AnotidaMandemwa

[WSA 2024 Entry]
Everyone is playing a regal game. Everyone except Lucia (who probably should).

After her father faced accusations of trying to seize the throne from his father and king, he was exiled along with his family. They were no longer royalty, but his wife would not have it. She was friends with the queen of Vershia and used that to her advantage. Her two older daughters were the right age to marry the two princes, and she would make that happen come what may.

That became a problem when the oldest daughter was ignored by the crown prince, who formed a friendship with the youngest of the girls. There was still hope; Lucia could become the future queen. But Lucia was not groomed for this role. She did not want to live for the type of marriage she could snag. She did not want to take the man who had been planned for her sister.

But that’s the thing with plans, isn’t it? She never planned to fall in love with the man, and there she was: an unwilling participant in the regal games. Would she capture the crown? How would everything affect her relationship with her sister? Was there ever pleasing her mother?

Regal Games

Cameras went up and pointed at the car approaching the camp. The vehicle might have been unmarked and without a little cute flag mounted on the hood, but everyone somehow knew that the Prince of Vershia and his fiancée were in there. They were not wrong.

Lucia was looking out with an uncertain feeling in her chest. She knew the protocols here. She had been in a similar place before and had known her place. That was what was different. She was coming back into this life in a different role. A role she wasn't sure she could do well in. She took a deep breath, and Michael looked at her.

He resisted the urge to ask her if she was okay. She would probably say that she was. He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. She looked at him, smiled, and brought their joined hands to her lips and kissed the back of his hand. He let her rest their joined hands on her knee and rested her head on his shoulder.

What A Handsome Boy