Beauty and the Damned

13 | A Deal With the Crown Prince

The dining hall was quiet. The only sound they could hear was the clang of the fork and knives as they ate their breakfast and they could notice the secret glances they throw towards each other. The atmosphere was filled with a lot of tension and she doesn't know what to do with it. Should she say something? Should she start the conversation? What would she say? 

A week had passed ever since that incident in his chamber and they haven't talked about it since. There wasn’t a day that she hasn’t thought about it and having meals with him in the dining hall was not helping as she would often catch him looking at her and then chuckles when she catches him. What the hell is his problem?  

Those knowing glances and chuckles went on for a week and today wasn’t an exception.

Delilah left them a while ago. Perhaps Delilah had noticed the tension between them. Perhaps Delilah had seen the stolen glances they throw off each other. Or perhaps Delilah heard her moans when Rowan was thrusting his hips onto her that day. Or maybe Delilah had seen the evidence of her arousal every time she wakes up from another dream about him. Delilah is smart. She must have seen and heard it all and she is keeping her distance and is not talking about it. She figured she should be thankful for it. 

Delilah knows what she needed to do to break the curse. Perhaps it was only another reason why she kept her distance. It's to give her space to do what she needed to do. And she has been helping her in her own way. Delilah has been putting the books in her chamber. Ariadne once threw all those books away because once upon a time, she scoured all the books looking for a way to lift the curse but found none. So she threw all the books out of anger but thankfully, Delilah has taken good care of it.

“Are we going to keep pretending that nothing happened between us? Or is this one of your games, Your Majesty?”

She looked up from her plate. Rowan’s words have enough bite in them that she knew he isn’t happy about something. Ariadne might know what is it that he is not happy about and she isn’t planning on talking about it. 

But she only gave him a quick glance before she continued her meal.

“What is there to talk about?” she said as she chewed on the meat. She did not dare meet his eyes again and just remained focused on her plate.

She saw him put his knife and fork down and wiped his mouth with the table napkin. He then rested his elbows on the table and his chin on top of his folded hands. She couldn’t help but watch him from where she is seated. And when she did, he was already staring at her.

“Of course,” he said and stood up. He looked like he was about to say something more but he did not say anything else and stood up. Before she could even call him, he was out of the dining hall.

She lost her appetite and dropped her knife to the table. She closed her eyes as she leaned on her seat. The reason why she isn’t talking about it is that she has never felt that way before. Sure, she had a fair share of men and the pleasures they were able to give but with Rowan…everything felt different. She has no idea what it was or if it was even normal. Was it normal? What if it would mess everything up?

But she isn’t going to let things between her and Rowan get sour. She has to work hard to keep him. So she stood and followed him out of the dining. She roamed around the castle only to find him in the gardens, in the gazebo. He was sitting on one of the chairs inside the gazebo while drinking tea. She saw him looked at her over the rim of his cup and she swallowed hard. She never got used to that penetrating hazel gaze. She ignored it and started walking towards the gazebo where he was sitting.

“This was built a year after my mother and my father got married,” she started the moment she reached the gazebo. She did not take a seat but just stood in front of him. The lake in front of them was calm and quiet. She is not even sure why she's suddenly talking about it. "It's my favorite place in this Palace and I am sure you can tell why." 

“Let me guess,” Rowan said, placing his cup down. “This is the place where your father asked your mother’s hand for marriage?”

She looked at him and he was also looking at her. Ariadne nodded and faced the lake again. “Indeed. Both of them were in love,” she said.

Rowan didn’t say anything so she faced him. She was wondering about something for a long time.

“Why did you decide to help me?” she asked. Rowan was looking at her as if trying to form his answer.

Then he said, “I did not decide to help you.”

She furrowed her brows as she looked at him. He shrugged. “I had no choice. When you placed me in the chamber, I escaped but I decided to go back as I realized my siblings want to kill me so they could get the throne. When I came back, I saw the villagers making a commotion in the throne room and I did what I needed to do.”

“What?”

“The reason why I was here in the first place was that I ran away. My siblings plotted to kill me. They already killed my closest brother and my father and now I am next.”

“But you’re the Crown Prince,” she said, unable to understand what he was trying to say.

“When they killed my father they planned to kill me. But my closest brother told me about it and gave me time to run,” he said and she was not imagining the sadness he saw in his eyes. “They want to have the throne and even if I was absent, they wouldn’t be able to take it unless they kill me so here I am.”

“But don’t you have guards—people who will protect you?”

Rowan just sighed. “Their minds have already been poisoned. Even the council believes I am not suitable to be the crowned King.”

She sat in front of him and she could see him gazing at the calm lake. “Do you want to become King?” she asked. Ariadne doesn’t know why asked that and why she plans on talking to him about it. What does she know? She was also Queen and she did not do a great job at it. Even until now, she needed somebody else’s help to give hope to her people.

