Marriage Of Convenience: Part 3

She smiled sadly at Iris and shook her head. “Not this time,” she murmured. “You’re going to be married soon, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I--” Iris started, but King Dedede cut her off quickly. He turned back toward her.

“Please,” he said quietly. “Just go. Please. If you don't leave, we might have to make you marry today and join us in our journey back to our kingdom tomorrow” He paused briefly, looking almost pleading. “Go home… please.”

Princess Iris swallowed hard and nodded slowly. “Okay. Okay. I… I understand. Goodnight.” She gave an awkward curtsy and quickly stood from her seat, heading back through the garden gate without another word.

Once she was safely outside once again, the princess let out a sigh of relief. She leaned against the wall for a moment and closed her eyes tightly. She could feel tears forming behind her eyelids, but she refused to let them fall until she felt completely calm again.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that it was King Dedede. He smiled reassuringly at her, reaching into the pocket of his jacket and pulling out his handkerchief. “It’ll be alright, Your Majesty,” he said, handing it to her gently. “You haven’t done anything wrong. Don’t you dare blame yourself”

With a small nod, Iris took the cloth from him and carefully cleaned her face. Once she deemed herself presentable enough for people to not stare at her for long periods, she turned back to look at the gardens.

***

Prince Kirby paced anxiously in front of the fountain in the centre courtyard of their private garden. This had been the fourth night in a row he’d tried to talk to his parents. He knew what they were doing. They were trying to set a trap for him.

Kirby knew that he’d made a mistake last night. He could still vividly remember the way his father’s expression had hardened and how he had practically spat those words. He hated the way they had cut him deeply, but he also knew that he deserved it. He had betrayed their trust, after all.

And yet, despite knowing what had caused the sudden change in his father’s attitude, he couldn’t bring himself to stay quiet about it. He needed to speak. Needed to tell them both to leave him alone.

His gaze swept over the palace grounds, searching for anyone that might have spotted him. No one. Well, except for….

‘Wait a minute. There!’

Kirby ducked around the corner of a building and raced across the yard, then jumped over the low wooden fence separating the yard from the palace grounds. As he ran he reached up and pulled a flower out of his hair, stuffing it hastily into his coat pocket as he went. It was dark, so no one would see him run, but he still decided that it was better to make it look like he was running away.

When he finally reached the other side of the fence, he slowed down to a stop and glanced around cautiously. Nobody. Perfect.

Kirby sighed, feeling the tension drain out of his body. He knew that he should really be running somewhere else, but he was tired and a bit hungry, so instead he plopped down onto one of the stone benches that surrounded the fountain and waited. A few minutes later, the sound of footsteps approaching startled him out of his thoughts. Then he recognized the voices as belonging to the princess he was betrothed to.

He immediately tensed up. Shouldn’t she be inside? Didn’t she already know about this? And why hadn’t she called out to him?

To be continued…