Peregrine wished he could defend himself not carrying certain weapons by saying that he was so loved by the people that he never expected to be harmed, but that was a lie, and he couldn’t pull that one off. No one should be looking specifically. They shouldn’t know that much about him, but he supposed he had been too incautious. He kept half of an eye on her, as she stored her daggers in an easily accessible place. He wanted to comment on it, but he didn’t think she would welcome suggestions for improvement.

He realized that since she didn’t have them concealed anymore, she had them concealed, because of him. He felt like his eyes were being opened. There was more to her than meets the eye. Not only could she ride so well, and be willing to sneak out at night even though he was sure she was raised to never do that, she carried weapons and she definitely knew how to use them. He knew for a fact that it was forbidden. Not only had she seemed so perfect before, but she had snuck out of his castle to do this.

He had been impressed by how well she rode, and pleased by how much she enjoyed riding. It revealed a woman after his own heart except now he was facing her wrath. If Peregrine might have known what she was thinking he would argue that he didn’t fight for his birthright, because he wasn’t convinced that he wanted it. He was also an only child, so he had no siblings to compete against. He knew his parents weren’t happy with him most of the time. They had trained him as a knight hoping to coax some responsibility out of him.

Obviously, it hadn’t helped much. He had learned the skills of a knight though. If he was a real knight, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere without his sword, which would have been pointless in this situation. He was unnerved how easily she calmed herself. She was dangerous and would bear watching if she was going to hide her feelings. She was perfectly capable of killing him, and he was becoming more than a little concerned. He waited bracing for a storm, but she mostly rebuked him.

“You seem like you have stuff to say,” he pointed out, when she finished, “If you didn’t notice, you can’t fight a bear with a sword. It would have killed us both that way. I don’t use spears much better than bows, so it made sense to use a bow. You are probably right that I should have brought a weapon. It was quite naive of me.” He smirked as he pulled out the sling. “I can use this, but it’s not much better than the bow.” It had just been stuffed somewhere. He remembered being younger and making several of them and stuffing them in random clothing pockets.

He had forgotten about them until this day. He found that he was quite defensive, which wasn’t the position he liked to be. He realized it was dumb of him to bring a weapon and then forget about it. “I haven’t ever worried about getting jumped,” he admitted. He didn’t have a special face that stood out. If he was wearing drab clothing, he doubted he would be recognized by just anyone unless they managed to stop him. “Generally, when I do this, it’s a clandestine trip,” he pointed out.

He watched as her smile disappeared, and he felt the sting of her next words. He may very well be pampered, but if he was useless it wasn’t because of that. He had no personal ambition, and he doubted he would have had any more if he had been born in a different position of life. "Oh, and you're not a pampered princess?" he asked her. She must not, because she wouldn't have left herself open like that. he must not realize that he had put in work to be a knight.

He had the skill, but he realized he didn't have the discipline. Mentally, he shrugged. What was the use? He had put years into holding the illusion that he was a useless untalented dumb boy. He supposed he should be a little more disciplined. He shouldn't work to unravel that now just because his pride had been poked. He preferred for people to underestimate him, including his parents. This could lead to insufferable arguments, but he liked to keep expectations low. "Oh look. We're nearing the stables," he pointed out. He hurried his horse into there, and quickly untacked and put it away. He took care of his horse, and then he went to see if Omisha needed help. This was an unfamiliar place, so she might not have been as quick.

Peregrine just smiled at her, because he wasn’t sure what else to do. Not reacting felt like the only thing he had power over. He wondered if she genuinely cared for anyone besides maybe animals. She seemed callous and a loner. If he thought he could poke her that way, he would. If he did manage to suceed, he had a feeling that he would be in a lot of danger. He was capable of seeming to be nice when he wanted to, and that seemed to be the only response he could manage, if she was going to be prickly.

He needed to stop trying to impress her, because he was just embarrassing himself further, and it was pricking his pride. He was losing face, and it was very obvious he was the losing side. She just had the stubbornness to win, and honestly, he didn't care. He wondered what he had done that was so wrong. They were back at step one. They might even be further back than step one, because before it felt like she was willing to pretend that she felt neutrally about him.

