CHAPTER 1

The day dawned crisp and clear. The sun poured through Prince Felix's window. Another day had dawned, bringing with it new hopes and aspirations. The light of dawn seeped into his room. There was a pearly glow in the sky. The first rays of sunlight lit up his room. The dawn chorus of melodic birdsong drifted in. The rising sun cast a rosy hue across the morning sky. Golden fingers of sunlight lit up the scene.

Waking up in a King-sized bed was a luxury most people coveted. They would do anything to live the life the Harringtons did. Have breakfast served in bed, being chauffered, riding in the sleekest cars one only saw in movies. What they didn't understand was that royalty comes with a price, a price many of them would not be willing to pay.

Just on the hills of Cunningham, a great castle stood. It had been standing for hundreds of years, making it one of the oldest buildings in the whole of England.

Old but anyone would be in awe of the structural beauty, the large and majestic palace as that of a fairy tale dream.

Fourteen skinny, square towers are both a defensive and decorational aspect of this elegant castle and are connected by strengthened, wide walls made of dark red stone.

Refined windows are scattered here and there across the walls in an asymmetric pattern, along with overhanging crenelations for archers and artillery. The gardens and secrete patios were heaven full of flowering fragrances, the nooks and crannies were of sheer delight.

Various large houses are scattered outside the castle gates, surprisingly the rich are comfortable with living outside the gates as well. This castle has stood the test of time and despite knowing some very rough times, the castle still stands and it looks like it will do so for many years to come.

Even though Cunningham was a small kingdom, it held royal power as no kingdom had. The people believed greatly in the rulership of King James IV, they trusted his judgment on anything.

Of course, there was that time in a King's life when he had to hand over the kingdom to a worthy hand. Someone's whose feet would fit perfectly in his large shoes. In an actual sense, the first child of the royal family was always next in line to the throne, it was a no-brainer.

"Rise and Shine!"

Prince Felix expected the shrill voice to interrupt his sleep. It was something he should have gotten used to. He hid his face with one of the fluffy pillows lying on his bed and groaned.

"Can you not do that, Sam? People actually love their beauty sleep," he muttered into the pillow. Soon enough, the bedcover was yanked off his body leaving a shaken prince. He tore his eyes open revealing the smirking princess.

"You're thirty minutes late for breakfast. Father insisted that I drag you out of this bed," Samantha said with a bored expression. Her eyes moved from her brother to roam round the room. "Why is your boxers over there? Oh, it smells of...Did you have a lady in here last night?", she asked and smirked naughtily

"No, I didn't. Mind your business." He eyed her. Felix groaned louder and pulled the cover over himself. For all he cared, the royal breakfast could go screw itself. Breakfast in the large castle of Cunningham involved tense conversations about the kingdom's affairs and not-so slight jabs from his brother, William. He preferred not to be at the receiving end of countless criticism so he usually sent for his breakfast. Today was supposed to be that day their father discussed an important aspect of their future but again, Felix was not ready for the tense conversations over breakfast. "I will be there soon," he said making no attempt to roll out of bed.

"Sure... I have delivered the king's message. Do with it what you want." With that, Samantha sauntered out of his room, but just before she left she looked round the room again, as if expecting someone to pop out anytime soon. "Don't go back to sleep again._

"Goodbye Samantha."

Immediately the door closed behind her, he jumped out of bed and freshened up as fast as he could, starting with taming his shiny black hair. Many would say that was his most striking feature after his brown, piercing eyes. He had a habit of skipping haircut appointments and ended up brushing his hair out of his face at every opportunity he got. The ladies of the kingdom usually swooned as he did that. It gave him a laid-back, sexy demeanor.

The moment he stepped into the gazebo where the king decided they had breakfast that morning, he realized how disappointed his tardiness had made his father. The gazebo was just right for the beautiful spring season, and just like every structure in the castle, it was grand.

"We were just finishing breakfast, Felix. Where have you been?" King James IV was an intimidating man when the need be. His gaze didn't leave his son until he was settled at the table.

"I"

"Save it. Excuses will not take you anywhere," the king cut him off.

Felix should have known better than to try to make excuses. According to his father, excuses are unintelligible lies. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and walk away. Instead, he placed on an apologetic face. "I'm sorry, father," he said, hoping that he actually sounded like he was sorry.

"Like sorry does anything."  That was the gruff voice of Prince William. Exactly the jabs Felix always avoided.

"Sometimes it takes more than a weak sorry to clean up a mess. I will not dwell on your tardiness, there are slightly more important things we need to discuss." Felix noticed the extra gray streaks scattered around his father's brown hair and the bags under his eyes. The King had clearly been having sleepless nights.

All dishes and utensils had been cleared off leaving only the king and his sons. Prince William's hard stare was on his brother. His gray eyes which once showed warmth had been reduced to one which shoots glares. Felix did not blame this transformation on his twin brother because he believed there was more to meet the eyes.

Once, they both had been best of friends. Inseparable. The bond between them wasn't shared by anyone in the castle. Felix usually found himself reminiscing about those days. He loved his brother deeply but William thought the kingdom was more important than what they had shared.

"As you know, the time to choose the next king is here."

Deep down Felix knew those words were bound to leave his father's lips that morning. They were words he rather not heard.

