Cross My Heart

Chapter 4

"How long?" Noah and I looked at each other. Confusion plastered all over my face. "How long have you two been sneaking around?" I felt all the color drain. He knew.

"Daddy.....I love him." My father held his hand up telling me to stop talking. I flopped down into the chair that he had in front of his desk. Noah followed suit and took the chair beside me. My father stood behind his desk, his hands were clenched into fist now.

"Selene, Princess, you are my world. You are the future queen. You of all people should know how to behave!" He slammed his fist down onto his desk making both of us jump. "So I'm going to ask again, how long?"

I stiffened up in my seat. There was no getting out of this one. I could lie and say it was a misunderstanding, but seeing as he had brought us both here, he had been watching the whole time. Lying to him would prove to be useless at this point. 

"Only a couple of months now. But we haven't done anything serious!" My father shifted his gaze between me and Noah. I felt a lump start to form in my throat.

"Anything serious? You realize that this has been the scandal of the year!?" He shouted angrily. "A princess and her guard? I just...I wish that you would have come to me first." His demeanor changed. The anger that was burning in his eyes had turned into confusion and hurt. He sat down behind the desk before placing his face in his hands.

"I didn't mean for this to happen Sire." Noah spoke up.

"Didn't mean for this to happen? Noah, I have known you since you since you were just a baby. I've seen the way you look at her. You have placed your life on the line for her a few times." He paused and looked up to Noah. "If it were under different circumstances, I would have given you my blessing. But this..." He waved his hand around in front of him, "this is unacceptable. I was the last to know about this. I had to hear about it from overhearing the kitchen staff gossiping about it!"

"Daddy, please!" Panic had started to overcome me. I was scared to lose him. Noah had been my best friend for years and now I was at risk for losing him because I couldn't control my urges to be with him. I was the one who pursued him, not the other way around. 

He sighed. Never in my life have I felt this way. Something inside me felt like it was breaking when he looked at me like that. 

"Listen to the words I am about to say very carefully. Both of you." He motioned for Noah and I to come closer to his desk and let out a heavy sigh.

"What's wrong?"

"This whole issue is what's wrong. But..." he trailed off before continuing "Your mother and I had our scandalous love story as well. You see, she was a servant in the castle. After the plague took most of her family, he took her and her mother in under the circumstances they worked for him. I was away when he decided this so I had no idea what had happened until I returned." I gasped and scooted closer to him. I had never heard the story of how my parents had met but I always wondered. Mother never acted as a true royal would unless she was in meetings with other royal folk.

"Once I came back home, it took a few weeks for me to see her. She had peaked my interest the first time I laid eyes upon her." A smile graced his face as he reminisced over the memory.

"Then what happened?" He chuckled before continuing.

"After my curse, they had locked me in a room because of my tendencies. One night, she was cleaning the room before I was to be placed in there. This was a night I'll never forget." He paused and looked over at us. "The changes had started happening as soon as the full moon rose. This was one of the nights where I was almost too late getting to the cell. The guards hadn't realized anyone else was in there before they locked the cell." He stopped again. I watched as the tears began to fill his eyes. Mother had only been gone mere days now. I could only imagine what it was like to have to talk about this so soon.

"The transformation started almost as soon as the guards closed the door. I didn't realize she was there until I heard her scream in terror. By that time it was too late to get her out of the cell. I felt my heart break because I knew my beast would maul her to death in mere seconds. Once I blacked out and the beast took over, I had lost all hope for her."

His story had me on the edge of my seat hanging onto every word like it was his last. Someone should turn this into a book. I'm sure future wolves would love to hear about how this all started. I figured I'd bring that up to him later. I could see how much it was killing him just to mention this to me now. 

"When the morning light made its way through my cell window, I was shocked to see her laying on my chest, completely unharmed. When she explained to me what happened, I knew she was the one for me." He smiled as he twisted the ring around his finger.

"So how did you get the approval from grandpa?" He chuckled and looked up at me.

"That's a story for a different day. Right now, you have duties to attend to. Noah and I have some things to discuss." I nodded before standing and walking out the doors. I had almost forgotten about my coronation training. I could see my teachers face now. That old hag had always hated me and would use any excuse she could find to make me miserable during training.

I quickly rushed down the hallway and into the throne room. She gave me a side eye glance and huffed.

"You cut it close today princess." She said without another word. I nodded and proceeded to walk to my place in front of the throne. I stood there in the center of the stage. She placed the royal scepter in my left hand and the orb in my right hand. I held them in front of me as I recited my duties to the kingdom.

