by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 19
Two weeks later, Orion found himself on a familiar cobblestone street in the city, on his way to the flower shop where Sandra worked. After the food poisoning incident, his mother had let up on his city trip suspension, as long as he stayed with both of his brothers and a few guards at all times. Empress Anita had wanted to accompany them on their trip, but, as Rick had pointed out, she was too busy to take the time off. Besides, she wouldn’t be any help if there was trouble. She had hesitated, but agreed that Rick was right. She let the boys go into the city with an escort of bodyguards.
Joshua was excited to be in the city again after not being allowed out for six months. He had wanted to visit all of the familiar places, but Orion had convinced him to go to the flower shop first. Orion glanced back at Joshua and couldn’t help but chuckle at his brother’s childish behavior. Joshua was smiling big and waving to everyone they passed. Orion glanced over his other shoulder at Rick. Quite the opposite of Joshua, Rick didn’t seem very happy at being escorted around by guards. They had never had an escort before, and Orion did find their regal presence embarrassing. Mounted on matching horses, the guards all wore matching uniforms and carried matching swords. Two of the guards carried large flags bearing the royal seal.
Rounding a corner, the flower shop came into Orion’s view. A crisp breeze from the lingering cold weather blew past Orion, making him shiver. He began to wish he had brought a coat with him. Spotting Sandra, he forgot about the weather and trotted his horse up to the front of the shop where she was trimming the plants outside. He heard the horses of his brothers and the guards catch up to him as he dismounted.
“It’s about time you came to see me again, Prince,” she said accusingly, without looking up.
“I-,” he started, staring at the back of her head, wondering how to explain why he hadn’t come before. He decided the truth, as humiliating as it was, was the best thing to say. “I had gotten in trouble for sneaking off without my brothers,” he explained, “and Mother forbade me come out into the city until now.”
“And did she forbid you to even send me a letter telling me why you couldn’t come?” she turned to face him, angry tears welling up in her eyes.
“Uh, well, no,” Orion was surprised at her reaction to seeing him for the first time in months. He had expected her to jump up and hug him, say how much she had missed him, or at least smile at him and pet his horse. He hadn’t expected her to be so angry with him. He also hadn’t even thought of sending her a letter. But if she had expected a letter, why hadn’t she sent him one? Besides, she was allowed to come to the palace. When she realized that he couldn’t come to her, why didn’t she come to him instead?
Sandra glared at Orion, picked up her pruners, and marched inside the shop. Orion followed, becoming angry himself. There wasn’t an overwhelming fragrance of flowers. Looking around, Orion realized that the fragrance was missing because the flowers were missing. There were still many potted plants all over the little shop, but most of them had lost their old flowers, and were producing new ones. Orion found Sandra beside the counter, standing next to a young man who looked to be a few years older than Orion. Orion thought he looked oddly familiar, but couldn’t figure out where he had seen this young man before.
“So this is Prince Orion, eh?” the young man asked, “I’m Bryan.” he held out his hand, but Orion didn’t take it. He was staring at Sandra, who had wrapped her arms around Bryan’s free arm.
“What’s going on?” Orion asked, puzzled.
“You never came back,” Sandra’s expression turned from angry to regretful, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I didn’t hear from you in six months. I thought you didn’t care about me. I thought-,” she buried her face in Bryan’s shoulder as she started to cry.
“She thought you hated her,” Bryan finished Sandra’s sentence. He turned and put his arms around her.
“But I didn’t-,” Orion started, trying to make them understand, “I wasn’t allowed out. I-,”
“How was I to know your mother kept you inside the palace?” Sandra cried, pulling free of Bryan’s grip, “Think of it from my point of view. I get to meet a prince. Me, a lowly girl working at a flower shop, meeting the heir to the throne. Not only that, but he seems to like me, too. One day, I’m able to convince him to go on a date with me - if you can call a walk in the park a date - and he gets attacked. We manage to escape, but he’s hurt bad, so bad that he has to be put in the hospital. I’m told to leave before I know if he’s going to live or die,” she started crying again. Bryan put his hands on her shoulders. Orion stared at her, mouth open, but no words came out. After a few minutes, Sandra resumed her story, “I worry about him day and night, praying that he’s gonna be okay. Every day at work, I watch for him, to see if he would show up and let me know that he’s okay, but he never shows up. I start to think the worst has happened.
“Finally, about three weeks later, I hear that he’s out of the hospital and doing okay. My heart rejoices for him, and I continue to watch for him to come around that corner,” she pointed towards the bend in the road, “and tell me that everything’s going to be okay, and that it wasn’t my fault that those people attacked.” She started sobbing again, covering her face with her hands. When she looked back up at Orion, she was heartbroken, “but he never came back. He never sent me a letter telling me why he wouldn’t come back. I thought you blamed me for the attack!” she yelled between sobs. “Six months, and I don’t hear from you at all!” She cried, calming down a bit. “I thought you had moved on and forgotten about me, so I moved on, too,” she sniffed, “This is Bryan,” she said, drying her eyes and looking into Orion’s, “he’s my boyfriend. We started dating about a week and a half ago.” She turned away from Orion’s dumbstruck face and headed to the plants sitting on the shelves.
“But, what about me?” Orion asked the back of Sandra’s head.
“Don’t you see, Prince Orion?” Sandra said over her shoulder, “Bryan is my boyfriend. You’re just a prince from the palace to me, nothing more.” She turned back to the plants, pretending to prune one, even though she didn’t have her pruners. Orion staggered back a step. Her words stung. Heartache began replacing shock, jealousy replacing heartache, and bringing anger with it.
“Well, what about you, Sandra?” Orion yelled without meaning to, “Why didn’t you ever come back to the palace? If you were so worried about me, why didn’t you come to see me in the hospital wing after that day?”
“I wasn’t allowed to come see you,” she sobbed, “the guards were under orders to keep civilians away from you. And I had to work,” she added, “You know that.”
“So that’s it, huh?” he asked, raising his voice, and allowing his anger to get the best of him, “You’re just gonna throw away everything we had together?” he walked over to her.
“We never had anything, Prince,” Sandra whispered without looking at him. Her unexpected reply stopped him in his tracks. He stood there, staring at the back of her head, trying to think of something to say. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He closed his mouth, letting his head bow as tears welled up in his eyes. Seething, he turned and strode out of the flower shop without glancing at his brothers, who had come in after Orion, and stood there while he argued with Sandra. If he had, he would have noticed the small, grim smile of satisfaction on Rick’s face. The two of them followed Orion out the door while Bryan watched them, arms folded and a sneer on his face.
“I’m going home,” Orion announced to the guards as he mounted his horse. Without checking to see if anyone had heard him, he began trotting his horse back to the palace.
What about your trip to the city, majesty?” one of the guards asked, riding along side of Orion, “You don’t have to go back for hours. Don’t you want to stay out and go somewhere else?” Orion’s furious expression told the guard all he needed to know. The guard fell silent and got back in line with the others as Rick a
nd Joshua trotted to either side of Orion.
“Are you okay, bro?” Joshua asked tenderly. Orion ignored him. They rode the rest of the way to the palace in silence.