Why would someone like him, a handsome prince with his choice of any woman in Europe, want to marry a minor princess from a tiny island in the middle of the freezing North Sea?
“Why does he want to marry me?” I ask.
Papa clears his throat, exchanging another glance with my mother. “It’s not a love match they’re proposing, sweetheart. It would be an arranged marriage that mutually benefits our countries.
To my surprise, my chest deflates. Of course they’re suggesting an arranged marriage. It couldn’t be anything else. Prince Frederic doesn’t love me. I barely think he evenlikesme.
“Well, obviously,” I say. “I’m pretty certain Prince Frederic doesn’t wake up every morning pining for the Elkevikian girl who tells him jokes about farmyard animals.”
In fact, I doubt he thinks about me at all.
Mama smiles. “I’m sure he thinks you’re quite charming, sweetheart. But heisrather serious, I do agree with you. The media says he’s like a marble statue. Poor fellow. He’s got a beating heart as much as any of us.”
“The fact I made him smile when he was here is one of my life’s greatest accomplishments,” I say, and every person in the room cracks a smile, even the Prime Minister, who seems to specialize in looking grim and serious, like it’s in some manual on how to be Prime Minister.
“What I don’t understand, though, is why he wants to get married at all,” I say.
“I can answer that for you,” Mr. Henson begins. “Thesituation in Ledonia is rather difficult for the royal family at the moment. They’re facing the possibility of a referendum regarding their very existence. The calls are getting louder and louder, and Prince Frederic is regarded as somewhat lacking in character.”
Which is another way to say boring.
“And marrying me will fix that?” I ask.
“A big royal wedding between the Crown Prince and a beautiful princess could ignite a new sense of fervour and passion for the royal family within the country,” he explains.
A laugh bubbles up before I can stop it. “So they want to marry him off to do what exactly? Make him seem more like an actual human being rather than a handsome marble statue?”
Mama reaches for my hand. “They want him to marry you because you’re the complete opposite of him. You’re positive and happy and full of the joys of life, sweetheart. Whereas he’s—” She breaks off, but we all know where she is going.
“Dull,” I fill in for her.
“Darling, you can’t say that,” Mama reprimands, though she does it with a smile that tells me she agrees.
Everyone in this room knows Prince Frederic has as much personality as a rock.
“It was all because of that photograph of you that appeared in the paper last week,” the Prime Minister explains. “You were at the children’s hospital, dancing, and Prince Frederic was smiling at you.”
“I remember.” The prince had looked at me in total bemusement, but I didn’t care one jot. The children needed cheering up, and that was what we were there to do. I wouldgo to any lengths to make that happen, and on that particular day, dancing was that length.
“So far everything you’ve said is about us helping Ledonia. What about us? How will Astrid marrying Prince Frederic help Elkevik?” Mama asks.
“As you’re aware, we’re currently drowning in debt. We were relying on the energy deal, and when it fell through, it left us in a somewhat precarious financial position,” Mr. Henson explains. “If the marriage does go ahead, they are offering to buy our wool, which may open up other markets for us in Europe and the world.”
“So, you see darling, this marriage could be a lifeline for Elkevik,” Papa says. “A marriage with a wealthy country like Ledonia would help us so much.”
“So I’m beingsold?” I ask, my eyes so wide they’re in fear of rolling right out of my head.
“Of course not, sweetheart! We would never do anything like that,” Papa reassures me. “It would be your decision if you marry him. Yours and yours alone.”
My chest tightens. The King and Queen of Ledonia want me to be gift wrapped in a wedding dress to make their son look like an actual person. I’m a PR solution, the human equivalent of a golden retriever puppy brought in to cheer up a grumpy child.
But then I think of our struggling economy, and how heavily it’s weighed on my parents. How the failure of the energy deal has left our financial outlook so uncertain. How I know it will mean inevitable cuts to education, healthcare, and social security for our people.
It seems crazy to think the simple act of me marrying the prince could end all of that. ThatIcould be the solution that could help our country.
“It would be a business arrangement. Is that what you’re saying?” I ask.
“Yes. But who knows, sweetheart? You might fall in love with the prince. Heisvery dashing,” Mama says, probably more in hope than anything else.
