Forced to marry the crown prince

The First Night

Rafe:

    After I told her about our plans tomorrow she seemed to trust me a little more, she wasn't so rude. I had almost forgot that she was still soaking wet, "wait here I told her as I walked across the  room and pulled a large blanket I never used out of a trunk at the foot of my bed, when she saw what I had the walked towards me, "Here you're wet and freezing" I wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. she grabbed the corners of the blanket and pulled it around her tighter, she must be freezing, where on earth was that stupid servant boy and what was taking him so damn long? I looked at Kathryn, her nose and cheeks were red and her bottom lip had started shaking, I could tell she was trying to hide it from me. I shook my head, "what were you thinking standing out in the rain like that?"  she turned towards the balcony and walked to a window next to the doors, "Rain is relaxing, when it rains I've always thought of it as God sharing my sorrows, the rain makes me feel comforted, less alone."  "Kathryn the next time you want to feel less alone, call for me or your maid, but do not stand in the freezing cold rain do you understand?" I slowly walked towards her, she shifted her weight and I could tell that she was nervous, "I dont see what the problem is with a little rain, I am completely fine" I placed my hands on her shoulders and gentle stroked them, "Your freezing cold, thats what the problem is, do not stand in the rain again, that is an order do I make myself clear?" she nodded softly and looked out the window again. just then there were two sharp knocks on the door, "Enter" I said turning to see who it was that was entering. Donald entered holding the two dresses I sent him to get, he walked up to the two us and handed me the dresses. I handed the dresses to Kathryn and she walked towards the bedroom to change. I turned to Donald, "Perfect, now go collect her belongings and bring them here to be unpacked, also order dinner to be ready in a half an hour we'll be down shortly after that"  he bowed deeply and left. I walked into the bedroom to check on Kathryn but by time I entered she was already changed and came out of behind the folding screen dressed and dry. "that was fast" I said looking at her puzzled. She smiled and laughed. the sound of her laugh was nice to hear. it was much better that her attitude. I chuckled with her for a moment. I didn't want her to think that I was weak. "I guess I change faster that I thought" her voice was soft and peaceful she walked back over to the window, she must really enjoy the rain. she was fiddling with the necklace around her neck, I could tell she was deep in thought. "we have about a half an hour before dinner will be ready, come with me I'll show you around a little before then" her hand never left her necklace as she walked over to me, I reached my hand out to her and with her free hand she held my hand. I weaved her hand through my arm and we walked out of the room together. I was relieved that she calmed down, maybe taming her was not going to be so hard after all. Now we had less than a week until we were married. after that she would be completely mine and I was one step closer to becoming King. That was the goal after all, My father passed a law after he took over the world, a rule that effected me and every prince in line for the throne to come after us. In order to become King two things needed to be accomplished, One we had to be marries and two we needed an heir to out throne.I guess my father thought that was going to be the best way to ensure his line never ended, I didnt mind of course, all I needed to do now was get Kathryn pregnant. That was the easy part, the hard part was going to be getting Kathryn to fall in line. I always new I would marry Kathryn, it was what my father wanted when we were children, Kathryn's Father was my dads closest friend, some might say he was my dads only friend, so when her father refused my dads proposal to have the two of be married when we were of age my dad was furious, from there things went down hill fast, Kathryn's father tried to flee the castle but when my father found out his plans he was furious and had her father killed. he made me do it for comedic effect I guess. he thought it was fitting to have me kill him and then marry his daughter. to this day that has been his biggest regret in life. 

Kathryn:

