I Love You, My Cursed Prince

King Thorvaldo walked down the steps from his throne and down to a spot around two feet away from the women. "Miss Devin?"

Muriel curtsied again. "How may this humble civilian serve His Majesty?"

"Princess Arya is a strict woman. She'd never hold you so closely if you weren't a person of excellent character. When Prince Vidar asked you to marry him, why did you agree?"

The polished fingernails of one of Muriel's hands lightly touched her mostly revealed bosom as she spoke. "Before I give the answer, I must apologize to my king."

More whispers among all the watching elites. Muriel ignored it all even though her belly was icy.

"I am nothing more than a simple commoner," she continued. "Even so, I have agreed to marry a man so high above me that it's truly an insult to his family. I hope one day that my king will forgive my transgression against the royal family." Another humble curtsy. "But His Highness is kind and brilliant. I find no fault in his temperament, and I am enchanted by his skills. When he proposed marriage to me, I was overtaken by perfect joy. To have such a wonderful example of manhood ask to have me was so grand. I was unable to disappoint him. Once I agreed, I later realized my mistake, but I knew I couldn't change my answer. That would have broken his heart, and I'd never do anything against him. This, Your Majesty, is why I'm determined to marry your son."

Without saying anything, King Thorvaldo stood there for a while as the audience continued with their low voices. A bit louder than those voices, however, was the hardly contained laughter coming from Crown Prince Emil.

Eventually, the king asked Muriel, "Do you have a betrothal ring?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Muriel said as she lifted her hand up for his eyes. "His Highness was very generous."

"I suppose that's fair enough," the king said. "Lower your hand."

As Muriel obeyed, she heard an attendant cry out, "Your Majesty! The physicians and coroners have arrived! They've finished their examination!"

"Send them in," the king commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Some short moments later, four men entered the throne room. They stopped just behind the trains of Princess Arya's and Muriel's gowns. They bowed and simultaneously greeted the king.

"Give me the results of your examination," King Thorvaldo said with a wave of his hand.

One of those men said, "The corpse was a woman's. We found a mark on her ankle. It's a semicircle of a purple so dark that we thought it was black. We pricked the mark with a sharp bone needle dipped in a mixture of boiled water and honey. The needle's point turned as green as a fairy's stone. We believe the mark is a true fairy mark. We were unable to determine if the woman was a fairy, however, because the corpse is so old."

Muriel suddenly thought to herself, "Oh, you can check to see if a mark was given by a fairy? I might try that later."

"That's very well," the king said. He turned to Princess Arya. "Assuming this creature I'll summon is indeed my son Vidar, he would have the same mark on his ankle."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the princess said.

"Then send him in!" the king said as he seemed to chop the air with his hand. "Send this creature to this room immediately!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," an attendant said.

The four men that had examined the fairy's corpse moved off to one side of the rug as everyone waited for Prince Vidar.