A Knight's Princess

Will Never Be a Crown Prince

Chapter 9:

(James POV)

I was riding back to Corinthia to see Clio the next day. She seemed so nervous about talking to her mother and I wanted to make sure everything was alright. I was still confused about why Clio's mother would care about whether I was going to be king or not but, it meant a lot to Clio. I rode up to the palace and saw Clio waiting for me in the garden. I knew that we weren't going riding that day, because we were both hurt, but something was different about her today. She was in a ballgown, that was fancier than usual, and was wearing a tiara... she hates tiaras she would rather wear a hat or her feather hair clip. Something was up. "Clio is everything alright?" I asked. She shook her head, "C-Can we go somewhere to talk." I was nervous when I heard this but nodded. We walked deeper into the garden and eventually sat down somewhere.

Clio was sitting quietly running her fingers through her hair and then I saw, her gloves covered her fingers. She had always worn fingerless gloves, even back at Royal Prep, something was seriously wrong. "Clio what is going on?" She took a couple of shaky breaths and I could see her start to cry, "J-J-James..." I pulled her in close to me. What was going on? Everything was fine yesterday. I wish I had never left her. I wish I would have stayed by her side. I wish that the life we created in Doc's house was our reality. And I really wished I never would have to see her crying again. "Shhhh, Clio I promise you that I will do whatever I can to help, just tell me what is going on." She slowly started calming down, "My mother wants me to start looking for suitors." She looked up at me and her big brown eyes were now stained red. "She is g-g-going to make me go to Balls to find a prince to help the kingdom... a Crown Prince..." It was beginning to click.

I had to ask, but it was killing me trying to get the words out, "Clio, are you saying that you no longer want to court me?" Her lips began to tremble and I braced myself for her to start crying again but, she calmed herself down enough to get out, "No, that is not what I want." I felt my entire body relax as she said that, "but I might not have a choice."

(Clio POV)

I was shaking trying to get the words out. I knew I was hurting James and it was the last thing I wanted to do but, he needed to know what was going on. The entire time he continued to hold me letting me work through it before I would say it out loud. As I got it out I saw James grow completely tense, "Clio, are you saying that you no longer want to court me?" I could see the hope fading in his eyes and all I wanted to do was stay in, "No that is that what I want... but I might not have a choice." My voice broke as I said that. I wasn't sure what to do anymore.

"Clio," He started and I looked up at him, "you need to know that I have every intention of continuing to court you whether it is a secret or revealed the world if that is what you want. But there is something you need to understand. I am a knight. I am not a crown prince. I can never make you Queen, I can never give you a kingdom, I can never give you people to rule. What I am offering is to be your best friend, to be the person who comes to as many of your performances as possible, to be someone you can rely on and I want you to know that, that offer stands whether you court me or not." I buried my head deep into his shoulder, not because I was crying but because I couldn't believe how amazing this man was. "I don't want to lose you," I said into his shoulder. He rubbed his hand in circles on my back, "You're never going to... that opportunity left along time ago." I giggled at this, "Can we stay here a little longer?" I asked. "As long as you like."

(James POV)

I held Clio like that for a while having no indication of where her mind was at. All I knew was that she was no longer crying so I had to have done something right. She slowly pulled away from me and looked up at me, "James I want to keep courting you, but I'm not ready to tell anybody. I know that this is completely unfair to you and I know that my life is a mess right now but I need you and I think you might need me too. I'm not offering something easy but I am offering to be the person who puts you first, to be the person to patch you up at the end of the day, to be the person that makes sure you take care of yourself and to be the person that will do everything in my power to make you happy." I couldn't believe that I heard this. "Clio, I don't care how difficult it is or how long we need to keep it a secret. I just want you in my life and I want to continue courting you," She smiled up at me.

I cupped my hand on her cheek and started to wipe some of the tears that were still on her face. My thumb went back and forth when I heard her wince, "Is something wrong?" I asked wondering what I had done. "I just have a small bruise there," I didn't remember her having a bruise on her face after the attack but, I might have missed it, I was focussing on her broken ribs, "Sorry, I'll be more careful." I said and she smiled. I then reached in my pocket, "I know that your birthday present got destroyed in the attack so I figured you deserved something else."

I pulled out another terribly wrapped gift and handed it to her, "I've never been good at wrapping" I laughed as she held it. "You didn't need to get me anything," She smiled up at me. That smile was why I had to. She slowly pealed off the wrapping paper her eyes widened, "They're beautiful James." She pulled out two bracelets, one was a copy of the bracelet she had lost only with a couple more smoke screens on them and one was a charm bracelet. She looked at the different charms one was of a bird, one was of a horseshoe, one was a glass butterfly, one was of a moon, and there were a few more "They are for our biggest moments." She smiled as she held it up to the light to look at it. "What is the moon for?" She asked. "For the first night we spent together, that night we spent talking" I said rubbing my hand on my neck. "Thank you so much James," she said.

She went to hug me and I shuddered as she brushed against my shoulder, "James are you ok?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm fine" I started but she shook her head, "Have you been resting?" I was going to say yes, but we both knew that was a lie, "I had to do some things." She shook her head, "No James you need to take care of yourself." I sighed I knew she was right, "James, promise me you will lay it off a little bit. Just until Doc removes your stitches." I nodded but she wasn't satisfied, "I'm going to need you to say the words." "I promise."

(Clio POV)

I stood up and walked over to James' horse and he followed behind me, "What are you doing?" He asked as I approached my horse. I then took out my handkerchief and tied it to the reigns, "If you are thinking about going out on a mission or just doing something stupid," I said glaring at him, "I want you to have a reminder to keep yourself safe and remember who you need to come back to when you head off into dangerous situations." I saw him smile after that and we stayed in the stable until he left.

Time was always different when I was with James. In the moment it felt like it would last forever but, whenever he left it felt like we never had enough. I knew that I needed him in my life but, I was terrified that my Mother would find out the truth. I went to my room and saw a stack of different Balls I was expected to attend in different kingdoms. This was already getting complicated but, as I looked down at the charms I knew that James and I would figure it out and soon enough I will tell everyone there is just one person I need to convince first.