Chapter 1
“and we’ll need cakes, and biscuits, and sweet bread, and muffins, and dipping sauce, and...” i stared at the oil painting across the room, its vibrant colours drowning out the conversation between father and his maid as she desperately scribbled down a list of all we’d need for the wedding.
i wasn’t terribly sure why he was planning my wedding so soon, i didn’t even have a bride. father told me all about how he met mother, how it was at a ball, how everything was planned to fall right in place. i hate when he said that, because she wouldn’t be gone if it weren’t for him and all of his ‘falling in place’. but that’s besides the point.
he wanted me to have a wife, and although i’d like to be a husband and father, i really didn’t agree with the force being put on my marriage; which didn’t exist yet.
“how about you, lad? cream pies or cherry sponge?” he asked.
not really paying much attention, i answered with “yeah yeah, both or something,”
“splendid idea chap. You alright lad? you don’t seem yourself. this is giving you the opportunity to become the king! don’t you get that? you are the heir, so soon you will become-“
“yeah dad i get it!” i interrupted, rather rudely.
father gave me an angry yet soft expressed look and then continued to speak to the maid. after a while, i saw her nod gently as she picked up her skirt and apron, clipboard under her arm, and whisked herself out of the hall and presumably into the kitchen to tell cook.
“i uh, i think i shall take a walk,” i blurted to father.
“mmh, so long as you bring Titan, a prince shall never wander into a wood alone, you’ll need a trusty companion!” i rolled my eyes,
“a horse really does not know any self defence skills, nor defence alone.” father gestured the main entrance hall to me and i hurried out, untying Titan and tacking him up.
i won’t directly quote just what i said here, as speaking to a horse wouldn’t really be considered very humane, would it now?
i mounted Titan, and soon enough we were away.
