The Two of Us

Maybe

Alice had spent most of her time at the castle on her own, in her room. She would have rather been lonely than walk into Peter and Elizabeth two days after their wedding. It was going to be at least a week or two of celebrations, and it was going to be a hard time for Alice.

Susan, of course, knew it was going to be that way. The two girls were walking in the garden in the late afternoon. It was almost time for another meal, but Alice had wanted to wander around with her best friend for a while. Just to have at least one positive part of her day.

"So, have you found anyone you fancy? Any suitable men you've encountered?" Susan asked.

Alice paused, smiling to herself for a bit. "Well, I wouldn't say so too soon. But there was this one man."

She thought about the man from the other night. The kind man who had saved her from a pervert. His smile, his bright eyes. His gentle voice.

Susan stopped walking, a wide grin spreading across her face. "Who is it?! Tell me, tell me!"

"I don't even remember his name... Butㅡ"

"You've slept with him?!"

Alice's jaw was slightly agape. "What? No! Susan, how could you say it like that!" she straightened up, rolling her eyes at her friend. "Stop making assumptions."

"How could you forget his name, Alice?" Susan was laughing, "That's one thing you have to remember about a person you meet."

Alice shrugged. "It happened way too fast... I haven't seen him since that night."

Somewhere, deep inside, Alice felt like she wanted to see him again. Almost desperately. She wanted to get to know him, and talk to him again.

* * *

Alice sat by the pond, a daisy in her hand. She was crouching, her eyes glued to the ripples she was creating by swirling the flower around in circles. She was supposed to be collecting daisies, but got herself distracted.

"You're drowning the daisy."

Alice turned her head in surprise. It was the King from the other night! She tried to hide her shock, her eyes finding its way back to its original focus.

"Well, I'm not causing any damage to it. I don't see the problem..."

"It's like saying humans don't hurt." Charles crouched down beside Alice, taking the flower out of her hand, lifting it to eye level. "It may not look like it, since they're so good at hiding it."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to say?"

The King shook his head, letting out a chuckle. "Nevermind. It's just this stupid thing my sister used to say. Sorry."

"Oh, no need to apologize. And it's not stupid." Alice looked at him, "You have a younger sister?"

"A late younger sister." Charles corrected.

Alice looked at him with sorrow, suddenly apologizing. He shook his head and smiled. "She loved flowers."

Alice stood up from her position by the pond, and took a seat beside Charles on the stony bench. It seemed as if Charles was going to tell her a story, making her feel like she was special enough to hear about someone he had loved and lost.

"She was only eight when our castle was invaded. I was fifteen, then. My father trained me to fight, so I could fight alongside him and the other men. Because we were so busy in battle, we hadn't realized that my sister was gone." He covered his face with a hand, shaking his head. "Everything happened so fast. I was so stupid. I should have been looking out for her, but instead, I had been playing blind hero."

Alice could only listen to his story. She didn't know what it was like to have a sibling, but she definitely knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. Losing someone from death, and losing someone from love.

Alice realized that Peter had been in her head the whole time. When Charles had been speaking about his loss, she thought of hers. Peter. He was her loss.

"How about we go out for a ride?" Charles offered.

Alice nodded without hesitating. Out riding with a handsome young King. Right now was probably the right time to find someone new. Someone new to love. Maybe it was finally the right time to fix the hole in her heart that Peter had created.