The Prince's Gambit

A tired, blue prince sat uncomfortably on his throne, servants running left and right to prepare for the ball. He didn’t see a need for a ball every week, but his father insisted that he find a princess to share his wealth with.

“Father” the prince sighed “what if I don’t want a princess? What if I wanted to live my life alone?” he questioned.

“Nonsense, no one wants to be alone” the king chuckled, sitting next to the prince.

“I would rather live unhappily alone than to find someone who only married me for my money” the prince rolled his eyes.

“Maybe if you stop being such a downer, a girl would be happy to be with you” the king snorted out.

The prince angrily stormed away from his throne and down the hall. As he approached his mother’s icy scared eyes, he felt tears well up in his own.

“Mother, I will find the person who did this to you, and I will make sure that they are punished” the prince cried.

Of course, the queen didn’t answer, for she was a frozen block of ice. The prince remembers that night so vividly: during one of the king’s many balls, a sorceress crept in and tried to curse the king. Before the ice ball could hit the king, the queen swept in and shielded the king from being hit. To think about it, the king never gave the queen a “thank you” for risking her life to save his.

“This is my fault, if I would have chosen my princess at the first ball, this would have never happened” the prince whimpered as he hugged his mother.

There was a loud bang as a door was slammed roughly. A timid servant girl came trudging down the hallway.

“Stupid king with his many orders and his unnecessary wealth, if it wasn’t for my mother, I would have gone crazy by now” she muttered under her breath as she stomped down the hallway.

As she approached the prince, her eyes grew as wide as saucers when she realized he could hear her rant on about the king.

“I’m sorry your highness, I did not mean the things I’ve said. Punish me if you will, for I have insulted the king” the young girl bowed her head.

The prince couldn’t believe his eyes. He finally found the most beautiful girl in the world.

“No need to apologize, your secret’s safe with me. What is your name?” The prince questioned astonished.

“Zuri, your highness.”

“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. I am Prince Alexander of Armory” the prince held out his hand for her to shake but then face palmed.

“Obviously you know my name” he sighed making Zuri giggle.

“Well I better get going, your highness. Duty calls” Zuri smiled.

“Alexander.”

Zuri’s eyebrows slammed shut in confusion. “What?” She questioned.

“Call me Alexander” the prince answered.

“That is highly inappropriate, sir” Zuri rebutted.

The prince softly grabbed her hands, “call me Alexander or the king will be hearing about a certain someone whispering very colorful words about him” the prince whispered in her ear, smirking.

“That’s not fair!” Zuri exclaimed storming off making Alexander laugh.

Suddenly a bright light flashed behind Alexander. He quickly turned around to see an older woman dressed in dark clothing.

“You!” Alexander exclaimed pointing to the woman, for she was the sorceress who put the horrible curse on his mother.

“Me!” The sorceress smiled. “It’s so nice to see you again Alexander, I see you’ve met my daughter” she smirked taking a piece of the prince’s hair.

“Zuri’s your daughter?” The prince asked.

“Why of course, and she’s in grave danger” the sorceress smiled and turned towards the queen’s frozen figure. “Unless you give me her” the sorceress pointed to the queen.

“Why would I believe you? Zuri probably has a part in all this mess” the prince sneered.

“Oh she has a part alright” The sorceress smiled as Zuri swooshed in surrounded by some sort of power source created by the sorceress.

"Zuri!" The prince yelled out trying to save her.

Zuri cried out as she dropped to the floor and the magic entered her body.

“You have 24 hours to make your decision. You hand over your mother and I’ll let you run away with Zuri. If you don’t give me your mother, that little spell that just entered Zuri’s body will break her heart, literally!”

“What do you want with my mother?” the prince asked.

“With her out of the picture, I could be queen. The story’s simple, I marry the broken, widowed king. The king dies, the kingdom is mine!” The sorceress cackled.

“Take my father, I don’t care. Just leave Zuri and mother out of this” the prince pleaded.

“So the queen can come back and take my place? I don’t think so.”

“I’ll marry you! I’ll marry you and once we’re married, you’ll be next in line to take the throne.  I’ll take Zuri and my mother and run away. You can have my father and once we’re gone, you can do as you please with him” the prince pleaded.

The king swooped in surrounded by the same power source as Zuri.

“Do you hear that your highness?” the sorceress smiled.

“Your son is willing to give you away for the queen and a servant girl he stupidly fell in love with.”

“That’s no son of mine, you can take him and his mother. Leave my wealth and throne alone” the king snorted.

“Oh, but Alexander offered me a better deal. With me marrying him, there is no heir to the throne. With no heir, I’ll be queen forever.”

“Chop, chop. We have a big wedding tomorrow; I want the whole kingdom there” there was a flash of light and the sorceress was gone.

The next day, the sorceress and the prince stood at the altar. Zuri stood in the crowd in an embrace with the frozen queen.

“I do.”

Once those words were muttered by the prince, the queen began to thaw.

Before she could finish thawing, the prince took both her and Zuri in an embrace running out of the church, leaving the people of the kingdom confused.

From that day forward, the prince, the queen, and the servant girl lived as servants to the neighboring kingdom. It may not seem like the ideal life, but they all were content.