one
I nearly walked into a servant carrying a tray of wine.
“Princess!”
I nearly dropped the book in an attempt to help her steady the tray. “I’m so sorry! It was entirely my fault.”
Once she was steady, she shook her head. Her auburn locks bounced as she did. “Be more careful. You’ll end up wearing someone’s dinner one of these days.”
I smiled and tucked the book close to my chest. “Yes, I will.”
She sighed, exasperated. “Keeping your parents waiting again, are you?”
I shrugged. “I’m certain they will start without me.”
The older maid shook her head as she walked away. “Have a good evening, miss.”
I watched after her as she walked down the hall.
As soon as she turned the corner and was out of sight, I opened my book again.
I continued to walk down the hall as I found my place again.
Highcourt was quiet in the evenings.
Most of the servants had already retired for dinner or for the evening. Only the occasional servant was still present and even then it was to fulfill some task.
In the distance, I could hear the waves crashing against the bluffs below.
I laughed quietly at the book as I read a particularly funny part.
Somehow, I’d found myself more into travel journals than history books. It wasn’t nearly as dry and somehow allowed me a small chuckle.
As I neared the large dining hall, the guards opened the doors for me.
I didn’t look up but thanked them as I crossed the threshold of the room.
I offered my parents and absentminded smile as I sat in my usual chair.“I apologize for my tardiness.” I set my book beside the plate before I reached forward and served myself some of the potatoes between us.
The room was unusually quiet.
I looked up from my plate to my sister across from me. Mara already sensed it.
Her dark eyes looked between me to my father at the head of the table.
The attendant behind my father stepped forward and filled his goblet with dark wine.
My brows furrowed. He rarely needed a refill during dinner but tonight, he seemed to already finish his first goblet before starting dinner.
My eyes turned to my mother. She paid unusually precise attention to her plate as she cut through her steak.
I frowned. “Did the Council not go well today?”
My father’s eyes met mine. A small smile began but then it stopped. “Yes. Council went well.”
I smiled. “Wonderful.” I reached over and placed a smaller piece of steak on my own plate with some vegetables.
My mother had, but only small, precise bites that told me she was more focused on something else.
Across from me, my younger sister sat straighter than usual. Not rigid. Just alert.
Present.
Her blue eyes watched our parents carefully.
It was her actions that made me finally put down my book and watch our parents. There was something in her expression I didn’t recognize.
Something closer to... waiting.
I frowned slightly, but didn’t ask.
If it mattered, someone would say something.
They always did.
“The northern routes have closed,” my father finally said.
I blinked.
That wasn’t how dinner conversations usually began.
My mother set her fork down.
My sister didn’t move at all.
There were several moments of silence. He sat back in his chair, stroked the dark beard on his chin. He looked at my younger sister.
She nodded slowly. “I suspected,” she said quietly.
I glanced between them.
“There have been movements along the coast,” my mother said at last. Her delicate voice barely above a whisper. I could hardly hear her in the large room.
But her voice was calm. Measured.
Careful.
“Movements?” I repeated.
My sister’s gaze flicked to me again. She frowned.
This time, I understood it.
You really don’t know, her eyes seemed to say.
Something in my chest tightened. I felt magic -my magic- begin to hum under my skin. I focused to control it begging it to settle.
Aserins, especially those in the royal family, had magic. The power to control the flow of energy in the air and within people. I willed it to quiet. Now was not the time.
“From the Solva Imperium,” my father said.
An invasion?
I set my glass down slowly my power beginning to pulse anew. “I thought those were just—rumors.”
“They-” my sister stumbled over her words when I looked at her and she met my eyes. “Th-they’re not,” she said.
Of course she knew.
Of course she had been paying attention.
Unlike me.
“We don’t have the numbers to hold them alone,” my father continued.
His voice hadn’t changed. Still steady. Still controlled.
My gaze didn’t tear from him even when he took a large drink from his wine cup.
When he didn’t expand further, I pressed. “So what is the plan?”
He looked at me.
Fully.
Directly.
“We’ve secured an alliance,” he said plainly.
I looked at my sister.
Her eyes remained on me, pitying.
I frowned but looked back at my father.
“An alliance?” I asked, confused.
He nodded. “With the Dominion.”
The Dominion. A country of incredible military power.
Of course my father had sought them out.
