It Was Only Her in the End

“Are you coming tonight?” 

She had asked that simple question earlier in the day. It was her birthday, and a little gathering was to be held as a celebration. She had expected a warm smile from him for a reply, but instead, was answered with a biting of his lip and his hand leading her to the lake hidden within the green mountains. 

It was the same lake she always looked to for comfort. 

The same dusty ground she carefully set the little sage green cloth down on, barely long enough to reach her outstretched knees. 

But it was different tonight. The moon didn’t glow as brightly, the shine of the lake not as graceful. 

It was different tonight because she wasn’t alone. 

He stood by the water, and as she met him by his side, her eyes focused on his hand clasped around the rosy locket gifted to him at birth by his mother. 

As she removed her gaze from him and to the landscape ahead, a memory struck her. It had been a sunny day in spring, when the birds chirped the cheeriest. The two had exchanged kisses in the town’s only bookstore. 

“My mother would come to this place whenever that bastard of a father found himself a new young lady to spend his reign with,” he’d said. 

She knew of his father, as did everyone in the kingdom. He was the king of Trenia, and as horrible as he was, he brought a prosperous life to his people. Gone were the days of rivers of blood flowing through the streets of Amara, as more knights were slaughtered by rival kingdoms. 

She brushed a strand of his ebony hair away from his eyes as he led her to the corner, where a few seats were set. 

“Tell me more about your mother. Was she dear to you?” 

He smiled and pulled a pink locket from his left coat pocket. 

“She gave this to me the day I was born. Of course, I didn’t understand what it meant until I was years older, but I held onto it as if it was my only life support. But you want to know something?” 

She nodded and he continued.

“This is my only life support. As long as I hold onto it, until I am of age, I am destined to follow my father and become the king once his reign is over.” 

That was reasonable and could be easily predicted. But it was widely known that he did not want to follow in his father’s dirty footsteps. 

“If you so dramatically hate that life, why not rid yourself of the locket?” 

His smile faded, and all that was left was a mere frown. 

“I can’t lose it. It's the only belongings of my mother that I own. I can’t betray her wishes.” 

“What is to happen when you come of age?” 

“I fade into the night. I disappear and my soul finds the throne, where my body reincarnates.” 

It was a process every heir to the throne endured. It was a process not to be messed with. 

She didn’t think much of it. He would remove the locket before it was time, wouldn’t he? Surely that was what love meant. To love somebody was to sacrifice something great just to stay with them. Her father had left his family to die in the war, all to find safety with her mother in another part of the kingdom before she was born. She knew her ideas must be correct. 

“Well, when and if you do become king, don’t forget you have me by your side. I can be your queen.” To that, both had laughed. 

But as her memory drifted away, and she returned to the view of the solemn lake in front of her, doubt troubled her beliefs. 

She turned to face him as his hand was still gripped around the locket. 

“I told the stars about you.” 

The stars were a symbol of trust. Perhaps it was that definition that caused him to suddenly look at her, his eyes wide with shock. It lasted a moment before a small smile crept onto his face. 

He reached out to grab her hands in his. “Why do you trust me so much?” 

“Of course I trust you. I love you.”

“Do you love me enough to not forget our memories even after I’m gone?”

She pulled him into a hug. Their hugs once were warm and endearing, but now there was an ounce of sadness. 

“That is, if you die before me. But you won’t. Do you promise me you won’t die before I do?” 

He released his arms and stepped back an inch. 

“I don’t mean that. You do know what I mean by ‘gone’, don’t you?” 

She knew what he meant. That didn’t mean she wanted to accept it. 

“You can’t! Don’t you love me?” 

“I do love you. I will always keep you in my thoughts, but I must respect my duty and do what I can to protect this kingdom.”

As he removed his hands from hers, she felt an object left in her palm.

It was the locket.

“Though I must leave, I want you to know how much I truly adore you. You have the locket, so it means you need to keep it safe. I trust you so much, remember that.” 

No, it was too soon. Did this mean he knew he would leave even on that sunny day in the bookstore? Had he never planned to marry her into the royal family? It sure seemed like it now, the way he acted as if they would never meet again. 

Tears formed in her eyes, and he brought his hand to her face to brush a tear off her cheek. She swatted his hand away. 

“I understand you’re angry. You may be angry with me for the rest of your life. But I don’t want your anger to cause you to forget all the times we’ve spent together. The grassy hills we’ve climbed, waters we’ve rowed our way across, and all the flowers we’d picked to decorate our picnic baskets. I want you to always remember that I love you, even more than I love myself at this moment for what I’m doing.” 

She refused to meet his gaze, and as stubborn as she knew she was, she was aware that there was nothing she could do or say to make him change his mind. 

The two had met at a ball specially held for the king’s birthday. It was a pleasant sight, only laughable if one knew the truth: a masked commoner from the village of Amara, waltzing with the high prince of the kingdom of Trenia. It had happened too fast. The ladies were passed around to different suitors, and she had somehow ended up in the hands of royalty. As the prince had told her after, he had taken a fancy to her dancing. They met often, planning secret trips in the bookstore. All had seemed well, almost too well to be true. She believed they would forever be alright, but knowing now that she was much too wrong was too humiliating. 

Instead, she waited until he turned his back towards her, and walked with such elegance as one might assume a prince would, into the darkness of the winter night. 

It was only then that she finally broke down. 

Tears continuously poured, her breathing became ragged with exhaustion. 

It was only her in the end. It was only her and the locket, a reminder of him. And as her crying tuned out the chirps of the crickets around, she was reduced to a simple village girl with no value. The simple village girl the prince loved that one sunny spring day.