Chapter 4: Lucy Lark
3339 Words
Four:
Lucy Lark
I woke to the sound of shrill squealing.
“Shite, shite, shite!”
It was Edele’s voice. I was surprised she was home at all, considering how well she and Niall had hit it off the night before. But somehow, she was back in my dorm, awake and being annoying. I sat up in bed, scowling at her.
“Edele, I swear if this is what it’s going to be like living with you, I will----”
“Look!” She shoved her phone into my face.
I rubbed sleep from my eyes, then I gaped at it in horror. “No.” There was a picture of Aiden kissing me. It was captioned: I declare Anam Cara. On the OFFICAL HRH Prince of Ireland i********:. And I was tagged in it. “No, no, no.”
Edele laughed delightedly. “I told you he was in love!”
“This doesn’t prove anything,” I said, shoving the phone back to her. “All it proves is that Aiden is a possessive control freak. He doesn’t want me here. He hasn’t ever since Mallory died. This is one more tactic to get me to leave. Or so he can protect me from The Guillotine.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m going to ignore it,” I said.
Edele raised an eyebrow. “How are you going to ignore it? The Guardian’s already posted it on their front page, so has Welsh Weekly, and Scots Weekly. And Irish Weekly. You’re the shot heard around the world. There’s no going back.”
“Aiden will give up. He’ll find some duchess or a baroness or whatever, and I’ll be forgotten. That’s what happens to girls like me.”
Edele looked at me incredulously. “What about Penelope Peters? What about Rose James? What about Cecelia Porter?”
I shook my head. “Rose James was a long, lost princess. Penelope went to a posh boarding school. Rose was a long, lost princess. And Cecelia Porter’s sister married the future King of England. I’m a nobody, from Boston, whose grandparents are servants.”
Again, Edele stared at me. “Lucy, all of those girls you described were ordinary girls just like you.”
I got up from bed. Then got ready. I was at a new university. I had more important things to worry about than Princes.
I got up and got dressed. As I was about to grab my stuff, my cell phone rang. There was a number that I recognized as one of the palace extensions from when I stayed with my Grandparents.
“Gran?” I said.
“Lucy, darlin’ it isn’t your Gran. It’s Queen Nora.”
I almost dropped the phone and let out a shriek. I covered the phones mouth pieced and hissed at Edele. “Did you call the Queen?”
Edele laughed. “No, I did not call the Queen. Your soulmate probably told her about his intentions. Or she saw the post seen around the world.”
I groaned. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Careful, Lucy. That’s treason there.”
“f**k it all. I’m still going to kill him.”
“Luce, it’s the Queen.” She pointed at the phone. I sighed. Even though I only spent summers in the palace, I was still aware I wasn’t royal. My grandparent’s livelihood depended on the royals. I couldn’t afford to screw it up for them, especially not with Gran being sick.
“Hello, your majesty. I wanted to----”
“Lucy, my darlin’ girl! I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you’re getting courted by Aiden. He’s been ever so terribly in love with you since you were young. I thought it would happen when you were teenagers, but I’m quite glad he took the time to wait a little. Lady Edele is lovely, but I always had hopes that it would be you. Now, I’m sending Aiden’s guards to move your things to palace, so you don’t have to worry about staying in the dorm. We’re giving you and your grandparents rooms for the time being.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear, covering the mouthpiece again. I glared at Edele. “My god, she’s having them take my things to the palace! They’re giving us palace rooms.”
Edele smiled. “Oh no, it’s not serious at all.”
“I’m going to kill him. I’m going to find a guillotine, let it chop off his pompous, royal---”
“Lucy!” Edele hissed. “The Queen!”
I sighed and put my attention back on the phone. “Your Majesty, this is really all a giant mistake. Aiden isn’t serious, and I’m certain that he’ll take it all back---”
“Why would he do that? Lucy, I know you’re in love with him. A mother knows these things. You’ve followed after him since you were little. Besides, my darlin’ Mallory always said that she thought the two of you would get married. She wanted desperately for you to be her sister-in-law. She thought you’d be good for Aiden.”
My heart clenched at the mention of my old friend. Princess Mallory, Aiden’s sister, had died in such a brutal way. “Mallory wanted this?”
