Bucky Barnes Imagines Vol. 2

Meant To Be Yours*

The sun was hanging high over the tiltyard, indicating that it was time for the joust to commence. You sat next to your father, his royal majesty King Steven Rogers, observing the knights lined in front of the tilt barrier. On the other side of your father was your mother, her royal majesty Queen Natasha Romanoff.

The cover of the dais provided you with some degree of shade from the summer sun, but the heavy velvet of your dress gave you no reprieve from the heat. If it wasn't for your royal duty, and interest in the outcome of today's joust, you would have been spending your day swimming at the secluded pond you loved to frequent. It was where you met the man you hoped to marry. If things went in your favor today, your dream would become reality.

Your mother and father had been presenting suitor after suitor to you, but none were ever good enough. They finally forced your hand by announcing their intentions to hold a joust where the prize was your hand in marriage. Your father was open-minded enough to realize that sometimes being born a prince didn't mean that the man would make a good king. The man he entrusted his kingdom to needed to prove that he was worthy to hold the title of king. An invitation was extended to the subjects in your father's kingdom, including Sir James Barnes. His participation was the only joy you were taking from this competition.

You and James met two summers ago when you both decided to go for a mid-summer swim. Sneaking away from the palace wasn't easy, but you had managed to evade your ladies in waiting. When you came upon the clear pool of water, you undressed to your undergarments and waded into the cool water to your waist. The peace you felt was quickly replaced by humiliation and fright when a loud splash sounded from your left and a man emerged from beneath the water. Your eyes locked with his and your arms flew up to wrap around your breasts while the dark-haired man flushed with embarrassment and quickly turned his back on you.

He began to babble as he turned around, sputtering out apologies and begging you to have mercy as his intrusion was accidental. Instead of leaving the water, you sunk below the surface and splashed his back with a wave of water. James twisted to look over his shoulder, his mouth hanging open in shock, and found you grinning at him as you swam away. His lips curled into a smile and he swam after you. The two of you spent the day swimming and you ended it with a promise to return the following day. That was the day you realized that James was meant to be your prince.

Over the last two years, you and James had been meeting in secret and you had both fallen in love with the other. When your father announced the joust and that you would be marrying the victor, you wasted no time in finding James. He was already a skilled jouster, but he spent every spare moment he had training. Letting you slip through his fingers and marry someone else wasn't an option.

James was confident in his abilities. There were no other knights that matched his skill, not even Sir Brock Rumlow. However, Brock was power hungry. Knowing that a marriage to the princess would result in him one day becoming king was sure to feed his desire to win...and Brock wasn't a noble man.

The competitors stood in a line in front of the dais as the summer sun beat down from overhead. James was at the end of the line right across from you. Your eyes scanned down the long line of men and stopped when you came to James. His eyes were trained on your father as the crowd waited on him to start the joust. The respect he showed your father and the kingdom was one of the things you loved most about him. There was never any doubt that his wit, charm, humility, courage, and fairness would make him anything more than a capable leader. The kingdom would be lucky to call him their king.

Your father stood to speak to the crowd once the chatter had died down. He welcomed everyone and announced the competition rules. Finally, he held his hand out to you and you joined him at the front of the dais. When he reiterated the prize was your hand in marriage, your eyes cut to James. The light blue of his eyes reminded you of the pond you first met at. He winked at you and smiled confidently.