Now, all he was getting were insults. He wondered if riding horses would have any continued positive influence on her thoughts. She was a dangerous person, and he preferred to keep her appeased, if that were possible. He would like to get their relationship at least back to neutral, so that she wouldn’t be tempted to finish him off with one of her daggers, especially, while they were still alone. He wasn’t used to being threatened during his life, so he figured he may have to learn how to get a spine when dealing with her.

If is parent's plan worked out, they would be together for the rest of their life, if she didn't kill him in a fit of rage one day. Her personality could lead to plenty of arguments, which were tiring and energy draining. While if it came to certain bridges, he would stand up for himself, he might just get in a habit of giving up. She could easily become the power behind the throne. She was smarter, had more ambition, and hse probably even had a plan. He just did whatever someone told him.

Her strength and determination were some of the reasons he just gave up quickly. She wouldn't give up easily, so their argument could last for a long time. He knew how to choose his fights. He remembered the easiest way to annoy his own parents, and he decided to try it out on Omisha. He had never had the nerve to do it to his parents, especially, since they had the power to punish him. She would have a hard time finding evidence to tattle on him, so he thought it would be worth it.

His eyes widened, "I know. Isn't it a shock that I can't use other weapons well?" “Yup,” he smiled cheerfully hoping to get under her skin, “I am an idiot.” He knew it was dangerous, but Peregrine had been annoyed by her. She had used her tongue effectively. He remembered that his parents were also at fault too, because they hadn’t thought of it having him train in other weapons either. It was mostly his fault, because his parents had other things to think about.

He just never had ambition to take the initiative. He just hadn't taken an interest in other weapons besides the sword. Still, even if he was trying to annoy her, there was no reason that he didn't try to improve himself and give her less to work with. He wondered how long that would take. Hopefully, there would be some improvement by a week. He just kept up his smile It was starting to become a real one as he watched her try to insult him further.

"We've already confirmed that I'm an idiot," he chirped happily. "I'm going to have to tell our family, that you are a delight, and that we need to hitch the knot sooner rather than later," he beamed even though he let himself use coarse language, that sounded crude. "I wouldn't want to miss out on a lifetime of this," he almost smirked as he subtly needled her. He raised a brow, "I suppose if you've insulted me this much, one more time wouldn't hurt your chances of me keeping this a secret."

He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to do anything except little things to undermine her. She was much better at this than he was. When he came to check on her, he checked on Shadow instead. He knew he was stating the obvious, "If Shadow is hurt, that'll give us away more than anything else." He remembered he would have to stay awake tomorrow. She had already basically told him that he would be the one to give them up. "Ready to go?" he didn't want to leave her in the stables alone. Not for her protection. He just didn't want her to be here. "You go first, and then I'll go my way back to my room," he told her wondering if she would obey that order from him.

Unless his mother made him, Peregrine hardly ever put any particular effort in the way he dressed. He tried to keep it casual, but she was still determined to try to impress them for as long as possible. Now, he had to be uncomfortable, and think about keeping his expensive clothing clean. While they wouldn't be letting the Menhem royal family see this outfit again, they could use it again for a different kingdom's representatives such as ambassadors and royals who hadn't seen it before. It was an interesting, but exhausting technique.

He was dressed and hungry. He knew they would probably be waiting on him. He had slept in for as long as possible. He was annoyed how easily he had been cowed by Omisha, and he was determined to stand up better. His childish talk hadn't phased her a bit, and he was afraid that he had given her a pyschological advantage. He checked his outfit in the mirror. He had a green embroidered brown doublet, and black pants. It wasn't particularly flashy, but he wasn't in the mood before he ate breakfast. He doubted that she would have tattled on them. Instinct told him, that it wouldn't benefit her.

After last night, he doubted he would be able to best her, so he wouldn't go trying to lord it over her head or purposefully go out of his way to tell anyone. He planned on opening his big mouth plenty, because he couldn't stifle the yawns. Omisha's scolding had wound him up almost more than the bear attack. It had taken hours before he was able to fall asleep. He had ruminated on everything that had happened repeatedly, and it had made him annoyed. Finally, he told himself to stop thinking about it, and he fell asleep, because of exhaustion.

