King Wesley

King Wesley

Part One: Prince Wesley

There was once a prince by the name of Wesley. He lived in an enormous castle with his father and his three sisters. Being the only son of King Tiberius, he was next in line for the throne, even though all his sisters were older than him- a fact of which they would often remind him. 

Wesley had wanted to be king his whole life. He’d always dreamed of one day sitting where his father sat, sadly, at only fourteen years old, he had a long way to go. 

Wesley spent everyday training with knights, studying the kingdom’s history with his Aunt and observing his father performing his kingly duties. 

Meanwhile, his sisters read books that were not about the history of the kingdom, did their hair and makeup, went to the market in town and did all the things a future queen should not do. They were the type of princesses that never cared to rule the kingdom. 

Princess Jackie, the youngest of the three sisters, and only a year older than Wesley, spent her time either in the library or the kitchen learning to bake and cook with the maids. 

Princess Kristine, the second eldest princess, was the most mature of them all. Their father always put her in charge whenever he went out on one of his expeditions.

Finally, Princess Andie, the eldest, always cared more about how she presented herself than anything else. Their father had given her a second bedroom just for her dresses and the entire east wing of the castle. 

Prince Wesley didn’t care how big his room was. To him, a bedroom was meant only for sleeping. His room had one window, a bed and a nightstand which held a single oil lamp and a book. Many times his sisters tried to redecorate his room when he left with their father or while he slept, however, he always removed everything and burned it the moment he saw it. 

On the day of his fifteenth birthday, he would finally have the opportunity to lead his own expedition. Granted, it was only to deliver a message, but he had never gone out alone before. That is, if you could count travelling with ten guards as being truly alone. He was, after all, still a prince.

With only ten days until his birthday, Wesley studied his maps and practiced riding his horse. He would prefer his horse to be called a stallion because “horse” sounded in his words, “too princessy.” His father had a massive yard for him to train in. It had everything: tall grass, obstacles of all kinds and practice dummies for him to shoot with his arrows or slice in half with his sword. 

Wesley had always felt a bit like an outsider in his family so he always did his training alone. It was as though he was the only one who cared about his rank. Even his father didn’t want to be king anymore. Ever since his wife was killed he had fallen into a depression and had lost interest. He was ready for one of his kids to take the crown. 

Wesley always tried to fit in with his sisters even doing some of the activities they like to do but no matter how hard he tried, he always got bored or irritated and walked away. His sisters loved him dearly but could never get him to go to the market with them or read the books they liked. 

Whenever Wesley needed an answer for a question about kings he rarely went to his father, but instead, went to the head knight Sir Lane. Sir Lane was also his father’s go-to for subbing into meetings he didn’t want to attend. 

Wesley sometimes felt as if the only person he could relate to was Sir Lane. And Sir Lane was the one who was keeping King Tiberius on the throne long enough for Wesley to be king. Three years and ten days to go, Wesley has been counting since his seventh birthday. Wesley was extremely grateful for this because if his father gave up now his sister Andie would get the throne. No one in the kingdom wanted that, not even Andie. 

Part Two: The Beautiful Knight

At last, the day of Wesley’s fifteenth birthday and the day of his first quest had arrived. Wesley was so excited and determined to prove his worth that he had packed all of his things the night before. Even selecting the knights three days earlier that would go with him. He requested they all meet him in the courtyard at seven sharp. Of course, Wesley was there an hour early. 

Half an hour before the knights were to arrive Wesley was still alone. Quarter to seven and still no one showed up. With only one minute until they should arrive, no one. Just when Wesley was about to go find the knights, one started making their way towards him right on time. 

Sir Lane had told Wesley that he would assign one of the higher-ranking knights to go with him. 

This made Wesley extremely nervous. For this was one of the best knights in the castle- according to him, she answered directly to Sir Lane and commanded her own order of knights. At only ten years old Naline was knighted by the head knight, Sir Lane. She was sixteen now and the youngest knight to have ever received command of their own order. 

Words could not even begin to describe just how beautiful Wesley thought she was. She was like a hundred flowers in full bloom, small drops of dew still glistening on the petals, the morning sun reflecting off them giving the flowers the most beautiful glow you would ever see. And beautiful wasn’t all she was, she was kind, loyal, an amazing leader and she was incredibly strong both physically and emotionally. 

