Jason swirled the egg around the plate, his train of thought lost as the circular stains of grease made an abstract pattern on the china. He didn’t have his usual appetite, which wasn’t lost on his parents.

“What’s on your mind?” his father asked him as he paused in his own eating to observe the atypical behavior of his son.

Jason swirled still, his eyes far away and the world around him completely drowned out. In his mind’s eye, he was on Elena’s farm, sitting on a log, watching her play with the horses. She would come out to him with a smile so bright it lit up everything around her and followed her everywhere. She would almost glide along the grass as she tended to her farm or weeding the garden, her face filled with life and pleasure over doing something as menial as gardening, like it gave her purpose and her life meaning. As soon as she finished, she would flit over to him, settle on his lap like a butterfly, and lock her hands around his neck. She would lower her head like she always did and kiss him so gently he could hardly feel her touch, yet she would ignite a fire that was impossible to quench.

“Jason!” his mother called, and his head snapped around.

He gave her a blank stare. “What?”

“Where were you just now?” she asked him, her eyes curious as she looked at him like she didn’t know him.

“Uh,” he began and sank into the chair. The fork clattered onto the plate, and he ruffled his hair as he tried to gather his thoughts. “Nowhere. Just thinking.”

“Must have been intense,” his father said suggestively. “You were a goner for a minute.”

Jason eased himself forward and rested his hands on the table. “I don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?” his mother asked.

“The people in the village—they gave us an ultimatum. Marry one of their daughters or we would lose their loyalty for good. I didn’t marry one of them. I chose one, but I didn’t go through with it, so for all they know, I could easily go back on that. So why have they shown us such favor in the last few months?”

“Who cares?” his mother was quick to comment as she started eating again. “I’m merely glad we don’t have to worry about the Wyatts anymore, and our throne is secure.”

“I know,” Jason replied softly, but he still felt uneasy. “Something isn’t right. And I’ve been there several times in between, as a show of good faith, and not once have I seen her.”

“Seen who?” she asked, having already forgotten the name of the girl she had tried to help him woo months ago.

“Elena, Mom,” Jason snapped.

“Well, maybe she doesn’t want to see you,” she said tersely. She gave him a blank stare as she chewed her food slowly.

“Clarise, do you have to be so cold?” King Jaimie asked, his voice betraying his sympathy for Jason.

“What for? I mean, she is a village girl, and a weird one at that. She doesn’t like dresses, or perfume, or anything ordinary girls like.”

“So? That doesn’t make her any less of a decent woman,” King Jaimie argued.

“Oh, like hell it doesn’t. I never wanted my son with any of those…those uncomely girls. He can do a lot better, if you ask me, and now that he can, I don’t see why there is any need to dwell on it.”

King Jaimie shook his head. “Don’t listen to her, son.”

“I’m not,” Jason said and ground his teeth. “But something is going on. I have this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

“Maybe it’s hunger. You barely ate,” his mother mocked.

“Laugh all you want, Mom,” Jason retorted. “But I don’t trust this. They are up to something, and it has to do with Elena. I mean, think about it. When I was there, no one liked her. They treated her like an outcast because she was different, but now, out of the blue, they all have nice things to say about her.”

“Well, good for her,” Queen Clarise chimed in.

“You don’t get it. I think they’re hiding something.”

“Maybe she left the village,” his father suggested.

Jason thought about that for a few seconds. “No, she won’t leave that farm. She’s there. She told me too many times how she loves being there, and that’s where she finds peace. She wouldn’t leave.”

“So, go back and see her,” his father urged.

Queen Clarise’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “I beg your pardon? Why would he willingly go back there? I say good riddance.”

Jason pinched his lower lip and sank back into the chair again. “Mom, stop, please,” he beseeched her. He pushed the chair back and stood. “Excuse me.” He slapped the napkin onto the table and walked to the balcony. He needed some air.

But the balcony on the west wing pointed directly to the village, and Jason was reminded more of Elena. He was torn between accepting that he didn’t need to get involved with her again and his actual desire to see her again. He hadn’t cared to speak with the other villagers on any of the occasions he had gone back, but he’d had to entertain them as a show of good faith. He didn’t want to risk their turning back on their renewed loyalty to them. He was distracted for too long, despite trying to leave, and now that he thought deeply about it, he couldn’t help thinking they were trying to keep him away from her. But why?

He wasn’t aware that his father had come up behind him until he cleared his throat. He jumped and turned his head sideways.

“A little nervous?” his father asked and smiled as he leaned against the wall, his hands propped up against the edge of the balcony.

“Confused, really,” Jason told him and sighed deeply. “I don’t get it.”

