Guards rushed into the room and surveyed the situation with confusion. Justin dragged Alex out of the room, kicking the door closed behind him. Char and JC were waiting outside the door and looked at them surprised. "What happened?" they asked together. Alex took one look at JC and burst into tears. JC was just plain
clueless. What in the world would make her so mad that she would scream and then in the next second burst into tears? "Alex?" he asked and took her into his arms. She put her arms around his neck as they both sank to the ground. He looked at Justin, but he was avoiding everyone's eyes. "Justin what happened?"
Justin sighed and looked up, meeting Char's eyes. He looked over at Alex, her body shaking with sobs as JC tried to calm her down. "The wedding is tomorrow," he whispered. No one said anything. The silence was deafening. JC stood up, but Alex didn't release her hold on his neck. He began to walk toward her room, taking her with him. Justin didn't meet Char's eyes. He was afraid he himself would break down in tears much as Alex had. "I'm sorry Char, but this isn't my choice." She just looked away, hurriedly brushing the tears away from her eyes. Nodding, she turned and walked away, leaving Justin to stare at the floor.
JC led Alex into her room and set her down on the bed, taking her arms away from his neck. He closed and locked the door before he sat down on the floor. "Alex?"
She looked up, tears still streaming down her face. "This is my life JC," she said. "They are throwing away anything that I may want and making my decisions for me! They don't even care that I don't love Justin or that I had my own ideas! I feel like my life is being taking away from me."
"I'm still going to be here for you Alex," JC said.
"Besides the fact that you're going to be over in your kingdom." JC winced. That fact always came back to him. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want Alex to get married any more than she did. He felt stuck in the middle. Reaching up, he held her hand in his own. "It doesn't matter where I am. I'm still going to be here for you."
She smiled and slid off the bed, sitting next to him. She put her head on his shoulder as he put his arms around her. She calmed down and had an overwhelming sense of safety as she was held in JC's arm. She sniffled and he kissed her forehead. She started to drift off to sleep when there was a knock at her door. She groaned and stood up, answering the door. "Your mother wants you to get fitted for your gown," said Dei quietly. She nodded and turned around locking eyes with JC. She turned and followed Dei, leaving JC in an empty and much colder room.
JC paced along his parents' room as they watched him. "They're just marrying her off," he vented. "She looked defeated. This is tearing her apart!" JC stopped pacing and turned to look at his parents. "And I can't do anything to stop it." Karen stood up and hugged her son. "We are so proud of you and how you've lived your life. But you just have to realize that you can't change everything or everyone." JC shook his head. "Normally that would be enough, but not now. I just can't except that." Roy smiled broadly. "That proves that you're my son. Trust and follow your heart." JC sighed and left the room, trying to figure out what he was going to do next.
Alex stared at herself in the mirror. "I thought that this would be one of the happiest days of my life," she said to Arianna. "But now, I'm dreading it like it is a simple nightmare." Arianna sighed and fiddled with Alex's long white skirt. "I know."
"No you don't," replied Alex forlornly. "You and Chris love each other, that's why you're betrothed. You got to make your own choice, I don't have a choice to make." Arianna knew that she was right. She closed her eyes and wished that things would go Alex's way. Alex started to squirm under the pins that the dresser was putting on her dress. "Can't I take a break?" asked Alex. She threw up her hands. "Fine! Do whatever you want, just don't ruin it and don't let Prince Justin see it!" Alex gratefully grabbed onto her skirts and walked out the door. "Where's Justin?" she asked Arianna. "Last I checked, he was in a meeting with your father in the war room."
Alex nodded and walked out the door, the cool air meeting her face. She breathed deeply and set off down the bridge, stopping in the middle to look over the side into the stream that circled half the castle. She glanced around and then lifted herself onto the wall that overlooked the stream. The white skirts of her wedding dress spread around her gracefully. She stared at her reflection in the water, JC's reflection soon appearing behind her. "How are you doing?" he asked sitting down next to her. She shrugged. "Okay I guess." He nodded and looked out onto the water with her. He glanced over at her through the silence. Her blonde hair was being blown behind her while her skirts rustled. That image would forever be etched into his mind.
