Princess of the Wolves

Chapter One:

Welcome lovely readers! I finished this book awhile ago and am going to start revising it. I went off and started writing some other stuff, but I want to smooth this whole story out!

Please vote and comment! It would mean so much to me if you did!

_________________
I dropped his outstretched hand, which fell awkwardly. A disgusted look crossed Dimitri's face and under this facade a hurt one. He spoke quietly yet with so much conviction and poise that it felt like he was addressing a crowd of his subjects and not simply me.

"I implore that you graciously reconsider. Alicia, I'm quite surprised at you," he voiced sternly.

I raised my voice, "No, Dimitri, I refuse."

He hissed out a shhhh...and proclaimed to me, "Stop making a scene."

I could feel an onslaught of eyes trained on the two us the two of us. After all, they were all curious about what their darling prince and his current love interest could be quarreling about.

He then grabbed my hands, and he acted like we were dancing. The eyes of noblewomen and noblemen left us to return to their other worldly affairs. I attempted to break away to protest his proposal again, but he, being much stronger and taller than I, held me in the same position, staring angrily and intensely into my eyes. I could tell he was not used to being denied .

He leaned in to speak into my ear, "My Dear, I beg you to at least weigh the benefits. You're such an impulsive and brash little creature. If you cannot do that, please know that I adore you and wish to be engaged to you. We make a great pair, you and I." Ah, the duty and honor speech, how original.

"Dimitri," I spoke into his ear, "I never meant for any of this to happen." I took a deep breath and tried to get him to at least loosen his monstrous grip. I continued, "Looking into your world, it is something I simply cannot want or be a part of."

"You already are!" he protested, annoyed.

"You and I live two very different lifestyles."

"Alicia, be reasonable. What would your mother say or your father do if they heard you acting like this?" He then answered his own question, "They wouldn't be happy." He breathed loudly, "I am not happy. I think it's in your best interest that you reconsider."

"It's really not you," I told him, "I'm afraid to fail, because so much is at stake." I couldn't fail, and as much as I wanted to make him happy, me marrying him would only make things difficult. I had to stay strong under his unmoving, stony gaze.

"Reconsider," he pressed.

"I'll try to," I responded meekly to get him to stop. Sure, I liked Dmitri, maybe even loved him, but I had no intention of reconsidering whatsoever. "I'll get back to you."

In that instance, the muscular man (hardly a man--in his teens) strode away like a raging storm cloud. He was angry, but he was so professional and poised that someone else would take it that he was going somewhere important to do something important. I didn't like that he was angry at me, but I couldn't do it. I was just sixteen, which for an average girl in the socialite upper class was an average age for being married, but this was nothing like what I planned as a girl in my girlish fantasies. I always thought I'd marry some creative artist from a family of artists or the son of an author or something like that. Never had I ever considered the prince. I sighed, dreamily remembering.

We met at an event like this, a ball or a party for a general's retirement, something like that. When I had met the prince, I didn't know he was the prince at all; after all, he seemed so normal, maybe the nephew of a duke or the son of a foreign dignitary. My family was running late because of  a flat tire on our limousine, so we missed the announcement saying the beloved prince was back from studying at the military academy in Yolsbur. When I found out he was the prince, I was stunned, but one simply can't ignore the prince of their country when he speaks to her. Besides, these things were very boring without someone to talk to. I was privately tutored, so I had no school friends. My best friend, Lilian, was in Turkey, where her father was the ambassador. It all seemed too perfect. Me, I never would've thought the prince would be interested in me; I wasn't gorgeous or the most intellectual or proper or the best at anything. I was average, and royalty was an extraordinary for extraordinary people...not me.

Yet, somehow things progressed, and I blindly found myself in the eye of the prince and he in mine. I was always careful to not overstep my boundaries or to let my heart get in the way. I always knew after a loveless life on his part (years at an all boy boarding academy), I was adequate for now, but someone else would come along. But I was cruelly and beautifully mistake. He wanted me for a mate, a life partner.

I couldn't! Accepting was the end all; my life would come crashing down in an instant, all my plans becoming ones I never wanted nor dreamed of: Royal balls, tea parties, duties, responsibilities, and so many things I couldn't handle. So, I found myself standing in the middle of the dance floor by myself, my eyes trained on the door Dimitri exited.

Momentarily, the handsome couple that was my father and mother, my mother being draped carefully and elegantly on my father's steady arm, came over to me. They were both thrilled with pride shining in their eyes to know that I had "unofficially" been a "pair" with the prince for the past few months.; it had elevated their staid without question, making them almost royalty in their own regard.

"Where is that boy of yours?" my mother asked in her breathy voice.

"He had something to do," I mumbled. I probably wouldn't see him much anymore especially not tonight as he was likely off slamming doors somewhere.

Thankfully, they didn't push any further than that saying how pleased can they were to have such a dutiful future king and potential son-in-law.
After my parents and I formerly said our goodbyes and we went to our limousine, I hardly had a moment before choking on the air.

"So," my father said in an excited yet diplomatic voice, "I heard you got asked a very important question this evening." I remained silent, and the air became stagnant.

"Unless of course you didn't!" my mother quickly added, lightly elbowing my father.

"You see," my father continued, "We and their highnesses were under the impression that Prince Dimitri was going to ask for your hand."

All I said was "oh" while wishing he would drop the topic.

"However love, next time I would recommend wearing something less skin bearing. I think that may be why he held off. I would too; there are pictures to be taken."

"He did ask," I interrupted. My mother gasped loudly, so I cleared my throat and went on, "I declined."

A snarl arose from my father's throat; he spat out, "You did what?!" My mother grasped my father's arm as if she needed help sitting up.
My mother was so frail; I wished to never be like her: flimsy and frail. She had a heart condition, and unfortunately, when I turned thirteen, I was diagnosed with the same. I told myself daily I'd never want to get like her.

I repeated myself.

My father screeched to Henry, our driver, to turn the vehicle around at once. "You will march back in there and beg he reconsiders! You will plead on your knees of you have to! How stupid can you be?"

"Really Alicia," my mother agreed all huffy and breathy, "How irresponsible you are with your life!"

After some terrible awkward moments of me staring at the floor, mumbling some deceitful apologies, and shifting from foot to foot, Dimitri and his parents forgave my offense, and my parents and I stayed to negotiate the terms of marriage with the King and Queen all night long.

My mother blamed my heart condition on my mistake, which made me erupt on the inside. She stated my declining was simply because I was just too overwhelmed and that I had felt too sickly to function properly. Then, my world came crashing down.

Dimitri and I were married in early spring, my favorite time of year. There were blooming flowers that adorned the whole space, which was outside between a grove of trees. The trees were all in neat rows, and since they were cherry trees, they were all in full cheerful bloom. There was a very small few in attendance, nothing like the large ceremonies that were common for royalty. The only guests were my parents and sister, the King, Queen, the minister of the ceremony per my insisting. Of course, my mother pouted and my father was disappointed it wasn't a larger affair, but Dimitri didn't mind. Ironically, he liked his privacy as well.

If it wasn't for the knot in my stomach, it would've been a beautiful affair, but I knew I was made for something different.