Not Like Him
POV: Calypso
I was never one to follow my father’s schemes, they all seemed to be something to hurt my mother. I had not seen her in fifteen years before last night but I didn’t want to hurt her. From everything I could remember of her up until I turned five and the interaction last night, she didn’t seem like a bad person. She raised Ny and Syl so she couldn’t have been a terrible mother. I remember when my father had brought up the possibility of taking the chance for me to meet Lady Alexandra of Vellum, I rolled my eyes and thought internally that it would at least be an opportunity to meet with my mother again. It was something I had desired for so long and hated that fae tradition meant that the sons would be brought up by their fathers while the daughters would be brought up by their mothers. I wanted to learn what a strong and just leader was from my mother. I obviously would not find that with my father since he schemed to get power and didn’t care who he hurt to get it. He wanted to hurt my mother, he wanted to hurt my sisters, and most of all he wanted Lady Alexandra in his grasp so he could use her power. If she were to marry me, she would become a part of father’s court and he could use her as he pleased. From what Lord Loki explained is that one of the other Gods whom he was allied with told him that she had a dormant power to make and take God-like powers away from people. He would use that to elevate his powers and Loki would use that to take away powers from the Gods he deemed unworthy. He spoke passionately about how most of the Gods were unworthy and how much chaos her powers could cause.
I had only cared about my family so I only pretended that I would go along just to see mother and I would show disinterest in Alexandra when I went so I could, hopefully, get father to drop his ambitions. This was my plan but then I looked into her eyes and something in me changed. I didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable last night but I couldn’t resist kissing her. If it was only once, I wanted to feel what it was like to kiss her. My sister Ny told me that she was one of the sweetest people to be around, she said she surrounded herself with a variety of people and everyone gravitated toward her side and I could easily see why when I spoke with her. She was kind, courteous, and genuine. Being a prince in Seely brought many women to me and none was so genuine or thoughtful. Each had their ambition, some wanted to make me theirs because they found me attractive and others wanted to be a princess in the King’s court. My father had very particular standards when it came to women so he would turn many down. Everyone thought his court was a harem full of women but in truth, my father had three and any woman he rejected would try to cozy up to me in an effort to make him jealous or even just to become part of my future harem. I found the idea of a harem disgusting and I had honestly thought that I would never get married either knowing how much it made each of my parents miserable.
I fell into the trap of love and I wasn’t sure I wanted to come out of it either. I knew what this meant for my mother, my sisters, and her so the dilemma had caused me to not sleep and I was pretty sure I had been sighing quite a few times this particular morning. I was on my way to have breakfast with my father as I did every morning. My best friend and aide Jheelis patted me on the shoulder, “Bronze coin for your thoughts, my friend and Prince.” I looked over at him, “It’s our guest.” Jheelis smiled, “Oh yes, the ever-beautiful Lady Alexandra. I got to be her greeting party at the portal.” I had not known this so it startled me, “How did you get that honor?” He shrugged, “Order from the King, he knew I had an in with the Queen and Sylphia so he wanted me to be the advance spy party. He needed to know her look and character. He seemed pleased with her look but lamented that she was too young for him or he would woo her himself.” I rolled my eyes, “I imagine he did. What did you think of her?” He smirked, “Well, were she a fae…I would probably have already had her in my harem.” I grumbled, “I don’t know why that is a practice with fae men.” He shrugged, “With the women in power, we have to find some pleasure in life I suppose.” I shook my head, “A woman like Alexandra doesn’t belong in a harem, Jheelis. She belongs in a loving home with a doting husband.” He lightly slapped my back, “My friend, I bet you are pining to give that to her eh?” I sighed, “That’s the problem, I am.” I stopped and looked down at my feet, “I cannot have my father using her for his schemes. She is not a tool to be used on a whim for power that doesn’t belong to him.” Jheelis put his arm around me, “So your dilemma is to leave the one you adore alone so that father doesn’t get his hands on her or to follow your heart and trap her here as your father’s power lust. Is that right?” I nodded, “That pretty much sums it up. Do you know how heartbreakingly bad this is?” He shrugged, “I don’t know, never been in love only in lust.” He laughed a hearty chuckle which meant he was trying to cheer me up.
