Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ray sat in his room lying upside down off his bed staring into space.

He didn’t know how long he’d been lying here, but it had been at least an hour.

For sure.

He pulls himself upright and looks at the large clock.

It’s been 20 minutes since he collapsed on the bed.

He groans and forces himself up, grabbing the outfit his mother had left in his room.

He has to meet her today.

His betrothed.

It’s ridiculous really, he’s not even 18 yet, he has no interest in getting married!

And if he did it wouldn’t be to some princess he’s never met.

His personal servant (and best friend) Norman walks in and upon seeing Ray already dressed, and checking himself in the mirror, frowns.

“I could have helped you with that.”

Ray rolls his eyes and flattens his collar.

“It’s fine Norman, contrary to what my mother seems to think I am in fact capable of dressing myself.”

Norman sighs and dramatically collapses against Ray’s dresser.

“Goddamn you and your self-sufficiency, you’re going to put me out of a job!”

“Haha.”

Norman gets up and leans against the wall near him.

“It’s not funny Ray, I’ll be out on the streets. Starving. Cold. Lonely.”

Ray rolls his eyes and casually smacks Norman, who laughs heartily.

“That’s not very nice, here’s hoping you don’t hit Princess Emma today.”

Ray scowls.

“Emma. Princess Emma of the kingdom of Goldy Pond. Eeugh.”

Norman grins.

“That’s the spirit! Y'know with that attitude, you are gonna charm this girl before the day is done my friend!”

Ray mocks Norman under his breath in a childish imitation of his voice, before looking down at his bare feet.

“Where are my shoes.”

Norman point to the wardrobe in the corner with his thumb.

“In the closet. Well go and get them mister “I can dress myself, I don’t need your help.” You don’t need my help.”

Ray flicks Norman’s head and crosses the room to the closet.

Norman chuckles as he watches him.

“You’re violent today.”

Ray nods.

“Yeah, you best keep my mother away from me.”

Queen Isabella enters the room and smiles warmly at her son, who simply rolls his eyes as he ties his boots.

“Well what do you know, speak of the devil and she shall appear.”

Isabella’s smile remains unbroken as she glares at him.

“Excuse me?”

Ray smiles innocently.

“Nothing.”

Norman suppresses a giggle before politely bowing to the both of them.

“I’ll be going now your majesties.”

“Thank you. Norbert.”

Ray pinches the bridge of his nose in utter despair.

“Norman, mom. His name is Norman.”

Isabella turns to the albino haired boy and curtsies apologetically.

“My apologies Norman.”

Norman bows once more and leaves them alone.

Ray rolls his eyes and sets to trying to get his hair to behave.

“Christ mom, he’s lived and worked here since I was 12, the least you could do is learn his name.”

The Queen sighed as she moved a few books from the dresser to the bookshelf receiving a sharp glare for doing so.

“Nevermind that, are you ready? Princess Emma and King Yuugo will be here any minute.”

Ray scowls.

“Yes mother, I’m ready to meet Princess Complete Stranger.”

“Emma.”

“Whatever.”

Isabella throws her hands up in despair.

“Can you please just try to behave like the Prince you were raised as? For once?”

There is a short knock on the door and one of the servants enters with his head down.

“His majesty King Yuugo and his daughter Princess Emma, are approaching.”

Isabella claps her hands together and smiles, rushing him out the door.

“Right! Come on, quickly!”

“I’m going, I’m going!”

Isabella sighs at him as they walk down the hall.

“Why do you have to be so negative about this?”

Ray scoffs angrily.

“Because I don’t want to marry this girl. I’m 17 mom! Why do I have to have a stupid arranged marriage anyway?”

Isabella sighs, tired of this same argument on repeat.

“Because, you are a Prince, I am your mother, I am the queen, and I said so.”

Ray sticks his tongue out at her and she groans exasperatedly.

“She probably doesn’t want to marry me either. And why would she. Look at me, I’m a walking disaster!”

“You are not.”

Ray folds his arms and raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t fold your arms like that, it makes you look unapproachable.”

