Chapter 25

"Hi, I'm Iris," I respond coolly.

The prince casts me a look and I can't help but think that maybe I am being a little harsh. There's an awkward silence and then my mother enters.

"I baked cookies," she says, breaking the silence.

Once we all have our cookies, my mother asks, "So Francesca, what brings you here?"

"I was concerned about your daughter," she says.

Yeah right. More like she was concerned about loosing her prince.

"Well I'm fine," I snap.

Both the prince and my mother look at me. I've had enough. I get up and head back to my room.

After a few minutes, there's a soft knock on my door. I sigh. "Come in."

To my surprise, in walks Francesca.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"Please don't be unkind. I just want to talk to you."

"Ok fine."

"You think I'm going to steal the prince away, don't you?"

I shrug, but then nod my head.

Then to my surprise, she says, "Well he's all yours."

"What?"

"The prince and I made an agreement to satisfy his father. He thought that I should tell you so that you don't stay mad at me."

Well it worked. Immediately I feel ashamed at how I've been treating her.

"I'm so sorry," I say. "You're just so beautiful, proper, everything the prince should have. I'm just... Me."

"Hasn't he shown you that he loves you?"

"Well, yes I guess."

"Then stop worrying! I can see that the prince loves you. Even if you may not always feel like it, remember that he does."

"Thank you."

We head back down stair where I grin sheepishly at the prince whose eyebrow is raised.

"We need to head back soon," he says without looking away.

I'm still hesitant about leaving.

"Okay," I finally say after a few moments.

Once my things are packed up, I head out with the prince and Francesca. We prepare three fresh horses and head off. Thankfully, the journey goes as planned. There aren't any men in black jumping out at us.

After a couple of days, we arrive at the castle. I'm immediately greeted by some of the guards. Then a messenger comes up to us.

"The king wishes to see you," the boy says.

"I'll come with," the prince says grabbing my hand.

The boy hops nervously back and forth. "He made it quite clear that he only wants Iris there."

When the prince doesn't let go of my hand, I gently pull away and follow the anxious boy.

When I arrive at the throne room, I bow before the king. A sad feeling passes through me when I glance at the empty throne next to him.

"Iris," he says. "I have called you here because we have some very serious matters to discuss. From what I've heard, you have caused much trouble among the people. I don't think that it helps that my son is in love with you. You probably already know that this cannot happen. Therefore, you are no longer allowed to give the prince any reason to love you. You are forbidden to love him. If you tell him of this or disobey, you will be sent home, and you will not be allowed to come back, ever. Have I made myself clear?"

I swallow back tears and nod my head quickly.

"Good. Now be off."

I bow once more and leave. When I get back to my room, the prince is waiting for me.

"You can't be here," I say to him.

"What are you talking about?" He asks, confused.

"I think you should go."

"Are you crying?"

"Go!"

"I will be back."

He leaves angrily.

I go into my room and hold myself while I cry. I wish the prince was here to hold me. I need a friend.

I call on a maid and she sends for the one person I can talk to.

When Anita enters, she sees me and immediately hugs me. After a couple of seconds, she says, "Talk."

I explain everything to her from the kiss to the king's words. The whole time she listens and holds me.

"But you can tell anyone," I finally say.

"So you're actually going to do what the king said?" She asks in disbelief.

"What else can I do?" I throw my hands up in frustration.

"I know that you're not going to be happy with me for saying this, but I think that you need to figure out this one. Will you do what you want, or what you're supposed to do?"

She leaves me in shock. Great. Now hat am I supposed to do? I get ready to go to bed because it's starting to get late. I'm not hungry so I skip dinner.

That night, as I'm laying in bed thinking, I make a decision. I'm going to obey the king. I want to stay here as long as possible.

As I think about the decision I've made, there's a tapping on my window. I open it and standing there is the prince. By his face, I can tell something is wrong.

"You need to come with me. Now." He says.

I sigh and reluctantly say, " I really can't."

Then what he says next makes my heart drop. "It's Samuel."...

I follow the prince silently to another part of the castle. I shiver through my thin clothing and climb through another window. I recognize this as Samuel's room. The last time I was here was when he had to ask me about what to wear.

His face is pale and sweat is dropping down his face, yet he still shivers. My instincts kick in and I call for a cool washcloth and some herbal tea and chicken broth.

"What happened?" I ask.

The prince replies, "I came to check on him like I normally do and he complained about how his head aches. I laid him down in bed and he's continually gotten worse."

"Don't worry. I've seen worse than this. He just has a fever."

I take the washcloth and dab at his forehead. Then I make him drink some tea and eat some broth. I explain to the prince to do this throughout the day.

"Thank you Iris."

"Why didn't you just bring him to the doctor?"

"I trust you more and..." He hesitates. "I wanted to see you."

I shake my head and say that I have to go. We exchange goodbyes and I'm off. I run back in order to keep warm. But to my dismay, when I reach the window, I've been locked out. I sigh and head back to Samuel's room. When I get there I'm startled to see that the prince isn't wearing a shirt. I yelp and look away.

Hearing me, he laughs and says, "Like what you see?"

"Get a shirt on!" I reply.

After a couple of seconds he says that I can turn around. I do but he's still not wearing a shirt. I have to say, he is in good shape with abs and a chiseled back. He catches me staring and grins. I snap out of it and quickly turn.

"I caught you looking at me," he says. "So what do you need?"

"I got locked out of my room," I admit.

I peek over my shoulder and see that he's finally put a shirt on. I turn around and face him.

"You locked yourself out?" He says with that smirk of his.

"Yeah. Would you take me back?"

"Sure. Just give me a second."

He walks over to Samuel and gives him a kiss. This sends a pang of sadness through my heart as I remember my father. Once he's done, he leads me out of the room. We walk down hallways until we stop in front of my room.

"Thanks," I say.

"You're welcome," he responds.

I turn to go in and he grabs my arm.

"Iris..." He starts. "About earlier..."

I immediately stiffen up beneath his grip and say, "I need to go. Goodnight."He lets go of me as I pull away.

"Iris!"

When I'm in my room, I know that he's still there. I try to ignore him and go to bed....

The next few weeks are extremely busy. I'm still ignoring the prince. People are decorating for Christmas and I'm still trying to find out who The Blacks are. They haven't tried to attack anyone in over a month now.

One afternoon, I'm in the castle library because training ended early. I search through shelves and shelves of books for anything. All of a sudden, as I'm looking through a shelve, I'm drawn to a book. It is small and falling apart. As I open up the yellow pages, a folded up piece of paper falls out. I open it up and read the scribbled handwriting.

I reread it over and over again. The writing is shaky and there are spots where tears hit the paper. Eagerly, I open the journal. The first page is signed. I turn through page after page of information on The Blacks. There are drawings and lists of names. I read:

I have to show someone.

I run out of the library and ask a maid if she knows where the prince is. When she says that she saw him in the kitchen, I thank her and continue. I run straight into someone as they are leaving the dining a hall. I look up from the ground and it's the prince. I haven't had a real conversation with him in weeks. His eyes are emotionless. He helps me up and looks at the book I'm holding.

"What's that?" He asks.

"I found it in the library. I think it's important," I reply breathlessly.

He pages through it and his expression changes from nothing to awe.

"You found this in the library?"

"Yes."

"This is amazing! There's so much information." Then he frowns. "But it's probably not up to date. The numbers in here are from years ago."

"It's better than nothing. For months we haven't even known where to look."

"That's true. I'm going to go and get my father. You stay here."

He hands me the book and takes off in the opposite direction.

Then I hear clapping behind me. Slowly I turn and a man in a black hood is walking towards me.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"