Rowan was silent for a while as if contemplating what to say. But then he looked at her and said, “Yes.” He played his fingers on the handle of the cup. “I love my people and I swore to protect them in my father’s deathbed. I was given the responsibility ever since I was born and I basically grew up learning how to be a King. Of course, I want it. That has been the only goal I have in my mind.”

He looked at her and she did too. “That is the reason why I am here and not there,” he leaned onto the table without breaking his gaze on her. “I want to form an alliance with you, Ariadne.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. Rowan raised both his arms and said, “My intentions are pure and I meant it when I said I will help your people. I meant it when I decided to become their ray of hope. I want to have an alliance with you so I could get my throne. It is good for the both of us.”

She took the teapot and poured herself some tea. “Your siblings want you dead and you come here to hide. Need I remind you that you just exposed yourself to my people and word will spread of your presence here. The Cern army will come marching in my lands, trying to kill you and where there is bloodshed, there is also collateral damage. Do you think I will let that happen?” Her voice came out cold and brutal. Something she doesn’t remember she still has.

But Rowan just sighed and looked at her. “You really don’t know the situation of your Kingdom,” he said. She looked at him over the rim of her cup.

“What do you mean?”

“When was the last time you actually came out of this castle?” Rowan asked and she was silent as she couldn’t remember the last time she went out. Ever since she was cursed, it has been Delilah that has been going in and out of the castle, to buy some food—

She paused. Where is Delilah getting food if the villagers are starving?

Ariadne looked at Rowan and the man seem to have read the question in his mind.

“Your Kingdom is basically removed from the map, Ariadne. The Kingdom Of Vale does not exist anymore. Nobody knows what happened. I don’t know what happened but my brother and I was planning to have this land a part of Cern and that’s when I discovered there are still people living here and the Queen is…not dead.”

She didn’t know that. Ariadne had no idea and it felt terrible. She was presumed dead? The Kingdom of Vale lost in the map? What is going on?

“This castle and the small village nearby are the only ones left here. And you are all isolated. Your people couldn’t go out of this forest simply because the place where they live is nonexistent and the neighboring towns don’t want to take them.”

She took a deep breath. It's part of the curse. The witch had not only cursed her but cursed her whole Kingdom too. “And since my people can’t go to other places, they won’t be able to tell others that you are here?”

Rowan nodded and she slumped on her seat. Trying to digest her lack of knowledge.

“And because of me and my brother’s plan to make this land part of Cern, we have been giving supplies here for the people to buy and trade.”

Ariadne looked at him, unable to believe what he just said. “This land is starving—“

She held up a hand. “So that means the food that I was eating all those years was from you?”

Rowan sighed. “Technically, yes. We have been delivering goods here for the people and since I am not there anymore and my brother is dead...” he trailed but she understood what she was trying to say. 

She closed her eyes. Ariadne had been so consumed by her curse that she did not think of her Kingdom at all even as it went to the slumps. Why did she not think that the witch did not only curse her but the whole Kingdom too? The Ariadne that was popular back then was forgotten together with her Kingdom. She knew her Kingdom was going to the slumps sooner or later but she didn’t care. Because she was too immersed in her own dilemma, she forgot she is Queen and she left her people to be isolated. She’s the worst and she is feeling shameful about it.

But Rowan cleared his throat and said, “For what it’s worth, you’re trying now. That’s important.”

She doesn’t really know if she was trying right now. But then Rowan offered a deal, something that both of them can benefit from. Something that could save both their kingdoms. She could still change it, change the fate of her people and since she’s already given the solution, she might as well use it.

“What happens when we get married?” she asked and Rowan was clearly taken aback by her question but she could tell he was already expecting it.

“When we get married, I will be the one sure to take the throne whether they like it or not. When I become King, I will provide for this land until everything’s fine.”

It sounded like a good deal. Something that is good for both of them. But she paused as she realized she has another problem.

If they are going to join forces, she has to tell him the curse. Perhaps he could help with it too. If they’re going to work together, he had to know. But she has to know first whether or not Rowan accepts her first.

So she stood in front of him and extended his hand. “But before we decide with that,” she stepped closer into him. “I have something to show you. Come to my chambers tomorrow night.”

Rowan raised his brows at what she said but she shook her head. “I will show you the curse that haunted me for the past several years.”

“Your curse?” he asked.

She nodded. “Since you want us to work together, I think it is important that you know who I am and what I was made to become. Then it will be up to you if you still want to work with me or not. But you have to promise, Rowan,” she rasped, “that if you decide not to work with me, you have to take my people into your kingdom. Take Delilah too.”

“Why would I not work with you? I told you I need you—“

“Tell me your final decision after tomorrow night, Prince Rowan,” she said and without waiting for his response, she walked away from the gazebo and into her chamber.

* * *