“I am unapproachable! I mean I feel bad for this poor girl, she’d be better off marrying... a horse! I HAVE ALL THE CHARISMA AND CHARM OF A HORSE!”

Isabella rolls her eyes and pushes him into the throne room.

“You’re being childish.”

Ray puts on his most annoying fake smile.

“Then maybe the Princess should marry someone else, someone more mature.”

Isabella glares at him threateningly, before attempting to tuck his fringe behind his ear.

“Mom! Don’t touch me, get off I’m fine!”

She tuts and drags him to the three thrones at the other end of the room, one of which used to belong to his father.

“Just sit down and behave.”

As Isabella walks away to sit in her throne, Ray crosses his legs and folds his arms again, just to spite her.

Another servant enters and gestures to the two people entering behind him.

“King Yuugo and Princess Emma of Goldy Pond.”

Despite his apparent disinterest, Ray’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he cranes his neck to get a better look at the Princess.

She has short orange hair pinned up in a braided bun, with an odd antenna out the top of her hair, just behind her silver-white tiara that matches the elegant choker around her neck.

Her dress is sleeveless with straps, it is white, with yellow accents and embroidery.

Huh.

King Yuugo encourages her forward and she approaches the Ray and Isabella.

The former of which receives a stern glare from the latter and gets up to stand in front of Emma, who drops into a deep curtsy.

“Prince Ray.”

Ray sighs and takes her hand kissing it softly, before rising to meet her gaze.

“Princess Emma. Pleased to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine.”

Dear Christ he wants to die.

When Emma enters the Throne room with her father, there are a few things about the Prince she realises right away.

The first is that way he sits, his legs are crossed and his arms folded tightly, someone should tell him it makes him look unapproachable.

The second is his expression, his hair covers half his face but his surly annoyance is still clear to see.

The third is his outfit, he wears a white suit with blue accents, it doesn’t suit him and his collar is turned up.

Her father nods to the Prince and she steps forward hesitantly.

She sees him roll his eyes as he gets up to stand in front of her, something about his piercing gaze makes her nervous and she quickly drops into a curtsy.

“Prince Ray.”

She hears him sigh heavily as she rises to her full height (still about 2 inches shorter then him) before he takes her hand and kisses it politely.

“Princess Emma. Pleased to meet you.”

She bows her head slightly.

“The pleasure is mine.”

She lift her eyes back up to meet his.

Dear Christ, he looks like he wants to die.

Well that makes two of us.

Chapter Text

“So Emma, what do you like to do?”

Evidently, she likes to have dinner with sad depressed princes and their awful mothers.

Ray picks at his food as his mother makes small talk with their company.

Princess Emma smiles politely with all the charm and grace in the world.

Oh yeah mom we’re a perfect match.

“Well, I like dancing, aaaand going for walks... um, embroidery! i actually embroidered my dress myself!”

“Really?! It’s beautiful, I mean the detail is just phenomenal.”

“Thank you.”

Lord how he wants to jam this knife in his eye.

“Oh, and I love riding!”

King Yuugo chuckles from the end of the table opposite Isabella.

“She was practically born on a horse.”

Isabella laughs and gestures to Ray.

“Well, Ray’s an avid rider himself, aren’t you dear?”

Kill me, kill me now, stab me with a salad fork, gouge my eyes out with a spoon.

“Yeah.”

His mother gives him a tight-lipped smile, which he quickly returns.

Maybe he can make himself grievously ill and go to his room.

“Perhaps tomorrow you could accompany one another on a riding trip?”

Isabella claps delightedly at the King’s words.

“That is a wonderful idea!”

He could excuse himself to go to the bathroom, and then stick his fingers down his throat.

Emma nods and smiles awkwardly at Ray.

“I’d love to.”

Ray smiles passive-aggressively.

“I’m thrilled!”

Prince Ray smiles sarcastically at her.

“I’m thrilled!”

He rolls his eyes and goes back to playing with his food.

The Queen gives him an utterly poisonous glare, and it takes everything Emma has not to laugh.

