Royals and Rebels 2: Love and War

Twenty: Prince Cadoc

Chapter Twenty

Prince Cadoc

I am in my off-campus apartment, with Eddie Spencer, Gwyneth Godford, and Winnie Wright. I had called them, to sulk in my misery and what was sure to be my eminent demise. I have the undrunk bottle of champagne next to me. Along with the box of chocolates, and a bottle of scotch that I got out and am now drinking like it’s going out of style.

“The King’s going to kill me,” I said, “he’s going to behead me, like I’m Marie Antoinette.”

“You’re not pretty enough to be Marie Antoinette,” said Gwyneth, “besides, he can’t kill you. You’re his only heir.”

“There’s Arwen,” I reminded them.

“The only heir that can inherit. It’s either you, or your Uncle Theodore, and everyone hates your uncle Theodore,” said Gwyneth, “he’s an asshole.”

I shared a look with her. I was surprised she was talking about him at all, given their rather sticky history. Uncle Theodore had a thing for teenage girls. Gwyneth being his favorite prey. And it was only because she had been my girlfriend for so many years that he had failed to hurt her.

If she hadn’t had my protection, I shuddered to think what would have happened.

“True,” I said, “then, he’s going to lock me in a tower until my coronation, and he’s going to feed me only bread and water.”

“Alright, let’s not get so dismal. The worst the King will do is pull you out of Hollow Hills. And send you to another boarding school to keep you away from Penelope,” said Eddie.

“Gee, thanks,” I said, “that sounds so much better.”

"He’ll get angry once it gets out to the Weekly Wales that you got caught at school shagging your girlfriend." Eddie grinned wickedly. "But then the Queen mother will start making wedding invitations."

“We didn’t shag Eddie,” I insisted, “we were sleeping. It was completely innocent. The headmasters overreacting, and he shouldn’t have punished Penelope. It was my idea in the first place.”

“This could be for the best,” suggested Winnie, “go on the suspension, celebrate your birthday. Cool off. Then come back and see if you still feel the same. You did get caught up in this awfully fast.”

“I thought you were team capen,” I said, shooting her a sharp look.

“I am,” she said, “but you know this isn’t going to be the same fallout for her as it is for you. I’ve already heard some of the things that the girls are saying, and it’s worse than what they’re saying about me.”

I narrowed my gaze. “People say bad things about you?”

She shrugged. “I’m your uncle’s bastard, Cadoc. He also refuses to claim me. It’s been this way my whole life.”

Prince Theodore Bane, the second son of the Bane family, had been trying to steal my crown my entire life. I had no doubt that he would try to use this incident with Penelope against me. Another way to show my father that I was incompetent.

I wouldn’t let him do that. I wouldn’t let him use Pen to point and say, he isn’t fit to rule. Especially when she was the only thing that made me want to rule in the first place. When I looked at her, I wanted to be a good Prince. A good King. I wanted to create the best world possible for her.

I had never cared about that. Not until her. “She’s the only reason I care about being King in the first place. I won’t have them wreck that.”

“So, you’re going to have to prove to Uncle Ashford that she’s changed you. Otherwise, you know he won’t want you anywhere near her. Remember what happened with Olivia?” Winnie reminded me.

I winced. Olivia had been a mess. She had gotten it into her head that she was going to be Queen. Because I slept with her, and my family had ended up having to pay her off to leave me the hell alone. Worse, Jasper had had to watch the whole thing. But Pen was different. Pen was everything I wanted.

“Fine,” I said, “fine. I’ll talk to my old man, see if I can get him to understand. If I can’t, I’ll get my Mother to.”

“There’s the Little Prince I know and love,” said Gwyneth, “you can do this. Show your family you are serious about her.”

“But that won’t matter if she doesn’t want me, Gwyn,” I said, “I should go to Hay-on-the-wye. I should stay with Apollo, and Rose, and I should win her back.”

“No!” all three of them chorused, looking as though I had suggested that I set the room on fire.

“Jesus! I think that might be the first time several people agreed on anything. In the history of the universe,” I said, “why do you look at me with such horror when I say that? This is my romantic movie moment. Chase after the girl at the airport, all that jazz.”

“Maybe if you were Dan Humphrey, but you are not Dan Humphrey,” said Gwyneth. “If you chase after her now, it will just look like you are trying to possess her. Give her your space. Go home. Don’t have a bunch of people over for your birthday, just spend some time by yourself. Get in a good head space. Show your family that you can be mature about this situation. That Penelope Peters is the thing you want most in the world and they’ll get behind you. Otherwise, you’ve got to let her go, because she was on a path before she met you, and she deserves a chance to follow it. So, is Penelope the thing you want most in the world?”