    There was something about Rafe, something that was different, he wasn't as bad as the stories I've heard, there were times he was rude and controlling but he wasn't a monster, he was concerned when he found me outside. If he was really a monster would he give me one last day of a normal life? There were moments when his temper would take over and he scared me so much but then there were moments like this, moments where he was gentle, moments where he gently took my hand, moments where he was kind and soft. I remembered when we were kids he told me one day he was going to marry me, we would play around at times pretending that we were the King and queen. I chuckled thinking of the memory. Rafe stopped walking and looked at me. "Whats so funny?" I looked him in the eye, "oh nothing"I said laughing again, I started walking but Rafe pulled me back to him, amused. he was smiling at me, "No, tell me whats so funny" I could tell he was curious and amused I laughed and looked at the floor, "I was just thinking about when we were kids, you would always tell me about how one day you would marry me. I just thought that it was funny that after all these years your actually doing it" he was actually doing it. why? why me of all the people? I looked to the ground wondering why he chose me, I mean what was so special about me, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. I started playing with my necklace as I dozed off into deep thought. "Kathryn" Rafe waved in front of my face and my attention flooded back to him. "Why did you pick me?" he looked shocked "Of all the girls in the world why me, there's nothing special about me so why me?" he laughed and cupped my cheeks with his hands looking me right in the eye, "What is wrong with you? Kathryn Everything about you is special to me, You are the most beautiful person I've ever seen, you have the heart of an angle, your smile brings me joy, Any man would be lucky to have you as their wife. And I never want to hear you say that again you hear me" he started stroking my cheek with his thumb, I put my hand on one of his hands and smiled at him. his eyes were locked on mine. I felt butterflies in my stomach, I didn't know what this feeling was, I've never felt this way with anyone before, I couldn't tell if my body was warning me or not. his smile changed and I could't tell what he was thinking, I laughed, nervous and dropped my hand fro his, his thumb was still stroking my face, "what?"  he shook his head still smiling, "You are so beautiful Kathryn" without warning he drew me into a deep kiss. I was shocked,  I've never been kissed before this was my first time. my heart skipped a beat and for a moment I let him kiss me. I closed my eyes. before I knew it I was seeing Rafe kill my father all over again, I pulled away and shook my head, I couldn't stop the tears, they rolled down my face too fast to stop them. Rafe looked at me confused, "whats wrong" he said, I took a step back shaking my head, "I can't" I couldnt stop crying my knees felt weak and I didnt know how long I was going to be able to hold myself up, my breathing quickened and my heart was racing,  he took a step closer to me and cupped my face again. I looked up at him terrified he would be angry but he just started wiping away my tears. he pulled me into a hug and started stroking my hair, "there there" he said "It's okay" I started crying harder and my knees gave out, Rafe caught me and swept me into his arms. I tried to resist but I was to weak to put up a fight. he started walking back towards his quarters, I buried my face into his shoulder and cried some more. I was exhausted, emotionally and physically, was he walked us back towards the room I slowly drifted off to sleep in his arms. How did my life come to this, how did I end up engaged to the man that killed my father? I had to find a way out and fast.

Rafe:

