Royals and Rebels 1: The Queen of Coleum

Chapter 8

Eight

When I woke, I found myself in a shirt I didn’t recognize. It was a t-shirt for some kind of soccer team, or football as they called it. I was also in bed sheets that weren’t mine, in a bedroom that wasn’t mine. Sitting in the nearby desk chair, using his head as his pillow, was the last person I expected to see. Prince Apollo himself. The Sun had made his first appearance into my social life.

“Oh my god!” I shrieked.

He jolted awake, a wide, paranoid look on his face. “What happened? Is everything okay?”

“I don’t understand,” I said, “one minute I was at the club, now I’m here and…where are my clothes? We didn’t…did we…”

He laughed. “Trust me, my little sunbeam, if we had, you’d know. Because you’d remember.”

“Thank god!”

He looked a bit put out by that, but he said nothing. Only stared at me.

“Why am I here?”

“Because I received a very, very worried call from my sister who said she had lost you in a night club. When I got there, I found Gable Love with his hands all over you. Naturally, I diffused that situation, and took you out of there.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What, exactly, do you mean by diffuse?”

“I punched him,” he said simply, “you’re welcome.”

“You can’t just go around punching people!” I said.

“I can when they’re endangering my fiancé,” he said, “which it seems you’ve forgotten that you are. What were you thinking, dancing with him?”

I shook my head, trying to ignore the pounding that came as I did. “I wasn’t dancing with him, not originally. Originally I was dancing with Roland Cartwright.”

“Oh,” said Apollo, “well, him I wouldn’t worry about. How’d the switch happen?”

“I don’t know. One minute, I didn’t have a drink in my hand. The next minute, I did. The rest of it was a blur. The last thing I remember is the sound of what must have been your fist hitting Gable’s face.”

He stood from where he sat, walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “I realize what we’re asking is a lot from you. That you’re jumping into a world that you don’t know, that you’ve never even been exposed to. But I need you to lay low. I can’t have you putting yourself in dangerous situations like that. The world you’re coming into, it’s not like the stories that you were told as a child. It’s about power, and people will do anything to get a taste of it. Even if it means taking a bit of you to get to me.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, “I just wanted to do something normal. Something fun.”

He reached over and squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry, Rose. Normal went out the window the moment that I put that necklace on your neck.”

“Why did you do that?” I asked. “Was it just because you wanted to make sure that Orion couldn’t make a move on me?”

“Partly,” he admitted, “but if I am being completely honest, I’ve been fascinated with you since my mother showed me your picture in the file. I planned on making you mine long before I knew you, but the idea of my brother getting you angered me so much that all I could think of was making you mine in the loudest, boldest, gesture I could make. That was why I needed you to have my necklace, so that no one could have you before me. Or ever.”

I stared at him, shocked. “No one has ever wanted me that way before.”

“Trust me, they have, they’ve just been fools not to notice it,” said Apollo, “but it’s alright, because if someone had noticed you that would mean that I would have to fight for you. I am a particularly brutal fighter, and you wouldn’t like me then. This way, you’re all mine, without anyone trying to get in my way.”

I stroked the sun charm around my neck. “You don’t talk to me at school, and we haven’t gotten a chance to really get to know one another.”

“There hasn’t been an official announcement made yet,” he explained, “I didn’t want to arouse suspicion. But you don’t have to worry about that too much longer.”

“Why not?” I asked. “Did the palace officially release a statement about us?”

He shook his head. “No, but we sort of did.” He took out his cell phone from his pocket and pulled out an article showing a picture of him carrying me out of the night club. I was clearly unconscious and snuggled up against him.

The headline read, in big, bold, black font: PRINCE SAVES INTENDED FIANCE FROM CLUB BRAWL. He handed it to me, and I read on: A picture circling the internet is causing quite a stir amongst royal watchers. For weeks now, a young woman by the name of Rose James has been seen with Prince Apollo. Rose is an American, rooming with Princess Everly at college. Since The Welcoming Ball, she has been sporting the Prince’s promise necklace. Which, as every Coleum knows, is as good as an engagement ring. While no official statement has been released from the palace, sources closest to the Prince say the two shared a very, very intense waltz at The Welcoming Ball and everything seems to be pointing to a love match for the young royal. Only time will tell if it becomes official or not.

