Queen Raeanne

"I thought I would have more time!" I shout at my mother. It was incredibly rude of her to not warn me before the King threw himself at me in front of all those nobles. I am to be married in two days and I knew absolutely nothing about it beforehand. Life is incredibly unfair.

"You do have time dear." She replies, sure she did the right thing.

"Two days is not enough time to adjust to my new life, mother!" I continue.

"You need to marry now. This country grows weaker now that the King has died. You need a husband and an heir to secure your rule." She tries to explain herself. "Don't you see what happened outside? The villagers are unrest. There will be a civil war on your hands if we do not make the right moves."

"Do you not understand mother?!" I scream in frustration. "If I marry him, he rules. I am not securing my reign, I am securing his! The second I marry a man, he takes over and I will have no chance at doing what I want with this country!" I pull at my hair and pace the floor in front of my bed where she sits.

I never wanted to rule. That is a well known fact. But I also do not want a man waltzing in here and taking what is not his: my power.

"You said you did not want to rule anyways. What is the harm?" She asks, as if now justified in her ways.

"Mother!" I raise my voice over hers.

"It's true. You said it yourself. You do not want to rule a country and become queen. I am only doing what is best for you." She reminds me as if I have forgotten.

"What is best for me, or for the country?" I ask, wanting an honest answer.

"Both. This action is for the best of both of you." She softens her tone.

"It is highly inappropriate of you to set up a marriage contract without my knowledge. You made me look like a fool out there in front of my people." I shake my head and point my finger at her.

"If we are to talk about inappropriate actions, how about you sneaking off with that servant boy? Was that not inappropriate when you are engaged to another man?" She asks, knowing she has struck me hard.

"Servant-?" I stop myself. Someone saw me sneak off with Michael. "He is not a servant boy." I correct her and straighten out my dress, hoping she will move on from the conversation.

"Well then, who is he?" She stands and crosses her arms over her chest. She knows I do not have a good answer to this question. She has backed me in to a metaphorical corner with this accusation. I was not ready for her to throw this at me. I thought he and I slipped away unseen by curious eyes. I was wrong.

"Moving on. I have important business to attend to. Apparently, I have a wedding to oversee plans to." I say with a hint of disgust in my voice.

"As your Queen, I demand you answer my question now." She stomps her foot down like a child who is about to throw a fit.

"You are no longer my queen, mother. You have no more power over me. You are the one who forced this title upon me. This is your doing. You wanted it this way." I remind her who gave me supreme power over her for the rest of her life. She did. She made me queen. It is not my fault she no longer has the powers she once had.

My mother steps back, surely she is shocked I had the nerve to talk to her this way.

"First you force me to be queen when I clearly am not interested or ready. Then you force me to marry a complete stranger, in two days, none the less!" I take my anger out on her.

"I did it all for you my dear." She speaks, her voice cracking with sadness.

"No, you did it for your country. No more deals and plots to secure my rule. Leave me." I point to the door for her to leave my chambers.

"Raeanne." She reaches out for me, not wanting the argument to end this way. A normal mother would feel her daughter's hurt and want to fix it. But my mother? She only stays to try to get the last word in.

"Leave me!" I shout again, looking away from her. I do not want to watch her leave me. It will only upset me more. She leave and closes the chamber doors behind her. I lift my head and wipe a tear away from my eye. How could she be so insensitive over my future?

I walk over to the window and place my hand on the colored glass. Tomorrow is my first official day as queen.

I will need to keep up appearances with my future husband to please the nobles. That means holding hands, kissing, and walking arm in arm all over the castle while others watch.

The thought of someone else dictating my future sickens me. I do not want to marry him.

I want to marry Michael.

I know it sounds crazy, believe me, I do. I did not believe in love at first sight until I met him. I had been set up with countless princes during my lifetime but none of them set sparks off in my body like Michael did. Our love for each other was so pure. I could feel that when we touched.

He is the one I truly wish to marry.

My ladies in waiting enter my chambers and begin undressing me. "Leave me." I politely dismiss them. "Goodnight." I walk over to my bed and pull the covers back.

Why can life not be more simple?

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