My fingers curled slightly against the edge of the table.
An alliance.
Of course.
That was what kingdoms did when war came close enough to matter.
They reached outward.
They negotiated.
They—
“Terms have been agreed upon,” he continued.
“What terms?” I asked, quietly.
My father didn’t hesitate.
“Marriage.”
The word didn’t make sense at first.
It landed... wrong.
Like it belonged to a different conversation.
“M-marriage?” Despite myself, I stuttered.
“For the alliance to hold,” he said, “the Vaelor agreed to a marriage.”
A pause.
Just long enough.
“It will be you.”
I stared at him.
Waiting for the correction.
The clarification.
The part where he explained that this was hypothetical.
Or temporary.
Or anything other than what it sounded like.
“Excuse me?”
“We’ve already agreed to this—”
“No,” I interrupted. ”You’ve agreed to this.”
“Ari!”
“Arinelle!”
I ignored both my sister and mom as they called to me.
My mother’s delicate voice was harsh. “Remember who you’re speaking to. He is your father and king.”
He didn’t give me a chance to respond.
“The Vaelor will be here in five days for the betrothal ceremony.”
The Vaelor. The Crown Prince of the Dominion. Coming here to perform an Aserin ritual before the moon and ocean to seal our destinies together.
Since childhood, I had looked forward to the ceremony. The idea that I would announce my intention to the moon and tide was always romantic.
As princess, I could choose anyone I wanted. Rank didn’t matter to Aserins.
Not usually.
I struggled to keep my power at bay. It was beginning to thrum and hum between my fingers. I could feel the energy of the room beginning to dampen.
I knew my family felt it as well.
And they knew who was causing it.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You promised me,” I whispered.
That got his attention.
My mother’s gaze shifted sharply toward me.
“You said we wouldn’t be used like this,” I continued. I looked away. I couldn’t look at him for fear of shattering. “Mara and I.” I looked to my sister. “That we wouldn’t be—”
“That was at peacetime,” my father responded calmly.
His voice cut cleanly through mine.
“War is looming on our shores.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Because they weren’t cruel.
They weren’t even unkind.
They were simply... true.
“That doesn’t change what you promised,” I said.
“It changes everything.”
I shook my head. “After what happened to Meredith--” My voice cut short. “You swore.”
He sighed heavily. “Ari. What happened to your cousin--”
I shuddered at the memory of Meredith collapsing on the stairs of the palace. Bruised, bloodied, riding through the night to her king for mercy.
Her new husband, a vile man in the country didn’t stand a chance against the elite force my father sent after him. He didn’t live more than a week after Meredith came home.
“It won’t happen to you. You’re princess and heir.”
I scoffed, still not looking at him. My eyes stayed fixed on my hand as it tightened into a fist and relaxed repeatedly. An exercise I learned when I was small to keep my power controlled. “Can you promise me that?”
“This is your duty, Arinelle.”
I laughed.
It sounded wrong in the room.
Too sharp.
Too bright.
“I don’t even know him,” I said. “You’re asking me to marry a man I’ve never met, based on what? Strategy?”
“Based on necessity.”
I finally looked at him. “I’ve heard what people say about him.”
That slipped out before I could stop it.
My father’s expression hardened slightly. His square jaw set tightly. “You will not base your judgment on rumor.”
“It’s not just rumor,” I insisted, even though part of me knew that wasn’t entirely true. “They say he doesn’t hesitate. That he crushes anything in his way. That he—”
"They say many things,” my father interrupted. “Most are from people who have never stood in a room with him.”
“That doesn’t make them wrong.”
“No,” he said. “It makes them incomplete.”
I hated that answer.
It was reasonable.
I shook my head. “I won’t do it,” I said.
My sister inhaled softly.
My mother didn’t move.
My father held my gaze.
“You will,” he said.
I pushed back from the table. The chair scraped sharply against the floor. I stood before him, defiantly. “You don’t get to decide that for me.”
He shook his head. His shoulders dropped with an unseen weight. His eyes met mine and I saw the torment. He didn’t want this as much as I did. He shook his head and took another drink from his cup of red wine. “I already have.”
I shook my head and turned to leave.
No one stopped me.
// author’s note: This story is an idea I’ve had for a very, very long time. It’s still a work in progress and not fully finished. I hope you tag along!
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