Part 1: The Marriage of Duty
The faint toll of bells drifted through the London mist. Morning light lay low upon the river, catching the edges of every gilded spire. From the Harland estate at Bishopsgate, the city appeared as a living dream — smoke rising like gray threads into a pale sky, distant voices echoing through the damp air.
Inside the manor’s upper chamber, Sofia Fairborne stood by the window. Her hands were folded over the sill, her breath leaving a small cloud on the glass. The scent of lavender oil lingered about her hair — a habit her grandmother had taught her for calmness.
Today, however, she felt anything but calm. Down below, servants hurried with baskets of white roses, musicians tuned their lutes, and a cart from the baker’s shop rolled into the courtyard with cakes wrapped in linen. Her wedding day had come at last. She whispered to the empty room, “I am to marry him… General Adrian Harland.”
No other name had ever struck both fear and awe in her heart. She remembered being a child, clutching her grandfather’s cloak as he spoke of the young soldier who had joined the royal army at fourteen, who fought bravely at the border wars, who never faltered before blade or king. That boy had become a man whose letters traveled through every village, whose loyalty was praised by nobles and farmers alike.Sofia had loved the idea of him before ever hearing his voice. He was eight years older now, bearing the title of General, a man of honor — and, she feared, of walls too high for her to climb. Their marriage had been arranged soon after her grandfather’s death , her grandmother, frail and wise, had accepted the Harlands’ proposal with gratitude. For Sofia, it felt like a blessing granted by Heaven. For Adrian, she would soon learn, it felt like another command to obey.
