Chapter Two #2
“It’s about the trade talks, right?” I look between my parents’ pinched expressions. “Are they not going well?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Papa answers cryptically.
“What your father means,” Mr. Henson says, “is that we’ve received a proposition from the Ledonian King and Queen that directly involves you.”
I blink at him in disbelief. “Me? What have I got to do with trade talks?” I ask. “Unless you want to trade me, that is,” I add as a joke.
My parents don’t laugh. Instead, they share a look, and that stab of worry in my chest intensifies.
Seriously, how bad can this be?
“Are they declaring war on Elkevik or something?” I ask, only half joking. This might be the 90s, but these sorts of things have happened in Europe before, let’s face it.
“War? Heaven’s no!” Mama says with a sharp laugh.
“What is it then?”
Papa says, “They’ve suggested a marriage between the Crown Prince Frederic and—” He trails off.
“And who?” I prompt.
“And you,” Mama says simply.
And just like that, I’ve joined my parents’ ranks of shock and bewilderment.
Well, shock and bewilderment and something else.
Something I can’t quite put my finger on, though if I’m honest, it feels suspiciously like…
well, it feels like excitement. It’s the same feeling I used to get whenever I cracked open that giant atlas, the notion of a world far bigger than mine suddenly opening up before me.
Could Prince Frederic be my atlas?
My eyes are darting between my parents and the Prime Minister. “This is a joke, right? Some kind of late April Fool’s.”
“Not a joke, ma’am,” Mr. Henson says in his monotone.
I twist my mouth. “Prince Frederic wants to marry me?” My mind races, trying to understand how trade talks with Ledonia could have turned into marriage, my marriage in particular.
“That’s what the King and Queen are proposing, sweetheart,” Mama confirms. “For you to marry the Crown Prince and live in Ledonia.”
I sit back in my seat, exhaling a breath.
My mind flits back to the first time I met the Prince, when I was about eight or nine.
My family had gone on one of those European palace visits, this time to visit Malveaux and Ledonia.
Frederic must have been about thirteen, and he had absolutely zero interest in engaging with me.
He made it abundantly clear that to him, I was just some silly child.
He wanted to be with the grown-ups, talking about serious grown-up things.
I couldn’t have cared less about that. I was a kid. I wanted to have fun.
But I do remember him having this kind of presence. A gravitas, I suppose, like he was meant for great things. He might not have cared one jot about me, but he certainly made a lasting impression.
That was the first time we’d met, and I’ll admit, I’ve had a thing for him ever since. Not a big I can’t stop thinking about him, kind of a thing. More of a small crush, I suppose.
No one could blame me. He was older, taller, becoming a young man. I was a child whose mind was filled with fairy tales of handsome princes in far off lands.
And he is pretty dang hot.
The second time was only last week, when he came to Elkevik to discuss trade and we visited the children’s hospital. He was formal, uncomfortable, as stiff as a flagpole. Perfect posture, perfect hair, perfect dark eyes. Yes, he’s handsome, and yes I have a crush on him. But marry him?
That’s a whole different ballpark.
From what I can tell, the man is almost entirely devoid of personality. In fact, he’s boring. There, I’ve said it. Prince Frederic is really, really boring.
Why would someone like him, a handsome prince with his choice of any woman in Europe, want to marry a minor princess from a tiny island in the middle of the freezing North Sea?
“Why does he want to marry me?” I ask.
Papa clears his throat, exchanging another glance with my mother. “It’s not a love match they’re proposing, sweetheart. It would be an arranged marriage that mutually benefits our countries.
To my surprise, my chest deflates. Of course they’re suggesting an arranged marriage. It couldn’t be anything else. Prince Frederic doesn’t love me. I barely think he even likes me.
“Well, obviously,” I say. “I’m pretty certain Prince Frederic doesn’t wake up every morning pining for the Elkevikian girl who tells him jokes about farmyard animals.”
In fact, I doubt he thinks about me at all.
Mama smiles. “I’m sure he thinks you’re quite charming, sweetheart. But he is rather serious, I do agree with you. The media says he’s like a marble statue. Poor fellow. He’s got a beating heart as much as any of us.”
“The fact I made him smile when he was here is one of my life’s greatest accomplishments,” I say, and every person in the room cracks a smile, even the Prime Minister, who seems to specialize in looking grim and serious, like it’s in some manual on how to be Prime Minister.
“What I don’t understand, though, is why he wants to get married at all,” I say.
“I can answer that for you,” Mr. Henson begins.
“The situation in Ledonia is rather difficult for the royal family at the moment. They’re facing the possibility of a referendum regarding their very existence.
The calls are getting louder and louder, and Prince Frederic is regarded as somewhat lacking in character. ”
Which is another way to say boring.
“And marrying me will fix that?” I ask.
“A big royal wedding between the Crown Prince and a beautiful princess could ignite a new sense of fervour and passion for the royal family within the country,” he explains.
A laugh bubbles up before I can stop it. “So they want to marry him off to do what exactly? Make him seem more like an actual human being rather than a handsome marble statue?”
