*
As Thor ambled back to the castle, still reeling from his encounter with Gwen, he was barely even aware of his surroundings. His mind was consumed by thoughts of her; he could not stop seeing her face. She was magnificent. The most beautiful and kind and sweet and gentle and loving and funny person he had ever met. He needed to see her again. He actually felt pained at the absence of her presence. He didn’t understand his feelings for her, and that scared him. He barely knew her, yet he knew already that he could not be without her.
Yet at the same time, he thought back to the Queen yanking her away, and his stomach sank to think of the powerful forces standing between them. Forces that did not want them to be together, for some reason.
As he tried to get to the bottom of it, suddenly he felt a stiff hand on his chest, stopping him hard in his tracks.
He looked up to see a boy, maybe a couple of years older than him, tall and thin, dressed in the most expensive clothes he had ever seen—in royal purple and green and scarlet silks, with an elaborate feathered hat—grimacing down. The boy looked dainty, spoiled, as if raised in the lap of luxury, with softened hands and high arched eyebrows that peered down disdainfully.
“They call me Alton,” the boy began. “I am the son of Lord Alton, first cousin to the King. We have been lords of the realm for seven centuries. Which entitles me to be a Duke. You, by contrast, are a commoner,” he said, nearly spitting the word. “The royal court is for royalty. And for men of rank. Not for your kind.”
Thor stood there, having no idea who this boy was or what he had done to upset him.
“What do you want of me?” Thor asked.
Alton snickered.
“Of course, you would not know. You probably don’t know anything, do you? How dare you barge in here and pretend to be one of us!” he spat.
“I’m not pretending anything,” Thor said.
“Well, I don’t care whatever wave you washed in on. I just want to warn you, before you get any more fantasies in your head, that Gwendolyn is mine.”
Thor stared back, shocked. His? He hardly knew what to say.
“Our marriage has been arranged since birth,” Alton continued. “We are of the same age, and of the same rank. Plans are already in motion. Don’t you dare think, even for instant, that it will be any different.”
Thor felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him; he didn’t even have the strength to respond.
Alton took a step closer and stared down.
“You see,” he said in a soft voice, “I allow Gwen her flirtations. She has many. Every once in a while she’ll take pity on a commoner, or perhaps a servant. She will allow them to be her entertainment, her amusement. You might have come to the conclusion that it is something more. But that’s all it is for Gwen. You are just another acquaintance, another amusement. She collects them, like dolls. They don’t mean anything to her. She’s excited by the newest commoner, and after a day or two, she gets bored. She shall drop you quickly. You’re nothing to her, really. And by year’s end she and I will be wed. Forever.”
Alton’s eyes opened wide, showing his fierce determination.
Thor felt his heart breaking at his words. Were they true? Was he really nothing to Gwen? Now he was confused; he hardly knew what to believe. She had seemed so genuine. But maybe Thor had just been jumping to the wrong conclusion?
“You’re lying,” Thor finally said back.
Alton sneered, and then raised a single, pampered finger, and jabbed it into Thor’s chest.
“If I see you near her again, I’ll use my authority to call the royal guard. They will have you imprisoned!”
“On what grounds?!” Thor asked.
“I need no grounds. I have rank here. I will make one up, and it is me they will believe. By the time I’m done slandering you, half the kingdom will believe you are a criminal.”
Alton smiled, self-satisfied; Thor felt sick.
“You lack honor,” Thor said, uncomprehending that anyone could act with such indecency.
Alton laughed, a high-pitched sound.
“I never had it to begin with,” he said. “Honor is for fools. I have what I want. You can keep your honor. And I will have Gwendolyn.”