Peregrine was a horrid actor. While he never deliberately told on himself, he wasn't very good at acting or being deceitful. Wimpy he was, because he was used to getting a full nights sleep. Of course he couldn't blame her in front of their parents. He doubted she would be sympathetic, or that it would endear himself to her. If he knew her at all, she would tell him to suck it up, and stop being so obvious. After a few glares and threats of course. His parents wouldn't have too different of a response. At least she wouldn't be able to tattle without giving herself away, right?

He was annoyed how little he had perterubed her, because he was generally much better at it. His tongue was known for being scatching. Perhaps, he just hadn't talked to tougher people to crack. He was satisfied that he was prepared to go down. Most of his hairs were in place. With all of his parent's expectations, you would think that he would have learned more. They had time and resources that could have been invested to him. Instead, he appeared to have a careless approach to life. He went downstairs to the dining hall.

As he entered his mother looked up, and he could see the evil eye forming. He made the sign to protect himself from it. Soon she was only glaring at him. "Where have you been? You are late, and you don't look particularly well dressed or appropriate," she scolded. He shrugged, because there wasn't much else he could do. "You have kept us all waiting. We are the hosts. We need to do everything on time," she scolded. At this point everyone knew his apologies were close to worthless. Sometimes they could be used as a device to calm her down, but he knew that Menahem's queen entering the room would make her more charming than anything else.

Hopefully, she would forget about this incident after she got into her political groove. He didn't want to deal with an irrate mother. It made life very difficult for everyone involved. He wasn't planning on saying anything to Omisha unless she talked to him first. He was still feeling a little sulky after last night. Besides, she wans't the type to start talking about it. He might have been dumb, but it wasn't like it was a transgression against her. Of course once she started pricking at him, he did try to insult her, but before that he had just done his own thing.

Peregrine wondered if anyone would notice a difference with interactions between the two heirs. After last night he felt like they would be a bit more biting and sarcastic perhaps even more casual than they formerly had. Of course he was sure that Omisha would keep up her act, but Peregrine had decided to relax his protocol a bit. At least they would try to control themselves. He remembered that she would probably do fine. She was much better at self control than he was.

It was what made her a better actor than himself. He scarcely cared about getting in trouble anymore. She wouldn't get in trouble. Even though she scared him a little with her knowledge of weapons, he didn't think she could be a bad person. After all she loved horses it appeared as much as he did. It was a funny way to judge people's character, but he found it hard to believe that someone who cared for horses could hurt people. At least they didn't enjoy it, which didn't seem too much better.

Omisha appeared to try to keep her knowledge of weaponry a secret, which made Peregrine uncomfortable, but it wasn't against anyone's laws. He wondered why. Perhaps it was similar to the way he liked to keep his ambidextrousness a secret. He wondered how aware his parents were of her skill. His mother's glares reminded him of all the hopes his parents had for this union. Everything in her look told him to behave himself and not chase away a "poor sweet" princess.

This union could help with so many things and give them so many benefits. There would be more trade less, fear of attack, which would result in more prosperousness for everyone involved. He wondered if Menahem had similar ideas. He was tempted to ruin everything if possible with the dumbest response in history. He considered asking her a very awkward question, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to face his mother later. If he asked a crude enough of a question would Menahem's queen want to continue.

That would be enough to finish Peregrine off even though he was an only child. He began trying to formulate a question that she wouldn't want to answer in the affirmative. Vaguely, he remembered his mother telling him that the best way to be polite was to agree or say yes to anything. How could he make that awkward for Omisha? He realized that he was being childish, but he didn't care at the moment. He might later, but by then it would be too late, and the damage would be done.

Even though he didn't like his parents being in charge of who he would marry, he was relieved that they would hold onto the power until they died. They were more ambitious and power hungry than Peregrine himself. They had plans and knew how they wanted to execute them. People actually listened to them and respected them. It was a reputation that had been hard to earn. Besides, he believed they would have a hard time turning everything over to Peregrine to look after.

They didn't trust their own son even though he was their only heir. Peregrine liked to partly blame it on them. He was their only heir. They should have invested more time into his training. While it wasn't too late, his parents lived like they believed it was. Was that why they were trying to get Peregrine married? So they would have a dependable queen? Maybe they hoped it would help him mature further? Peregrine didn't think he would ever be ready for running a country, and he didn't want to ruin everything.

