Oh wow! I was totally blown away by the response to Chapter 1, and I have to thank everyone who took a moment to let me know how much they enjoyed it. Thanks so much everyone!
Well I guess I have to post the rest of it now! I'll try to maintain a quick schedule, but I'll be honest and admit I've only written up to a certain point... I swear I'll finish though. Nothing's worse than a dangling ending.
More thanks to Firebrain for her continuing fantabulous editing services.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Good morning, highness."
Laen yanked the pillow out from under him, Alex's head hitting the mattress with a solid thump. Now quite awake, he opened one eye and glared at a grinning Laen, who was already fluffing and returning the pillow to its proper place.
"Sorry to wake you, highness, but Erina said to make sure you were awake before I left."
"It's alright. What time is it?" Alex was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"0430." Off of Alex's look, Laen shrugged. "My day starts early. Sorry."
"I think I'll go for a run," Alex emerged from the bed with a grand yawn, stretching the kinks out of his shoulders. He grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her close to kiss her soundly. "Thank you for last night. You were incredible. In many ways."
"My lord," Laen said, blushing. "I was just..."
"I'm not talking about that," Alex indicated the bed with a nod. "You just put some things in perspective is all."
Laen's brow furrowed in confusion. "Your majesty, what do you-"
"I need you to do something for me," he interrupted, grabbing a notepad and scribbling something down, handing the folded note to her. "I need you to slip that to the Lady Deena."
"Yes Majesty." Laen was smiling like an idiot; she could sense that this was important and was pleased to be involved. "Immediately?"
"How about later while she has tea with the Queen?"
"Your highness!" She just stood there, gaping. "In front of your mother?" Laen was terrified. She was quite used to running all sorts of errands for Prince Alex, but Queen Beatrice could be quite an imposing figure. Laen was certain that the Queen would know she was up to something.
"You'll be fine. It's just a personal message; I don't want to go through official channels and all that. Dee will understand."
Laen flushed, glaring at the Prince, but plucked the paper from him and put it in a small side pocket. "Yes, my lord," she said, curtsying. Alex gave her a peck on the cheek before he sent her out through the secret door.
Two hours later, soaked through with sweat, Alex finished his tenth lap around the track. The palace's gym facilities were without peer, with pools, weights, and all manner of exercise equipment all wrapped up by a half-mile track elevated above the rest. As Alex approached the start of the track, he found Erina waiting for him, looking impeccable as always in her sharp blue uniform.
"Running laps at dawn?"
"You
are
good," Alex said, taking a towel from her, "no wonder you're my chief of staff." He paused to drink deeply from a water bottle. "And before you ask, I did check my itinerary."
"I'm stunned!" Erina consulted her pad, "Then you realize you have a breakfast meeting in a half hour. And they'd probably prefer you not stinking."
"Probably," Alex agreed. "But I'd like to insert a small item this afternoon..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"... And after spending a term abroad studying botany, I returned to Ashnan and finished my studies in logistical management and interstellar trade practices," Deena sipped her tea. "And for the past three years I've been my father's main proxy on the Exchange."
"A great deal of responsibility for one so young," Queen Beatrice said, nodding in approval.
They were sitting in a quiet atrium in what Deena thought was the East Wing of the palace. Deena had managed to escape without telling her mother - she would fixate on it as another enormous opportunity.
"And where did you study botany?"
"The equatorial jungles of Ix. And yes, everything you've heard is true; two hundred meter tall trees, quadruple canopy, and more biodiversity per square meter than anywhere else in the known universe."
"By the Maker... where did you sleep? I don't think I could, surrounded with all of that... weren't there insects everywhere?" Her distaste was obvious.
"Our base camp was a prefab hab-pod suspended between two aborabora trees, hanging about ninety meters off of the jungle floor. It keeps you well out of the muck and away from predators. But one night a thanosauron spent half the night trying to jump up and catch us."
"A what? Dear girl, you'll have to forgive my ignorance, a thano...?"
"A thanosauron: a reptiloid alpha predator. Something like a... well, like a chicken with arms I suppose, but almost twenty meters tall and a mouth big enough to swallow five men. Anyway, for most of the night it kept jumping and snapping at our enclosure, trying to bring it down. It eventually tired, but for that whole night we didn't sleep at all!" Deena laughed, remembering the terror, but also the relief when morning came.
"You must be very brave, Lady Deena," Beatrice said, her gaze appraising. They were interrupted when servants moved in quickly to dispose of their tea and bring in a selection of sweets. As a maid took her teacup, Deena was surprised to see her surreptitiously place a folded note in its place. She snatched up the note before Beatrice noticed it and she read the message:
D, meet me in the gardens after your tea. A.
Deena could barely keep her mind on the conversation.
Alex wants to see me? And in secret?
