Secrets

A carriage stopped in front of the Richards home at noon. Malia walked out of the house in a white dress with gold linings and a white umbrella. Her mother had made her dress that way. She had been curious about what her and the prince had talked about but Malia didn't give much details. Her mother had even asked if she liked the prince but she had quickly denied it.

The prince made her feel uncomfortable, like all her secrets were bare to the world but he did seem to like her. She knew because she had two friends who became a couple and the look the guy usually gave the girl was similar to the one the prince was giving her. But, she had more important things to worry about like her memories, her supposed powers that she didn't know she had and how to embrace those powers when they finally revealed themselves.

She entered the carriage and it rode into the outskirts of town. When the door opened, she stepped outside and stood in front of a meadow. The carriage rode away behind her and she walked forward and saw prince Nicholas waiting under a tree.

He smiled at her when she came close to him and said, "Thank you for coming. I'm glad you made it."

"I said I would didn't I? And I should be the one thanking you for willing to help me." she replied.

His smile faltered slightly. "Right."

She noticed, but continued. "You didn't have to help me but you did and for that I'm grateful."

He smiled and shook his head, then he led her through the meadow.

"We used to come here often when we were children. The others would run around playing but we would sit among the flowers and play our own little game." he smiled at the memory. "I really miss those days."

"It does seem familiar." Malia said as she had a flashback of children running around the field laughing while two children sat quietly among the flowers. The boy had really light blonde hair that looked almost white, and light blue eyes that could glow even in the dark. While the girl had red hair and eyes. If Malia saw any child looking like that, she would have considered her freakish looking.

"We even had a wedding once." Malia was broken out of her train of thoughts by his statement.

"A wedding?"

"Yeah. We were all playing under a tree when Elspeth suddenly suggested that we had a wedding and picked the two of us as the bride and bridegroom." prince Nicholas laughed at the memory then continued, "The girls put flowers in your hair and Annabel produced a veil out of nowhere. I guess she and Elspeth had planned it all along. Then Alastair acted as the minister, while Jacques was my best man. Adrian was away with father for one of his princely duties."

He stopped and turned to look at her. "It was the day we had our first kiss." Malia looked at him in surprise. "It happened under the tree you met me."

She turned and looked back at the tree. So she had been kissed before.

"And then what happened?" she asked.

"Well, our parents found out. Adrian told them but he was smart enough not to tell them about the kiss and neither did we. Out of naivety, I had told him hoping that he would be happy for me but he wasn't. Our father was angry but your parents thought it was hilarious. I told them that I was going to marry you properly again when the time was right." they both laughed then he continued "I was so sure of myself but my father said that I was trying to complicate things and that it wasn't fair to confuse you. I didn't understand what he meant but I later did." he paused and a pained expression flashed across his face.

"What happened?" Malia asked.

"When I was thirteen I found out that you had been betrothed to my brother when you were three. It all made sense then. I guess my brother knew or something along that line and that was why he didn't want me getting close to you. He was always so jealous and defensive."

Malia was shocked. Based on what he had told her, she assumed that if she were to be promised to anyone it would be him.

"I assumed that since Adrian was going to be king and our parents were close, they had wanted to become related through marriage so my brother had seemed like the right choice." he laughed bitterly.

They stopped in front of a lake at the darker side of the meadow. There was a weeping willow at the middle of the lake and flat stones that served as a solid path to the tree.

Nicholas held her hand and led her to the tree and they both stood underneath it. She dropped her umbrella on the ground and realised that he had not released her hand. He turned to her and held her other hand. Then he looked directly into her eyes.

"I didn't know how I felt about you then. All i knew was that we had a connection and when we thought you had died it almost destroyed me. I wasn't the same for a while. I became sure about my feelings for you when I found out about your betrothal and it hurt. What I'm trying to say is..."

He paused.

"I'm in love with you."