One

      The King gritted his teeth at the thought of his people starving for another winter but there was nothing he could do about it, it did not matter that he was the one producing the crops his people need. What matters was that he needed the weapons which he could only get from his neighboring Kingdom, as much as he would love to go a year without this trade he knew that if he does that, the same Kingdom which is selling him weaponry now will be the Kingdom to attack him if they knew that he did not have means to protect himself.

      And there was nothing  he desired more than to take the head of the arrogant prince from that demon infested Kingdom, the  same prince who was sitting in front of him and acting like he should be bowed to even though he was sitting in front of the King of the Kingdom he was in.

    “You know that my people will starve if we give the ratio of crops you want, you know the year has been hard on us and yet you increased the percentage.” 

    The prince who sat opposite him shrugged “I do not bother myself about things when it has no concern with my Kingdom, the only way I will be concerned about what you just said is if you are telling me that you are not going to do business with us this year and then I will take the trade and go to some other Kingdom to present my conditions to them, I am sure they will show me more gratitude than you have shown me.”

 The King took in deep breaths, what was he thinking that he opened his mouth to talk about the injustice. “I am sorry that I have not be hospitable and I will accept the trade, I am just wondering if there was a way that we tweak the options a little.” The King suggested even though he knew that Prince Flynn will agree to do no such thing. He had to try at least once for his people.

    “I am sorry but no, if we want to tweak it according to you then I might have to return here and believe me when I say that I do not want to return here sometime within the next two weeks. I prefer to come back in three months’ time for the exchange. “

 The King signed, he had done his best, there was nothing more he could do and he knew that if he pushed the issue that the annoying little Bogart in front of him will actually do something that he was going to hate. “Fine, I will sign the contract for this terms for the trade. “The King conceded already feeling the sufferings of his people, there was a reason why his Kingdom was always the poorest among the rest and that was because of the Kingdom close to them, he knew that sooner or later he would have to do something about this situation before they would leave him crippled.

 Flynn smiled as the King put his stamp of approval on the agreement, it was a good thing that they could do this quickly because he did not want to spend a night close to the palace, because he knew that he would not be able to stay away from the King only child, there was something about the girl that whenever he spent the night in the palace he could not help but terrorize her, she was his favorite toy and it was about time that the toy became his permanently. His parents wanted to stay low for some time before avenging his twin death… no, murder was more like it but his parents knew that they were insane if they tried to fight a war with prince Ken Kingdom anytime soon.  They need the additional help of another Kingdom and that Kingdom will have to be this one, they were planning on making the Kingdom theirs by crippling the Kingdom but it is taking too long, of course he could try the strategy of marrying the heir to the throne like his sister did but that got her killed and his parents certainly did not want to lose another of their child.  

 Even with that he knew that he wanted that princess who had been dubbed as the warrior princess because she could fight. “ your daughter” Flynn said with a pause and a smile, he always love it when he made people powerless especially when they are powerful people in their own rights, and he got the reaction he was hoping for from the King.

     When the King heard that bastard mention his daughter he froze in panic, he knew that the spawn of hell was enjoying his reaction but his mind closed off when the prince mentioned his daughter. “yes what about her” the King asked as he aimed for nonchalance but the full blown smile on the face of demon who was sitting opposite  him told him that he failed epically at it.

 “ I was thinking of offering for her hand in marriage “ Flynn said and he tried to contain his chuckles when the King went pale, he knew that if the King was not sitting down that he would have collapsed where ever he had stood.

      “My daughter is not really a suitable material for marriage. “The King said but Flynn smiles.

  “She is the heir to your Kingdom she is going to have to marry pretty soon. “ Flynn said as the King trembles in his seat, there was no way that he wanted to be related to the demon in front of him, he had heard of what prince Flynn liked to do with the women he is with, he could not imagine his daughter being owned by the prince, he would turn her daughter into a shell of what she is between the first month of them been together.  “I am sure that you did not expect this gracious marriage proposal so when I return for the conclusion of the trade, we will discuss it more then.” Flynn said as he stood up to leave.

 When the King stood up to escort Flynn out as the protocol demanded, Prince Flynn waved him to take his seat back. “No need for protocols as we are about to become family. “ Flynn said with a laugh as he left the King study. 

  The King out his hands on his head, there was no way he could get out of this situation without a war, if he refuse the proposal there will be bad blood within the Kingdoms and everybody knows what the Kingdom of Corthin do to other Kingdoms which they did not like, his Kingdom was doomed.

****

           “ your majesty, prince Flynn left two hours ago, what are you still doing here. “ the Queen said when she entered the room she was surprised and scared to hear that the envoy from Corthin was around and it included one of the prince, she knew that whatever they wanted from the trade was not going to be good but when it was reported to her that her husband has been in his study for two hours after the envoy left she knew that this time the news she would get was seriously going to be bad. 

 The King lifted his red rimmed eyes to stare at his wife, the mother of his beloved daughter, a daughter whom he wished he had married off years ago so that this would have never befall them. “What are we going to do Mirabelle?” 

