Chapter 23: Surprise!

No matter how much fury was obviously bubbling under the surface of the crown prince's façade, the king couldn't deny that it WAS more advantageous to marry a quality woman to his own son than another noble, even if that other noble was in his prized son's corner.

"Proceed, Alpheus. I will send someone to make the necessary arrangements with Lord du Pont," the king said tiredly, rubbing his face. "Everyone else, as you were."

Gossip sprung up immediately but the perpetrators made sure I couldn't hear since I was right there, frozen in place.

I curtsied automatically when the king and his entourage left before turning robotically towards my new fiancé. He seemed pretty pleased with himself but his smile fell when he saw the look on my face.

"Please excuse us, I need a moment with my fiancée," Alpheus said to everyone present before ushering me to a more secluded part of the garden that was still within others' sight so we couldn't be accused of misbehaving.

"What on earth was that about?!" I exploded as quietly as I could manage. "You lied to me!"

"Ah, technically, I didn't because you never asked if I was a prince," he said sheepishly. "Surprise!"

Surprise? That was his idea of a surprise?! Surprises were supposed to be pleasant! This was almost as bad as being trapped by the crown prince's group.

I scowled at him. "You knew the last thing I wanted was to be involved in palace politics and yet you dragged me into this anyway. How could you?"

I was furious at being tricked but I was also worried about the plot progression of the novel. Lady Catherine du Pont wasn't even a character and now she was supposed to marry the love interest?

What about Marcy? What about exposing Prince Sigmund's schemes and providing more for the lower classes?

Prince Alpheus and Marcy were supposed to work under the direction of the not-actually-so-bad second prince Franz who eventually takes the throne to make the kingdom a better place and live happily ever after.

And he claimed before that he wanted to run away to another country with me? What on earth was happening?!

He looked slightly abashed.

"I meant what I said in the bakery that day. My brothers are the ones with political power, not me. I have the title of prince but am little more than a figurehead that only shows up at fancy events. Father and Sigmund want to take what little influence I have away completely because they're afraid I'll take Franz's side against them.

"I have no desire for any of that. I just want to live my life in peace, away from all the trickery and nuances of the palace. Your brother is friends with Sigmund's right hand man, is he not? That small detail will be enough to make them think your family will side with Duke Orla, and by extension, Sigmund. They will leave us alone and that is when we can make our escape."

All the fight drained out of me. It sounded like I was a chess piece in all this after all. One that happened to benefit if we did in fact manage to flee the country.

"So you're using me too?"

Alpheus's face turned serious. He reached out hesitantly before grasping my forearms.

"Katie…I did this because I want us to both get what we want. I have no desire for power or scheming or anything like that. I just want us to live peacefully."

I zeroed in on the word 'us.' The way he said that sounded a lot like the romantic kind of 'us.' Like if we did manage to escape, that he expected us to stay together afterwards instead of forging our own lives.

"Do you…like me? Did you drag me into this just because you like me?"

"Well, I can't deny that you are ridiculously charming but I wouldn't say I 'dragged you into this' because of that."

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I didn't realize at the time, but Al was lying through his teeth. That was exactly why.

"We have similar situations and goals; we may as well work together."

"Ridiculously charming?" I asked flatly. That didn't describe me at all.

He smiled for the first time in this whole conversation.

"I can't think of any other way to describe someone who cares more about raspberry tarts than their freedom in the heat of the moment and frolics through the tide like no one is watching."

My cheeks burned. How were those things charming? Clearly they were humiliating and awkward.

Even if I put that aside…could I really disrupt the novel this way? Running off with the hero would change everything. What exactly had changed? He hadn't wanted to run off with Marcy.

They stayed and cleaned up the problems in the palace together. How did I factor into this?

He had said he wanted to run before but had no way to go…did he change his mind because of me? How had Marcy convinced him to stay while I convinced him to go?

"Prince Alpheus…"

He frowned. "Oh, don't change the way you call me now. I like being Al just as you like being Katie."

That was completely different! Catherine wasn't even my name!

I coughed. The name seemed much heavier coming out of my mouth now.

"Al. Can you promise me that we'll go our separate ways when this is over with nothing owed? I want to be able to live my life any way I want once we get out of the country. I won't agree to this otherwise."

I had no intention of being shackled to a prince, even a funny one, forever. I wanted to go adventuring and find some semblance of a career and maybe someday fall in love with a regular person.

All expression left his face and he released my arms. "If that's what you want."

Good. Marcy should be coming to the palace soon. I had to find a way to get them to work together to expose Prince Sigmund's schemes and benefit the kingdom at the very least.

As long as the outcome was more or less the same it would be okay, right? If he spent enough time with Marcy, he would fall for her like he was supposed to and could divorce me peacefully and send me off to another country in search of my own fortune.

"It is. Pinky promise."

His nose crinkled in confusion as I held up my pinky finger. I needed to be better about explaining things.

"Hold up your little finger like mine. We need to link them together. It's a binding non-paper contract."

"Oh, alright." He linked his pinky through mine and we shook on it. The deal was struck.

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