The Prince's Guide to True Love's Kiss {Published Version}

Lesson 1

Caked in dirt, sore and weary, Prince Benedikt strode into the throne room with head held high. A chorus of whispers arose as he passed throngs of courtiers waiting for an audience with their king. Benedikt fixed his eyes on the dais where his father, King Sander, sat at the end of the columned hall. He feared he'd falter if he looked away.

He knew the rumors would have traveled ahead of him. This wasn't his first return to court in the three long years since he began his quest to wake a princess under a curse of eternal slumber. Now he returned to the mountain kingdom of Stalvart empty-handed...for the fourteenth time.

Unlike other princes his age, the mention of True Love's Kiss only brought Prince Benedikt anxiety and indigestion. He was by all accounts a heroic prince with nearly all the trappings a princess would want in her true love. A head shorter than your garden variety knight in shining armor, true; but what he lacked in height he made up for in spirit and bravery.

At least he hoped so.

He reached the steps to the towering wood throne and dropped to a knee. The courtiers drew a collective breath as the king stood. Prince Benedikt lifted his gaze and met the eyes of his father.

Everyone told them they had the same eyes. Deep brown, dark enough to be mistaken for black. The same color as their hair. Like his son, King Sander wasn't built like their great warriors, but he fought as though something wild and untamable lived under his pale skin. He was better known as a benevolent ruler who kept peace with all of the neighboring kingdoms.

"My son, you have returned." The king's voice, deep and warm, echoed through the marble hall. He pulled Benedikt into a hug that smelled as familiar as home. Mead. Well-oiled leather. "And alone again, I see."

Benedikt's tanned cheeks heated at the mention of yet another failed attempt. "Clearly."

"Well, there must be a story," King Sander said, his voice sounding wearied.

"Yes, I'd like to hear this story," a soft voice called out.

Queen Ylva crossed to where Benedikt stood with his father and planted a kiss on his forehead. Even after three years, she still looked the same. Raven hair plaited down her back. She'd given Benedikt her fair complexion, but she always had a steady blush dusting her cheeks.

Benedikt felt himself wilt under his mother's pitying gaze. "I don't know what went wrong," he said. "I slew the foul and ornery ogre that guarded the tower. I reached the sleeping maiden's chamber and kissed her lips—twice—but she didn't stir. My guards can attest to it."

Queen Ylva let out a disappointed sigh. Benedikt hated when she sighed. "How many has that been now?"

They all knew the number.

"I think it's fourteen," Benedikt mumbled — not that it mattered. Everyone in the kingdom had been privy to his repeated failures and he was certain no one had forgotten the running tally.

His father ran a tired hand over his short beard. "I don't understand. You're a prince. And handsome! Your True Love's Kiss should have worked on somebody by now. You do know how to kiss, right?" King Sander asked, his voice rising in panic.

Benedikt groaned as a ripple of laughter rose from the crowd.

Queen Ylva clicked her tongue in disapproval. "I think you two need to talk," she said, stepping closer, "but this is not the place for it."

King Sander nodded. He clapped a paw-like hand on Benedikt's shoulder and led him from the throne room.

They ducked out onto a balcony overlooking the citadel. The white-walled buildings stretched down the mountainside to the lake below, which fed off snow from the mountain. Beyond the lake, the fjord led to the sea, a maze of towering cliff faces few dared to navigate. It was Benedikt's home, and it would be his to rule if he ever found his True Love.

For a few moments, King Sander remained quiet, his eyes gazing out at his city. Benedikt waited in anguish for him to end the silence.

"Please excuse my behavior," King Sander said. "It's just that I am growing more than a little worried. People are beginning to talk."

"I can't help it that I've been unlucky. I just haven't found my True Love yet. Unless...unless maybe I don't have one—"
King Sander cut him off with a hard squeeze to his shoulder. "Don't start to think that way. Every king and queen of Stalvart has found their True Love. I just don't want anything to cast a shadow over your right to rule."

Benedikt's heart jumped into his throat. Is that what people are saying? A prince without a True Love wasn't fit to be king. "What if True Love's Kiss is the problem?" he offered. He was ready to try anything if it meant earning his place as king. It was all he had ever dreamed of, to be a man worthy enough to follow in his father's footsteps. He was an only child and the next heir in line was...objectionable, to say the least.

King Sander shook his head. "It's how I met your mother. We'll expand our search; unless you've found a missing glass slipper recently?"

"I haven't come across any glass slippers," Benedikt said forlornly.

King Sander steered him back toward the throne room. "Get some rest. We will discuss the future of your quest after you've had a good night's sleep."

~

Benedikt stalked into his bedchamber and locked the door behind him. He flopped onto the bed without bothering to remove his boots. The conversation with his parents had left him deeply exhausted. He'd spent years searching high and low for maidens in need of True Love's Kiss, and he was running out of time before his twenty-first birthday and the start of his regency.

Sprawled across his bed, he eyed the familiar tapestries that adorned the walls. Of golden-haired maidens in high towers. Of knights on white horses that charged each other with pointed lances. They brought back memories of the games he'd played with his cousins as a child. He even recalled the times he sat before the mirror at his dressing table and rehearsed the line, "I am Prince Benedikt, and I am here to rescue you."

Go kiss a sleeping princess, they said. It'll be easy, they said. Two years, ten months, and fourteen quests later, he had nothing to show for all the slain dragons and outwitted bridge trolls. That wasn't even including the time he'd actually climbed a maiden's hair only to find an old hag waiting to ambush him in the tower.

He clenched his jaw, his hands tightening into fists. Even if it took him to every kingdom in the land—to the very end of the realm of Floryndal, he would find his True Love. At any cost, he would find her and awaken that accursed maiden with True Love's Kiss.