The Cursed King

[The Writing Owl]

Princess Evelyn Maria Forge sat in her room, staring out of a window. Book in hand, Evelyn, or Evel as she preferred to be called, couldn't believe that she was 18. Time seemed to have flown by so quickly, she couldn't even realize it. It seemed like just yesterday she was running around with the other servant boys, playing and laughing. She pushed a blonde strand of hair behind her ear. It had grown much longer than it was when she was younger, when she still sported that short hair. She had always roughhoused with the boys, told her father she was going to be a king just like him. Her mother set her right really quickly, telling her exactly how a princess should and shouldn't act.

Green eyes stared out at the training grounds. How she longed to hold a bow in her hands again. Her tan hand held onto the book slightly tighter as she watched the soldiers train for the day. Suddenly, the princess stood up from her chair, moving quickly over to the looking glass. The girl was short, though that didn't seem to detract too much from her graceful movements. Those were instilled after many lessons with her mother. She stared at the reflection, green eyes trained back at her. Today she was going to be given to the man who had saved her all those years ago. She couldn't remember what he looked like, who he was, or even if he had a name. All she remembered was that suffocating feeling and those strong arms pulling her out of the raging waters. She hadn't been able to go near deep waters such as those ever since.

Evel pulled her hair over her shoulder, starting to braid it. She should be happy, she supposed. She was getting married. Her mother and father seemed to like to remind her that, though her father often wore a scowl on his face at the mention of the whole event. However, he had said anything in the kingdom. He should be glad it wasn't his own wife that was taken, not just an heir.

"Princess Evelyn?" A guard knocked on the door, interrupting the girl's train of thought. "Someone has just arrived for an audience for your father. I was sent to get you. Are you ready?"

Evel quickly took the small tiara off of her vanity and put it on. "Yes, I'll be right there." She quickly moved to open the door and leave. It was time to face the rest of her life. After all, it was her birthday.

 

[Etoile Coquette]

Bran had walked this earth for many years now, ages and eons that blended, one into the other like ripples that collided. He had avoided people for most of it, hating the way humanity contradicted itself and despising the fact that he was alone in this world despite so many around him. He was the last and the first, he had seen it rise from the ashes and he would see it crumble into the dust whence it came. But over the millennia, he had grown tired of being alone and unspoken to except for a word in the street. Twelve years ago, he had rescued a young girl merely because it was his nature and in that instant, he had connected with another being whom he understood. So when he was given a single request, for anything in his kingdom, he asked for her.

The princess. The word was foreign to him, outlandish and petty. A woman should work and train such as any man, more so even but a woman with a title grew up with soft hands and soft hearts that held only tempered fire and not the inferno he had sensed in the heart of a six year old girl. And so Bran stood, in the stone halls and as eery as his namesake in the silent halls. They had looked upon his un-aged form with horror and the king almost looked horrified, though perhaps he was right to be so. He was unchanging, fixed in this form and perhaps, one day, would stay as this as his partner drifted into the heavens like laurels in the summer breeze.

He wanted to take this girl whom he remembered, from this place of shackles and limited freedom. A bird show have room to fly and a flower space to grow into its own. "Evelyn, my child. Meet Bran Winterwalker, the man who saved your life." He jumped as the King spoke and looked at the doorway awaiting the arrival of the princess whom he had saved. He himself could not be called beautiful but he was rugged, clean shaven but with unkempt Silvery blonde hair from travelling. Slim as a rake, his mama had once said and she had been right, as she always had been. She had always fussed over his unusual eyes, a strange green-blue mix entirely uncommon among their people.

 

[The Writing Owl]

So this was her rescuer. Evel curtsied to the man, pulling on the skirt of her simple green dress. Her mother definitely looked proud and pleased as she kept herself contained and proper. The girl's eyes told a completely different story. They held a curiosity for the man before her. Memories of the man, though fractured, came to mind as she tried to compare how she remembered him back then and how he looked now. She saw no difference, though that didn't seem to bother her as much as it did her father and mother when they saw him. She nodded to the man, "It is an honor to meet you, sir." She greeted before moving out of the curtsy and walking to stand at her father's side. Was this really the man that had saved her all those years ago? She watched him, wondering just who he was or why he had wanted her as his bride.

The Queen had always adored her daughter. Having a little girl to follow in her footsteps was a dream that she had even as a young child. However, things didn't go as planned when Evelyn decided she wanted to be like Daddy. She feared her little girl would distance herself from her, so she took extra measures to make sure that she taught the young princess exactly how she should act and how to be like Mommy. Besides, it was only proper if she was one day to rule the kingdom by the side of a prince or another man of high stature. She didn't expect this... man to enter the picture. She had begged, oh how she had begged her husband to not let their baby girl go. Who knew just what this man was? However, the king had made a promise and could not go back on his word.

Now seeing the man exactly the same as he was twelve years ago made the Queen's blood run cold. She was giving her precious daughter, her little princess, to this unknown man. It tore at her to have her daughter so far away from her. Evel, however, was intrigued and almost excited at the prospect of learning about the enigma of a man. He seemed not to age. Was that due to supernatural or medical reasons? She had never heard of him, nor had any of her family before the incident, so being betrothed to this man was like a new adventure she couldn't wait to embark on.

