The Prince's Choice ✔

Chapter Fifty Three • His Queen

-Jade-

William proved to be right. The other's returned shortly after she had gotten dressed and she thanked all the possible Gods there were to thank.

A part of her could not wait until they were living in William's castle, all alone. Where no one could disturb them, be it during encounters of an intimate nature or just private conversations. She had grown very tired of never truly having a moment of to themselves without the threat of being interrupted. But what was there to expect? They shared a home with five others, and it was bound to get a little crowded.

However, there were no time left for the two of them to continue their discussion about this new upcoming war William had sprung on her.

Jade stood quietly and watched as the others went about their day like there was nothing wrong. She longed back to the time when she had shared this blissful ignorance with her family. The time when she had known nothing but the day she had woken up to, was long gone. Nowadays she woke up with her stomach in a knot and she had all of these troubles causing it.

First it was the queen... then the raiders and then the servant girl. Now he is telling me there is a war coming? All because of me? Jade thought and sighed quietly and tried to calm her tense body, it failed. She was stiff all over and could not relax at all.

She let her gaze sweep across the room again in an attempt to push her thoughts away. Her parents were just like they used to and so was her siblings, laughing and playing.

Loren was teaching Samuel how to best parry a strike whilst holding Samuel's new wooden sword, which Loren of course had made for him so he could easier teach the little one how to fight. These new lessons were not appreciated by Jade's mother, but she never said anything directly to Loren since she was grateful for all he had done to keep Jade safe. So, she quietly let the royal guard teach her little boy how to fight.

How sweet it would be to not know anything of this war... or that wretched servant girl... Jade thought to herself as she smiled faintly at the sound of Samuel laughing whilst Loren pretended that he had been struck badly from Samuel's counterattack.

A heavy feeling of sorrow and worry came over her when the servant girl entered her thoughts and stayed there.

She could be anywhere... She could easily be here in Thornstead.

Jade's mother and Liz were talking happily whilst preparing dinner for them all. Her father was discussing something with the king which she could not hear... and she was not sure she wanted to, since he could be quite blunt, and had proved that he was not about to change his ways just because there was a king underneath his roof. To her relief the king looked content and not at all offended. This she took as a sign that they were getting along just fine.

William walked up to Liz offering to help them with the heavy cauldron tonight's dinner was going to cook in. He was waved away after getting a scoff from the one of the two women by the counter. Jade's mother looked surprised at Liz and her quite rude response to William's kind offer.

"No, thank you, your grace." She said with a smirk and narrowed eyes. "Where is this helpfulness coming from? I do not remember any princes coming to offer me help in the kitchen..."

"I at least kept you company." William laughed quietly and raised his eyebrows at her. Liz rolled her eyes and waved at him to leave them alone.

"The prince has been kind and helping us ever since he got here." Jade's mother quickly defended William, which earned her a thankful nod from him.

"Well, I do not need young men's help with things I have done all my life by myself." Liz told Jade's mother and she sounded just as stubborn as Jade remembered her.