Fate

“You should be happy, my lady. You’ve been dreaming of marriage ever since you could barely walk.”

The servant’s words echoed over and over in Princess Clare’s mind. Of course she wanted to get married. Every girl she’d ever known had wanted to get married. But she wanted to get married to the right person. And she wasn’t sure that the guy she had met earlier that day was the one.

Prince Jason of Limeris was stony-faced and completely silent. He didn’t say a single word to Clare from the time that he and his family arrived to the time they departed. They had both stood on the sidelines as their parents discussed the marriage that she assumed neither of them had a choice in.

It had been a total surprise when she was summoned to the throne room. There stood this family, all dressed in bright colors. And then her parents were saying things about how the two kingdoms needed peace and the only way to achieve that is to marry the two children. After many of her protests, she was sent to her room, where her maid was to get her ready for bed.

But she wasn’t ready to sleep. The sun was still up, and ways to escape the marriage were flowing throughout her brain. She could – no, that wouldn’t work. Maybe she could – nah, there’s not enough flowers for that. Probably she could – nope. She gave up trying and flopped onto her huge bed. She lay there, staring at the ceiling until the sun started going down.

There was a knock on her door, bringing with it the soft voice of Queen Jessica, her mother. “Clare?”

“Not here!” Clare called out, sitting up.

A sigh escaped her mother’s mouth. “Clare, you’re obviously in there.”

“Well you sent me here, so I have no idea why you asked,” she replied.

Clare’s mother opened the door and smiled that perfect queen’s smile. “Honey, you know that we have to do it. It will bring peace to our land.”

“Maybe we could just work out a negotiation! Why do I have to be married to someone I don’t know and quite frankly might not like?” Clare complained.

“Stop being overdramatic. You will marry Jason, and you will like it. Your father and I think that he will be a good match.”

“Good match? Do you know anything about this Jason?”

“Yes, I do.”

“What’s his favorite color? His favorite book? How old is he? Does he ever smile? What’s his favorite flower?” Clare listed off the only questions she could think of. She probably could’ve listed off more, but they weren’t coming to her mind.

The queen stopped to think for a moment, then started listing things off on her fingers. “Orange, Greek Art & Architecture, your age, I believe so, violets.”

“Okay, you got me there. But do you honestly believe that I will like him?”

“Yes. Now go to sleep like you were told.”

Clare was suddenly exhausted. “Okay.”

She flopped down onto her bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

When she woke up, the sun was rising. It coated everything in an orange glow, creating a ripple effect against the red bedspread. It was a beautiful day, but that only worsened Clare’s mood. She was just thinking that there should be dark skies and rain on a day like that day when there was – once again – a knock on her door.

Instead of her mother, though, it was a pair of dark eyes and a head of light brown hair that peeked in when she answered. He was fidgeting, as if being there made him uncomfortable.

“Hey, Jason.” Clare said, looking anywhere but him.

“Hey, umm, my mom told me that we are to ‘bond so that our marriage looks real,’” he said.

“I guess my mom told you where my room is?”

“Yeah.”

Clare sighed and opened her door wider. “Come on in, then.”

Jason looked surprised. “Oh, really?”

Clare smiled at the childish way he said it. “Well my mom obviously wants this, because she could’ve just summoned me. Telling you where my room is would be a sign that she wants us to converse here.”

“Oh. Okay,” he said, cautiously stepping inside as if it might kill him.

“Go on. Sit right . . . there.” She pointed towards her lounge chair, then once again flopped down onto her bed, staying upright this time. “So what are we supposed to talk about?”

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Umm, what do you like to do in your free time?”

“Read about Greek art.”

“Yeah, my mom mentioned that. Now you ask me a question.”

Jason paused for a moment. “What’s your . . . favorite color?”

“Green. What would you do if you weren’t in line for king?”

“Fish. You?”

“Well I really wouldn’t have a choice, would I? Why fish?”

“Because fishing is so simple, and I’ve always wanted to try it. What do you mean you wouldn’t have a choice?”

“I’m a girl, aren’t I? My only choices are housewife or maid. Do you mean to say that you’ve never been fishing?”

“Well, yeah. No one has time for me in the castle. Don’t you have more choices than that?” Jason had started smiling a crooked smile.

“No, not really. Why do you care?”

“Because you seem very pessimistic about it. Do you ever not wallow?”

“Well the fact that this a marriage that I have no choice in doesn’t help at all.”

