5Summary: To avoid a civil war, one of a pair of princes is brought up as a girl. The only problem seems to be when he's supposed to marry the prince of a neighbouring country … broken up into two chapters for better reading / slash in second chapter
Rating: M for slightly graphic sex scene.
Warning:This is slash … Don't like it? Don't read it!
Reviews: … are welcome, as long as they're constructive about my mistakes. I only keep flames during the winter for heating, during the summer I ignore them.
The king paced the antechamber of his wife's rooms anxiously – as he had done for the past sixteen hours. He was rather inexperienced when it came to childbirth, but even he knew that it should not take that long. Two hours ago he had tried to go inside and ask for news only to be sent out rather rudely by the midwife. She had been worried and that could not be a good sign. Outside a storm had been raging for most of the time – not too uncommon in late fall, but it seemed to be another bad omen.
Suddenly a baby's cry rang out from behind the closed doors. The king automatically reached for the handle, but found it blocked. A few minutes later he heard a second cry, sounding slightly different. It took another five minutes before the midwife opend the door and beckoned him in. His wife was resting on the bed, her deep red hair spread out on the pillows, a baby in each arm.
"What has happened here?" the king asked, looking at the two babies in surprise.
"Your wife gave birth to two children tonight," the woman answered him, "both boys."
"But…"
This could not be good, the king decided. While twins were on the whole seen as good omens, firstborn twins of the royal family definitely weren't a good sign. More than one civil war had been fought in the past because it was hard to decide on the crown prince when both sons were born on the same day.
"Your wife and sons are well. The queen is still a bit exhausted now. I know it's not what you expected, your majesty, but nature runs it's course, no matter what we humans do."
The king nodded. He loved his wife and, being more than ten years older than she was, had hoped for healthy children. But he had hoped for them to come in single line, not together. Giving his wife a loving smile and a soft kiss, he left the room to find his advisor. He certainly would need all the advice he could get for this problem.
"It is grave, your majesty," Rowan, the kings advisor, pointed out once he had heard about the twins. "Two boys born the same day, both legally the heirs to the throne. In twenty years we could very well be experiencing a civil war."
"I know, that's why I came to you," the king answered angrily. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"Well, the classic approach would be to kill one of them – the slightly younger one –, but that's barbaric and certainly not called for in our times. If only your wife had given birth to a son and a daughter, that would make everything far easier."
"Because daughters cannot inherit the throne?"
"Yes, your majesty. If one of your sons were a daughter, everything would be just fine. Hmm…" The man slowly stroked his beard, thinking silently for a moment. "There is a witch living near town, your majesty."
"And? I'm sorry, but I fail to see the significance of that. Witchcraft isn't a crime in this country."
"Indeed. And that's the good thing. Send someone to get her, your majesty."
"Certainly, after you have explained it to me."
"I'm not sure whether my plan will work out. I need to talk to the woman first."
Still rather worried the king complied.
In the early morning hours of the next day – with five more hours before he had to announce the birth of the crown prince(s) to the court – the king met with his advisor and the witch again. The old woman looked rather thoughtful and sceptic.
"Let me now explain my plan," Rowan adressed the king. "As we already said, everything would be fine if one of your sons were a daughter. This is how we can proceed without sacrificing one of the children. You will announce to the court and your people that tonight twins have been born – a son and a daughter."
"But…"
"Please, your majesty, I'm not done yet. Miss Morgana has agreed to put a charm on the younger of your sons, making sure that he will never grow a beard. We will just have to hope that he doesn't take after you and grow to almost seven feet. Your younger son will be raised like a girl, the nanny and servants taking care of him will be sworn to secrecy."
The king had to admit that it was better than to kill one of his children. Nevertheless he didn't harbour too much hope for it to work out. Even if the charm worked and even if his younger son took after his mother and stayed small, he still was a boy. It would come out sooner or later.
"Your majesty, I know you're not happy with this plan and I understand you completely, but on the other hand I don't want the blood of one of your sons on my hands either. Neither do I want to see this country plunged into a civil war in a couple of years."