Rose is an art major, aged eighteen, and a freshman in college. Currently, she rooms with Princess Everly in the dorms, and the two have become fast friends. Her father was a rancher, and her Mother was an art teacher. Rose won the Royal Colleges Scholarship enabling her to cross paths with the royal family.

When asked by the Princes official press team at the palace about Miss James, the palace had this to say: Miss James and Prince Apollo shared an intense, intimate summer together as Miss James readied herself for the new school year to spend with the Princess. The Prince finds her to be a charming girl and considers her already to be a member of the royal family, which is why he gave her his promise necklace. He has every intention of keeping her safe from those that would do her harm for her connection to the royal family, as she is a person of great importance to them.

Not exactly a love declaration, but we’ll take it. Prince Apollo has been notoriously casual with his relationships, and this will mark his first, serious girlfriend. It is also noted that the Queen has also visited Miss James while she was at University, and the two have apparently hit it off during that same, summer visit the Prince became so smitten with her.

Pictures were also released earlier this week from students on campus, showing Rose and Apollo having a very intimate moment in the middle of the school cafeteria. It looks like we are shaping up to have our very own, Cinderella story here in Coleum very, very soon.

The article had an intense, grainy cell phone shot of the kiss that we had shared in the cafeteria. I was stunned by that picture. I looked as though I were melting into him. It was very romance novel cover shot.

I swallowed. “So, it’s out there. The world knows.”

“In a manner of speaking,” said Apollo, “mother thought, given the circumstances, it might be best to announce our engagement soon. She would like to take pictures at the country castle, if you’re alright with it.”

“I should be able to do that,” I said, “but I’ll have to bring my school work with me. I can’t afford to fall behind, and I’ve got papers to work on.”

“Of course,” said Apollo, “we don’t want you missing school. In fact, mother likes that you’re going after your degree, and that you’ve got cultured interests. She was also wondering if you’d be up for a night at the Opera with us. We’ve got our own, private, booth, you know.”

“I’ve never been,” I admitted, “we don’t get much in the way of Opera where I’m from.”

“That’s what will make it all the more exciting,” said Apollo, “Mother thinks it will be a good, first public outing for us, and I do too. In fact, she thought we might go to the Opera before the pictures were taken.”

“I don’t have anything to wear,” I said. The thought of going to the opera, of being officially on his arm, it all seemed very official, very overwhelming.

He squeezed my hand again. “Rose, this is your world now. You’re with me. Everything I have, it’s at your disposal. After all, what kind of Cinderella story would this be if we didn’t supply you with a dress?”

I laughed. I liked this side of him. It was different. He was more at ease. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone. It was the first time I had seen even a hint of the real him. “Okay,” I said, “okay, I’ll go.”

“Good,” he said, “although, I must confess the only thing that makes me more excited than seeing you in a dress, is the thought of taking it off of you.”

I blushed. “I…”

“Sorry, did I take it too far?”

“No,” I said, with a shake of my head, “but there’s something you should know.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“You were my first kiss, Apollo,” I told him, “and I…well…I’m a virgin.”

His eyes widened, as though I had given him the best Christmas gift that I possibly could have several months early. “Oh god, woman. You’re going to be the death of me, aren’t you?”

“Well, you’ve clearly already seen me naked,” I said, gesturing to the shirt I was in.

He shook his head. “I wasn’t the one that changed you. Everly did, I was outside of the room, like a good gentleman.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though I knew it would happen at some point, I wasn’t anywhere near ready for that point to be now. Especially not when I had been in a drunken state.

“I won’t ever make you do anything you don’t want to,” he told me seriously, “but we are going to be together, Rose, and trust me when that time comes, it will be because you want it.”