We continued on our walk and I found myself wondering what she was doing at that moment. I wasn’t obsessed with her though I knew she had that power over people. I had heard the story of the human who killed himself because he couldn’t have her and the obsessed First Prince of Vellum so I knew her power had a hold on men, perhaps some women too. This was not an obsession though, this was an affection of wanting to cherish her and protect her but wanted her to have time with her friends and family. Love was a delicate balance of give and take, I knew that. A person would have to take all their beloved was willing to give and, in return, he would give to his beloved back. Time with her man would be given back with time to herself or friends and family. A woman could give a man a family and he would give back by cherishing her for her care, time and affection. All these things, I knew and all these things I found I wanted to give to her. I knew she had the King of Vellum, Lucien to go back to but I found myself wanting to be the one she looked at with affection. I thought to myself that I would have to abandon those thoughts so that she could be free of my father and live her life where she was meant to live it: in Vellum as the Queen. I would show her my love by not chaining her to this realm. It was the decision I made while I was walking to my father’s chambers. I thought to myself that thankfully, he wouldn’t know about my private moment with Alexandra and I could feign indifference the rest of the time she was here. I thought it would be easy since I feign loyalty to my father when my loyalty lay with my sisters.
We finally came upon my father’s chambers and I announced to the guard that I was there to have breakfast with my father. I walked in and he was reading a letter with a big smirk on his face. That look never meant anything good so I asked, “What’s got you in a good mood this morning, Father?” He folded up the letter and smiled up at us, “Oh you’ll find out later. Let’s eat first and we can discuss our schedules for the day. I have planned a few things for you both to do.” My father planned Jheelis’ schedule because he could, he was the son of one of his harem women. He was technically my half-brother though my father had not officially acknowledged him as his son. He was conceived while his mother was in my father’s harem and he was born a few months after I had been. I was older than my sisters but my father liked women who were not my mother so he started his harem shortly after they were married. He still went to her bed until my youngest sister Ny was born. After all, with every royal family, you always needed an heir and a spare. Since I was a boy, I could not inherit the throne so when Syl was born, Seely rejoiced but their duties weren’t done until Ny was born. Father quit seeing my mother after Ny was born very healthy. He wouldn’t take me to see my mother either after Ny turned two. Syl and Ny could easily come and see me though since father allowed it. He wanted to see his daughters so he could try and influence them to be on his side. It was a complete failure, my sisters saw right through him.
My father reached into the stack of papers on his side table and pulled out a letter, “My son, I have here in my hand a letter from King Lucien of Vellum addressed to Lady Alexandra. I want you to be the one to deliver it to her.” I tried to maintain a neutral face, “I don’t know why you think that will be effective.” He smirked, “Well, if I suspect his feelings for her, she will be grateful for you to bring her this letter. Don’t question me, boy, I know women far better than you do.” I thought to myself that that didn’t seem like a brilliant plan to me but my father was really cunning so he probably worked out a way that it would benefit him in some way by proxy. I took the letter from him feeling awful that I would have to at least pretend to go along with this especially since the letter I held in my hand was likely a love letter. I placed it next to my plate. My father took it and handed it to a servant, “Ensure the Prince leaves with this letter in hand.” The servant bowed to him and placed the letter on the table next to the door to his chambers. He continued, “Jheelis, I need you to get close with her escort. What was her name again?” I sighed, “Lady Jesslynne, Father.” He nodded, “Right, the quiet mousy one that she calls Jess. I don’t know what Lucien was thinking. Sending a little weakling like her to guard a most precious treasure.” Jheelis shrugged, “Perhaps he doesn’t know her true power. After all, Lord Loki only knew this and only shared it with us.” My father sighed, “I do wish he had taken my advice and stood behind last night. His ego was too big and he got himself caught. This made me have to move things around in my plan. I spent most of the night trying to rearrange things. It was most exhausting.” Jheelis nodded, “Most unfortunate, sire. I wonder if the other God will show up now to aid you in the quest to capture the lady.” My father smirked and leaned forward, “No need. Our Prince will do that just fine. This leads me to what I was reading when you came in. Apparently, my son made a power move last night from Nystasia’s account that my spy picked up. She was all too keen to share. Way to go, my boy. Soon she will be ours.”
