The Problematic Prince

horse to save Lady Hardy.
There was a lot of talk about forgetting the past and moving on recently, but the more Lisa thought of it, the more it looked like a poisonous mushroom.

   They were turning the whole country upside down with their marriage.
They very much seemed like a couple in love, but Lisa could see the shyness that surrounded their meetings.
Lisa couldn’t understand the Prince’s attitude toward Erna.
He never sent flowers or letters.
It was not normal, they were not normal lovers.
Something is wrong and after much internal debate, Lisa came to the conclusion that something is very, very wrong.

   “Oh, I’ll visit him tomorrow, we are going to be having luncheon at the palace.” Erna replied.

   She smiled casually, as if not meeting your fiance for two whole weeks was pretty normal.

   “I will pick out a very nice dress, one that will make the prince fall in love with you.” Lisa promised.

   The poisonous mushroom prince will fall in love, Lisa decided.
Erna was beautiful, but after her work, Lisa will make sure Erna is irresistible.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

’

“You terrible thing.” Leonard declared.

   He had fallen onto the table, spilling it and all the drinks upon it to the floor.
Bjorn looked at the crazed man through bleary, drunken eyes.
Empty bottles rolled around the floor like fallen leaves and the insensible idiots sprawled in-between.
It was a colourful display of ugliness.

   Two bachelor parties so far and enough drink to put the prince’s life at risk.
The thought was there, but it did not register to Bjorn, as he looked down at the mouthful of brandy left in his glass.
He raised the deer horn trophy above his head, downed the remnants and declared the evening at a successful conclusion.

   Bjorn managed to escape the club without incident.
A few groans here and there, Leonard seemed to have fallen asleep on the floor where he had fallen, Bjorn had seized that opportunity to beat a retreat, Leonard would not have let him leave otherwise.

   His head was groggy and more than once he had to lean against a wall to stabilise himself.
Wallowing around with drunkards did not happen.

   He realised he was still carrying the deer horn trophy when he went to touch his aching head.
It was a reminder of a bitter past, but the lads were so determined to cut the horns of Bjorn Dniester, that they had made a new one and presented it to him last night, at the first bachelor party.

   Even though it was the second trophy, it still held a deep meaning and held the same feelings as the first.
The whole reason he joined this madness was because the lads had ordered a gold trophy for him.

   “If you go, you lose.
The trophy will be charged to Schuber Palace anyway.” They laughed.

   Each time one of them got married, a trophy would be made, with their name written on it and the idea was to be the man who got away with it at the end of a very heavy drinking session.
It was Bergman who lost the last trophy to Bjorn.

   Bjorn had almost lost his trophy to Leonard, but the drunk fool fell and the alcohol did the rest, allowing Bjorn to make a clean get away.
It had taken two nights, but a victor was clear and Bjorn got to add another trophy to his rather large collection.

   He had not intended to stay that long.
With so many trophies, he did not care to throw one away.
He was going to raise a toast, say some polite words and then leave, but once that first drink passed his lips, he lost himself to the madness.

’

   In the end, everyone was obsessed with the trophy, as they always are and the party did not finish easily until the morning.

   Bjorn stumbled out of the club and into the snow laden night.
The wind was cold and penetrated to his bones.
When he saw the fountain he laughed.
He kept laughing all the way to his carriage.

   When he sat on the frigid fabric seats, he closed his eyes and felt the world spin.
He started to think how different things would have been if Erna had not come to the fountain that morning.
Where would he be now, would he still be with Gladys? He doubted that.

   “Miss Hardy is waiting.” Came a voice.

   He was already back at his mansion? He must have drifted off into a drunken stupor.

   “Erna…why?” Bjorn said to the phantom voice.

   “Oh my god, my Prince, how are you in such a state at this hour?” The voice belonged to Mrs Fitz.

   She approached him when he got out of the carriage and cried out when she noticed his drunken state.
Bjorn staggered with a half hearted smile on his face and Mrs Fitz could do nothing but sigh.

   “Where is Erna?” Bjorn said.

   “Where she said she would be, did you forget that you had a luncheon with your fiance, my prince?”

   “But it’s only morning, the sun hasn’t even come up yet.” Bjorn said and looked up into the sky, where the sun lazily drifted over his head.