Rock Valley

Philippe smiled to himself as he at last found his wife. He had been having a hard time finding her ever since she announced her pregnancy to the world, and to him. Her belly had grown large since then, but her appearances had grown thin.
He walked up to her, trying to contemplate some intelligent thought, something romantic or perhaps wicked to say. Something that would make her laugh or smile, anything but the frown she usually wore these days. The only time he ever saw her smiling since they were married had been when she seemed to feel the baby move inside her.

He was lucky to have her, a princess of royal blood. She was breathtakingly beautiful and educated and he loved her more than he loved his life. His only worry was that his feelings were not returned.

He grabbed her by her expanding hips and pulled her close to himself, only to feel her resist his pull, trying desperately not to let her body touch his. But he was stronger and managed to pull her into an embrace. He did not, however, manage to kiss her properly for she turned her head away and he had to kiss her neck instead. He wanted to whisper sweet things to her, about how beautiful she was, heavy with his child, or how he loved how her dress brought out the color of her eyes, or how she made the sun shine, even in the dark fall season.

But he didn’t manage to say all those things, for she broke free of his embrace, muttered some excuse and took off for the stairs,

Philippe sighed. It had been like this since they had met. At first she held up appearances, at least trying to act as if she cared, but ever since their wedding day her interest in him had disappeared completely.

That afternoon, Philippe accompanied his father on his daily check of the grounds surrounding the castle. As they reached the crossroads, Philippe sighed. This was all there was left for him now, his duties to his father and to his king. Before the wedding, he had been able to dream about her, to fantasize about how it would be, how she would fall in love with him and about their supposed happiness. Now there was only the mere disappointment upon returning home in the evening. His father was always greeted by his mother and his siblings but his own wife was usually already in bed, pretending to be too tired from the pregnancy. Philippe let her think he believed her.

“Don’t worry.” His father said all of the sudden.
Philippe stared at him, his hands on his hips. “About what?”
“About her. Not all marriages are happy from the start son, and some of them never are. “ he sighed as well. “Just remember that she has never been forced to do anything her entire life. She’s a princess, my boy and now all of the sudden she has found herself in a position where she was not allowed to speak her mind.” He chuckled. “You try to hard Philippe. You make her feel like she is all that matters, like she is perfect in every way.”

“But she is!” Philippe protested. “To me, she is. She is my world father, I love her. Why can’t she love me?”
“You do not need to listen to an old man, my boy, all I’m saying is that perhaps, just for once she wasn’t offered everything in a plate, she might feel an urge to work for it.” He spoke and walked away from his bedazzled son. “Are you coming? It’s getting dark and I want to be home in time for supper.”