The King with Six Friends

Whitstone Palace

(Four Years Earlier)

Erik waited anxiously outside the ornate doors to a drawing room. He shifted the bouquet of roses between his hands. After years of working to pay off his father's debt at Castle Brackhill, he was finally going to see Kiera again. He rocked back and forth on his feet. It had been so long, he was nervous to even talk to her. He couldn't expect her to be exactly the same as he remembered.

He wanted to propose to her. It might've been forward, but he didn't want to waste a moment waiting. This was his chance. He checked the ring in his pocket again, just to make sure it was still there.

After waiting for at least a half-hour, the doors were opened by two guards inside. Before they were even fully open, Erik saw her ivory hair framing her pale face. He went forward and bowed with the roses hidden behind his back.

Kiera turned to him and grinned politely. "Erik, how are you? It's been too long."

Erik sat down on the couch across from her. "I'm wonderful. It has been too long." He gave her the flowers, which she graciously accepted and smelled. She set them on the center table in front of them. "You look beautiful." he complimented.

She smiled out of the corner of her mouth. "Thank you." She kept her eyes on the roses. Her hands folded tightly on her lap.

"Well-" Erik glanced around the room- "The palace is still incredible. It almost seems bigger since the last time I was here."

"It's still the same," Kiera said, blankly staring at the flowers. The smile was gone from her face. She looked empty.

Erik awkwardly cleared his throat. "I tried to beat your father's trials. I guess I couldn't get over that cliff. Pity, we did so well in the first one."

"That one's a tough one," she mumbled.

"But I'm sure that shouldn't matter. You're still allowed to choose who you want to marry, right?"

Kiera had turned her head so he could almost see the back of her hair. She was avoiding his gaze.

"Kiera, are you well? Is there something wrong?" Erik reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. Her eyes narrowed.

"We shouldn't have met. I'm sorry." She stood to leave and Erik stood with her.

"Did I say something wrong?" He went to follow her and she suddenly whirled around to face him.

"No, you said everything perfectly. It was exactly how all the other suitors said it-" Kiera stormed at him, backing him up against a wall- "Almost word-for-word. Do you all use the same script? Is that how every helpless damsel you come across falls under your seduction? You're all frauds!"

Erik gaped, trying to find his words at the confrontation. She wasn't talking to him. She was talking to all the other men who had come into this room before him. "Kiera, I know you. You didn't act like this when-"

"Getting violated by three men in the same month changes how you act," she snapped, "A dead brother means a younger sister's auctioned off to marry and make children with a man she doesn't even know because a kingdom needs a king, not a queen. So don't you dare lecture me on how I should act, Erik!"

"I wasn't-"

"You're exactly like all of them. Get out!" she bellowed. "I could never love you!"

Erik suddenly felt himself being grabbed by the arms and hauled out of the room. His feet scuffed the floor as he was dragged into the corridor by the two guards- away from Kiera.

She hadn't even given him a chance. After waiting all these years, she'd rejected him in less than a minute. She hated him before she even saw him. He was ready to give her anything she wanted and she threw him away.