She tried to calm her pounding heart as she pulled some treats from the tray, jamming a Turkish delight in her mouth to keep from having to speak for a little while at least.
"I must admit that I'm impressed. Many of the women here this week are socialites, women of leisure." Beatrice used the words like they were curses. "It's a pleasure to see a young woman such as yourself not content to simply inherit her family's holdings, but actively working towards advancing them."
Deena nodded. If there was one thing she remembered about Beatrice, is that she was a woman of strong opinions - politics or politeness be damned.
"You should be proud of yourself, Lady Deena. Remember that."
"I will, your highness," Deena said, meaning it. It wasn't every day that royalty paid you a compliment, and Deena couldn't help but be pleased. They moved on to lighter topics, but it was only a few more minutes until the Queen's aide came to take Beatrice to her next appointment.
"I had, a lovely time with you, my dear. I hope that we'll be able to do this again." The Queen had an odd smile on her face, like she knew something Deena didn't.
"Yes, thank you, your highness," Deena answered, bowed as the queen left the room, then turned the maid who had passed her the note, signaling her to come over.
"Yes, my lady?"
"I-" She noticed the other maid was still clearing the table. Deena pulled her aside slightly so as not to be overheard. "That note you passed me, who gave it to you?"
The girl's dark eyes darted to the other maid. She leaned close to whisper, "The Crown Prince himself."
Deena nodded, still shaken. "Thank you. Which way are the gardens?"
"The closest way is through the northern gate, my lady," the maid said. Deena thanked her and headed down what felt like miles of hallways, courtyards, and skyways, until she reached an ancient gate leading to the palace's sumptuous gardens.
Deena judged it to be almost 30 acres of lawns, groves, hedges and flower displays, crisscrossed with stone walkways and streams. Surrounded by the soaring palace and the heights of Capital City, the Royal Gardens were quite a retreat; a small pocket of lush greenery surrounded by plasteel and concrete.
As Deena descended a staircase, she noticed a few of the Royal Guard posted at an intersection leading to what appeared to be a small hedge maze. Looking closely, she saw that the guards were blocking the entrances- not that many people were about on this cool afternoon.
Deena approached one of the guards to ask after the Crown Prince, but as she got close he stepped aside, allowing her entry into the maze. She entered cautiously, the tall hedges plunging her into deep shadow. A few meters away from the entrance, the path widened to enclose a pair of stone benches... one of which held Prince Alex.
"Hello Dee."
"Your highness!" She was surprised to actually find him there, having half expected this to be an elaborate prank. "What's the meaning of this?" she shook the note at him.
"I need some advice," Alex said simply. "I don't know if you've heard but this whole week is about a big decision I need to make, and it's really been weighing on me."
Deena glared at him, but softened as she saw the openness in his eyes. She sat on the opposite bench.
"I can understand that. I guess when I said you were in an enviable position, I didn't think it through. You have an enormous responsibility." Deena watched Alex closely. Gone was the boyish grin and lighthearted manner: Alex was deadly serious.
"I've been absolutely dreading this week. Imagine: pick a stranger and make her your wife. Your queen. How preposterous! Can I be honest with you?"
"Of course you can, Alex. Your highness," Deena corrected, remembering decorum.
"I had two plans for this week. The first one was refuse to pick a bride and just flee the system. Become a renegade king out on the rim. I thought it would be quite an adventure. My mother would have pursued me of course, so I'd have to live my remaining days dodging bounty hunters and the authorities alike, making my way by the skin of my teeth."
"Quite an adventure indeed." Deena smiled. "But that doesn't sound like you. I think you like being the Crown Prince too much."
Alex shrugged at that, half agreeing. "The second was just pick a girl at random. Just throw a hoop at the mess of them and pick whoever it landed on."
"I'd have paid to see that. I think the Lady Drusis would have used an anti-grav belt to fly to the hoop."
Alex smiled. "But then you walked down those stairs."
Deena's laughter stopped dead as she felt her whole world tip. She'd thought about this moment so often- half fantasized about it- and now that it appeared to be coming true she couldn't believe it.
"Highness, what do you mean?"
"Well I know you. You aren't a stranger. And we get along; none of that stiff formality every other damn person seems to insist on. I mean, I can make a joke and you might actually
not
laugh."
Deena laughed at that, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth. It made Alex laugh.
"Like I said, we get on."
"So we do."
"But I saw you and it was like an old friend appearing out of nowhere. I remembered horsing around with you in the shimmer flower fields, or when Dragen taught us how to catch dragonflies."
Deena smiled, remembering those happy days herself.
"I felt... deeply attracted to you, and not simply because you were the most beautiful woman in the hall."
Deena blushed at that, but forced herself to stay focused. "Alex, your highness," she corrected herself again, "what is it you are trying to say?"
