Adric is the prince of Hannerfief – a small island kingdom off the coast of Norway. He is handsome, charming, and everything a woman could want – on the surface at least. But he suffers from the worst of 16th century world views. To him women are inferior and unintelligent, only meant to bear and raise children and smile pretty for handsome men. They are easily courted with flattery and easily won with expensive gifts. He also has disdain for everyone beneath his station – which is most people, and does not care what happens to ordinary people. He was spoiled as the only son and heir and grew up to believe whatever his father told him because after all he was the king.
He doesn’t love Catherine or care how she feels because it’s an arranged, political marriage for both of them. He just assumes that Catherine knows that and won’t try to interfere with his private life, letting him bed whoever he wants and do as he pleases. Women are easy to control, right? When he meets Princess Catherine – who is actually Kathrina – he slowly discovers that the marriage he expected won’t be the one he gets. He tries to dominate her intellectually, but he doesn’t stand a chance since he never expected her to be smart and she is.
Her initial flirtations and indications of falling in love with him suddenly turn to disdain when he tells her what to expect from the marriage. They are forced to be together since the marriage is still going ahead – neither one has the power to stop it. The more time he spends with her the more he starts to respect her and actually starts to enjoy having an intelligent woman beside him. She’s not bitchy or mean, but she does stand up to his insults and helps him see that a lot of the ideas he’s been raised with aren’t the only ideas out there. He starts to fall in love with her.
But all hell breaks loose when he discovers the switched princesses. In the end he and the real Catherine discover they have a lot more in common than they ever expected and both decide to face the challenges of saving the kingdom together without getting married, but of course they eventually do.
Day 22 - Kavikeen/Kevin Keene
Kavikeen is the mysterious hermit who lives in a cave deep inside the Crovan Forest. Princess Catherine gets lost in the woods one day and accidentally meets him, seeking shelter in his cave when it starts pouring rain. He appears to be a kind old man who still knows and practices the ancient lost art of magic which he offers to teach to her. He likes her bravery and intelligence, so he says, and wants to make sure someone knows the magic secrets before he dies and it gets lost forever. He is an old man, with all the traditional looks of a kindly old wizard – long white beard, white hair, long robe, etc.
Kevin Keene is the bookstore owner who suggests the book about the Lost Kingdom of Acmara to Kathrina. Once Catherine has switched places she meets Kevin Keene in the library and she asks him about a book on a paper she has to write. They get to know each other and he reminds her of Kavikeen. He introduces her to the new world once he discovers that she switched places with Kathrina and he says he wants to know more about Acmara. Unlike his alter ego, Kevin is younger – about thirty – and has wavy white-blond hair and glasses. He’s not traditionally handsome, but he’s got a strange sort of appeal to him and Catherine thinks she could love him.
Of course he betrays her before that happens. Turns out he’s a total bastard who’s only goal is to destroy the land of Acmara in order to fulfill an ancient prophesy/curse he placed on the kingdom centuries before. He is the physical form of an ancient water demon that has lived deep in the earth, beneath the mountains of Crovan forest since the dawn of time. He plans to sink the whole kingdom and drag it back beneath the waves, into his domain. In order to achieve this he needs a massive amount of energy and a crack in time. Switching the girls created the crack that continues to grow and as it grows it absorbs elemental energy until it will eventually have enough energy that he can use it to sink the island.
He’s a very cunning and deceptive villain, appearing to be nice and kind and sweet and harmless while manipulating everything to work out according to his plans. He’s patiently waited for this day when worlds collide and everything he’s wanted comes to him completely.
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