    On our way back to my rooms I finally felt her calm down in my arms. I remembered the kiss and the feel of her lips on mine. I could tell that she let it happen at first, I didnt know why she pulled away though. If I had to guess she probably remembered that i killed her father. I had to make her understand that I had no choice, maybe then she would love me, maybe then we could move past this whole thing. I told the guards on post outside my quarters to tell my father that we wouldn't be down for dinner and send for dinner to be sent up to the room. After the guard left the other guard opened the doors for me and I carried Kathryn over to one of the chairs by the fire place, I whispered her name to wake her up and she jumped. I set her down on the chair and she rubbed her eyes, I could tell she was exhausted. I brought her the night dress that Donald brought up earlier, she smiled slightly and stood up taking the dress from me, she went into the other room to change. A knock on the door drew my attention away from Kathryn"enter" I said looking to see who it was, Donald entered carrying our dinner, I pointed to the table and he walked over and set it down, as he set both plates on opposite sides of the table I looked back towards where Kathryn had went to change,she was taking longer than last time. I looked over at Donald as he finishes setting everything up. He bowed "Is there anything else you require of me Sire" I cleared my thought, "actually there is, Did you get all of Kathryn's belongings brought here?" "Not yet sire, they are on there way from her former home and will be here shortly, I can have them unpacked later tonight My Lord" I walked over towards the table and sat down, "No not tonight, Tomorrow morning after breakfast will be better, That'll be all you may retire for the evening" he bowed again, "Thank you Sire" I waved him away and he left, shortly after Kathryn walked into the room, I stood up and walked over to her. she smiled slightly and looked towards the table then back at me, "If it's all right with you I'm not very hungry at the moment I'd just like to retire to my chambers for the evening" I shook my head and she looked confused, "Kathryn your not getting your own chambers, you are to stay and sleep with me until we get married, then we'll move into bigger chambers. she looked shocked, she looked towards the bed and rapidly shook her head, I dont want to share a bad with you" she was panicking and I couldnt help but find it amusing. "Don't worry Kathryn, its just sleeping, nothing else, I wont do anything until our wedding night. she looked at me scared half to death and I just smiled. "I promise" she looked at me then the bed, then back at me. "Fine, but I'm really tired do I have to wait for you to go to sleep?" I laughed and walked up to her drawing her into a hug, "Of course not you go to sleep I'll eat dinner then come join you" I let her go from the  hug and watched her walk towards the bed and crawl in. With that I turned and went to eat. dinner today was just chicken soup, I didn't care much for soup so I didn't eat much. When I finish I quickly washed up and changed. I walked up to the bed and Kathryn was fast asleep. for the first time today she looked calm and relaxed. I climbed into bed and laid on my side admiring her features, she truly was a beauty. I stroked a piece of hair off of her face and she jumped with the contact. all of a sudden she started breathing heavily, her hand started twitching, her face no longer looked calm, she looked scared. I saw a tear roll down her cheek, "No no please no" she said as she whipper her head around. "Dad No, dad please don't leave me, don't leave me" she was having a nightmare, a nightmare about me killing her dad I got up and cupped her face with my hands, "Kathryn, Kathryn wake up its just a dream" she didn't wake up she just kept crying, "Daddy please come back to me, I love you" my heart broke for her, i shook her again "Kathryn wake up, wake up" she jumped awake, she was shaking, she looked around the room, I've never seen her so scared, "hey, hey, hey its okay, it was just a dream" she looked at me and scooted away trying to get away from me "no, no, no stay away from me, please stay away, don't hurt me" at this point she was balling, "Kathryn I would never hurt you, you have to believe that" I moved closer to her and put a hand on her leg, I reached my other hand towards her face, she flinched but I still wiped the tears off of her cheeks. "I'm sorry" her voice was shaking and quiet. "Kathryn, it's okay, I'm right here, it was only a dream, your safe, tell me what it was about" I don't know why I asked I already knew what it was about. "It was nothing" she said shaking her head "Like you said just a bad dream" I shook my head and looked at her right in the eyes and stared her down. "Fine, The past week I've been dreaming about the day you killed my father" she laid back down on her side and closed her eyes. "You know Kathryn, I didn't have a choice" this got her attention, she opened her eyes and sat back up. "what do you mean" I could tell she was confused, I figured telling her I had to might just make her more comfortable with me and more trusting. I took a deep breath and looked at her. "My father forced me, he told me I had to, he threatened someone close to me" she looked scared and confused, she looked at her lap and started fiddling with the blankets. "why, why would your father make you, they were the closest of friends. and who on earth did he threaten that made you feel like you had to kill my father?" I looked at her but she was still fiddling with the blankets, I lifted her chin to face my, "Kathryn, he threatened to hurt you. my father wanted to arrange our marriage for your 16th birthday but your dad didnt want us to get married, he told my father he wanted you to fall in love and choose who married" she took a deep breath "Me? he threatened me? why?" her breathing quickened. She was panicking, i grabbed her shoulders and stroked them. "Kathryn calm down, take deep breaths" I could tell that she was trying, taking breaths, but there must be so many questions running through her head. 

Kathryn:

    My heart was pounding, he killed my father to save me, and his father threatened me to get him to kill my father. there was too much, I had so many questions, why would his father threaten me when he wanted us to get married? why would he still decide to kill my dad? why was he just now deciding to tell me? I looked up at him fighting tears, "what was your dad going to do to me?" he shifted his weight, "Are you sure you want to know" I shook my head trying to take breaths. he took a deep breath and let it out before talking again, "He was going to kill you, he told me I had the choice. either I killed your father or he'd kill you"  wow the king was going to kill me. I didn't know what to think. I moved and leaned up against the backboard of the bed. he moved next to me and put his arm around me, I leaned my head against his shoulder and started crying, he kissed my forehead, "I'm so sorry Kathryn, I'm so sorry" I couldn't say anything the tears were too much. I just sat there and cried. everything made a little more sense now, not a lot but a little. I never understood why he killed my father but now that part makes sense, I still dont understand why the king wanted him dead but that was for another day. My eyes couldn't stay open I slowly fell asleep crying on Rafe's shoulder, but for the first time I felt safe in his arms. For the first time I was slightly okay with marrying him, for the first time I felt hope.