"Your majesty," the witch added calmly, "I cannot promise to you that it will work, but I can add another charm to stunt his growth slightly. I cannot promise that he will look like a pretty princess, but in reality most of the princesses don't look that pretty anyway. No one should get too suspicious. The right kind of upbringing and he will certainly be able to act like a girl."
"Then let's do it. I have to face the court in a few hours and they are suspicious by nature. If we are going to stage up this fake, we better do it right."
Sixteen Years Later…
From afar there could be no doubt that a very pretty young princess was seated in the palace gardens, reading a book. Long, deep red hair, very much like her mother's, fell down a slender back. She held herself upright and moved very gracefully. But the princess whose name was Alexandra wasn't a princess at all. She was a prince.
The king had been very lucky in his choice since it turned out soon enough that the older twin had inherited more of his characteristics. Benjamin was tall, towering most of the young courtiers already, and muscular in build. His twin brother/sister was a good deal smaler and had a lithe body. Only very few people knew about the truth. The royal couple knew, of course, as did Rowan who was still the kings most trusted advisor, the witch who had cast the spells on Alexandra and a couple of servants who knew they'd be executed right on the spot if they let anything slip.
The spells had worked out far better than expected. Alexandra wasn't an inch taller than his/her mother, had the same deep red hair and didn't sport any hair on his/her body other than on his/her scalp, the long lashes and very fine, perfectly arched eyebrows. Even his/her face looked strikingly feminine with high cheekbones, large, deep green eyes, full lips and small chin. Rowan and the king both had to admit that, if they didn't know better, they'd be ready to take every bet that the princess indeed was a girl.
But Alexandra wasn't very happy. The life of a princess contains a lot more restraints than that of a prince. Unlike his brother he wasn't allowed to leave the palace alone, he didn't have too much contact with the women of the court because it was dangerous if any of them got too close to him. He wasn't allowed to learn how to fight and riding was difficult enough with a long skirt. In addition the women's fashion alone could be a good deal more restraining than those for men. While a corset can easily cheat a bosom – a small one at least – where nature hasn't granted one, it is not exactly comfortable. Much of his straight back and upright poses came from the simple wish not to get stung by the corset.
During the last weeks another problem had surfaced. While his brother had at least ten more years before the court would start thinking about getting a bride for him, Alexandra was supposed to get married soon. Girls in general usually got married between their fifteenth and twentieth year of life. He was sixteen now, looked like a pretty girl and nevertheless his father tried to stall – for good reasons since Alexandra could not think of a man who would not realize soon enough that he wasn't a girl.
Three kingdoms in the area had already questioned whether or not he thought one of their princes suitable for his daughter. One of them could easily turn into a serious threat if it's ruler didn't get a positive answer…
The king was once again rereading the letters he had received during the last year, all asking about a possible marriage between a prince and his 'daughter'. Sixteen years ago he had only been afraid that no one might believe the boy really was a girl, now he would prefer to have a rather ugly 'daughter' instead of the beauty Alexandra had turned out to be.
At least one of the kings would certainly not take 'no' for an answer. Ragnar was a powerful man with an army greater than the populace of the kingdom whose princess he wanted as a bride for one of his sons. The king didn't see a way to avoid a war.
A knock on the door distracted him. His mood rose slightly when Rowan entered the study.
"Good news, your majesty," the man announced. "I would recommend you to arrange an engagement of your 'daughter' with Ragnar's son Connor."
"Are you insane?! Every man would sooner or later find out that his charming 'bride' isn't a woman at all!"
"Every man would find out, yes. But only provided he was interested in women at all. Connor is said to not as much as touch a woman. His father wants him married to stop the gossiping, he will not be supposed to produce any offspring."
"It could work out, Rowan, but it is dangerous. If anything leaked out, Alexandra would be as good as dead and we would be on the brink of a war we cannot win."