“Yes,” said Queen Nora, “she’d be so happy if she were alive. Look, if there has been some sort of misunderstanding, I can tell Aiden to pull the post down. But I believe that you’re the right person for my son, and so did my darlin’ daughter. Besides, if you allow Aiden to at least court you, we’ll make certain that your grandmother is taken care of. We would have done that anyway, because you know we love your grandparents. But they’ll have access to the royal doctors that we have. We’ll give them the best of everything. I know this is a lot to ask, but I want what’s best for my son. I believe that you’re it.”
I sighed. “I’m not…. I’m not Queen material, and Aiden used to do nothing but push me away. How do I know he’s serious about this? How do I know he’s not just doing this because he saw me get hit on by Cronan Spires.”
There was a long pause, as if the Queen were taking time to adjust to what I had told her. “Aiden knows what he wants. He wants you. Let him show you that. If you aren’t convinced after Anam Cara is finished, you can walk away. No hard feelings. Between us or your grandparents. You’re practically family, Lucy.”
I didn’t know what to say. I knew that I had come to Ireland to care for my Grandmother, and if she had access to Royal doctors, there was no way that she wouldn’t be taken care of. “Of course, your majesty. I’ll…. I’ll accept Anam Cara.”
“Wonderful!” Queen Nora said. “I’ll expect you at Castle Rioga after your classes this afternoon. We’ll host the Anam Cara ball this month, and we’ll need to get started on your dress fittings!”
“Of course, your majesty.”
“This will all work out for the best, Lucy. You’ll see. Oh I can’t wait! Have a good day at classes.” The call ended, and I felt a wave of gloominess take over me.
“So, are you participating in Anam Cara?” Edele asked, looking gleeful.
“Yes,” I said, “she tricked me. She used Mallory’s memory to get me into doing it. They’re all rat bastards.”
“They just love you,” said Edele, “you might not be royal, but you certainly are family. I mean, you celebrated your birthday with them every year from the time that you were five. You once spent a whole summer with a broken leg there because you fell off a tree that you were climbing. You got your period there---”
I scowled. “No one needs to remember that awful day.”
“Didn’t Aiden kiss you that day?”
“Again, no one needs to remember that awful day.”
“Was it bad?”
“I was fourteen,” I said, “he was trying to be romantic. I started bleeding right as he kissed me. I didn’t think he’d ever want to touch me ever again. I’m pretty certain that I stained the pants that he was wearing.”
Edele raised an eyebrow. “Um, what was he doing that you were able to leave stains on him?”
“Well---it----um----” I blushed. “There might have been some straddling.”
“Straddling?” Edele said.
“You know what, it doesn’t matter. It was humiliating. Exactly like this is going to be humiliating, when Aiden realizes that I am not Queen material and ends this stupid Anam Cara thing.”
I grabbed my books, and as I did I heard a knock on the door. I froze.
Edele grinned, like a kid who had snuck a peak at their presents before Christmas and knew what they were before opening them.
“Tell me you’re expecting someone.”
“I’m expecting no one,” she answered. “Come on. You know who that is. He’s probably there to walk you to class.”
I glanced at the window. We were on the second floor, which wasn’t terribly high. I could climb out to avoid him. I walked over to it and pushed it open.
“What are you doing?” Edele demanded.
“Going to class by sneaking out the window,” I answered.
“But you consented to the Anam Cara. You’re participating in The Soulmate Law. That kind of includes things like walking you to your classes. Lucy, this is romantic. Most girls would be swooning right now.”
“I’m not most girls,” I said, “and do you know how hard it is to say no to a Queen? There have been wars started for less. I’m getting out of here and there’s nothing that you can---”
The door pushed open then, revealing Aiden, his face scrunched together in annoyance. “What in the devil’s name are you doing, Lucy Lark, acting the maggot?”
“Um….” I had one leg out of the window. “Stretching?”
Aiden scowled. “Didn’t you here me knock?”
“I was getting dressed,” I said.
“Thought you were stretching.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You wouldn’t be trying to escape now, would you?”
Edele watched the two of us like it was a tennis match, her head going back and forth.
