Regrets

Prince Andre walked around the campus with an entourage of sycophants who were each eager to earn his admiration by holding the regular students at bay. The regular students looked at the prince as if they were seeing the King himself. To many of them seeing a member of the Royalty in person was only a distant dream. They had enrolled in the Academy just for opportunities like this one. Prince Andre was a master of using that celebrity to earn favors, riches, and promises of power. As he moved around the campus, he knew exactly where to find the right political powers.

Madeline was sitting in the Order of the Rose dining room when Prince Andre walked in, his eyes scanned the room and then locked on to her like a tiger seeing prey. He gave a heartwarming smile and then sauntered over to her like he was ignoring the many voices clamoring to speak with him and greet him. He looked down at her and said, "I have seen just about all of the most beautiful women in the Kingdom, but you, my dear, make all of them look like a pig's ear. Might I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

Madeline looked up at him like he was the stupidest man in the world. She dabbed her napkin at the edge of her mouth and replied, "Madeline Celeste d'Aumont." She offered her hand as was customary.

Prince Andre bent down and lightly kissed her hand and asked, "May I sit? I would like to get to know you. I believe I was once engaged to your younger sister, but they didn't tell me that she had an older sister that was as pretty as you are." He smiled and then said, "If I had known that, I would have just switched the engagement to you."

Madeline looked at him as if he were the living embodiment of stupidity. She had to close her mouth before she cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry, Prince Albert, but you are mistaken. The woman you found unworthy of marriage with was me and I do not have an older sister. I am flattered that you now feel that I am worthy to be your woman, but I will have to decline as I already have a fiancé, Duke Montfort's son, Guy de Montfort. It seems my father has already promised him a small fief, compliments of your highness."

Prince Andre smirked and then leaned close to her and whispered, "My dear, I can make a Duke's son vanish like..." He snapped his fingers, "If I decide that I want you to be my wife once more, it's as easy as going to my father and apologizing for my mistake." He chuckled and then said, "Lady Foix was fun for a while, but her body could only interest me for so long. You though, I like that snarl, you have a passion that goes beyond just your body. I can picture you as the Queen."

Guy and Olivier walked up just then, Olivier slapped Andre hard on the back and said, "Big brother, I didn't know you were coming to see me today." Prince Andre's eyes got big as they sat down, shortly after that Doreen and Alicia joined them. Prince Andre's eyes grew huge as he looked at the women at the table and the two ultra handsome men.

Guy reached out his hand and introduced himself, "Your Highness, Lord Guy de Montfort, a pleasure to meet you. Madeline and Olivier have had such memorable stories of you I feel like I have already met you."

Prince Andre looked at Olivier shocked to see him at the school first of all, and even more deeply shocked at how strong and handsome he had become. After taking his eyes off of Olivier he glared at the hand offered by Guy. He reached out to shake it and felt a grip of iron tighten around his own hand. He felt the bones in his hand start to crack under the pressure of the grip, he cried out, "Enough!"

Guy smiled and then chuckled, "Sorry, I don't know my own strength, I am used to this guy's grip." He jerked a thumb toward Olivier.

One of the men in Prince Andre's entourage came forward and slapped Guy with his glove dropping it to the floor, "You sir are a bully, I wish to challenge you to a duel!"

Guy looked at the man and asked, "And you are?"

"Sir Pierre de Willet," He smirked and said, "Champion of the King's sword tournament."

Guy grinned and said, "Alright, Sir Willet. I accept your challenge. Shall we all step out after lunch?" He raised his hand and signaled to the server, "I'll have the usual, please get Sir Willet here anything he would like on me, he won't be able to enjoy another meal after this one."

Sir Willet snorted derisively, "Braggart. It will be a pleasure removing such an eyesore from Prince Andre's sight."

Everyone at the table laughed aside from Prince Andre who was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. His back felt like he had been kicked by a horse just from Olivier's simple slap. His hand throbbed painfully from the handshake. He knew that these people were not ordinary. It wasn't just their extreme beauty, it was the aura that surrounded them. Like people who had come from a battlefield. Stone cold killers. Even the women at the table. He looked over at Alicia de Foix, a girl he had known before, she had changed so drastically since coming to the Academy that he would swear she had aged by ten years and become a heart-stoppingly beautiful woman. The look in her eyes though was dangerous. It was the look he had seen on battlefield knights and torturers.

After lunch, they walked out to the training ground as a group. Sir Willet stretched out and pulled out his sword swinging it around for practice. Guy took his sword off and handed it to Madeline and then picked up one of the wooden practice swords. Sir Willet cried out, "Are you daft man, I am using steel!"

Guy took a couple of practice swings and then said, "If I used a sword, I might get blood on my uniform, it's a pain to get out."

Guy stood in front of Sir Willet. He made an obscene gesture and then smiled. Sir Willet fumed and then called out, "En Guarde, villain!"

Prince Andre had known Sir Willet since he placed first in the last tournament, he had seen him fight against some of the best knights and swordsmen in the Kingdom, so seeing the man beheaded by a wooden sword while he held steel was so shocking he could hardly understand that he was holding a head in his hands. Guy chuckled and said, "Damn it, I still got blood on my pants."

Olivier laughed and said, "Guy, you weren't supposed to chop his head off before you dazzled us with some swordsmanship."

Guy shook his head, "I thought he would block the first swing, I guess he couldn't even see it, I really need to practice my fine control, I might hurt someone one of these days."

Madeline facepalmed and said, "Alright, the show's over. Your Highness, we all have classes, might you do us the favor of having this mess cleaned up? As I recall you can do it like..." She snapped her fingers.

Prince Andre watched as they walked away. His entourage all stood with mouths gaping. He still had the head of Sir Willet in his hands. The eyes moving around as if still alive. Prince Andre said aloud, "I regret many things right now."