RISING before the sun, Sonia de Clare got dressed and offered her prayers to the statue of the Holy Mother. From there, she set about her weekly assigned chores. She was supposed to set the table for breakfast this week.
The Royal Abbey where Sonia resided was quite large, featuring both an adjoining orphanage and a boarding school for girls. The boarding school served as a finishing school where affluent young women learned social decorum. Here in the kingdom of Pharrell, girls were believed to gain an edge in life if they left home to study the word of God; hence, a fair number of noble ladies boarded for the short duration of six months to a full year.
Of course, they were also free to stay longer to follow the path of a nun. Out of all these noble ladies, Sonia had been here for a particularly long time. Not only had her parents died a decade ago, but she had also lost her older brothers in the very order of their claim to the family title and estates. The only daughter, Sonia, was now the sole direct descendent of the Dukedom of Clare, which possessed a massive fortune and vast lands.
Sonia’s guardian, the King of Pharrell, had sent her to this abbey. It almost seemed as if he were trying to protect her from something...
✦ ✦ ✦
CUTTING across the abbey’s impressive herb garden, Sonia walked down the simple and austere, chocolate brown hallway floors that had been polished to a sheen. She knocked on the heavy door at the end of the hall.
“Come in,” a gentle voice responded. Sonia opened the door.
The headmistress—the Abbess—sat behind her desk with brilliant sunlight shining through the window at her back.
“Thank you,” Sonia chimed.
Sonia spread the hem of her simple, unadorned gray skirt with both hands as she sunk into a curtsy. Ostentatious gowns and hair accessories were prohibited upon entering the boarding school. The girls lived in novitiate uniforms.
A benevolent smile crossed the Abbess’ face as she said, “Come in, my dear,” and showed her in.
Sonia made her way toward the formal leather sofa set in the back of the room with ladylike grace. When she saw who was there, her pale blue eyes sparkled with joy.
“King Patrice!” Sonia exclaimed.
“I see you’re doing well, Sonia,” Patrice responded. He welcomed Sonia over with open arms, giving her his best smile. Responding to the gesture, Sonia didn’t hesitate to bury herself in his chest. Any of the nuns instructing her would have frowned at such outlandish behavior if they were present, but, fully aware of Sonia’s extenuating circumstances, the Abbess’ smile only grew deeper as she watched in silence.
“I never dreamed you would come in person, Your Majesty,” Sonia said.
Realizing how childish her behavior was after hugging Patrice far longer than decorum allowed, Sonia flushed with embarrassment as she stepped back to put on her best behavior.
“I wanted to tell you personally, so I came to see you incognito,” Patrice explained.
“Goodness! Whatever for?”
The golden-blond hair Sonia kept tied behind her gently swayed to and fro. The adorable sight reminded Patrice of his own first love, and the nostalgia brought a smile across his lips.
“Why don’t we go for a short stroll while I tell you? Would you mind leading the way?”
“It would be my pleasure!” Sonia said in response, and the two went out to the cloister surrounding the herb garden.
✦ ✦ ✦
SOFT light shone through the stained-glass vaulted ceiling of the white stone walkway Sonia and Patrice strode down. With the coming of spring, butterflies and bees busily flew about the abbey’s herb garden, enticed by its fragrances.
“I’ve decided who you shall marry.”
“Huh?”
The sudden announcement stopped Sonia dead in her tracks. She looked up at Patrice with her mouth hanging wide open.
Not expecting to elicit such surprise, Patrice smiled wryly as he continued, “Is it truly all that surprising? You’re already eighteen years old. That is certainly old enough for you to have a fiancé.”
“...I’m sorry. This is just all so sudden...”
“By any chance, are you already fond of someone?” he asked.
“Goodness, no! This is a world of women. You know there aren’t any men aside from you allowed to enter the boarding school on a whim, Your Majesty,” Sonia quipped.
The sight of Sonia puffing up her cheeks in annoyance made Patrice bark a laugh. “Oh, I’d forgotten about that!”
“So tell me...do I happen to know this gentleman?” Sonia asked in a calm tone, but she could feel her heart racing in her chest.
“Yes, you know him.” Patrice met the expectant gaze Sonia directed at him as she tightly clutched her hands against her bosom.
“My son, Severin—”
“Prince Severin?” she promptly interrupted.
“Right, Severin—”
With that, Sonia’s eyes grew misty. She cupped her cheeks with both hands as her whole face began to glow.
“Prince Severin! I couldn’t be happier! I shall strive to be a good wife, King Patrice!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“HMMM...”
“Is something the matter, Your Majesty?” asked the puzzled attendant who was accompanying Patrice. Ever since he got into the plain carriage used for incognito travel, Patrice had been grunting and groaning. “By any chance, did Duchess Sonia have qualms with her future groom?”
“No, she was ecstatic... It’s just...”
“Just what?”
“She might have misunderstood who she’s marrying.”
“...Didn’t you make it clear?” the attendant asked.
“By the time I got out ‘He’s someone you know well,’ and ‘Severin,’ she was already on cloud nine... I told her again to make sure she understood, but...I doubt she was listening... Now do you see the problem?”
“Certainly. I have no doubt she thinks, ‘I’m going to marry Prince Severin,’” the attendant answered with a pathetic groan. He hung his head alongside Patrice, then pointed out, “Doesn’t that mean Duchess Sonia has feelings for Prince Severin for her to be so happy about it?”
“Yes, I’m sure it does. The simple fact of the matter is that she entered the abbey when she was eight, so Severin and the adults around him are the only men she has ever known. She and Severin were so close in age that they often played together.”
“So her feelings of friendship blossomed into romance... She’s so pure...unlike Prince Severin,” the attendant said, not realizing he had spoken out of line. Patrice shot him a dark glare, but couldn’t chide his attendant considering his son’s bad habits.
Just then, the attendant broke into a smile that screamed, “I’ve got it!” and he began to explain his idea to Patrice. “Why don’t you take the plunge and have Duchess Sonia marry Prince Severin instead? Maybe he’ll be smitten with her purity and become a devoted husband.”
“Or Sonia will be miserable. I can’t make her a victim to my son’s womanizing ways.”
“Good point,” the attendant agreed.
Patrice shot him another dark glare for not defending his son as he continued, “Besides, Severin isn’t capable of dispelling the curse placed on Sonia.”
“I hope the Pope’s divine revelation comes to pass. If it doesn’t and he loses to the curse, our country will suffer a great loss,” the attendant commented. He must have been worried for the safety of Sonia’s fiancé, for a look of concern crossed his face.
Patrice opened the carriage’s small window and gazed out at the townscape. For roughly fifteen years, that knight’s hard work had kept this land untouched by the flames of war. The townsfolk bustling about with bright smiles amid this beautiful, orderly townscape was an ode to his devotion to his country and unparalleled chivalric prowess.
“I hate to place a heavy burden on him yet again... But not only is there the Pope’s revelation, I also believe he is the only one capable of breaking Sonia’s curse,” Patrice said, drawing the conversation to a close.