“I have no choice either, yet I’m . . . almost . . . okay with it. I mean, it does help that you are the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”
Clare raised an eyebrow. “What happened to the boy I just let into my room? Also, such a lovely almost you got there.”
“The word almost was there because it, like you pointed out, is an arranged marriage. Who is ever entirely okay with that? And I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean that adorable shy boy that I was totally okay with letting into my bedroom.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, turns out I’m totally comfortable around you. Didn’t know that would happen, but it’s like we’re best friends.”
“Okay, sure, we’ll go with that. Back to the beautiful part. What the heck happened there?”

Jason blushed, as if he thought she might’ve forgotten about that. “Yeah . . . I mean with your hair like that, and the way your eyes sparkle when you get into arguments . . .” he blushed harder. “I mean. . .”

Clare smiled. “You’ve really got a way with words, there.”

“Yeah, my dad is better. I’m going to be a bad king.”

“No, I think it’s cute. Once you become king, you can just get all the girls to serve you by simply speaking. You’d have an entire fangirl army.”

“Okay, that’s just creepy.”

Clare ignored him, continuing. “I can just see it now.” She did a dramatic pose. “Ladies, hide your daughters, and your maids, and your mother, and your grandmother, and lock up yourself! For King Jason is coming through, and it is said that no woman can resist his way of speech!”

Jason started laughing, with Clare soon following suit. Their laughter was interrupted by Queen Jessica, who had come to get Clare for the fitting. Apparently, the wedding was set for the next week and they needed to rush to get things done.

The fitting was boring, and so was the week that followed. The only exception was when she saw Jason, and they would start joking around. Both Queen Jessica and Jason’s mother, Queen Mel approved, and every time this was brought up, there was more laughter.

They weren’t having fun because the mothers had ordered it, they were having fun because they were becoming friends.

And when the wedding rolled around, Clare could find nothing to object to. The dress was stunning, the church wonderful, the flowers smelled amazing, and she was okay with getting married to Jason.

She walked down the aisle, grinning at Jason the entire time. He mouthed hide your mother, and Clare giggled a little.

The judge said all that marriage stuff that Clare couldn’t be bothered to repeat, and then they said their vows, and then finally the “I do.”

And then they were kissing, slow and short and sweet and a whole bunch of other words that start with “s” that Clare couldn’t think of at that moment.

And it looked real to the public, because it was real. It might’ve sounded strange or silly, but Clare honestly thought she might’ve been falling in love. It did help that the person she was falling in love with was now married to her.

And everything would work out. She could learn to like Jason’s parents, and maybe even learn to live with the fact that she would’ve had to marry him even if she didn’t like him.

But she did like him, and she leaned over to laugh with him on their way out of the church.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And in a small castle off the west coast of nowhere, an old woman was closing a book.

“C’mon grandma, that can’t be the end!” said one of the four children sitting in front of her. They gathered there often for story time, and the children knew for a fact that she never read out of the book.

“Well why not, Sophie?”

Robert, the older brother of Sophie, chimed in. “Because it doesn’t say how their marriage worked out! What happens next?”

“Well . . . Clare and Jason had two children. The eldest was Prince Hunter, and he became king after his father stepped down. The youngest was Princess Marie. She went on to marry the prince of a neighboring kingdom, of her own accord.”

“Wait, but isn’t Uncle Hunter king right now?” said the third child, George.

“Why yes, you would be correct.”

Finally, the fourth child spoke up. “Grandma . . . is this story true?”

A new voice broke the fray. “I believe it would be, my little Princess Annabelle.”

“Grandpa!” all the children screamed at once.

And there he was, standing in the doorway. He moved to sit next to his wife. “So how was the meeting?” she asked.

“Terrible. Just terrible. Hunter is making rash decisions again – entirely your fault by the way – and Marie is not helping at all. She keeps telling him that we need to go to war with one kingdom or another.”

“Marie was here? And she didn’t even come to see her mother. That child will be the death of me, I swear.”

“Calm down. She didn’t actually succeed, which is good.”

“Also did you say it was my fault that our child is rash? It’s true, but you can’t just lay blame like that.”

“Of course I can. Just like he somehow managed to get my eyes and your hair, meaning of course he matches.”

“Wait – Grandma, Grandpa, are you guys Clare and Jason?” interrupted Annabelle.

“I would say that we are.”

“That’s so cool!” chimed in the two boys.

“Yeah! You should write a book!” said the two girls.

“Maybe someday. But for now, your grandfather and I have an aggressive child to deal with. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye Grandma! Bye Grandpa!”

And the two left, arm in arm, reminiscing about the fated way they met and were married.