 

[Etoile Coquette]

"It is an honour to meet you here as well, Princess. I see you have grown much since I last visited your land. Have you fared well these years?" Bran felt strange, out of place in these great stone halls after so many years of the wild forests he inhabited and the lonely paths he had walked. Truly, he had interacted with more sentient beings today than he had in the past year or two alone.

Her eyes were curious, with that fiery nature he had known when she was younger but it was not shown in her demeanour. She was on fire within, a phoenix stuck in a human body, forced to hide her nature. Her curtsey was perfectly formed, at the exact right level but her eyes caught his, challenging customs and social norms to meet his gaze as an equal. He hated how kingdoms such as these treated women at times, like cattle or things only useful for securing deals or treaties. Even many years ago, when he had ruled, such things had been obliterated. He would not stand for it, for it was his mother eons ago that had ruled their country and she had called for equality, between everything and everyone.

With great courage, he mustered his voice and spoke out to the King, who he both respected for honouring his promise and subconsciously apologising for taking his daughter away from him, perhaps never to be seen again. The Queen's face was tight, with worry he thought and perhaps a righteous anger at him. "Twelve years have passed but never has my respect for your family dimmed, my Lord. I thank you for honouring the promises from so long ago. I have a proposition though."

He stepped towards the centre of the great throne hall, with great trepidation and though it was not obvious, no small amount of nervousness. "I propose postponing a marriage between your daughter and I, a probation period would replace it. One year, to allow her to choose whether she wishes to stay. In my culture, women have the say over marriages and such, they are the ones who choose their partners. As such, I extend such privileges to my future Queen."

 

[The Writing Owl]

"I have fared well." The girl responded, keeping her eyes on him. Evel raised an eyebrow at the man as he walked toward the center of the room. When he gave his proposition, she instantly became intrigued. Her? Having a say in who she married? Oh, she liked that idea. For once she could control a part of her life that was so very important. Her father seemed to like the idea too, knowing his daughter's nature. "I see... Any interesting proposition." The king leaned back in his throne, stroking his graying beard. "I will accept this. She will go with you for a year, to get to know you and your people. After the year is done, she will decide whether you two marry. Is all of this acceptable, Evelyn?" The king turned to his daughter, his only child, and waited for her response.

The idea just kept on getting better and better. First, she got to leave her home, an adventure in its own right, and second she got to actually know the man she was to be married to before she even got married to him, and finally she was going to choose whether she wanted to marry said man or not. The princess had to resist smiling as she turned to her father, nodding her head. "It is acceptable, Father. I will do as I am asked." Oh on the inside she was dancing for joy, though she contained it in front of her parents. A princess never shows silly emotions like that, after all.

The king nodded. "Then it is settled. You two will leave on the morrow, and in a years time will return here to tell us of your decision." Evel waited until her father was done talking and gave a nonverbal dismissal to quickly leave the room, practically running up to her own room. She needed time to properly show how excited she was. Her mother watched in slight disapproval, almost tempted to call to her that a princess does not run.

 

[Etoile Coquette]

"Thank you, Princess, for accepting my offer." Bran bowed low as the woman he would leave with on the morrow left the hall and he also left the hall mere moments after, heading to the suite that he had been allocated to for the night. Though, he had a lot of time til sundown and just as much time until the feast of the night. They were celebrating the engagement of the Kingdoms heir and the joining of two kingdoms. Though, no one had yet to even ask of his own kingdom but perhaps that was for the best. Tragic stories never made good dinner conversation.

He decided on a walk across the gardens in the castle grounds, elegantly fashioned and beautifully tended. He loved gardens where the plants were loved, loved the beautiful flowers that filled the garden with their scent. Though, in a tower in the castle above him was a far more exquisite flower. She was on fire, a flaming beauty whom he had such a great desire to get to know more fully.

Perhaps, she would understand his tribulations. She could help him but... Who was he kidding? She would leave as soon as she found out his past, found out the horrors and the curse that lay upon his household.

(Sorry its so short...)

 

[The Writing Owl]

(It's fine! I've seen WAY shorter. :) )

Once in the safety of her room, Evel let loose. She jumped around, giggling in excitement. A new adventure, and she didn't have to marry the man if she didn't want to! It was one of the few choices she was very happy to get. The princess had to go thank the man for allowing her this chance. That could wait until dinner, however. For now, she knelt and pulled something out from under her bed. It was a bow and arrows, something she had kept hidden from her mother. When she thought she could get away with it, she would go and practice. She hardly wanted to become out of practice in something she loved to do.

So the blonde checked around her surroundings, keeping an eye out before slipping out of her room, weapon in hand. She made sure to take a path that avoided as many servants, and possibly her parents, as possible. As she finally left the castle, she just needed to cut through the gardens and she would be home free! As the princess dashed through the gardens, she hadn't expected her possible future husband to be walking around. Most of the other servants seemed to avoid him, keeping away from the man that didn't seem to age.

Unwilling to get caught now, though she doubted this man would turn her in, Evel quickly put the bow and arrows into a nearby bush. "Good day, sir." She said when he turned, curtsying to the man. It was only polite to greet others when you saw them. She hoped to the high heavens that he would just ignore her for now and continue on with his wandering in the gardens.

 

[Etoile Coquette]

(I am sorry I haven't replied, I've been very ill! I will get a post out as soon as possible!)

 

[The Writing Owl]

(It's fine! Take your time! :D)