Chapter 9, Stories to Tell

The ninth chapter of "Wilde Horses Couldn't Stop Me!"

XVIII

“When you really matter to someone, that person will always make time for you.  No excuses, no lies, and no broken promises.”

The next day…

Although Milo and Kida were busy teaching a class together, Beatrice was still in good spirits.  She decided to explore the city and meet some of the people there.

Meanwhile Milo and Kida had their work cut out for them teaching children about the different systems of government.  They started with the system used by Atlantis, monarchy, which ended up using most of their lesson time.  It was unusual to have both leaders teaching together, since they were so busy with government business, but they both liked to show how much they cared about the Atlantean children.  So they taught a weekly class together.  

“And next lesson Milo will teach you, and me, about the other ways a society can be led, like, what was it again?” Kida looked over to Milo, who was erasing the words on his chalkboard.

“Democracy,” Milo started waving his chalk eraser around for emphasis, “And there’s also dictatorship (another form of autocracy), anarchy, anarchism, socialism and the republic.  Not to mention many sub-categories like…” 

Smiling, Kida put her hand to his mouth to shut him up, “Well, since we have ten minutes left, I’ll reward you for listening so closely with…” she released her grasp of Milo’s jaw, “…a story!”

“Great idea!” Milo wheezed.

“This is a famous Atlantean fairytale that I’m sure most of you will know.  It is called ‘the Sleeping Queen.’  Scream if you have heard it!”

All the children screamed.  Milo sighed, knowing the story would be mercilessly compared to Beatrice’s situation.

Milo said, “I think most of the kids have heard it before.  Do you have any other stories to tell?”

Kida grinned, “Stop being such a Sglupp, Milo.  You know that one reading of the story will not satisfy them.  What do you say, children?  Would you like to hear the story?”

They all screamed.

One boy snickered, “Yeah, let’s hear about Milo’s girlfriend!”

All the children laughed, while Milo froze, petrified, and Kida looked unamused.  Suddenly Kida had a suspiciously happy expression on her face.  She shoved the story scroll into Milo’s hands.

“You will read it to them, Milo,” Milo saw fire in her eyes.

He laughed nervously, “Ok.  Uh, let’s see.”

“Read!” Kida yelled.

“Right,” he started reading nervously, “The king and queen of Atlantis had a daughter, the princess of Atlantis, so they had a party to celebrate her birth.  Since the story took place before the time of the Great Flood, the King of the neighbouring Kingdom in the West was there with his son.  He ruled over what would now be the Americas.  That’s where I come from,” he pointed to the United States on a map in the classroom to show the children.

“The two Kings arranged for their children to wed when the Atlantean princess turned eighteen and became queen.  It was a strategic plan to form an alliance between the two kingdoms.  Nothing to do with love, I’m afraid.”

A few girls sighed in disappointment.

“Then three spell-casting women arrived late for the party and gave the princess their gifts.  The first gave her beauty,”

He looked at Kida lovingly.  She beamed back, forgetting her anger.  

“The second gave her strength, and the third was interrupted mid-spell by an evil witch who came to the party uninvited.  Angry that no one had invited her, she put a curse on the Atlantean princess.”

“‘On her eighteenth birthday that brat will touch a starfish full of venom and die,’” Milo gave the witch an evil voice which made the children laugh.  

“With that, she laughed mercilessly and left,” Milo mimicked the queen’s evil cackle, and more giggles erupted throughout the class. 

“But the third lady had not given her gift yet.  She changed the curse so that the princess could be saved from her lethal fate with a kiss from her true love.”

The children snickered again.  But who could blame them?  This story was like a portrayal of Kida in Beatrice’s situation.  Why did Kida have to pick this story of all the others they could have told?  

Milo tried to ignore them and continue the story, “From birth to age eighteen, the girl was raised by the three spell-casting women.  They gave her a different name and didn’t tell her about her royal lineage.  They raised her in what would now be Europe so the Evil Witch couldn’t find them.  Here is Europe on the map,” he pointed to the map again, “It was actually quite close to Atlantis, compared to other countries.”

Some children nodded.

“Her parents were very sad to see their only child go.  But before they knew it, their child was eighteen and she had become very beautiful.  Her parents had ordered for all the starfish in the kingdom to be destroyed.  On her birthday, the princess met the prince who was on holiday in Europe and they fell in love, neither knowing the other’s title or name.  They agreed to meet each other in the evening at the princess’ house.  When she told her guardians about him, they told her about her royal life and that she was engaged to the prince of the Americas.  They made her leave her home to avoid seeing the man ever again.”

One little girl in the front row piped up, “But that guy was actually the prince, right?”

Milo chuckled, “You’ll see soon enough.  Since the princess had to marry the prince and become queen on her eighteenth birthday, they all went to the castle where the princess was born.  When she reached the castle, right after she had been crowned queen, the evil witch caught the newly crowned queen alone and gave her a starfish as a pet for her birthday.  The queen took it from the witch’s hands and immediately fell into a deep sleep.  Her last thought was, ‘So that was why that woman was wearing gloves.  I knew something was fishy!’”

