Suitors and Secrets

"My father never mentioned such a thing, he never uttered a word about his own personal history with Arcoi, I didn't even know he knew any of the Arcoi personally." She looked up to him, taking his face into her hands. "Please believe me when I say I didn't know, but I will find out what the truth is."

"I'm sure you will." his voice hoarse, pushing her hands away, and pulling her tightly against him. "But until then I can't stop myself from hating you, or wanting you."

Isabella wanted to fight him, argue with him, but she understood how he felt, because as much as she couldn't stand to be around him, she felt herself wanting to be with him. Alexander pressed his hand to the back of her neck until their lips met forcefully. They leaned back onto the tree as he pinned her down, his lips hungry for her. Her breath caught as she felt his other hand travel over her hip and torso, his lips continued down her neck. She found her hands grasping at his neck wanting more, he pulled at her hair making her moan softly.

A cracking of a twig had them both fall silent, pulling away from each other almost instantly. A few more moments passed before either of them spoke or moved.

"Isabella, I don't think my mother was lying about what she said." his voice still hoarse ," but I hope that it is a lie, because I could never be with you if it were true."

"I will let you know what the truth is when I find out." she said between breaths. "Don't ever do this again, especially if you don't intend on being with me."

"There's just one more thing I wanted to ask you." He pulled out this small stone dog she had carved for him. "Is it true your father calls the Arcoi dogs."

She paused, knowing that her answer would upset him. "Yes, but-."

He cut her off. He crushed the stone dog in the palm of his hand before throwing it to the ground.

"You don't understand!" she cried, tears pouring over her cheeks. "I made that, the dog was a symbol for friendship! I didn't know he said that until after I had made it! I swear that is the truth!"

"Let's make a deal," He clenched his jaw. "Let's promise to never lie to each other?"

"I have only ever been honest with you!" Her tears pouring were down her cheeks.

"You were being honest about the dog?" he spat harshly.

"Yes." she barely whispered.

She ran back to her room, she ran as fast as her legs could let her run. She grappled with the door until she got into her room, locking it as she got inside. She climbed into her bed still panting from running, she couldn't understand why she allowed him to upset her so much. She wished she could stay away from him, but something about him kept pulling her back to him. She tossed and turned restless for the rest of the evening, until a knock at the door finally came to announce the start of a new day.

"You look like you had a rough night." Sophia placed a warm cup of tea in front of Isabella.

"You can say that again, sleep will have to wait until we get back home." Isabella groaned sleepily. "I think I need something stronger than tea to keep me going today."

"How about some chocolate!" Sophia clapped her hands together, eyes shining brightly.

"No! Some coffee." Isabella rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"Isabella?" her father walked into the kitchen. "Are you sick? You look like you're at death's door."

"I couldn't fall asleep last night, I think I was overwhelmed from last night's events." she said with the back of her neck prickling as she told a half truth.

"You can rest once we get to the palace, everything is ready, I just came to get you so we can leave." He placed his hand on her back, gently nudging her out of her chair.

"Will they be seeing us off?" She asked her father as they strode to the carriage.

"No, I don't expect that, considering our conversation last night." He grunted, despite being somewhat happy about the turn of events.

They left the Arcoi Palace, Isabella wondered if this would be the first and last time that she would lay eyes on this palace. The hooves of the horses clucked against the stone road that led back to her home. She sighed, the journey was long, despite the relatively fast paced that they moved. Isabella was utterly exhausted, she watched as the birds flew in the sky from her window. Leaning against her father she wondered where the time went that she was no longer her father's little girl, but rather a full grown woman desired by men.

"Princess..." Sophia gently nudged Isabella awake. "We're in Verdesaint, we are almost home."

"Sorry, I must have dozed off." Isabella stifled a yawn.

"You can't sleep all day, otherwise you will be awake again all night." Sophia lectured. "Let's take a walk around the palace gardens when we get home, okay?"

"That sound's good, I could do with a stretch of the legs too." Her father chuckled softly.

Several more hours had passed before they finally made it to the Palace, the crescent moon hanging lowly in the sky. The girls stretched and yawned as they kept their word of taking a stroll around the gardens before heading to their chambers.

"A lot has happened since that ball. Did you ever give the little dog statue to the Prince?" Sophia asked as she strode alongside her friend.

"Yes, at first he seemed to like it, but in the end he broke into little pieces, I don't expect us to have a friendship after all." Isabella sighed softly, rubbing her eyes.

"How rude." Sophia scoffed. "That prince needs to learn some manners."

"It's not all his fault, there seems to be more to the story than what I thought." Isabella glanced at the palace where her father's chambers would be found. "And I intend on finding out what exactly happened."

The two girls wandered back to the palace and to their chambers, Isabella was especially thankful to sleep in her own bed. The familiarity of the soft sheets and firm pillows offered her peace and calmness. She looked over her room, everything neatly in its place, a few books on her bookshelf, a desk for her to work at, comfy sofas to lounge in if she wanted to. She sighed happily cuddling with her hoard of pillows, snuggled into a nest of blankets. It wasn't a chilly evening she thought, but she could not resist the comfort of her wooly blankets tangled around her body.

Isabella awoke to birds chirping at her window, the sun still touching the landscape. She washed up and got ready for a new day, where she planned on confronting her father to find out the truth about his past. She barely got through her door before she was summoned for breakfast with her parents. She rushed for the dining hall, excitement grew as she anticipated her favorite breakfast variety, which she often got when she was summoned for breakfast. Before entering the dining hall she stopped to compose herself, and entered gracefully as expected from all that had a hand in raising her.

"Good morning, mother and father." Isabella greeted as she sat in her usual spot opposite her mother.

"Good morning Isabella." They greeted her in unison, before giving each other a quick glance.

"Isabella, we asked you here because we have some things to discuss with you." Her mother chimed.

The breakfast spread was laid out on the table before her parents continued. Delicious smells wafted in the air, from crispy bacon to toasted pancakes. Freshly squeezed orange juice was served this morning.

"What is it you want to discuss?" Isabella said between bites of her favorite pancakes.

"Well after I received word from your father about Arcoi's proposing marriage, I decided to take it upon myself to start searching for worthy suitors. " Her mother paused, sipping some orange juice. "If the Arcoi are interested in marrying you the best way I think we should handle this is have you find an appropriate suitor and once you are married we can put this nonsense behind us."

"I understand, I suspected that I would marry in the coming years, did you have any suitors in mind?" Isabella asked, placing her fork into her plate unable to eat further.

"I have several in mind, I will still discuss them with your father again before we send out invitations." She said, dabbing her mouth gently. "As per our traditions, we would invite roughly three suitors, so that you could spend time with each and decide who is the best fit."

"Three suitors? Really? I thought you were betrothed at birth or you would decide the suitor and that would be the end." Isabella wondered out loud.

"Tradition changed after your father became King, and it is never that simple in those cases either." Her mother pointed out. "Oftentimes those betrothed were mistreated or ran away, we decided it would be best to give a limited amount of choices based on our own standards and then you would decide."

"Is that what happened to you?" she asked her father.

Her direct question had her father choking on his bacon for a moment. He coughed before drinking some water to soothe his throat.