“Aiden…you and I know this isn’t anything more than a joke to you. Call it off, and I swear, there won’t be any hurt feelings. You’ve gotten your mother invested now. You know I love your mother, and would never disappoint her and---”
He smirked. “Why do you think I got her involved? She knows what a good friend you were to my sister. She knows that you would never do anything to dishonor Mallory’s memory, including not accepting my Anam Cara. You love Ireland, you belong here in Ireland. At my side, as my future Queen.”
I blushed at his words. “It’s crazy.”
“You’re what I want,” said Aiden. “This isn’t so crazy. We’ve got history, you and me. Don’t pretend like I wasn’t your first----”
“You were my first what?”
“Kiss,” said Aiden.
I coughed. “Um. You…. you weren’t my first kiss.”
“Lucy, you freaked out and ran away from me and wouldn’t talk to me for a month. You’re an innocent, catholic girl and---”
I shook my head. “Aiden, you weren’t my first kiss. That wasn’t why I freaked out, and you know it because you’ve got the blood stained pants to prove it.”
He frowned. “Who was your first kiss?”
I got down from the window and I walked over to him. “It’s nothing we need to talk about. We should probably get going if you’re going to walk me to class.”
“Lucy, come on,” he growled. “Tell me who it was.”
“No one you know,” I said.
That was a complete and utter lie. All I was trying to do was to keep people from getting punched. Because that was exactly what would happen if Aiden found out exactly who had kissed me.
“Luce,” he was towering over me. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll obsess over this until I know exactly who it is. You know damn well that I have ways to find out who it was too.”
“Um…well…it was Tommy.”
“Tommy?” he looked at Edele, as if for confirmation. Prince Tommy of Ireland was Aiden’s cousin. They were the same age, but several months apart. He hadn’t started spending his summers in the palace until after Mallory died, when everyone decided it was better for him to be at home than at boarding school.
Because of that, it was easier to be friends with Tommy than it was Aiden. Aiden looked at me like I was a shiny object for him to keep safe in a cabinet somewhere. With Tommy, I was just a friend. We’d long ago realized that was all we could ever be, too, when we both realized we had no chemistry when we kissed. Not to mention that Tommy had been in love with the gardeners daughter, Sinead, for years.
Edele winced. “Don’t kill Tommy, Aiden. It was ages ago.”
“How old were you?” he asked.
“Thirteen,” I said.
“When did it happen?”
“Why does it matter?” I asked.
“Because it matters,” said Aiden darkly.
“On my birthday,” I said, “July 4th.”
“On your birthday,” he said darkly, “your thirteenth birthday.”
“I’ve kissed other people before, Aiden. I’ve had boyfriends. You don’t control my life.”
“Anyone in Ireland?”
I stiffened. “No, I mean, not really. I mean, not since…not since Cormac.”
At the mention of the boyfriend that had died on me, Aiden shifted uncomfortably. He’d been responsible for me never seeing him again. When he found out we were dating, he used his power to send him away. Then, Cormac died in a terrorist attack The Guillotine had created.
Edele snorted from where she was sitting. “Just stop while you’re ahead, Lucy.”
“Who was it?” Aiden asked. “Who did you date?”
“Aiden, it doesn’t matter. Come on. Let’s get to class.”
“I need to know who you’ve been with, so I can kill them.”
“That’s why I can’t tell you!” I insisted.
“Edele, who was it?” Aiden asked turning to look at his cousin.
Edele coughed. “Um….”
“Come on, Edele. Don’t give me a reason to encourage my Mother to help find you a fiancé too.”
“Lord Killian Walsh!” Edele blurted.
“Killian? Tommy’s brother?” Aiden ran his hand through his dark hair, looking like a mad scientist. “Killian Walsh? My best friend and cousin?”
I winced. “Look, it was a summer thing. We were teenagers. It was nothing. He kissed me once, and we spent one summer together. That was it. Anyway, it was the summer that you were courting Penelope Peters. You can’t get angry when you were openly courting someone else.”
“I can always get angry,” said Aiden, “and I can get even. That’s one of the luxuries of being the future King of Ireland. Are you still in love with Killian?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m…. I’m not in love with anyone right now.”
His eyes darkened at my words. “But you’re definitely not in love with Killian?”
