Ben sighed.
Somehow, even the sight of his beautiful girlfriend wasn’t enough to lift the prince’s somber mood. “Dad says I have to hold another meeting to fix it. He’s disappointed, of course, and he’s had to send conciliatory gift baskets of his favorite cream cakes to everyone who was there, so he’s not in the best mood. You know how much he likes his cream cakes.”
“Frosted or unfrosted?” Audrey asked. “And with currants or chocolates?”
“Both kinds,” Ben said, sighing again. “More than a dozen each. Mom thinks it’s the only way to make peace, although Dad was kind of annoyed to give away so many of his favorite treats.”
“They are rather good.” Audrey smiled. “And everyone does love cake.”
Ben wished Audrey could be more understanding, but her life had been charmed from the beginning as the pampered princess of two doting parents—especially Aurora, who been separated from her own mother and forced to spend her formative years in a fairy foster home, under the threat of a deadly curse. “My daughter will never know anything but love and beauty and peace and joy,” Aurora had declared. And she had meant it. So it wasn’t hard to see now why Audrey couldn’t understand how Ben could ever disappoint his parents. She never had.
And she never will, he thought.
Like almost everything in Auradon, Audrey was perfectly sweet, perfectly gentle, and if Ben were honest, sometimes perfectly boring. There were other colors, aside from pink and pale turquoise. There were other animals, who liked to do things other than coo and cuddle. There were perhaps also other topics than gowns and gardens and balls and carriages—no matter how good the custom paint job on the latest chariots was.
Weren’t there?
“I don’t even know what those sidekicks are so upset about,” Audrey said. “They’re so adorable, and everyone loves them. Why would they bother with things like wages and hours and”—she paused to shudder—“credit?” She stroked the dove. “Those aren’t lovely things at all.”
He looked at her. “I don’t know, exactly. I’d never thought about it before, but I can’t stop thinking about it now. I’d never imagined that anyone in Auradon didn’t live exactly like we do, in our castles, with our servants. And our silk sheets and breakfast trays and rose gardens.”
“I love rose gardens,” said Audrey with a smile. “And I love the ones with topiaries shaped like adorable creatures.” She giggled in delight at the thought, and the dove on her shoulder chirped back agreeably.
“They said I was rude,” he lamented. “And I was.”
“The elephants are my favorite. With those cute little trunks.”
“But I didn’t have a choice—they weren’t listening to me. They also said I lost my temper.” He hung his head, ashamed of the scene he had caused.
“But also the hippos. Such lovely teeth. It’s such a talent, really, to prune a bush into the shape of a hippo. Don’t you think?”
“Yes, but about the meeting…”
Audrey laughed again, and it was a tinkle of fairy bells chiming in the wind. Ben realized then that she hadn’t heard a word he was saying.
Maybe it’s better this way. She doesn’t understand what I’m going through, and I don’t think she ever will.
Audrey must have seen the frown on his face, because she paused to take Ben’s hand in her tiny, perfectly manicured fingers. “Don’t worry about it, Ben—everything will work out. It always does. You’re a prince, and I’m a princess. This is the land of Happy Endings, remember? You deserve nothing less than everything your heart desires. You were born to it, Ben. We all were.”
Ben stopped in his tracks. He had never thought about it like that. It was implied, certainly, in everything they did and everything that was done for them. But to hear the words themselves, from such beautifully shaped, perfectly pink lips…
Why us? How did we luck into this life? How is that fair? To be born into a life without a choice in the matter, without the freedom to be anyone else?
She laughed. “Don’t stop now, silly. I have something to show you. Something perfectly perfect, just like today.” He allowed himself to be pulled—like any good prince in the hands of a maiden princess—but his mind was still far away.
Is this all there is?
Is this even what I want for my life?
They had circled the garden, and now Audrey led him into a secluded patch of wildflowers. A beautiful picnic was laid out on the grass amid the blossoms, in a woodland vale filled with all manner of happy forest animals nuzzling, chirping, and hopping all about. “Isn’t it amazing? I had half the groundsmen and three cooks working on it all morning.” She leaned in to nuzzle Ben’s cheek. “Just for us.”