It was a strange question, coming from my ex-girlfriend. But Gwyneth and I had always known what we were to each other. A temporary reprieve from the duties that life had tossed our way.

“Yes,” I said, “Penelope Peters is what I want most in the world.”

“Then, give her space. Get your s**t together. Show your parents you are serious about this girl. When we come back from break, then you can try winning her over again. But right now, you both need space.”

“I hate that your right,” I muttered. "Because all I want to do is follow her to her home, and make sure she doesn’t wind up with her ex-boyfriend.”

“Ah. Seamus. I looked him up on youtube. He’s actually a pretty good musician,” said Gwyneth. “Looks like a sandy haired Ed Sheeran.”

“Traitor,” I hissed.

“I was just checking out the competition,” Gwyneth said with a smile. “If I thought that he was anything to worry about, I would have told you about him. Besides, Pen told me they broke up because she…”

“No!” Winnie blurted.

I raised an eyebrow. “No what?”

Gwyneth frowned. “He’s going to find out one way or another. Might as well be now, when he’s mad anyway, and she’s not speaking to him.”

“But we promised,” Winnie reminded her.

Gwyneth rolled her eyes. “I’ve never been one for breaking promises. Anyway, she lost her virginity last summer. She caught Seamus waxing poetic on Annie, her cousin, so she got drunk, went to a pub and met someone.”

Eddie’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh shit.”

I glanced at him. “What are you freaking out about?”

“Man, you were in Hay-on-wye last summer,” Eddie reminded me.

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been going off and on to make sure the Coleum refugees are okay. What about it….” No sooner had the words fallen out of my mouth, then I realized what Eddie was freaking out about. Or who.

Pen.

Penelope Peters.

“Christ. That weekend. The last weekend before school started…That’s why she looked familiar. Why I couldn’t get her out of my goddamned head.”

“Will one of you fill us in?” Winnie asked.

“Yes, because you aren’t making any sense,” Gwyneth added.

I stood up, a renewed need to go after Penelope filling my veins. She’d always been mine, even from the beginning, I’d just been stupid and hadn’t realized she was right in front of me.

“Last summer, I went to Hay-on-wye to visit Rose and Apollo. I went to the pub, alone, because they started fighting about something. I think it had to do with his brother. I don’t know. Anyway, at the pub there was this girl, with beautiful, chestnut hair, and warm, brown eyes. She was drunk, rambling about her boyfriend being an ass. I was drunk too, and I told her, ‘it’s a shame I’m not your boyfriend, I’d f**k you right,’ and she said, blushing, ‘I’ve never been fucked.’”

“How romantic,” Winnie said with a roll of her eyes.

“No, you don’t understand,” I said, “it was Penelope. I…she left me a poem. After we slept together. Look at how she signed it. No one else would do it.”

I got up, and rummaged through my apartment, searching for it until I found a slip of paper it was written on. I stayed at The Old Black Lion when I was there in the Cromwell suite. Its stationary had a crest of a black lion on it, ready to attack on its hind legs.

In Penelope’s neat cursive, she had written:

What are moments

But brief lifetimes glimpsed

Remember my touch, my kiss

That my first moments of ecstasy

Known only to the moon,

You,

And me

Your modern Catrin

There was silence.

“Oh my god,” Gwyneth said, “you…you took her virginity. You were her first.”

“Gwyn, I’m sorry---” I started to apologize.

Gwyneth shook her head. “No, it’s not that. She regretted not getting your name. Or your number. But she felt like an asshole afterwards and she had to go break up with Seamus. You were gone by the time she got back.”

“She went back to the pub?” I said, stunned.

“Yes,” Gwyneth said, “but you’d already left.”

“I spent all day looking for her!” I groaned.

“It’s true,” Eddie said with a nod, “I was there with him. I thought he’d lost his mind. s**t…. I can’t believe that’s mystery girl from the summer. I thought you’d made her up because you were so drunk.”

“She’s real,” I said, “that girl is real, and she’s Penelope Peters.”

Winnie chuckled.

“What are you laughing at?” I asked. “How is this funny?”

“She’s going to be so pissed when she realizes you took her virginity,” said Winnie, “have fun with that one.”

“I’ll have you know; she was a willing participant in the action. She came, willingly, and my god…. I’ve f****d Pen. I’ve made love with Pen. I was Penelope Peters first.” I paused, realizing then more than ever that I wanted her.

That I needed her.

That if any other man tried to have Penelope Peters, I would have to kill him. She’d entrusted me with her body, now all I needed to do was to get her to trust me with her heart. Because like hell anyone else was going to have what was rightfully mine.

Gwyneth smirked. “Uh-oh. I know that look. You’re going to go all Kingly, aren’t you?”

“Oh, but of course my dear Lady Godfred. That’s what I was born to do.”