…

The Fourth Son

…

Queen Isobel.

Contrary to the myth that all witches were hags or drones, the wicked witch of nnnn swooped into their principality on her broomstick, in the guise of a Cessna citation, the private royal plane, to be greeted by the new king’s sister.

It was a calculated manoeuvre to get her to take the front line, her old partner in crime, when meting out punishment to her younger siblings.

His older sister, for that matter, had been more of a mother to him than his real mother.  But with that came the bad as well as the good.

It was always clear who the dominant one was, his sister, because he knew that she was more like her father than her mother, and she had inherited her father’s sadistic streak

When the Queen arrives at the castle for the proper greeting, she appears to be anything but what he remembered of her, and it scares him.

What had his sister and her conjured up in the car from the airport to the castle?

Formalities over and confusion settling in, it’s time for the brief private discussion in the green room.

Seeing her by the drinks cabinet pouring a drink takes him back to the days of hide and seek they played together in the castle, and that very room.

A look passes between them, and they remember.

Don’t forget that as a teen, he had a crush on this woman standing before him.  Now a queen, not just a crazy girl, that look between them transcended everything.

The kiss, well, not planned, not avoided, but an expression of feelings that still burned, but every so lightly they could be embers and extinguished.

So this was the reason why he never tried to hide from her.  Didn’t she know, or did she guess, but not want to think about?

Her sister had expressed feelings for the new king, her sister the one one shared his first kiss, the sister he wanted more than Eleanor, and the sister who told their father, and he nearly killed her for it.

Never, never, never will another princess from his domain marry a prince from the new king’s kingdom.  Ever.

The deal made over the dowry between the new king’s mother and his father had been contentious and nearly started another war.

Old rivalries never died. They simply festered.

As for their feelings for each other, back in the box and stored away, never to see the light of day.