 The Queen stared at her husband who she had never seen look so defeated “is the trade so bad” the Queen asked her husband as she rushed to his side to rest her palm against the flat of his back to offer him some measure of comfort.

   “The trade went as I suspected it would” the King said with a sigh.

  “Then what is wrong “the Queen asked in a perplexed tone. 

“Prince Flynn express his desires to court our daughter.” The King said with a sigh as he used a hand to scrub his face. 

  The Queen froze at the King statement and when she could control her rage she replied the King in a serious tone, “I hope you told him that our daughter has no use for his likes” 

  The King lips twitched at that statement by his wife, through all the years they spent together she never failed to bring a smile to his face especially when he was in a terrible mood.  “as much as I wanted to tell him that I could not tell him unless I want to insult his Kingdom and we really cannot defend ourselves if they decide to attack us because we insulted a member of the royal family, and he did not request for it, he hopes that when he comes in three months’ time that we will present him with our daughter for wedding. “The King said as the Queen froze again.

 The Queen connected the dots for what it means as she felt her throat close up, no there was no way she will allow that monster to go near her daughter, he was going to break her daughter spirit and Alexa is nothing with her spirit.  “We cannot say no” 

 The King closed his eyes in defeat, he could not protect his family and his daughter was going to suffer for it. “We cannot.” The King repeated even though he knew that his wife was not asking a question.

  “We cannot let him take our daughter away and break her. “The Queen cried out. “Alex he will ruin her forever, she will become a shadow of herself. “

  “I know Mirabelle, believe me. I know but we do not have another option, the only other option we have is to refuse and if we do it would be taken as an insult, they will retaliate and destroy this Kingdom and then they will still take her away as spoils of war and you know how they will treat her then. “ the King heatedly as he stood up to face his wife which turned out to be a good thing because she went pale and her legs gave out just as the King reached for her

 “ Mirabelle “ the King said as he put her in his seat, he knew better than to point out that future for his wife, she had a hard  time giving birth and she nearly died before she could give birth to their daughter. They would have tried for more children but the physician told them that another pregnancy would kill the Queen. He refused to bring another woman into the royal family even though he was pestered to provide a male ruler. He knew that the Queen never let go of the guilt she felt about not providing a proper heir that was one of the reasons why she never complained when Alexa started to act like a son.

    “I am sorry, I should not have said that.” The King said as he helped his wife to the seat he vacated in anger.

  “It is alright, I needed to hear that “the Queen said as she pressed her hands together to stop them from shaking terribly. “So what do we do now? “

  “Now we prepare our daughter for marriage “the King said in a bitter tone.

  “Give me some time to think of another solution, if I cannot come up with something between the next week, then we can tell Alexa.“ the Queen pleaded, the King knew that they needed to draw out the rage of their daughter when she learn that she was about to be forced into marriage. Yet he was willing to let his wife think of something, if it could prevent what Alexa marriage to Prince Flynn then he was all ears.  

 “Fine but nothing more than a week. “The King said as the Queen smiled. 

  “I will try to think of something good between that times. Thank you“ The Queen said with a smile.

......

      The Queen spent the majority of the given time locked in her solar being alone and thinking, there was no way that Alexa would be able to escape marriage but she could be married to someone other than that disgusting prince who is known for breaking girls spirits, if it was hearts, she would have little problem with him besides the actions of his family but no, the boy like bruising the females who had been in his bed, both physically and mentally.

   If her daughter had to marry, she needs to get married to a person of the same station with her, someone who would be able to fight against Corthin and win, someone who does not need much convincing to marry a girl who acts like a boy, someone who the royal family of Corthin was afraid of and there is just one royal like that, the other Kingdom whom they share borders with and everybody knew that the prince was married. Everybody had heard the story, they hung Fallon, the only princess of Corthin when she stepped too far and told the Kingdom of Corthin to stay out of their business.

   There was a strained peace between the Kingdoms which seemed like moments before a war. They need the loyalty of another Kingdom to tilt the scales and she was sure that is the reason why Flynn wanted to marry Alexa and she refuse to give him that satisfaction.

  Everybody hearing the stories also meant that everybody had heard of the prince who is happily married with a son and had no reason to want for a second wife, not like she would allow her daughter to be a second wife to anybody. There must be somebody who hold a huge sway in that Kingdom who was her daughter age and not yet married, the person might not be a prince but he would be close to being one and if he was a good friend of the crown prince then it would be even better. 

   The best choice was Lord Jared and although he is a hero, he was not yet married which made people wonder what was wrong with him that was hidden.

 Well she would get the answers herself, she would go to the Kingdom of Kythia and she present the issue in front of all those whom the matter will concern and hope that they will help her save her Kingdom and her daughter.

    But first she needs to tell her husband which would not be easy but she knew it would be easier than letting  Alexa know that she was going to be married to a man she had never met and that she had no choice in the matter, she was so not looking forward to having that conversation with her daughter.