Kida stifled her laughter.  Milo was a great storyteller.  He was much better than her at making the children laugh.  She was impressed.

“The three spell-casters found out about this and decided to put the entire city to sleep with fairy dust, at least until they solved the problem.  Many men from other kingdoms tried to save the queen and defeat the evil witch, but every one of them died trying.  Even when they managed to sneak past the queen, their kisses did not wake her up.”

It sounded all too familiar.

“Soon the prince found out what was going on and that the girl he had met was the princess so he tried to battle the witch, who was guarding the sleeping queen.  She was a difficult opponent, but with the help of the three fairies, he defeated her.”

“Yaaaaay!” the children cheered.  

“The prince found the queen and kissed her gently.”

Milo started to blush, “The queen awoke immediately, because he was her true love.”

He paused, thinking about Beatrice.  Was she his true love?  He did feel for her, but he loved Kida much more.  She was his wife.  This was ridiculous!  A fairytale dictating who he should be with!  

Kida tapped Milo on the shoulder, awaking him from his thoughts, “Milo?  Is something wrong?”

“No, no,” he said, embarrassed for having drifted off, “Anyway everyone else woke up and everything went back to normal except for the queen’s life.  She married her true love, the king.”

Milo stopped talking.  The story was over.  But he added his own special surface touch, “And they lived happily ever after.”

Milo smiled at Kida and she smiled back.  The children applauded.  He had not heard the Atlantean version of this ancient fairytale.  It seemed so similar to Beatrice’s situation, which made it even harder to decide whether to confess to Kida.  

“Wonderful, Milo,” Kida did not look angry anymore, “But what did that last phrase mean?”

“Oh, that is a surface expression,” he explained, “It means… their lives were happy until they died.  They put it at the end of every fairytale on the surface.”

“Oh.  That makes sense.”

“And at the beginning they say ‘Once upon a time…’ which means ‘one time…’” They started to walk back to the palace.

They were silent until they arrived at the palace.  Kida stopped Milo and turned him toward her, kissing him so passionately that several passers-by gasped at the sight.  She eventually released him, leaving him gasping for breath, but wanting more.  

Breathless, he said, “What was that for?  Not that it wasn’t enjoyable.”

He leaned in to kiss again, but she stopped him, “It’s because you’re such a perfect husband,” her eyes welled up with joyful tears, “You’re so honest and you love me so much.  You’d do anything for me, just because you love me.  I love you so much, Milo.”

Then she kissed him again and they split up to get their work done.

Milo felt even guiltier for receiving all that praise without telling her why he didn’t deserve it.  She loved him so much and he paid her back by lying to her.  

“That’s it!  I’m telling her tonight!” Milo said to himself.

“Great!” Beatrice said as she walked toward him.  

Milo jumped in surprise.  

“I was wondering if you ever would.  Did I scare you?  You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Milo took a few deep breaths, “No, I’m fine, really.  And, yes, I am going to tell her tonight.  If I still have the nerve by then.”

“You can do it!  I believe in you!”

“Thanks, Beatrice.  I’ve got to confess before things get really ugly!  Wish me luck!”

With that Milo attempted a courageous march to the Throne Room.  

Beatrice was admittedly worried about how Kida would react, but she was confident in her first impressions of people.  She was a reasonable person.  They only kissed once and it was to save her life, like mouth-to-mouth.  Besides she missed most of it due to being asleep and she couldn’t enjoy the rest because she didn’t realize what was happening until it was over.  How she wished he would kiss her again to refresh her memory!

“Forget it, Beatrice,” she thought to herself.

XIX

When Milo reached his royal chambers after dinner and a long day of work he was ambushed by Kida’s embrace.  The moment he opened the door she pulled him toward her and kissed him, desperately and forcefully.  When she let go, she whispered, “I love you so much, Milo.”

“I love you, too, Kida,” he said, “I hate to ruin the mood, but there’s something I really need to tell you.”

“Of course, Milo.  I have something to tell you as well.”

“Well I�"”

But she cut him off by putting her hand on his mouth.  It was a cute habit of hers.

“Milo,” she looked very excited, “I want to have children with you!  Do you also want to have children?”

He was speechless.  And not just because her hand was on his mouth.  They hadn’t made love yet in their marriage and already she was suggesting that they become parents?  It seemed too good to be true.  Having children with a goddess like Kida!  He knew it was happening, but it was still hard to believe.  He forgot about Beatrice and his confession.  Milo was ecstatic.

“Yes!” he cried, “Yes, yes, yes!  I love you!”

“Milo, you make me so happy…”

They kissed again.

“But what did you want to say?”

“That you are the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Milo didn’t have the heart to confess to her after what she had said about having kids, so he gave into her passion and they made love that night for the first time.  

It would have been amazing, but Milo could not enjoy it.  He knew he didn’t deserve it.  

After they had done the deed, Kida fell asleep, exhausted.  Milo laid awake, eyes wide open, unable to sleep.  He felt awful.  Sick to his stomach.

This wasn’t how he had imagined things at all.  Their first time, and he couldn’t enjoy it because he was a liar and a terrible husband.  His conscience chastised him all through the night.  Milo wondered if he would ever have a good night’s sleep again…