Mama reaches for my hand. “They want him to marry you because you’re the complete opposite of him. You’re positive and happy and full of the joys of life, sweetheart. Whereas he’s—” She breaks off, but we all know where she is going.
“Dull,” I fill in for her.
“Darling, you can’t say that,” Mama reprimands, though she does it with a smile that tells me she agrees.
Everyone in this room knows Prince Frederic has as much personality as a rock.
“It was all because of that photograph of you that appeared in the paper last week,” the Prime Minister explains. “You were at the children’s hospital, dancing, and Prince Frederic was smiling at you.”
“I remember.” The prince had looked at me in total bemusement, but I didn’t care one jot. The children needed cheering up, and that was what we were there to do. I would go to any lengths to make that happen, and on that particular day, dancing was that length.
“So far everything you’ve said is about us helping Ledonia. What about us? How will Astrid marrying Prince Frederic help Elkevik?” Mama asks.
“As you’re aware, we’re currently drowning in debt.
We were relying on the energy deal, and when it fell through, it left us in a somewhat precarious financial position,” Mr. Henson explains.
“If the marriage does go ahead, they are offering to buy our wool, which may open up other markets for us in Europe and the world.”
“So, you see darling, this marriage could be a lifeline for Elkevik,” Papa says. “A marriage with a wealthy country like Ledonia would help us so much.”
“So I’m being sold?” I ask, my eyes so wide they’re in fear of rolling right out of my head.
“Of course not, sweetheart! We would never do anything like that,” Papa reassures me. “It would be your decision if you marry him. Yours and yours alone.”
My chest tightens. The King and Queen of Ledonia want me to be gift wrapped in a wedding dress to make their son look like an actual person. I’m a PR solution, the human equivalent of a golden retriever puppy brought in to cheer up a grumpy child.
But then I think of our struggling economy, and how heavily it’s weighed on my parents. How the failure of the energy deal has left our financial outlook so uncertain. How I know it will mean inevitable cuts to education, healthcare, and social security for our people.
It seems crazy to think the simple act of me marrying the prince could end all of that. That I could be the solution that could help our country.
“It would be a business arrangement. Is that what you’re saying?” I ask.
“Yes. But who knows, sweetheart? You might fall in love with the prince. He is very dashing,” Mama says, probably more in hope than anything else.
I look down at my hands, resting in my lap. “What if I say no?” I ask quietly.
“Then that would be the end of it and we would find another way forward,” Papa says.
I rise to my feet, too much anxiety and uncertainty coursing through me to sit still.
I pace the room, stopping at the window overlooking the city.
This is my country, the place I've always lived. This is the home I’ve fully expected to remain in for my entire life, married someday, with children of my own.
When was the last time anything truly unexpected happened to me? Something exciting, something different?
Never, a voice in the back of my head whispers. Nothing exciting ever happens in my world.
Not until now.
I turn back to face them. “Can I think about it?”
“Sweetheart, you’re considering this?” Mama asks, and I think I detect a note of hope in her voice, but I could be wrong.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I have any particular connection to Frederic or anything, but helping my country? Helping you? I like that idea.” I pause. “And if I’m perfectly honest, it all sounds like quite an adventure as well.”
What girl doesn’t want to marry a handsome prince and one day become queen of a beautiful country on the Mediterranean?
Even if that prince is as interesting as watching paint dry in a particularly dull shade of beige.
Mama smiles softly. “It would be an adventure, Asti, only I would worry about you too.”
“I know.”
“There’s no hurry,” Papa says. “They’ve given us time to respond. Take all the time you need, my darling.”
Time. Time to decide whether to marry a man I barely know for the good of both our countries.
That evening, I lie in my bed and stare at the ceiling, moonlight through the lace curtains casting delicate patterns across the room.
This whole idea is nothing short of bonkers. It’s like a fairy tale, a story told to entertain children.
Prince Frederic could be my husband.
Prince Frederic.
The man who can barely crack a smile. The man who refuses to laugh at my jokes. The man devoid of not only a funny bone, but seemingly a personality too.
Of course I should be horrified by the idea.
But the more I think about it, the more it begins to make sense.
Here in Elkevik, I’m like a bird in a gilded cage, one that’s just slightly too small.
Elkevik is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, and the people are incredible. This country will always be my home.
But there’s a part of me that wants… more. More of the world beyond our mountains. More than this small country can offer me.
I sit bolt upright in bed and hug my knees, excitement and nerves bubbling like boiling water in my stomach.
If what Ledonia needs is warmth to make their prince less of a stiff, uptight puppet, I can do that. I can bring some life to that man. I might even teach him how to live.
There’s got to be more behind that handsome facade.
I’ve spent my entire life making people smile, making people feel good about themselves. I’ve done it hundreds, if not thousands of times already.
What’s one more man?
I lean back on my pillows and bite my lip. Perhaps it’s time to crack open that atlas.
Marry Crown Prince Frederic of Ledonia?
Challenge accepted.