“As I said, I’m not in love with anyone right now.”
“Right. I have to go.”
“Aiden, you don’t have to go anywhere. The only place that you have to go is to take me to class.”
“No, I have to find Killian Walsh, and I have to murder him. Excuse me.” He stormed off, before I could even run after him.
I glared back at Edele. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I don’t want an arranged marriage to a fifty-year-old Baron,” said Edele, “we’ve only just convinced them that I shouldn’t marry Aiden, and he’s my cousin. And the only reason we’ve convinced the Queen of that is because of Anam Cara.”
I took out my cell phone and texted Killian. It was one, simple message: Aiden knows. I could only hope that he would get it in time before Aiden killed him.
“What are you doing?” Edele asked.
“Texting Killian so that he has a head start.”
Edele laughed. “Aiden drives a Bugatti. He better have one hell of a head start.”
“Right. I’m going to go to class, which is the only real reason that I’m here.”
“That and for the march.”
“What march?” I asked.
“Here comes the bride, all dressed in white…”
I scowled. “Quite speaking nonsense. I’m leaving. I’ll see you later.”
I left the room and headed in the direction of my first class. Or at least I tried to go to my first class. Because the minute I stepped out, I was surrounded by photographers and reporters. All asking me the same questions. “Lucy Lark, how long have you been secretly dating the Prince of Ireland?” “Lucy, when is the wedding?” “Lucy, how does it feel to have Anam Cara declared for you?”
I felt someone grab my hand, and I was pulled through the crowd. I thought it was Aiden at first but then I looked up and saw Cronan Spires smirking at me. “Run, Princess.”
“I’m not a Princess!” I insisted.
“You’re engaged to the Prince of Ireland. You might as well be a Princess. We can argue semantics later, but right now we need to run from the bloody Paps. Now run!” Cronan ran, pulling me as fast and as far from the crowd as we possibly could. We didn’t stop until we were in the Royal University Cathedral, the one place that the paps wouldn’t dare trespass in.
When we were inside, I took a couple of deep breaths trying to keep myself steady. “I’m going to kill him.”
“You can’t kill him, he’s the Prince of Ireland.”
“Why not? He’s planning on killing any man that’s ever looked at me.”
Cronan chuckled. “Sounds like Aiden.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Can you tell me why the two of you are roommates?”
“Because, I helped provide information on the people that killed Mallory. He was the one that conned me into giving up the information. So, Aiden being Aiden----”
“Has taken it upon himself to keep you safe,” I finished.
“Yes. See, you know him.”
I sighed. “Unfortunately.”
“Most girls wouldn’t say that.”
“Well, they haven’t known him since they were five.”
“You realize that the same reason he has me be his roommate is the same reason he’s declared Anam Cara for you? The only thing that he’s trying to do is to keep you safe. Because he’s worried about the same thing that happened to Mallory happening to you. You have the love of the future King. You’re in danger every waking moment. What with the revolution and monarchies falling or changing every single, waking moment that the world turns.”
I blushed. “He doesn’t love me.”
“Yeah, he does,” said Cronan, “you know he’s got private security following you? He has since you lost your father, back in 2013. He found them himself. He would have used the castle guards, if he could. But since you’re not Royal, he pays for it out of his trust fund.”
“How do you know he’s got private security following me?”
“Because, you’re all the man bloody talks about. I didn’t know your name when we met, otherwise I wouldn’t have hit on you. I don’t have a death wish.”
“Then, why are you helping me sneak away from the press?”
“Because, I don’t have a death wish,” he said with a smirk.
I couldn’t help but stare at him. His amber eyes sparkled, and his brown hair was curled. It hadn’t been last time because of the rain.
“You know,” he said, “it would all be easier for you if you just admitted that you were madly in love with him.”
“I did admit that I was madly in love with him once,” I said, “and it wasn’t easy. It was anything but easy. I won’t do it again only to be let down.”
“What happened?” Cronan asked. “When you told him?”
“Oh, the usual. Heartbreak and despair,” I said. “Look, I have to go. Thank you, for helping me.”
“Anytime, Princess,” he said with a wink.
“Not a Princess!” I shouted as I slipped out the back of the cathedral.
- Writer