William's gaze on his brother was beginning to become uncomfortable. Felix offered him a small, dry smile in hopes that it would ease off the tension but just like he expected, he was met with an eye roll.

"Yes, the great day has arrived," Felix echoed trying to mirror that stern expression his brother had. Many times, he thought things would have been easier if he died at birth. He wouldn't have to go through the pains of being the 'partial' heir to the throne. Williams would have been next in line and that would be the end.

"Yes. As you also know, I love you both equally and you being king is not going to make me love you more or less." The King made it a conscious effort to sink those words in his sons' ears. He had sensed the tension between his sons earlier than most people and many times blamed himself for it. He wished things would be easier.

"We love you too..." Felix made sure to shoot his father a warm smile while William rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time.

"I am not going to be partial about this decision of course as I won't be the one making it." He slowly gets up and walks out of the gazebo and his sons realize that it is their cue to follow him. They were going to take a stroll around the premises as was their father's tradition when discussing important matters.

The brothers had a striking resemblance save for the colour of their orbs. William's gray ones were most times devoid of warmth and a glare was bound to make a person cower in fear while Felix's brown eyes reminded one of a cup of hot chocolate exuding warmth.

One would think the nurses should have noticed these differences once they had been born and saved the king the stress of choosing the one next in line for the throne. The first baby to have been delivered was to become the one but maybe in the excitement of the birth, they did not take care to note.

"My father's father's father's and many fathers before built this castle with their bare hands," King James said like he hadn't told the story before. The heavenly singing drew them in as they passed the cathedral. Without any shadow of a doubt, they expected the Queen there. The king could not hide the smile threatening to burst open his mouth. "Your mother is quite special isn't it?", he asked and smiled, showing his luminous, heavenly-white teeth.

Of course, he wasn't expecting a reply. He didn't need his sons to tell him how special their mother was.

"Your majesty," everyone who passed by them would say with a nod or a courtesy.

A large water fountain stood tall at the centre of the castle. The fountain took the shape of a dragon, and instead of the usual fire shooting from its mouth, it was water. The water flowed directly into smaller dragons which also had water shooting from their mouths. The fountain itself was surrounded by a small garden, the flowering fragrances filled the air.

The princes had spent a lot of their childhood with the dragons. They pretended that they indeed were shooting fire. Felix would take the role of the poor boy in distress while Williams would be his knight in shiny armour. Back then, Felix understood how much William always wanted to be in control, he wouldn't dare play the role of the boy in distress.

In William's defense, Felix was always in control of everything. Felix was better than William in every way and seemed to take all the praises. From their Kingship classes to mathematics classes even to getting the girls of the kingdom. William hoped that for once he would be able to overshadow Felix and that would be by being the king. He thought it should be relatively easy for him since Felix was clearly nonchalant about it.

King James led them into the grand throne room. The sculpture of two dragons stood at both sides of the pillars each, welcoming them. The castle guards all bowed as the trio entered the room.

Apart from the dragons at the entrance, there were smaller ones attached to the pillars in the throne room. There were paintings of the last kings and their families attached to both sides of the walls.

King James took his rightful position on the throne while the princes stood before him.

"As I said, the kingdom has to be handed over to someone and I and the kings' makers have discussed this at length. And we have decided to give you tasks."

He peered at his sons.

"I give you nine months to find a wife, start up a profitable business and make worthwhile investments to prove to the people that you are capable of carrying out the duties of a king. Whoever at the end of nine months is able to do all this, would be the next king."

"Yes, king," Prince William says with a bow leaving Felix suppressing an eye roll.

"Yes, king."

To Prince William, he was already king. He was going to do everything and more than his father had mentioned. This was going to be easy for him to win. Prince Felix had better plans. He was going to use this opportunity in search of a queen to go to New York.

"Father, it has been on my mind for a while now to travel the world. As a prince, I believe it is important that I'm not caged in the customs of Cunningham but exposed to how things work outside of here."

His brother gave a loud snort.

The king drew circles on his jaw, indicating he was deep in thought. "Yes, your mother said something about that. What is the probability that you're going to come home with an American woman in your arms?"

William gave another snort.

"Father, America is the best place to get involved in worthwhile investments and set up a profitable business. I believe this a great opportunity for me, and besides Samantha spends so much time in America, it'll be splendid to have someone watch her." He knew Samantha didn't need watching but he had to pull that card for the sake of it.

Prince William was not excited to hear that his brother was actually interested in being king. This was going to be harder than he thought since Felix was going to go all the way to America to make sure he got the throne.

King James heaved a sigh and then continued drawing circles on his chin. "I don't want you frolicking around New York as the prince and partial heir to the Cunningham throne. It is not a good face for the kingdom," he said at last.

"Of course, father. I have decided to hide my identity in my journey to America. Everyone there will know me as Alex. Nobody will know that I am one of the princes of Cunningham." Felix knew that it was a matter of time before his father approved his decision.

"Alright. I think this is for the best."

Felix would have pumped his fist in the air if he was at a football match not in the presence of his father but the excitement shining in his eyes could not be hidden.  "Thank you, father."

For a long while he had craved to live a normal life, a life without King-sized beds and chauffered cars. He wanted to live life on his terms without the duties of being royal breathing down his back. This was the beginning of the freedom he sought for, or so he thought.