Wesley had a huge crush on her and he was extremely good at hiding it too.

*Seven years ago*

Wesley had just finished an evening training session with Sir Lane and was walking down the corridor from Sir Lane’s office on his way to his bedroom. Then when he turned the corner, there she was and he couldn’t help but notice her beauty. 

Naline had known the prince her whole life, she would see him whenever he would make public appearances with his family, or when he and his father were showered with flowers and cheers every time they returned from an expedition. And like most girls her age, they all had crushes on the prince. All the boys her age would fight over who would get to marry the princesses and which was the most beautiful. 

Wesley never noticed Naline, not because he ignored people lower ranked than him but because he was only eight. He didn’t understand love and beauty and crushes yet. His only focus was on becoming king. 

However now, at this very moment, in the hallway with Naline, he finally understood… he understood everything. Being king should be his only focus. After he becomes king he will marry a princess to unite their two kingdoms for the good of his kingdom. That’s what his father did and his father before that and his father before that. 

So like any eight-year-old Prince would do whose only focus is to become king: he decided to ignore her. This was not what happened.

Naline, preoccupied in her thoughts on why her Uncle Lane had called her to his office at this hour, did not see the young prince walking straight towards her. 

It could be thought that after hearing this Naline and Wesley would crash into each other and fall over on the dirty floor of the castle halls causing them to fall madly in love. However, it is forgotten that these were two kids at ages eight and nine who are both preoccupied in their thoughts and missions that love was the last thing on their minds. 

Naline hadn’t been to her uncle’s office before and his directions were extremely confusing since he used only “go left, then turn right” sort of directions. So she stopped dead in her tracks trying to remember which way he had said to turn next. She couldn’t, she was lost. She tried to find a sign or some kind of direction that might lead her to where she needed to go and that’s when she saw him. 

It was dark in the halls so she didn’t recognize him at first. She called out to ask for directions, and he ignored her! She thought maybe he didn’t hear so she called out again.

Wesley noticed the girl trying to talk to him and as her future king, he decided it would be best to respond to her. He walked towards her realizing she was even more beautiful up close.

Naline asked for directions to Sir Lane’s office, and Wesley, being incredibly nervous, lost his voice. Although he did manage to muffle out a few incoherent mumbles. He tried again but still couldn’t give directions so he just took her there himself. 

Naline only realized once his face was illuminated better by one of the hallway torches; that she was standing next to Prince Wesley! A million thoughts raced through her head and she panicked. Just as she was about to speak to him they were there. Then in what seemed like the blink of an eye, Prince Wesley was already halfway down the hall and she was standing alone outside her uncle’s office. Unbeknownst to her, this is when she would receive the news that her uncle wanted her to be one of the kingdom’s knights.

*The present* 

Wesley was not prepared to go out alone on a journey with Naline and she felt the same. Nevertheless, this was an urgent message and needed to be sent out at once. Naline told the nervous prince that they should head to the kingdom of Lodesha now so they can arrive there before dark.

The journey was a day there and back with one night’s rest at the castle. For half the trip to the castle neither spoke a word. Naline was leading with Wesley a few feet behind. 

Suddenly in the distance, they could see a looming cloud of dust and many figures within it. Naline called back to Prince Wesley to warn him of a potential threat. 

He thought of going around, but then thought, would a king avoid a confrontation like this? As he asked himself more questions and thought through all possible scenarios of this encounter, the dust cloud was already coming closer to them. 

He and Naline drew their swords and prepared for the worst. Upon closer inspection, they realized it was just a few travelling tradesmen. The leader of the group was a kindly-looking elderly man riding a carriage tied to a donkey.

The elderly man looked right at them and glared. Naline said good afternoon to him and he just shouted back garbled nonsense in a crazy tone. Wesley was as confused as Naline. The two exchanged a look which was their first time looking at each other since leaving the castle. They couldn’t believe how concerned they were about a crazy old man and a donkey. 

A few more hours had passed and the moon was just barely visible through the leaves in the trees above them. During this time Naline and Wesley made a bit of small talk and started to grow more comfortable in each other’s presence. 