She knows that look, the second his mother gets him alone, he is dead.

As the group finish eating, Isabella clears her throat and smiles at Ray and Emma again.

“Ray, perhaps you’d like to give Princess Emma a tour of the palace, show her around?”

The Prince scowls and pushes his chair back, getting up.

“Fine.”

He turns to face her folding his arms again.

“You coming or what?”

Queen Isabella looks ready to kick him.

Emma nods and smiles politely at Yuugo and Isabella, before getting up.

“Excuse us.”

Emma turns and follows Ray out of the dining hall.

And they walk.

In silence.

Jesus Christ, he has absolutely no intention of speaking to her, does he?

“Soooo, were you planning on talking to me at any point, or are we just gonna walk around your palace in complete and total silence?”

Ray shrugs.

“I was thinking silence.”

Emma scoffs and rolls her eyes at him.

“Fantastic.”

Ray stops walking and turns around to face her.

“Look, our parents aren’t watching us, so I’m gonna be real with you. I have no interest in marrying you, heck I have no interest in marrying anyone! My plan is to be the biggest pain in my mothers ass about this, until she eventually gives up, and leaves me alone about this.”

Ray keeps walking and Emma laughs and folds her arms angrily.

“Wowwww, I mean we’ve been engaged for 14 years, we were promised to each other when we were 3 but yeah, just be a dick and after years and years of planning your mom will just, call it off, great plan!”

Ray scowls at her viciously.

“I think you underestimate my capabilities as a pain in the ass.”

“My god! You are such a jerk!”

Ray grins sarcastically.

“That’s the point, Princess.”

Emma glares at him.

“You know what? I hope your dumb plan does work, then I won’t have to spend the rest of my life putting up with you.”

“Good.”

“Good!”

Silence...

Well the wedding is sure to be interesting...

Chapter Text

The door to Ray’s bedroom creaks open and he scowls, preparing for his mother to come in and start yelling at him for his behaviour at dinner.

Luckily Norman slides into the room with a tray of tea and biscuits.

“Knock, knock, I have tea, biscuits, and I’m ready to listen to your long list of complaints.”

Ray grins and sits up giving Norman room to sit next to him on the bed.

“God, you’re a vision! Come sit.”

Norman balances the tray in-between them and hugs his knees to his chest.

“So, what’s she like?”

Ray shrugs.

“She’s your classic princess. She rides horses, and has afternoon tea, and she embroidered her dress herself. Also she’s a complete goody two shoes, she spent all of dinner making pleasant small talk with mom.”

Ray grabs a biscuit, before continuing.

“I mean honestly, she seems completely fine with this!”

Norman tuts.

“Aw, don’t talk with your mouth full Ray, you’re a prince, you know better manners than that.”

Ray throws a biscuit at Norman who just laughs at him.

“So what’s happening tomorrow?”

Ray groans and drags his hands down his face.

“We’re going horse riding together.”

“That sounds fun.”

Ray glares at Norman.

“No it doesn’t.”

Norman rolls his eyes and whacks Ray with a pillow.

“Well okay then, I rescind my statement, it doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ray sighs, before moving to lay next to Norman .

“I have a headache.”

Norman hands him once of the cups of tea.

“You always have a headache.”

“No I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do, every time I talk to you, you have a headache, I think there’s something wrong with your brain.”

Ray pulls one of the pillows out from under Norman’s head and starts beating him with it.

Norman laughs and shoves him off the bed, and for the rest of the evening Ray forgets about the princess.

Emma collapses on the bed sighing deeply.

“You should have seen him Gilda, he was just such a jerk.”

Gilda gives her a sympathetic smile, as she unpacks their things into the room they’re staying in.

“Sorry E.”

Emma pulls a face, and slips her tiara off, tossing it on the bed.

“Just my luck that my husband to be is an asshole who never grew out of the grumpy rebellious teen phase.”

Emma gets up and starts trying to get her dress off.

Gilda shrugs as she puts away the last of Emma’s dresses.