“Well, here’s my bit of advice. If you love this girl, go after her.”

Jason choked on the laugh that sprang from him unexpectedly. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Who said anything about love?” Jason asked and looked across the green canvas below them.

“You did.” His father leaned over and whispered, “I hear the way you talk. As a matter of fact, I remember that feeling all too well.”

“You should. You’re still married to Mom.” Jason smirked.

King Jaimie looked at the glass door separating them from any intrusion and wet his lips. “I’m not talking about your mother. Things are always complicated when you’re royalty, aren’t they?”

“Dad, what are you talking about?”

“I wasn’t always in love with your mother. As a matter of fact, the marriage was mostly an arrangement.”

“What?” Jason asked incredulously. “I didn’t know that.”

“No, and you don’t need to be concerned about it. I grew to love her, but before we were thrust together by decree and royal statutes, I fell in love with a local girl.”

“Talk about coincidence,” Jason muttered, and his father chuckled in response. “Now I get why you are so soft on the Elena issue.”

“That’s exactly why. I wanted to be with that girl because she made me come alive in ways I couldn’t explain. Love isn’t about where you come from, or what you are, or how much money you have. I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve never seen one instance of money buying happiness. If anything, it makes people more miserable. Look what we forced you into doing so we could stay on top. It’s a cruel game, and if the one good thing that comes out of this is that you fell in love, then I don’t want you to make the same mistake I made.”

Jason was quiet for a moment. “You regret marrying Mom?”

“No,” King Jaimie replied without hesitation. “That’s not what I’m saying.” He placed his hands on Jason’s shoulders and looked him square in the eye. “Do you want this girl?”

Jason had doubts before, but standing in front of his father, he couldn’t deny it any longer. “I think I do.”

“Well, go after her. Don’t make the same mistakes I made. For years, I battled with myself, wondering if I had done the right thing by ‘doing the right thing.’ It wasn’t until after I learned she had married a farm boy that I let it go. Son, it’s not the best feeling in the world. If you find love, don’t let it go, no matter who she is. You have my support.”

“Only yours?” Jason asked as a smile crept onto his face.

King Jaimie looked at the glass door. “I’ll talk to your mother. She’ll come around. Now go!”

Jason’s smile turned into a grin, and his spirit was instantly lifted. “Thanks, Dad.”

King Jaimie clapped him on the shoulder as he began to walk away, and Jason ran to his room and grabbed his phone, excited like he was going to his first carnival.

“Where are you off to?” his mother called after him when she saw him speeding out of the house like he was being chased.

Jason paused long enough to wink at her as he dashed outside. He would have run the entire distance if not for the fact that he ran into Rick as soon as he reached the foyer.

“Hey, Rick, could you give me a ride to the village? Thanks,” he said before the man could answer and made a beeline for the car.

He was jittery the entire distance, and his hands shook uncontrollably. He hadn’t seen Elena in months, but he knew he loved her, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer—not from her, and not from the villagers.

He got into town and was directing Rick to the farm when someone stepped in front of the car. It screeched to a stop as the other villagers immediately surrounded them.

“What the…” Rick began, temporarily oblivious to the prince still within earshot.

Jason opened the door and emerged in the middle of a tight group.

“Where are you going?” someone shouted. “You don’t need to be here.”

“I have to be here,” Jason pleaded. Forcing his way through was not going to work. They were a tight-knit group, more than he had thought at first, and he understood that if he gained their favor, they might help him win Elena. She was one of their own, after all.

“No, you don’t,” Emma stepped forward and declared. “She is fine without you.”

“Emma, please,” Jason continued to plead. “I have to see her. Look, I know you all are looking out for her, but I am not going to hurt her.”

“You mean like you forced her to sleep with you and then left her alone?”

Jason fell back against the car, his strength temporarily failing him. “Forced her? I never did that. Did she say I did that?”

“Not really,” Emma said plainly, and someone nudged her on her elbow. “What? She didn’t.”

“I love her, and I want to be with her. I’ve been trying to get her to realize she loves me too. I left because I thought she wanted some space, but…I don’t want to do this anymore, okay?” He was turning into mush, and he didn’t care. Anything to get them to move.

They looked at each other and started murmuring and whispering.

“What about us? Can we get some medicine or something?” a woman shouted from the back.

“Sure. Anything,” Jason said without hesitation.

“You sure you’re not just saying that?” the woman followed up.

“I mean it. I know my family has been negligent, but that will change. I see the way things are now a lot clearer than before.”

There was a hushed silence and the crowd started to part.

“Thank you,” Jason said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

He got back into the car, and his heart drummed as the wheels crunched on the asphalt and he inched closer to Elena’s farm.