The Cursed Kingdom

TWENTY-THREE

~ THE ROYAL FAMILY ~

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked as I stared out the window, watching with a childlike amazement as the trees passed by us.

I'd never ridden a horse before but I'd watched and learned enough that, after having evaluated the rhythmic sound of the clops of the horse's hooves in my head to pass the time, I could tell that we were only going the speed of a working trot. Although to most it probably seemed dull, such as Henrik who looked on the brink of boredom, it was immensely interesting to me to see how quick this way of travel was after spending eighteen years on the same two feet.

All my life, in between the ones about the Cursed Kingdom, I'd heard stories of beautiful princesses who'd ride in carriages wherever they went, which to them was as normal as going to bed hungry had been for me. The very idea astounded me. Oriana and I, around the time we'd begun attending school, would sneak inside her neighbor's barn and plop ourselves on top of his old wagon, imagining that it was a carriage taking us far away to meet our princes as ordered by our father, the noble King Caspolean. The straw that covered its rotting wood to our naive imaginations was the finest velvet cushioning and the clucking chickens were the common people, who'd gawk at us in awe and jealousy.

Despite having pictured it so many times in so many different ways to a point where I felt as if I could smell what it was like to be that carefree, I'd never considered riding in a carriage would be so smooth or comfortable. Every once and a while there'd be a dip in the road that'd make the plethora of food Henrik had filled me with jump in my stomach and make me a bit queasy. But besides that, I could've sworn there were no wheels or a horse at all and that the compartment was floating. That I was floating.

"My female," Henrik chuckled, looking up from his lap which had seemed to catch his utmost attention within the past few minutes, "do you not know the meaning of the word 'surprise'?"

Yes, I wanted to say, turning my head for the sole purpose to narrow my eyes his way.

If there was one thing that this experience had brought to light was that I despised surprises. Tylem used to tell me that this attribute of mine was because of the fact that I was too controlling and, after years of denying it, I began to realize that he had been right all along. Following the loss of my mother, who had shared a similar hatred for the unknown herself, I had begun preferring to have tighter-than-necessary grip on everything, almost as if I subconsciously believed that if I did that then the less likely bad things would happen to me. It obviously hadn't worked and being deemed controlling was not something I enjoyed, but a habit was a habit, nobody can change themselves in a day, and this particular one certainly was no exception.

Henrik had surprisingly kept his word, not that I had been expecting any different, but it was a tad more literal than what I'd had in mind. From the moment we'd both woken up, me wrapped like a present in his arms, his nose in my hair, and the soft and warm huff of breath as he said, "Good morning," we'd spent every second of every minute of every hour together. The only times I could recall us actually being in separate rooms were when one of us had to use the restroom. We'd played five rounds of backgammon, Henrik's favorite game, ate breakfast together as well as lunch, where I learned that Henrik's favorite color was blue and he once had a pet dog named Oliver, and even enjoyed some chocolate beverages paired with macaroons before he escorted us outside.

I could've sworn I felt my jaw slam against the floor when I first saw the carriage parked just outside the front doors, so majestic and beautiful with its golden designs and black walls, the Cursed Kingdom's crest in the center of the door.

When Henrik told me that we'd be taking it to go somewhere, I was sure my heart was about ready to burst out of my chest and land at his feet. Although his palace was large and gave plenty to do, I was excited to leave it and see another part of the Cursedlands, a place I was realizing I knew absolutely nothing about. Fear, of course, was still there right underneath but when I saw Henrik staring at me with an expression I didn't feel that I deserved, I knew nothing bad could happen to me with him near.