The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

"You promised, right? If I can handle this horse, it's going to be mine." Alicia looked at him seriously, hoping he was not going to go back on his word.

She had already imagined how this horse would belong to her and make her escape plan easy. By the time she returns to her real life, this would be a gift for Amber. She could not trust any other horse in this palace.

Harold nodded while the guards around her were already lighting mental candles for her and praying that she would rest in peace. Hellion was named Hellion for a reason. Although she looked very attractive to the eyes, she was yet to be broken. She was wild and stubborn.

"Fine," she said with a smug smile, "I don't have any trouble taming such a horse." She tried to touch the horse's coat, believing it would make Hellion love her like it usually happened in the movies, but she heard Harold clear his throat before saying, "I'd advise you to refrain from touching her."

She huffed at him. "Without touching, how am I supposed to ride?" She asked before turning to face Hellion, thinking of the best way to mount the tall animal without Harold's help. She had to get used to it if she was going to run away with the horse.

"You need help?" Harold asked from the side.

"Sorry to burst your bubbles, dear prince, but I can take very good care of myself without your help. Thank you very much," she said haughtily before carefully keeping her bags on the extended part of the saddle at the side of Hellion, that was just standing there, looking bored. And then she mounted. She had yet to straddle the horse before Hellion began to shake her off violently.

Alicia didn't want to lose face, so she held tightly onto the animal and kept trying to throw her leg over it to the other side, but she couldn't get that done because of how wildly the animal was shaking her off. As if that wasn't enough, Hellion began to run around in circles, sending her heart rate into overdrive as she felt she was going to fall off the horse any second and get stomped by the animal.

"Har—Harold!" She yelled desperately.

The help she was calling for stood there with his hands across his chest as he watched the interesting show. Hellion kept neighing and braying as he ran around, trying to get her off of her, but she was holding on tightly to Hellion's neck now.

"HAROLD!!!!"

"What? You said you didn't need my help and you can take a horse just fine," he reminded her while touching his nose.

"YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE! YOU! IF... IF I LAY MY HANDS ON YOU... YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET MESSING WITH— HAROLD!!!" She yelled fearfully when she almost slipped, making Harold snort. She was the only one who could still be running her mouth this way while her life was in danger.

Meanwhile, most members of the royal family had already heard about how Harold asked for Hellion and were watching the show in amusement from the windows.

"Shouldn't he help her?" Williams asked with concern, despite his amusement.

"He probably wanted her to die this way so that he wouldn't be accused of murdering his bride," Susan said with a giggle as they watched the scene.

"He is going to help her," Tyra said, but in an uncertain tone since one could never be too sure where Harold was concerned.

Harold got on his horse but didn't make any move as he watched in amusement as she kept cursing and yelling at him to save her. Was there ever a time when she was humble?

"MY HANDS ARE GETTING TIRED! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING JUST WATCHING? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE MY HUSBAND?" She yelled breathlessly as Hellion passed by him.

'Do you want to kill her?' His wolf asked in concern, but Harold ignored it.

"Maybe I will save you if you address me correctly," he bargained, wanting to see just how stubborn she was, and how far she was willing to go for her pride.

Alicia swallowed nervously. This was not the time to be proud, so she called him Prince Harold, and even Your Highness, hoping he would come to her rescue.

He shook his head. "That is not the proper way to address your husband."

She racked her brain for a while trying to figure out what he meant by the proper way to address her husband, and even though she couldn't see his face, she knew that he was enjoying himself at her expense, so she began to throw curses at him again.

"Do you think he is going to save her?" Luciana asked her husband curiously.

"He will. He is just trying to tame her," Ivan said as he watched his half-brother. He really hoped this was going to be the last time he would see him.

"You want me to call you my lord? Are you kidding me right— Ahhhh! MY LORD! MY LORD, MY LORD, MY LORD." She wailed when the only leg keeping her in balance slipped off and she was now hanging loosely on the horse with only her hands still gripping tightly to the horse's mane. At this rate, she was going to fall and die like this. Getting killed by a horse. That was a nightmare. It wasn't how she planned to die.

"Say it gently." He said as his horse began to move slowly.

"My LORD!" She said through gritted teeth.

It seemed the Hellion was tired of playing around, because she suddenly stood on her hind legs with her forelegs off the ground. Alicia screamed in fright as her hands slipped off the mane, but before she could hit the ground, a strong arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her without any effort until she found herself straddling another horse with Harold behind her.

Her brain was too slow to react as she broke into a sob of relief as her body trembled. For a moment there, she thought that she was going to die.

Harold didn't move as she cried. He waited for her to settle down. "So do you still want to ride solo, or would you rather travel with me on this horse?" He asked when he noticed that she had stopped crying.

Now that she was calm, she wanted to swear at him for pulling a stunt like that. It was obvious to her that he had deliberately offered her the worst horse in the palace, but she couldn't swear at him. They were leaving the palace together, and she had no idea what he was capable of when provoked. She didn't want to push her luck.

She squared her shoulders and straightened her back. "I guess I will make do with this," she said with a raise of her chin, and Harold smirked as he jerked his head to one of the men to transfer the bag she had carried from Hellion to his horse. Once the man had done that, Harold kicked the horse into a trot.

"No guards?" Alicia asked when she noticed that they were the only ones leaving.

"I don't need them. Besides, knowing you, I wouldn't risk taking the palace guards along with us," Harold pointed out. If she was going to try to escape, it was best that it remained between them both. The royal family wouldn't take it lightly with her if they found out about her plan.

Alicia looked at him, and somehow she felt uneasy. It didn't make sense that she was more concerned about going out alone with him than she was about being in the company of palace guards. She patted the water gourd she had taken from the guard and hoped it would be easy to convince him to drink from it. That way, she'd be long gone by the time he awoke from his slumber. She didn't want to imagine what would happen if he caught her, knowing that she had tried to put him to sleep so that she would escape. If that failed to work, she would try to lose him at the market. That should be easy.

What about Paulina? She thought with a frown. If only Paulina hadn't been so nice and loyal to her, she would have had no problem leaving the girl behind. But now she couldn't think about just herself. Leaving Paulina in the palace was synonymous with leaving her at Beth's mercy, and she couldn't do that. She would have to abort this mission and come up with something else.

Alicia tried to keep her back straight so that she wouldn't lean into Harold, but as time went by, it became difficult as her back began to ache. "How far is the market from this place? When are we going to get there?" She asked, feeling tired already.

"It is still far ahead. Why? You want to push me off the horse and run away with the horse?" Harold taunted.

Alicia considered it only for a moment, "I'm not sure there is any way I can push you off without falling off myself," Alicia said with a shake of her head making Harold's lips twitch in amusement.

Harold couldn't remember the last time he found anything amusing, but since she arrived, he had found himself oddly amused whenever he thought about her. He was curious to see what it was she intended to do today.