Each time I would mess up or mispronounce a word, she would smack my knuckles with her cane. 

"Again from the top." I sighed and started over. "As future queen, you should be reciting this from the heart. Make your people feel like you mean your vows towards them." She stood back and waited for me to begin again.

After what felt like forever, she was satisfied with my recital and dismissed me for the day.

"As a reminder, your ceremony is a week from today. I want you to be here everyday. We have to make sure this is perfect as the whole kingdom will be here." I nodded and darted out the door. Today had been chaotic to say the least.

I made my way through the corridors and out to the garden. This had always been my favorite place. My mother would bring me here as a girl and we would have a picnic every Saturday. She would pack small things such as sandwiches and finger cakes for us to munch on while we just laughed and played. 

Noah was always with us. Along with my mothers guard of course since he was far too young to chase anything away by himself. But that didn't stop him from trying to scare them away with his training sword. I couldn't help but giggle at the memories as I sat on a bench in front of the giant fountain that was in the center of the garden. 

The fountain had been a gift from my fathers father to my fathers mother. My mother would tell me the stories of how he had made my grandmother so furious, that she refused to speak to him for weeks! So in order to make up for his stupidity, he had a fountain built just for her. He knew how much she loved the ones that were in her home town, so he had this one designed especially for her. No expense was spared when it came to this.

It was built mostly out of marble. The pond portion housed Koi fish and lilies, which was my grandmothers name so he made sure to have them scattered everywhere in the fountain. The statues in the center were of her mother holding her hand as a child. A small line of ducks were following behind as she left a bread trail following behind them. I giggled at the image of a young girl leading a trail of ducks behind her. I could only imagine that she was using the bread that was meant to go with supper that night to lead them along.

Around the fountain were 4 stone benches. One on each side of the structure. I took a seat on the one facing the castle.

What if I'm not cut out to be queen? I'm too young to rule over the entire kingdom!

"Now do you think that's how your mother would have handled this situation?" A deep voice came from behind me. I turned quickly to face someone I thought was dead.

"Uncle Dante?" My voice was caught in my throat.

"In the flesh." He nodded and gave me a devilish grin.

"I- I thought y-you were...."I trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Dead? Why my dear niece why would you think that?!" He let out a laugh before he came to sit beside me. 

The words were stuck. I couldn't think straight. The man I had mourned over just months ago, was sitting right in front of me. He took my hand and lifted it to his lips before placing a light kiss on my knuckles.

"I-I saw what happened. How- I mean why?"

He let go of my hand and sighed.

"It's a long story. One that will unfold soon." With that, he got up and walked into the castle. I sat there, still in a daze. My dead uncle had come back to life? How? What was going on?

I shook my head and gathered myself together. A future queen must be ready for anything. I sighed and walked around the garden a little longer. 

"There you are! I've been looking for you for a half hour now princess!" I turned to look at the servant. Her cheeks were flustered and auburn hair was running wild all over the place. 

"I beg your pardon?" She huffed and placed her hands on her hips.

"Your majesty has been looking all over for you. Your lessons ended about an hour and a half ago and you were nowhere to be found. Now come along dear." She tugged on my hand and pulled me out towards the lake.

As we got closer, I noticed my father was standing on the bank with a smile on his face. The servant girl let go of my hand and bowed to me before returning to the castle. I watched her silhouette disappear into the horizon.  

"What's going on?" I asked as I stepped closer to my father. He motioned for me to come closer to him. As I did a string quartet began to play off in the distance. He held my hands in front of him and just smiled.

He kissed the backs of my hands before turning me around to face Noah. I hadn't heard him come up behind me.

He smiled at me before kneeling down on one knee and pulled out a small box.

"Selene, I have loved you since the day I had first laid eyes on you. Your father and I have spoken on this before and he has given me his blessing to do this." He opened the small box and revealed a diamond ring. 

"Selene, I have wanted to do this for a very long time now. Will you make me the happiest man alive and become my wife?" Both of my hands flew to cover my mouth. I was in shock. How could this happen?

"I will! Yes." I squealed out. He jumped up from the ground and picked me up, spinning me around before placing a kiss on my lips. He took my left hand and placed the ring on my finger. I held it up to admire it before gasping again.

"Is this...." He nodded.

"That's why I had to stay back and speak with your father." He smiled at me again before placing another kiss on my lips. I had my mothers ring and the love of my life by my side. I couldn't be happier.