#Chapter1

----

Nothing Lasts Forever Series

Book One

Long Story Short

-------

Synopsis:

‘Long Story Short’ is the prequel to ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. These are the only books in this mini book series. (if you would even call it that) Genevieve James is a seventeen year old girl pretending to be a twenty year old guard for the Royal Family of Aurora. She has been fed up with the traditional mindset of Aurora for awhile now. With this new mindset she decided to tryout to be a bodyguard for the Royal Family, undercover of course. She ended up being so good at the tryouts that she was promoted to be Princess Elaine's personal bodyguard in less than a month, thus beginning her rigorous training and secret keeping abilities. Princess Elaine Beckham is Aurora's upcoming Queen with her coronation being in a mere two weeks. With her mother constantly on her tail about ruthlessly rejecting Princes left and right she decides to take things into her own hands, approving of an arranged marriage between her daughter and a well known Prince. Prince Bane is what you would call 'a wolf in sheep's clothing'. He craves power, yet due to his family's tree he will never be allowed to take the throne. This persuade Bane into agreeing on Queen Beckham's arranged marriage. When Elaine finds out that the two of them plotted this behind her back she is very happy to say the least. Does Elaine go along with the arranged marriage out of fear of disappointing those around her or does she throw the traditional rules out the window and marry her childhood crush?

--------

Elaine's POV

I gently run my hands over my top, getting rid of any possible dust.

I am currently adorned in a ruffled white top, a black A-line skirt the ends a few inches above my knees and thigh high boots with a block heel.

To complete the look I add on a black beret.

This is the only ensemble my mother allowed me to wear today that respects my vision.

No tiaras or crowns.

Unfortunately I am the princess of 'Aurora', a small kingdom across the Atlantic Ocean.

This means that I have to live up to my status and inevitably my destiny to replace my mother as 'Queen of Aurora'.

She is not dying or anything!

Every daughter of a Queen, biological or not, must replace the parental figure when they turn eighteen.

Personally, I find this all a bit preposterous.

Placing the responsibility of thousands of citizens on the shoulders of an eighteen year old?

Sounds pretty lazy to me.

I hear a knock on my bedroom door which knocks me out of my internal inferior.

/"You may enter/" I speak out with a clear tone

I immediately notice the doorknob turn before the giant slab of wood turns on its hinges.

I give the mystery person a gentle smile as they come into my bedroom.

/"There's our Queen!/" They calmly tease as they glide over towards me

I shake my head at their humor.

How do you tell someone that you do not want to follow your predestined fate?

Scratch that.

How do you tell your mother?

/"Not yet, I'm still seventeen/" I give my mother a smile

The woman waves her hand dismissively.

This action causes the guard standing at my bedroom door to briskly make their way out of my bedroom, shutting the door behind them.

/"You'll be eighteen in seven days,/" she tells me

I do not take my eyes off of the woman as she glides closer towards me, standing behind me.

My mother is very easy to read.

Whichever emotion she is feeling will plaster itself on her face, whether she likes it or not.

Right now she is thinking about something.

As she brings her hands up to rest on my shoulders I turn my head to glance up at her through my mirror.

/"You should really think about accepting Prince Bane's offer/" she suddenly speaks out again

Ugh!

This, again?!

I walk away from her and over towards my bed.

/"Mom, I've been over this with you dozens of times,/" I groan out

/"I am not getting married at seventeen!/" I try to keep my voice steady

I do not want the guards outside of my bedroom door to hear my mother and I arguing.

The press would have a field day if news leaked that the current Queen and upcoming Queen we're having a disagreement over Prince Bane, my boyfriend.

/"Plus, Bane is not husband material/" I cringe as I think about the last time he and I hung out together

Not only was he rude to our waitress, he spilled some of his pasta sauce on me.

I probably would not have cared so much if it was not piping hot!

That entire night was a disaster, but it forced me to look at the facts.

The only reason I am going to this pity brunch with him is so that I can end things between us.

He and I have been dating since we were fourteen.

Back then he was such a gentleman!

He opened doors for me, whenever we would go on dates he would give my mother and I hydrangeas, he would even tip the servers extra!

Now, he seems like he does not even care about me.

Bane proposed to me via a letter in the mail yesterday while I was helping prepare for my coronation.

My first thought when I received the letter was 'What?'.

I find it extremely odd that he chose to send this not only without apologizing for his past actions, but also this close to my coronation.

It did not take me long to figure out that he just wants to marry me to benefit himself.

For example, my mother and my father have been married since they were both sixteen. As soon as my mother turned eighteen and attended her coronation my father also got crowned king due to them already dating.

While I am glad that worked out so well for them, I personally do not like that option for me.

I do not like Bane, in fact I am not even attracted to him mentally, physically or sexually.

When I really think about it I do not think that I have been attracted to men for awhile now.

While I admit that it is fairly foreign to me to not be attracted to men, that is the least of my worries.

I have daily duties as a princess, and soon a Queen.

I literally do not have the time or energy to take care of a boy who cannot even treat a waitress with respect!

/"Why do you want to be alone so badly?!/" The older woman stresses as I walk around my bedroom and shove necessities into my purse

/"A man is willingly throwing himself at you and here you are wasting it/" she continues

I groan and turn around to face her.

She does not understand.

She never does.

/"Mom! He is clueless, he does not know what he wants!/" I firmly tell her

/"If he treats a waitress like dirt on the bottom of his shoes then how do you think he will treat me, treat our citizens?!/" I ask her with a rhetorical tone

The woman angrily furrows her eyebrows at me, not appreciating my defiance.

/"I think that you are making a big mistake, Elaine/" the woman says

I hear a sudden knock on my bedroom door.

/"Prince Bane just arrived, Princess/" a guard says from the other side of the door

I take a deep breath and close my purse, soon slipping it over my shoulder.

/"Yeah? Well, I think that is for me to decide/" I reply to her before making my way towards my bedroom door

As soon as I reach my door I open it and step out into the hallway, leaving my fuming mother in my bedroom.