He turned slightly as the Menahem royal family entered. The Queen gave a polite curtsey, but Omisha stayed low only rising when the king gave permission. Peregrine felt a prick of annoyance that they were fooled by her act. He supposed that he couldn't be too harsh. He had been fooled yesterday also, but he had thought his parents were smarter and more observant. "How did you sleep princess?" he asked Omisha in a sweet tone. Saying anything other than sleeping well might be taken as an insult. Many times they had tried to insult them, so Peregrine wouldn't be surprised by any answer she gave. The other kingdom being in the wrong always gave the other side a stronger hand. It was something to be avoided. If he had to be married to her, he'd spend some time pushing her buttons in little ways. He wanted to see what kind of person she was. He knew he was starting small, but he'd work his way up. He'd find just the right button to push.

Peregrine | Prince of Arathorn

Peregrine didn't really bother to hide where he was looking as he studied the feminine pair. He was a little intrigued the way the mother and daughter looked so similar. How had the mother preserved her age so well? They seemed so perfect. His own parents had not been so strict, and he had ended up as a petulant and possibly entitled teenager. Peregrine hadn't decided how to treat Omisha. Did he want to keep last night a secret? Did he care?

He supposed indifference might be the best policy in this situation. Peregrine found it too easy to forget that whole countries looked up to him and judged his every movement. The good thing was the news had a hard time passing by the castle. The rumors became vague. Sometimes it was unfortunate how crazy they became. He had never really thought about it, but now that Omisha was here, and she was being quite scathing with her tongue, he realized how unprepared he was to take on the crown.

Before he had never cared, but he realized that it would be pretty easy to become a puppet king. He wasn't sure if he was okay with that. It might be an easier existence, but he would lose a lot and he would never regain the possibility of being free. The kingdom would probably fall a part under his rule. While he was normally selfish selfcentered, and he didn't have the kingdom as his top priority, he wouldn't want to harm that many people for any reason whether necessary or from neglect and ignorance.

Even though he cared and looked out for himself first, he wasn't heartless and didn't want to cause unnecessary suffering. Unless he took charge people would always be telling him what to do. He needed to take charge of his life, but how would he do that. Why had his parents not tried to train him more? Now that he knew her a little better he stared at her trying to see a slip up. If he could he would point them out just because he liked to be annoying. He was annoyed that he was useless. If he weren't a prince he would be at the mercy of the world.

He reminded himself that he could be a soldier if he had to. That was his only way out. Unfortunately, he was that helpless. He did know how to fight, and he could learn military strategy and discipline. Peregrine realized that he could really join the army unlike last time where he only learned how to use a weapon competently. Since he was a royal, he was trained more in the art of one on one fighting instead of an all out battle field. It would take a good bit of adjustment, but it would be good for him to do something useful.

He heard his father acknowledge what Omisha had said and respond politely and properly. If Peregrine were being salty and truthful, he would say he hadn't slept much. Exercise made it hard for him to calm down and go to sleep. It would have been terrible if the princess of Menahem had died in his company when they were alone. It would not look good at all. He felt nettled that everyone thought that Omisha was perfect. He suppose that since she worked so hard to keep up the deception that she deserved for them to believe her. He began to eat the food that was brought in now that everyone was seated at the table.

He wanted to figure out more about this strange princess. What did she want? Why did she feel the need to hide her true self? What was really her? Could he trust his perceptions at all? If they were going to get married, he would want to get to know her anyway. At the same time he felt really tired and exhausted thinking about trying to get to know someone he didn't really want to get to know or get along with. She would have an easy time manipulating him once he inherited the kingdom.

So far in his life he had been a pushover with little real power. While he might be ornery and cause trouble for her, he wouldn't really defy her. As he realized what his future was going to be, a life in the army didn't look as bad. His appetite was slowly being taken away, and he didn't feel the urge to eat as much. He wasn't sure what the parents had planned. He really wanted to go riding and try to forget his future. He needed to find a way to change it. Why was he the heir feeling like he was the least powerful person in the world?