Paranormal Women’s Fiction, Romantic Comedy
Date Published: May 10, 2024
A princess with a problem…
Meela must marry a prince from another planet in order to ensure the
security of her people. Trouble is Meela’s known to be a bit feisty, and
sometimes that gets her into trouble. It’s bad enough she has no say in who
she’ll marry. Worse still, the queen places an obedience curse on Meela to
thwart her errant ways.
As a result of the curse, Meela finds herself in plenty of predicaments not
exactly fit for a princess. But what’s a princess to do when two gorgeous
hunks come along and place sensual demands on her Meela’s not sure she can
— or even wants to — deny?
EXCERPT
Meela stared into the flowing red river before kneeling on the grassy bank
to sulk. The red colored water rushing by her looked like blood. There were
so many red rivers on the planet that they’d looked like veins on its
surface to Meela when the star cruiser she’d traveled in approached it
earlier.
Now that she was here, she wished that someone had told her to throw
herself in the river. Her nurse had only told her to take a walk to calm her
mind. It was a rare freedom for Meela. Probably her last.
Today was the day Meela had been preparing for her whole life. Later today
she would be presented to the queen of this planet along with two other
princesses from neighboring planets. The queen would then allow her sons to
each choose the girl he wanted for his bride beginning with her oldest son,
her heir.
It wasn’t that Meela minded the arranged marriage. She was a princess after
all and her duty was to her people. Her marriage to a Prince of Nelot, the
strongest planet with the most powerful army in the system, would ensure the
protection of her people. She’d been promised in marriage since her birth
and all of her teachings were in preparation for fulfilling this
obligation.
Meela accepted that.
But when she was sixteen, the Queen of Nelot, a sorceress she was to find
out, paid a visit to Meela and her family on their home planet, Bano. She
wanted to meet Meela, considering one day she would be the bride of one of
her sons.
The queen was pleased with Meela. A little too pleased in fact. She
explained to Meela’s parents that their daughter was indeed beautiful,
cultured and intelligent — befitting a Princess of Nelot. But she felt
those very virtues put Meela in danger from others and from herself until
the wedding, so she placed an enchantment upon Meela. From that day forward,
Meela would be obedient, would do whatever she was told, until her future
husband arranged her release from the spell.
Her life had been misery ever since.
At first, Meela and her family didn’t realize just what curse had been
bestowed upon her. A few nights later Meela became angry at her father for
not allowing her some privilege. She sat complaining in her rooms while her
nurse brushed her hair. Finally her frustrated nurse told her to hold her
tongue.
It had taken several hours for the entire family to discover that someone
had to tell Meela to let go of her tongue before she could pry her fingers
away.
It got worse. While her parents enjoyed their new power over Meela, the
power to make her work at her studies longer and attend royal functions in
their places, soon they learned there was a danger to the curse. Once, one
of Meela’s friends at court had dared her to kiss the handsome visiting
ambassador from the planet Dalu. Unable to stop herself, she’d walked right
up to the man and kissed him full on the mouth.
Her parents had been so alarmed by the turn of events that she was placed
under the strictest watch until the time of her wedding. No more fun outings
with her friends. No more boring royal functions even. Meela was only
allowed to attend the most important celebrations on her planet, and then
only for a short time with at least a dozen people watching her every
movement. They might as well have locked her away in a prison.
Perhaps that is what the Queen of Nelot had intended when she’d placed the
enchantment on her.
Years passed while the Princes of Nelot fought off one legion of intruders
to their system after another, the stories of their glorious victories
painting them as great warriors. By the time the Queen of Nelot sent for
Meela for the bridal selection and subsequent wedding, she was twenty-seven,
going out of her mind with boredom, and had taken to finding creative ways
of watching the private activities of guests to the palace. It was as close
as she had ever come to having sex after all.
And now that she was here on Nelot, ready to be selected by one of the
queen’s sons and do her duty for her parents and her people, she was pretty
damned unhappy. Wasn’t it enough of a sacrifice to have the person she’d
spend her life with, share a bed with and have children for, chosen for her?
Then to have the hateful curse of obedience placed on her, robbing her of
her last years of freedom?
Meela no longer wanted to marry any son of the woman who had done this to
her. Meela didn’t even want to meet the princes.
“It’s not fair,” Meela grumbled at her reflection far below in
the red water.
“What’s not fair?”
That deep male voice alerted her to the fact that she was no longer alone.
With as much composure as she could muster, Meela turned her head slowly.
She was unescorted, without any of her attendants who understood her
enchantment, for the first time since she had kissed the ambassador at
court. The pace of her heartbeat grew along with her anxiety.
“That I can’t stay and enjoy this beautiful view,” Meela said in
her best royal voice with her practiced princess smile.
Yet she forgot all about how she was to speak or smile as she gazed at the
two men standing before her, their dress indicating that they were common
soldiers of the planet. They looked very much alike, both tall men with
bodies of steel, the snug black uniforms they wore revealing that they were
all hard, firm muscles.
About the Author
Isabella Jordan is the alter ego of an otherwise stressed out web designer,
programmer, and internet junkie. When she’s not trying to perfect her own
personal caffeine IV drip, she enjoys spending time with her family, doing
volunteer work, and writing. She loves creating new stories of all kinds and
chatting with readers and friends.
Isabella would love to hear from her readers!
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@changelingpress