"I can't do this JC," she said softly. "I just can't." He put his arm around her as she snuggled up next to him. Tears slid down her face as she realized that she would never be able to be with him like this when she was wed. "Why can't you do it Alex?" he asked. He figured that it would be easier for her if she talked about it.
"Because of you." JC froze, his breath becoming shorter. 'Because of you'. "Alex," he said. He lifted up her head to look at him before his lips crashed into hers. His hand cupped her cheek as she placed her hands on his chest. They both felt a great weight lifted from their hearts and souls, knowing how the other felt.
They pulled back, neither tearing their eyes away. He tenderly ran the back of his hand down the side of her face, over the tracks of tears that shown. She smiled and kissed him again. "Alex!" shouted Dei, almost shattering the moment. "Breaks over!" Alex grimaced as JC jumped down. He held his arms out to her and she
held his hands as she slid down. They didn't let go as they began to walk inside.
"I'll see you later," whispered JC. He squeezed her hands before he dropped them and set off down the hall.
Weeping quietly in her room, Char sat on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chest. She wanted to be happy for Justin and she was, but there was always that fact of how she would feel. She could never tell Justin how she really felt about him. He would never know that she cared for him as more than a friend.
This fact alone was making her heart break. She was never a very outward person, but Justin helped change that. No one had ever made her feel so contented, so joyous. She could almost feel herself slowly turning back into the person she once was someone who didn't like to talk to strangers, who didn't tell others how she felt.
Justin knocked and came into the room before Char could wipe away her tears. Justin immediately went over to her. "Char? What's wrong?" he asked, as he sat down next to her.
For some reason, having Justin there was making the situation worse, not better. She tried to hide her face from him, but he put a hand under her chin and made her look at him through watery eyes.
Justin felt a pang in his heart as he looked deep into her eyes. The eyes that he had fallen in love with. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her till she stopped crying. All he wanted in his life was to fall in love. And he had. But he couldn't follow up on that because of some stupid agreement that two families had made. He wiped away her tears with his thumbs and then pulled her closer to him. Forget status or social upbringing. Nothing like that mattered when you had found the right person to share your life with.
With that one simple realization, he knew what he had to do, and he was positive he could get Alex to go along with it. He would talk to her after Char had calmed down. Looking down, he saw she was sleeping peacefully. He lifted her gently in his arms and laid her in the bed, kissing her forehead before he walked out.
Justin walked down the hallway hurriedly. Stopping in front of a door, he rapped it with his knuckles. "What?" asked Dei from inside. "It's Justin and I need to speak to Alex!"
"Hold on!" Justin waited impatiently outside for her. After several minutes, Alex came out in a soft lilac dress and an angry look on her face. "The seamstress made me where this before I could leave. Anyway, what do you want to do?" He grabbed her arm and led her down the hall toward an empty room. "I refuse to do this," he said. "I'm not trying to offend you, your family, kingdom or anyone else. But I can not, no I will not do this."
Alex looked at him in astonishment. She had been meaning to talk to him about it anyway. But the force that he said the words with still surprised her and caught her offguard. "I completely agree with you. And I think we both know why we can't." Justin locked eyes with her and knew that she knew what was going on. He could also see that she was admitting why she couldn't do it, even if it wasn't in words. Nodding, he sat down in a chair. "So what are we going to do about it?"
Alex sighed. "The only thing I can think of is the entry in that book. To find a true spouse. I think we both know what we should do." Justin nodded. "When?" A thoughtful look overcame her face as her brow creased in concentration. "They won't listen to us now. We're going to have to wait till we are allowed to speak and do it at the same time."
"Think a simple no will work?"
Alex shrugged. "It's going to have to. We can't explain it any better than that." Justin couldn't agree more. They left the room and went to prepare for the wedding tomorrow. A day that will change their lives in more ways than one.
Seventeen