Evangeline

Chapter 1

Everyone wants to be royal, I mused, frowning at the display across the lawn where yet another girl was being introduced to my brother. Philip was sweet so he didn't really mind. In fact, he loved meeting new potential friends. But he was also only eleven and too young to understand what was really going on.

For a while now, men had been conveniently bringing their young daughters along with them to the castle when they had business with Papa. Or, I suspected more commonly, whenever they could think of any excuse to get a few moments to throw the children together in an acceptable setting to have them introduced.

So maybe it was more accurate to say that everyone wanted to use royals.

To most people it seemed harmless enough. After all, children were routinely around the castle and had been for as long as I could remember, but this was different. Philip was in line for the throne and that made him potentially valuable to men seeking power or certain positions. And it's not as if those people requested introductions for their children with me or Gwen or Ethan. Logically, it would make more sense for people seeking companions for their daughters to request Gwen since she was a girl and only two years older than Philip.

I don't know why my parents allowed it. They had to be aware of what those men were doing. Perhaps they hoped to repeat their childhood friendship for Philip. After all, I knew first hand that genuine friendship was a rare thing for royal children. I just hated the thought of my baby brother being used. Especially considering what they hoped to use him for.

It was innocent enough now, but at best, those men had marriage on their minds. At worst, well, any position their daughters could gain with the future king was welcome for most of them.

It was made worse that all those girls were likely as innocent and naive as Philip. Although, I wondered about this one. She was older than the others. Older than Philip. She was at least thirteen. Was she aware of what she was potentially being groomed for? She seemed a little more bold than they usually did.

I despised the thought of someone stealing my brother's innocence, but eventually someone would, and it would be much too early. Once he wasn't considered a child any longer, those women who liked to attempt to pull Papa's attention away from Mother, would shift their efforts to Philip.

I was proud that Papa had never been persuaded. It was common knowledge that he didn't have a mistress and never planned to, but I worried that his resolve might make their efforts more forceful with my brother. And it wasn't as if he had anyone to hold his attention the way Mother did for Papa. Sweet as he was, there weren't many children who were actually his friends aside from our cousins. As with the rest of us, most children were either too intimidated to relax enough to reveal their personalities or they were too accommodating, trying too hard to make us like them. Given his status, it was worse with Philip though. Gwen, Ethan, and I were just royals. We weren't the heir.

Not wanting to watch any more, I turned toward the gardens. Thinking we were going on an adventure, my little dachshund, Chloe happily pranced along at my heels.

Chloe soon realized where we were going and trotted up ahead. After a few moments, she stopped and waited for me to catch up at just the right spot. Smiling, I scooped her up in my arms and kissed the top of her head before I peeked around to make sure no one was watching.

The nearby guard was momentarily turned away so I quickly slipped through the wall of greenery, into my favorite spot. There wasn't much to it. It was basically just a patch of grass surrounded by tall hedges, and it wasn't very large. Only a few people could comfortably fit at a time, but it was completely hidden and was a place that only a few select individuals knew about.