A BRIDE FOR THE PRINCE

Duty Above All [I]

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Love is a strange sensation. It happens so unexpectedly, the more we try to run from it, the faster we are consumed by it

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“What do you mean you won't have s*x with me?” Alexander asked tugging at the sheets, It received an unwanted reaction from her as she recoiled from the bed, finding solace at the other side of the room. The farthest point from him. The aura in the room was tensed, at the slightest mistake from either party, all hell would break loose. Both of them threaded with caution, this wasn't how they expected the night to go. Not in the slightest way. Alexander fumed on the inside, everything was set out, he can't afford to get sidetracked and this was a huge setback. The biggest.

“I don't want my first time to be like this. Not with you. I'm not having s*x with you.” Unlike her usual tender voice, she sounded stern, her voice reeked with seriousness, so much that it frightened him, his courage crumbled and Alexander knew nothing he said or did could convince her otherwise, the little he could do was a gap at her in the utmost confusion.

Moments later, he replayed her words in his head, the first it sounded absurd and after the second, he gasped in sheer shock. One word didn't sit well with him, his face cringed at the slightest thought of the truth behind that phrase, the indirect meaning of her words. His brows shot up and his eyes squeezed shut refusing to believe. He knew better. She was playing him because it can't be. He must have heard wrong. f**k. It just wasn't possible, A virgin. A Virgin Queen.

~THREE WEEKS EARLIER~

A sunny afternoon in Vermont. Prince L Alex after several hours decided to heed the call of his parents.

“Good Afternoon Prince Alex.” The guard greeted with a small courtesy. Alexander always wondered why they acted so cliche and old schooled. This was the twenty-first century, courtesy's shouldn't be a thing anymore. He made a mental note to make a decree about it when he became a thing, maybe a decade or two from now, three or four he wasn't prepared for that in any way. Being called Prince was enough, his dad could have the throne. He just wanted to have fun and enjoy being a young adult. Deciding not to sound rude, He offered him a slight nod then moved on into the palace completely. He never took time to admire anything about it. After living here his whole life, the place got tiresome. The huge building. The dream of everyone, but to him, it was a total nightmare. The place was a fortress. It was designed to keep unwanted guests out. Since he was ten, Alexander made a note to learn every corner of the place, he loved to explore, break curfew and escape giving his parents and the guards a hard time. He was a rebel. Always had been. The rebel prince. The nickname was given after his third successful escape attempt and it grew on him.

Alexander strode past the mirror in the big room. Suddenly, he paused to examine his outfit. His mother would have a field day explaining the countless things that were wrong with his pants alone. He knew that much. She hated his usual dark outfit, coloured clothes made her feel better but dark clothes gave him a sense of power, making them his first choice every time. He wasn't the one for kingly attires or anything, those were his dad's choice. According to him, the king looked like a caged monkey.

Alexander was a young adult, not like any old people. He preferred joggers, T-shirts, unstyled hair and flat shoes. It made his parents mad with anger, his mom's yells and rants rang at the back of his head and he couldn't skip the look on their faces each time he arrived with that. The dignitaries didn't seem to have a problem, his mother on the other hand seemed to believe that our clothes mattered a lot. It didn't matter what they were making me that night. He stiffened a giggle at my thoughts.

Due to a party last night, the after-effects of the alcohol was still prevalent, his mother and her rants would only add to him so he made a detour for my room instead. I'd pick a more “proper” Outfit. Just for today.

Once inside, he shut the door behind and examined the room. No, it wasn't messy. He had countless maids to do that for me. He didn't have to worry about clean or messy laundry. He picked a plain white shirt then black pants, simple. Just the way she'd like it. A smirk crossed his features, c*****g his head sideways to get a closer look. Alexander Richard could pull off any outfit. Even a sack of potatoes would look good on him. He had certain features. His height, jawline, blue eyes, and charming smile. He also had a bad-boy aura surrounding his body. A girl magnet in summary.

“It'd just be for a few hours.” A friendly reminder at the back of his head while he got changed and ruffled my hair. She couldn't have everything now. Glancing at the mirror, Prince Alex rolled his eyes at the pathetic reflection. Black was the best, but white didn't look so bad either, just not his style. Regardless of how the book portrayed princes, he was f*****g charming. Everyone knew that much.

The king and queen had requested to see me and him a few hours ago. Being a rebel, he already had a couple of ideas about what they wanted to talk about. He did three things recently, it was only a matter of time before it came to bite him in the ass. The first was flirting with one of the maids, the second was making out with her and I'm sure you had an idea of the third. In his defence, he used protection and made her keep her mouth shut. Then again, his father was King. He probably found out one way or another.

They couldn't exactly ground him and even if they did, he'd sneak out either way. Alexander was Twenty Five, they couldn't exactly chain him to the ground. He was a prince with obligations to fulfil, his life was planned out but that was all bull. He hated being told what to do.

The concept didn't appeal to him. For example, the dressing. Coloured clothes were silly, black went with everything which was why it was his first choice no matter what. It sucked that it was a problem with his parent's.

Changed in new clothes, he stole a final glance at the mirror then strode out of the room. It was time to find out what this was all about. While walking out of the room, he muttered a prayer for it to pass quickly. He had a party with Josh tonight. Josh Kendall was his best friend, of course, he was royalty as well. His parents didn't let him associate with commoners, another crap he had to put up with. Once again, he made another mental note to change that concept, so much to do once he ascended. At the bottom was to make the guards were jerseys. Being King would be amazing in some aspects.

Unlike Alexander, Josh wasn't an only child. He didn't have many obligations like him. He had free will, he could do anything. Safe to say, he was the black sheep, always causing trouble and arousing suspicions. He was living the life Alexander dreamed of. Alexander envied him greatly, He had his family reputation to protect whereas Josh could cruise all night without a care in the world. If he so much as spent a night out of the palace, his parents would rain hell the next day, call every officer they could get their hands on and create a literal manhunt for him. Once they placed a bounty with a one million dollar reward. I know his absurd that sounded but they treated him like an egg. He switched his gaze to writing on the wall, sighing afterwards.

“Duty comes first,” He read out loud. The sacred phrase. His golden rule. At some point, he had it engraved in his room. He looked upon it before going to bed. His reminder. He was taught the implications since childhood, breed with the rule and what it meant, he was made to understand that no matter what duty came first. Duty. Duty. It stuck at the back of his head. At some point, it became tiresome of hearing the sand thing over and over again but Alexander could do little or nothing, the latter in most cases. He had royal blood. There was nothing he could do in the end. Duty above all. The typical life of the Prince of Vermont.

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