More Than A Princess

A prince?

There stood Jinna, looking unsure of herself. 

And she was not alone.

Next to her is a tall, dark and handsome man with sculpted planes carved along his jaws and regal nose and blazing blue eyes. He was dressed in a gold-embroidered tunic and a richly embellished cloak with am emblem on it. 

He looked like a prince. 

Lyvia gasped. He looked oddly familiar but she could not place where she has seen him before. The man seemed to know her though. At the sight of her, he strode towards her and gathered her into his arms in a warm embrace.

“My dear princess! I have been looking for you near and far, only to find you here. Are you hurt? Did the peasants here hurt you?” he asked, studying her face and then glaring at Callan and Bianca alternately. 

“What is this you are wearing? This is no attire for a princess!” he said, shocked at her jeans and t-shirt though his eyes stopped a tad too long at her breasts and n*****s, the shapes of which are visible under the thin cotton of her t-shirt.

Lyvia extricated herself from his embrace and distanced herself. She shivered. Somehow, the man made her feel uncomfortable despite his dashing good looks and tall, well-built frame. She moved towards Callan instinctively. 

“Who are you?” she and Callan spoke at the same time. 

“Oh Princess…don’t you remember? He’s your soon-to-be betrothed…you chose him and you told me it was love at first sight before we ended up here,” Jinna stepped in. 

She went to Lyvia and pulled her towards the prince. “This is Prince Henry Chamillet of Penshire, don’t you remember?” she asked. 

Love at first sight? Betrothed? What? Lyvia couldn’t believe it. Was she silly enough to even believe in love at first sight? She was certain that she was no such romantic. She studied the prince, his familiarity nagging at something behind her brain but she could not remember what it was about him. 

“Yes, my dear Lyvia. We were in love. In fact, we almost, er, consummated our love in that sitting room itself if you had not insisted that we wait till the wedding night. You wanted to remain pure for our wedding,” Prince Henry said, pulling her close to him and kissing her forehead affectionately. His hand rested on her waist and pulled her close to him. 

Now she knew he was lying. It can’t be true. She was not one to believe in purity and keeping one’s virginity and all that nonsense. If she had believed in that, she would not have seduced Callan after a few days of knowing him. She extricated herself from his annoying grabby hands and stood a little apart. 

She looked from him to Jinna. Jinna seemed to believe him as the handmaiden was looking at her encouragingly. 

“Wait, wait…what’s going on?” Callan stepped between Lyvia and the prince. He had noticed Lyvia’s reluctance to be near the dashing prince. 

“Prince and princess? Wow…so they are from the other worlds?” Bianca interrupted and gazed at both Prince Henry and Lyvia curiously. 

“How did you travel here? You must simply tell me what the journey is like! I’ve always wanted to travel worlds but it is not so easy for us Norms,” she added, excitedly. 

She started shooting more questions at both Henry and Lyvia without pausing. 

Did it take long to travel? Did it hurt? How did you prepare? What spells did you used? How much did you need to pay? Who arranged it? Was there a specific time to do it? How many worlds have you travelled? How long can you stay here? 

Prince Henry looked at her quizzically while Lyvia rolled her eyes. She glanced at Callan as if telling him silently to get rid of Bianca or stop her. He seems to understand her silent communication as he immediately step in between Bianca and the two royals. 

“Come Bianca. I think they need to talk. Lets leave them to it. It’s nice seeing you, maybe it’s time for you to go wherever it is you were going initially,” he said and he gently pulled her to the side and tried to push her away. Bianca kept glancing back at Henry, Lyvia and Jinna. 

“But, but…” she protested but Callan raised his hand to silence her.

“No buts, just leave them alone. Maybe we meet on another time and I will explain everything to you?” he suggested and pulled her further away. 

He continued trying to convince her to leave and soon they were far enough that Lyvia could only hear the soft murmur of Callan’s voice. 

She turned back to the prince and Jinna, who was looking at Henry with a strange expression. She wanted so badly to talk to Jinna in private about Henry but she can’t do it with him standing here, staring down at her lovingly…and lustily. The way he was staring at her breasts was like a starved man staring at a piece of dried bread. Hungry. 

She crossed her arms unconsciously over her breasts. She made up her mind. She will make him wait while she speak to Jinna. In private.

“So, Prince Henry, if you don’t mind, please wait here, I need to talk to Jinna,” she said and pulled Jinna with her but when Henry attempted to follow them, she snapped at him “Privately, alone,” 

He stopped and raised his hands in assurance. He winked at her and turned away. 

“Jinna…first, where…and how…aughhh…I don’t even know where to start…”

“Princess, I found him wandering around nearby and brought him here. I don’t know how he came here but maybe he followed us? Maybe he’s here to rescue us and bring us back?” Jinna interrupted.

“It is true you were agreeing to be betrothed to him. You told me yourself! And then there was another suitor who wanted to kidnap you just as you were on your way to announce your decision about Henry and we ran and fell here,” she said firmly.

“Can’t you remember princess? Surely, you remember Prince Henry? He is ever so handsome, you will make such lovely children together,” she said gushingly. 

Lyvia was still hesitant to accept what Jinna told her. But then Jinna had no reason to lie to her. Jinna has always been truthful and faithful to her. She is her only friend in all these years and her only confidante. Even Jinna knew about her fooling around with Elliot though the other girl did not approve of it at all. 

Still, something nagged at her, something elusive at the back of her mind but she can’t seem to pinpoint it. There was just something wrong about Henry that she couldn’t put her finger on. Pushing it aside, she followed Jinna to walk back to Henry. He was admiring the trees and flowers, giving them the privacy they wanted.

“Prince Henry, how did you end up here?” she asked the prince the moment he turned back to them. For a moment, he looked taken aback by her question and he looked at Jinna for a fleeting moment that Lyvia thought she had imagined it. She looked at Jinna but her expression remained blank except for a small pleasant smile on her lips, the usual smile she puts on when in public with Lyvia. 

“I am not sure myself,” Henry finally replied. “I was searching for you in the garden when suddenly I found myself in this strange world,” 

He told them that he went searching for them after they went missing and could not be found for a few days. When he arrived at this strange land, he was wandering around for a few hours before he chanced upon Jinna. They had then walked back here.

“And so here we are. Prince to the rescue,” he said and attempted to pull Lyvia to him yet again. This time, she was prepared. She sidestepped and avoided him. 

“But, Jinna…where were you and what are you doing walking about?” she turned to Jinna. 

The other girl didn’t look at her when she replied. “I was looking for a way home. I was worried about the King and Queen and how they must be so worried about you Princess,”

She kicked a pebble on the ground and wrung her hands nervously. “I was walking around a lot and almost got lost when the Prince found me and it took us a while for me to recognise some of the buildings and find this place,” she said, a single tear sliding down her rosy cheek.

“I was so scared that we will never find you again Princess,” she said, appearing distraught. 

“Let’s put all that behind us now. Now that we have found each other, let’s all go back,” Prince Henry said gallantly and once again tried to reach out to Lyvia. She again sidestepped and avoided him. 

“Do you know a way back?” she asked him. 

He nodded confidently. “I found my way here, I am sure I can get us all home and we can get married at the soonest possible,” he said.

“Come, let’s not waste time and make haste,” he added. He reached out and grabbed Lyvia’s hand and started striding in a direction away from the gardens of the apartment.