A meeting

Prince James and his squire Adrian were returning home from another failed quest to find the Prince a wife. As the Crown Prince of one of the largest and wealthiest kingdoms in the realm, James was duty bound to marry a lady of royal blood, but he had wanted to marry for the convenience of love. What his father was pushing him to do was enter into what amounted to a business transaction. James never wanted that.



"William," Adrian said, heeding the Prince's wish to stay incognito with a false name. He didn't want to travel with a whole bunch of fanfare. With that in mind, the Prince wore a Glamour that changed and lengthened his blond hair to the brown associated with merchants and the peasantry.  "What do you think your father will say when you come back empty handed yet again?"


James shrugged. "I don't know. I imagine he'll yell and tell me again that I can't keep being so stubborn. It would help if the princesses whom he sent me to court weren't all self absorbed or never stepped out of their castle except to attend a ball in the next kingdom over. I'm relieved to be able to stay in Incognita for a few days. I need a break from Court and courting." James grinned. 

His eyes fell on one of the tavern wenches, a beautiful young girl with long red hair who moved with the grace of any royal. She vaguely reminded him of a friend he'd had in his youth, Duchess Eleanor Margarete Clairemont, the daughter of the Prince of this province. 

With Almiris being so very large, Almiris's fourth King Henry the Amicable had divided the kingdom into four provinces, or Princedoms, each with their residing minor royalty who answered directly to the King. These four Princes were also regarded as the King's most trusted advisers. 

These four Princedoms; Incognita, Braeburn, Ontea, and Ilcany, were very powerful in their own right, and surrounded the Capitol city of Kara. Besides having great power, these four princedoms also had the privilege of giving their heirs a chance to marry into the kingdom's royalty.

Eleanor, Duchess of Incognita, had suspiciously fallen off of the face of the realm these last ten years or so, and had been unreachable. Her stepmother, Countess Regina Howard, had arrived at court completely distraught after the death of her husband. She had tearfully informed the King that her stepdaughter Eleanor had perished out of grief for her father and mother. Regina herself had then been given the title of Princess of Incognita and her twin daughters were now able to try for the Prince's heart and hand. James, for his part, smelled a rat, refusing to believe what the Countess had said, but as an eleven year old prince at the time, his opinions didn't have much baring in what his father chose to believe.



"Did no one ever tell you that it is rude to stare?" The girl snapped, passing off her platter to one of the other serving wenches.

"I apologize, Milady. You simply remind me of someone I knew in my youth." 

At this she didn't answer, appraising the dark haired man. He seemed vaguely familiar to her, like a memory from a dream, but she'd seen so many men come and go from this tavern in the last few months that every man seemed familiar to her now. Working here had caused her to become jaded, which wasn't altogether a bad thing, and she found that she could hold her own in a fight, but she lived in constant fear that her real identity would be uncovered. If she wanted to escape the kingdom, she had to keep her identity secret.

"I get that a lot." she finally said. "It seems red heads are a dime a dozen."

James raised his eyebrow, not believing a word. "What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly. 

She stiffened. "What do you mean what am I doing here? I work here." she snapped back. 

Seeing that he wasn't going to get anything else out of her, other than the sneaking suspicion that he'd met her before, the prince sat back, staring at her, trying to understand why she was acting so differently from any other girl he'd ever met. Even while glamoured, the prince found that women flocked around his good looks. This was the only girl who hadn't swooned, and she intrigued him.

"Elle! Don't just stand there! Show that man to a room!" yelled one of the barmaids, the woman who owned the Good Knight Inn and Tavern with her husband.

Elle grumbled, gesturing for James to get up. James then realized that his soon-to-be-knighted squire was absent. He spotted him going upstairs with one of the more scantily clad barmaids. He didn't stop him. Adrian was nineteen and perfectly capable of making his own choices.

James followed Elle upstairs. "My name is William." he said, in an attempt to break the ice. 

"Nice name." she quipped, walking down the hall and searching for a vacant room. 

James was hoping to break through the walls Elle had up, hoping to see another side of Elle besides the abrasive, jaded girl before him. Regardless of what she was telling, or wasn't, to put it more accurately, her bright red locks were a dead giveaway. She was of noble birth. 






"I've decided to stay here for a few more days." he informed her. 

She tried not to roll her eyes. "They usually do." She finally found him a vacant room. "Here you go." 

"There's something about you." he said before ducking into his room.

"Humph." she replied, turning away and gliding down the stairs back into the tavern proper. 

James chuckled to himself, perplexed. Elle was a paradox wrapped in an enigma. He wondered about what kind of past she'd had. Only someone who wanted to hide their past with all they had acted as uninterested and jaded as she. Most of all, he wanted to help her. Whether she ran away from home or had been promised in an arranged but unwanted marriage, James was decidedly determined to figure her out. 

Although her personality intrigued him, her name perplexed him even more. Elle. The beautiful name sounded awfully similar to Eleanor. It seemed possible to him that this girl could be the missing Duchess Eleanor, next in line for the throne of Incognita, who had been "dead" for ten years. She was of the right age, although he did remember her as having strawberry blond hair in her youth. 

James shook his head, realizing that he was thinking nonsense. It was highly unlikely that this tavern wench was actually the long lost heir to the Principality of Incognita, nevermind her similarity in name or appearance.    

Early the next morning, James received an urgent message. His mother had fallen gravely ill and he had to return home right away. James was saddened. He had promised Elle that he would stay awhile longer, but his mother was more important.

The sun had not risen, nor even had the staff of the tavern. On his way out, after rousing a sleepy Selven from his bed, James passed by a wide open door with the name Elle stenciled on it. James peeked his head in, and sure enough, there was Elle sleeping peacefully in the broom closet of a bedroom. She looked so peaceful and beautiful while she slept. James would make it a point to visit her and even help get her a job at the palace as soon as he had the chance.

"Goodbye, Elle."




Till next time!

Sophie.

Oh, and thank you to the amazing Winter from PBK who really helped me world build for this and my books, even though I did change James and Elle's back story a smidgggggggggggge.