"Mother! No! You can not possibly mean this!" 17 year old Princess Aideen gasped and stared at her mother with all the shock she felt.
"I do." Queen Cara looked at her daughter with love, but her voice held a note of steel.
"Mother, I'm far too young to wed!"
"You are 17 years of age Aideen, I suggest you act like it."
Aideen opened her mouth to object, but her mother held up a hand, and she kept silent.
"My dear," her mother spoke softly, "You have always known that the time would come for you to marry, and, when it did, that your father and I would do everything in our power to see you suitably wed. Now, I want you to wash and ready yourself for dinner. We shall discuss this more tomorrow. I'm sure your father and brothers are already waiting on us." Cara watched her only daughter for a moment, knowing how difficult this would be, but truly believing it to be best.
"He's a good man, darling." She whispered as she slipped out the door, letting it shut behind her with a soft 'click'.
Aideen sank onto her bed and sat staring at the door for a few seconds as she tried to calm her racing mind, and heart.
'An arranged marriage,' she thought with a sigh, 'Is this really going to happen?'
"No!" She suddenly jumped up and cried out to the empty room. "They can not do this!"
She began pacing around her room, trying desperately to think of something, Anything that could possibly get her out of this mess. She finally paused in front of her window and leaned her forehead against the glass as she gazed down on the knights training below.
"I'll just talk them out of it!" She said to no one in particular. "And if that doesn't work, I'll, well I'll think of something! They simply can not force me to marry someone I don't love."
Her eyes scanned the training field until they rested upon a familiar broad set of shoulders. then went up to a face that made her knees go weak.
Kevin.
"Not when I'm already in love," she whispered.
YOU ARE READING
Aideen's Answer
RomanceAideen, a young princess, finds herself torn between love and duty to her family. The man she loves, a brave knight, is not the one her father chose for her and loving him could tear her from her family forever. And when the prince she is promised t...