“I’m sure he’s not as awful as he seems, he’s probably just not too psyched to be getting married.”

Emma scoffs as she fiddles with her corset strings.

“Yeah, well I’m not exactly delighted either but he’s the only one being such a whiny jerk about this.”

Gilda quickly rushes over and starts helping Emma with her dress.

“Ugh, thanks, I swear Houdini couldn’t get out of this dress.”

Once Gilda got Emma free. The latter started changing into her nightdress.

“I don’t wanna talk about it anymore. Tell me something happy, how was your day?”

Gilda shrugs.

“Not much to tell, one of the servants showed me around, laundry room, kitchens, etcetera etcetera. It’s a nice Palace, and I got a glimpse of the gardens, they’re beautiful.”

Emma hums quietly as she sits back on her bed.

“Yeah well, we’ll get a much better look tomorrow, me and Prince Jerk-face are going horse riding.”

Gilda grimaces.

“Have fun.”

Emma smiles sarcastically.

“You know I will.”

Gilda laughs and settles into the servant’s bed near Emma’s.

“Night Emma.”

“Night Gilds.”

Chapter Text

Ray strokes the nose of his dark auburn horse Calliope, while Norman gets her saddled up and ready for the ride.

He can vaguely see the Princess and her servant across the gardens, but he has already decided he’s ignoring her for as long as he possibly can.

Calliope nuzzles forward pushing her head into his neck and he laughs, lightly pushing her away.

“Sorry Calliope, but if you lick my face right before I go riding with the Princess, my mother will have both our heads.”

Calliope blusters indignantly as Norman comes over, handing Ray his riding helmet.

“You should be good to go.”

Ray nods, clipping the helmet straps under his chin and adjusts the collar on his riding outfit, (Black with purple undertones, vastly better then the white outfit he was forced into last night) before giving Norman an over-exaggerated grin.

“How do I look.”

“Like a colossal asshole.”

Ray laughs and takes Calliope’s reigns in hand, whole Norman quickly readies his own horse.

“That’s what I’m going for.”

Ray and Norman make their way over to The Princess and her servant, the latter in a simple black riding outfit while The Princess wears a lavish white one with gold lining, her tiara from last night replaced with a riding helmet near identical to Ray’s own.

Both girls drop into a quick curtsy, which is obviously returned by Ray and Norman bowing immediately, because everyone here hates each other but hey, they gotta keep up appearances.

“Ready?”

Ray’s bored tone does nothing to deter the Princess, who despite their argument last night, is back to the graceful, charming persona from dinner, a serene smile painted on her face.

“Of course, I’m very much looking forward to it.”

Ray barely holds back the roll of his eyes, spotting his mother and King Yuugo stood watching them from one of the many balconies, and forcing a smile.

“Likewise.”

For the first time since her arrival, Emma sees the Prince smile.

She’s all set for the ride, and is vaguely aware of Gilda getting ready herself as she watches the Prince and his servant across the gardens.

An utterly gorgeous auburn horse, shoves her head into his neck, and he not only smiles, but laughs.

And for once he looks... almost handsome.

His riding outfit suits him far better than what he was wearing last night, he’s far too pale for white, it makes him look washed out.

He and his servant begin making their way over and Emma quickly looks anywhere else, dropping into a curtsy as soon as they approach.

“Ready?”

Wow, could he sound any more bored?

It doesn’t matter, she’s not stooping to his level, if he wants to be an immature brat that’s his choice, she has expectations that she fully intends on living up to.

“Of course, I’m very much looking forward to it.”

If he thinks he successfully hides that eyeroll from her, he is sorely mistaken.

The smile he gives her looks physically painful, and it shouldn’t make her feel smug, but what the hell he can’t read her thoughts.

“Likewise.”

Chapter Text

Hi just wanted to let everyone know, im gonna be really busy for the next 9 months as I have some exams to get ready for, so this fic is going to be on hiatus for a while.

It is NOT discontinued and as soon as i have some more spare time on my hands I will be returning to it

💗💗💗