ah, the first encounter of true love." says Laila.

Brittany glares at her, and I have to say I'm glad she did. I want to smack her for saying that. Brittany and I were marrying only for the sake of our countries. Her parents wanted to have a child but the Danish Queen was infertile. Denmark didn't have the money or resources to fix the woman's fertility, so they called in favors. My mother, recently widowed, knew that after she'd only had two sons that there would be no queen of England after her because she had no daughter. She contacted the Danish king and offered to pay for the queen's medical bills. All she asked for in return: For one of the princesses to be promised to me, her firstborn son.

But the Danish royalty still didn't have the doctors to help the queen. That's where France came into the equation. With their help and our money, the French invested in the child. It was then that my mother and the French had a problem. There was only one child to be born-as far as they knew- and one had already been promised to me. Not to mention the child could be a boy.

So another deal was made. If the queen had a baby girl, she would be promised to marry me at the age of eighteen. Until then, she would live as a French princess. If it was a boy, his first daughter would be promised to one of my children. If it was a boy he had, he would marry one of the French's children.

But a miracle happened, and the queen fell pregnant with twin girls. So, one was promised to me and one was promised to the French prince. And that has been the plan since the girls were born. On the day they were born, my mother and the French king went to choose a baby. According to Mother, when Laila came out she almost chose her. But when Brittany was born a minute later, my mother instantly had a connection with her.

So now here we are, sixteen years later. My mother is dying, and I'm staring into the green eyes of my fiancé, Brittany.

"Brittany, why don't you sit." Laila says.

Brittany sits down in a chair across from me, folding her hands in her lap. She is beautiful, I cannot lie about that.

"Prince Cody, would you like to ask Brittany any questions?" asks Laila.

Do I? Not really. I have the rest of my life to get to know Brittany, right? I'm marrying her rather I like her or not, so it doesn't matter now. But my mother has a question for her.

"Diamonds or rubies?" I ask her. She looks confused.

"Excuse me?" she asks. Her voice is so American, despite the faint Danish accent underneath it.

"For your ring. My mother insisted I ask you. I know diamonds are the traditional thing, but she said that you would like something a little more original. So, diamonds or rubies?" I ask.