"Yes, your majesty, but if we deny him your 'daughter's' hand, he certainly will wage war on us as well. I prefer the possible catastrophe to the certain one."
"So I have to sacrifice Alexandra in the end. Very well, we'll send Ragnar a letter tomorrow, telling him that we accept his proposal. But you are going to explain the whole thing to Alexandra – it was your idea after all."
The advisor heaved a sigh. "Yes, your majesty."
"I am supposed to marry that prince?!" Alexandra asked unbelievingly. "But how can I marry that man? He will find out about my secret in no time!"
"He wont even try," Rowan countered. "Believe me, it is safe. Please, Alex, tell me that you'll not try to disencourage him from marrying you."
"Allright, I will not try. I trust you, Rowan. But I don't understand."
"You don't have to, Alex. Just do as I say."
But even though Alexandra had promised to do as he was told, he wasn't sure whether he was doing the right thing. He just couldn't believe that it could work out.
Weeks passed. Ragnar accepted the answer, sending nummerous wedding presents and finally his son Connor. The young man arrived in late fall, close to the twins birthday. The wedding was going to be held at the end of November. Alexandra watched his arrival hidden behind the curtains of his room. Admittedly the man looked very attractive with his dark hair and athletic build. Every princess probably would have been glad to get him as future husband. Unfortunately Alexandra wasn't a princess and would rather try to outright avoid a marriage.
This evening the first meeting of Connor and his bride was scheduled. Alexandra's maid spent the whole afternoon with him to make sure, he looked as feminine as possible. Nevertheless he would have prefered to be somewhere else when he was led into the large banquet hall by his father.
Connor thought about the last argument he'd had with his father before the journey. The man had made it completely clear that he would have to stand clean of any of his 'boy toys' in the future. He was going to marry a princess he hadn't even seen before and he was going to at least act like a good husband.
Now he was seated at a table waiting for the first glance of her. She was said to be pretty, but to him that didn't matter at all. The large doors were flung open, revealing King Gregor and his daughter.
Connor studied the lithe figure advancing slowly. Not a low-cut dress, that was good. She seemed to be rather shy as well so she would not question him too much. And he had to admit that she was more than just pretty with her long, deep red hair and her pale complexion. Her eyes were averted as if she didn't want to look at him. Connor looked at her face, fine cut lines, high cheekbones and very beautiful, slightly pouted lips. If he were interested in girls – or if she were a boy – he'd be very tempted to kiss her.
Alexandra found it hard not to blush while he looked at his groom through lowered lashes. The man looked like the definition of a male. But what would happen if he found out about the betrayal? He looked like he was strong, maybe he would just kill his false 'bride' – or even do something worse. Rather drastic pictures of what might happen filled his mind. Strangely enough some of them even seemed interesting.
Still avoiding eye contact, Alexandra took a seat beside the man. During the meal he didn't talk much, trying to seem simply shy instead of frightened. As soon as the meal was over, he retreated to his room, taking care of something new and unknown that had happened to his lower regions.
The first meeting was followed by a second and third one. Of course there was no question about the marriage as a such, but there were still a few things to take care of. Alexandra didn't try to make it more difficult for the servants around him, he allowed himself to be measured for the wedding dress – which surely would not be easy to make –, he spent time with his groom – although only while there were others around – and he prepared himself for the things soon to come. Of course the women of the court didn't really help with their various stories about the wedding night. They couldn't know that something like that wouldn't happen. Even the twin's birthday passed rather unnoticed
Then the great day Alexandra had dreaded was there. Alexandra's maid and the seamstress who had done the dress – and most of the others Alexandra owned as well – needed the best part of the morning to make him look as good as possible.
The ceremony itself took more than two hours, most of which the bride and groom spent on their knees in the great cathedral. It did not necessarily require a lot of attention from the couple since all the rituals were completed by priests, but it was tiring.
The wedding feast wasn't much better, Alexandra thought. Once the guests had started to drink, it didn't take long for the first lewd stories to be told. Alexandra couldn't help blushing – always being around women had left him rather unused to such things.