At last, they made it to the castle. The message was delivered to the King and Queen of Lodesha. Wesley was shown to the guest room in which he could comfortably stay the night. Naline slept in a spare guard’s quarters. 

The next morning Naline and Wesley made the journey back home arriving just before sunset. Since there were no distractions this time they made good time.

When they arrived back at the castle Naline went to her uncle Lanes’ to give her report. Meanwhile, Wesley went to find the guards he had assigned and give them a piece of his mind about them not showing up the morning prior.

Once Wesley had located them, he demanded they tell him why no one except Naline showed up. One of the guards spoke up and told the prince that they had received direct orders from Sir Lane to not go that morning.

Wesley was furious! He went immediately to Sir Lane. He saw Naline and Sir Lane speaking with each other. Had Wesley been in the right frame of mind, he might have thought to wait for them to be finished talking first. This was not the case. He could not think straight, all he knew was that Sir Lane went against his orders and needed to know why. He marched over to Sir Lane and insisted he tell Wesley the reason the knights didn’t show up. 

Sir Lane was not happy with the interruption. He told Naline hurriedly that they would talk soon. 

After Naline had left Wesley whipped his head back around to face the head knight. Just as he was about to speak he was cut off. 

Sir Lane was shocked Prince Wesley hadn’t caught on yet. He then in a slightly raised and frustrated voice explained to Wesley the reason he told the guards to stay behind. He told Wesley that Naline often spoke about the prince to him. He explained that he was only trying to get them to talk more to each other. He could also tell Wesley was fond of her as well. 

Wesley couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed this sooner. He apologized to Sir Lane and now he was only mad at himself for not thinking before yelling at the only person who he felt really understood him. 

Wesley thought telling Naline about this would be best but then decided against it. He would tell her; one day; just not today… 

Part Three: King Wesley

~ Three years later~

Finally, the time had come for Wesley to become king. His father, King Tiberius, had announced his stepping down from the throne.

It had been 2 weeks since his birthday and since his father had renounced his throne. All the preparations had been made and Wesley’s coronation day was closer than ever. His sister Andie had picked out at least twenty different outfit choices for the big day, and for once, Wesley cared about everything his sister had to say about fabrics and stitch lines and all that other design talk that made no sense to him.

The night before he was to be crowned king it might be expected for Wesley to not be able to catch a wink of sleep. This was not the case for the future king. He was in bed by ten and up at six just like any other day. Wesley had been planning and preparing for this day his whole life so fear was not a word in his vocabulary at the moment. 

Wesley had picked out the perfect outfit. Andie had done most of the narrowing down but Wesley was a big part of the decision. 

The coronation was to be held in the courtyard. It was the most beautiful courtyard the kingdom had ever seen, there were flowers and lace everywhere, colours of all sorts from dark reds to sky blues. All the people in the kingdom put on their most charming gowns and tuxedos, done up their hair in marvellous styles and had practiced amazing manners. 

The ceremony was short yet spectacular. Everyone cheered and clapped for their new king. They all knew he was going to be an amazing leader. 

Naline was there in the front row cheering him on. 

Wesley and Naline started secretly dating about a year ago when Naline confessed her feelings to the prince on one of their missions. They tried their best to hide it, only one person knew: Sir Lane. He didn’t say anything though, as he didn’t want to embarrass them. 

Wesley also planned to propose to her after the coronation. He always wanted a queen once he became king and always thought he would marry for the kingdom, but after meeting and getting to know Naline, he never thought that again. Now he was marrying for love.

Naline said yes and the whole kingdom erupted in applause and cheers. Flowers of all sorts were thrown towards them in celebration. Sir Lane couldn’t hold back a small tear from falling down his cheek making some of the other guards chuckle a little at the sight of their strong leader tearing up over young love. 

Wesley finally felt like he was part of something amazing, no longer an outsider, and no longer just trying to be a king but instead, a loving husband. 

Naline and Wesley shared a smile, they knew that this was only the beginning of their lives. They were ready for anything that would come their way. They could not wait to go on many more adventures and spend the rest of their lives together.

Forever.

The End.