Page 16 of Royally Matched
Sofia
“You know what your problem is?” Amelia asks, although I know she’s not really asking. In the world according to Amelia, I’m about to be told exactly what my problem is.
Lucky me.
I pull another arrow from my quiver and line up my shot, aiming at the target across the long stretch of lawn. “I’m absolutely certain you’re about to tell me.”
“Way back when, sometime in the Dark Ages, youfell in love.”
“Ami, I’m only three years older than you.”
She ignores me.
“You got your heart broken, and now you’re too scared to put yourself out there at all. You’ve become emotionally stunted, too scared to let yourself feel anything for a man. Really, it’s nothing short of a tragedy!”
I glance at Tomas, the member of palace staff who has accompanied us to the archery range this morning for my weekly practice. It’s an activity I usually get to do in blissful silence, but not today with Amelia choosing to join me in order to offer her deeply insightful perspective on what’s wrong with me. As always, Tomas has an impassive look on his face, as if anything we say in front of him goes completely unnoticed.
I draw the bowstring, adjust my aim, and feel the tension in my muscles. The arrow’s feathers brush my cheek, and as I release, it flies swiftly through the air, hitting its target with a satisfyingthunk.
“Emotionally stunted?” I say, my tone droll to show her just how much I’m enjoying hearing her opinion on my personal life. “Ami, you’re such a drama queen.”
“Stunted! It’s an utter tragedy.”
I turn to my sister. “Isn’t ‘a tragedy’ a tad dramatic, even for you, Ami? That’s just the way relationships go. Most end. It’s a fact of life.”
“No, because that’s exactly what it is: a tragedy. In fact, I’m surprised you don’t have that old Bee Gees tune as the soundtrack to life.”
I look at her blankly.
“You know, the guys with the tight jeans and long hair? They had falsetto voices that make them sound like a group of chipmunks.”
“Chipmunks? Ami, what are you talking about?”
She throws her hands in the air in exasperation. “Oh,never mind. My point is you don’t stop eating just because you once got food poisoning, do you? You get over it and you move on, and you eat plenty more yummy things and forget about the food poisoning altogether.”
“Love is like food poisoning. You know, Ami, I absolutely agree. It really is the perfect metaphor for falling in love.”
She lets out an exasperated breath. “You’re impossible to talk to. Do you know that?”
“Thank you,” I deadpan because I’d really rather prefer this conversation to be over. “Your turn.”
“Do I have to?”
“If you’re bothering me at my archery session then yes, you do.”
With reluctance, she pulls an arrow from her quiver, but instead of placing it in the bow, she drops both the bow and arrow against her legs and gazes off into the distance.
“Here you are, trying to tie yourself to your misguided idea about what it means to be a princess while all I want to do is shake off the pesky title and have a whole host of grand love affairs, away from prying eyes, judging me.”
“They do judge.”
“I want to meet gorgeous men who whisk me off my feet and romance me in the most wonderful of ways.” She looks like the women on the covers of romance novels, all starry eyed and in love.
I roll my eyes.Romantics.
“Good luck with that,” I quip, returning my attention to the task at hand. “Just remember that inevitably with every grand love affair comes heartache.”
“Really, Sofe, you are so cynical for one so young.”