Prologue
My father marched through the big doors and smiled at his old friend. ‘It has been a long time my friend!’
Arnold Flores, the king of Armonia, walked over to my father and hugged him. It looked as if nothing was going on. Nothing at all.
The fact that they could act that way scared me a little bit. I was supposed to marry his daughter and they act as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.
‘Prince Ayden! I can see you’ve grown a lot.’ Arnold sticks out his hand for me to shake, but I hesitate a bit. My father told me all about Arnold. He can read your whole story just by shaking your hand.
I try not to think about anything while shaking his hand, he doesn’t need to know all about me just yet.
‘Where is princess Arayna?’ They both look at me, my father with anger and king Arnold with a loving gleam. ‘She is getting ready, late like always.’
We all turn toward the door and see the queen mother, Leya Flores, in a dark red gown.
‘But beauty takes time.’ She says while walking towards us. Leya Flores always seemed like a nice woman to me, too kindhearted to be a queen. But even after all those years she still stands.
‘Ayden, you can go meet Adam in the dining room. He missed you so much.’ I look over at my father, who’s nodding his head, allowing me to go see my old friend. ‘I’ll be back.’
I walk out the great hall, into the big hallways of this castle. I wouldn’t say I hate this castle, but I know the Flores family has far prettier castles than this one.
On my way to the dining room, I wonder why the queen wanted me gone. She wouldn’t have sent me to Adam if they didn’t want to talk about something without me being there.
Just as I am about to enter the dining room, the door swings open. ‘Sorry prince.’ It’s a human boy. I recognize him but I don’t know why exactly.
He runs towards the corridors and doesn’t turn back. I walk into the dining room and see Adam sitting all alone at the end of the big wooden table.
‘All alone my friend?’ He looks up and starts smiling. ‘Ayden Azzouz. Prince of Biters, to what do I owe this pleasure?’
I walk over to him and sit down right next to him. ‘My marriage to your sister of course.’ He shoves his elbow against my arm and gulps down his red wine.
‘It’s more a competition now.’ he says laughing. What? ‘What do you mean?’ I ask. My father told me king Arnold wanted to change some things in our arrangement, but he also said that he declined all of them.
‘Didn’t they tell you?’ He asks, totally shocked that I don’t know about the new arrangement. ‘No. But you will.’
‘You, a few other princes, and my sister are going to stay at one of our holiday mansions for a whole year. She will marry the one she falls in love with first, if not, my father will pick which prince she will marry.’ I am shocked, no one told me that they changed our arrangement. No one told me that I won’t have to marry a girl I barely know.
‘So I don’t have to marry her?’ I ask, still a little weirded out by all of this. He nods and gets up from his chair.
‘We should probably go to the meeting room, my father wants to explain everything to Arayna. The other princes are also jumping to see my little sister.’ he says sarcastically. Other princes hm...
Adam takes me to the meeting room and my heart sinks as we both walk in. Not only did they change our arrangements, but they also made allies with our worst enemies.
The Veldora family, Thobias and his parents are sitting next to the king and his wife. We have hated them for centuries and yet there they are. Right in front of us.
We could take them out in a second, but my father is just sitting there, fidgeting with his hands.
I walk over to my father and take a seat next to him. Right on the opposite side of the table sits another enemy of ours. The Kane family.
The two sons, Ethan and Edward, look the same as they used to do. See our families used to be allies too, but that all changed as soon as they stabbed us just to save their magic.
‘Welcome everyone.’ King Arnold said while lifting his cup. Everyone else does the same thing, but slower. They’re scared something might happen.
Not for a million years would I have thought to see the Veldora’s or the Kane’s here, but at last. Here they are.
I want them dead, especially the Veldora’s. They took a lot from us and I won’t rest until they’re gone.
‘So as you all know, we’ve come together to arrange a new alliance between one another. My daughter, who has just turned eighteen, needs a husband. She needs a king. One of you will be that king. Not only will you be the king of your region, but you’ll also be king of Armonia too.’ He sits back down and looks at all of us.
The sound of being king of Armonia, one of the wealthiest regions, sounds amazing. It used to be my biggest wish to someday rule the whole world, but I know that that won’t be possible.
I never wanted to marry Arayna but my father needs me to. If we don’t ally with Armonia we will fall. He doesn’t have any other sons, so I’m his only hope.
‘Come join me for diner.’ the queen stands up and starts walking towards the door. All the royal parents follow her, but the children stay seated.
My father stays for a while and moves closer to my ear. ‘I need you to behave. We need this Ayden. If you won’t win her over, we lose everything.’
I sigh and nod before he walks after the others. The only adult in the room is king Arnold. He is smiling at me as we sit in silence. As much as I want to kill Thobias right now, I know I can’t.
If I kill him right in front of everyone, there would be a war. We can’t afford another war after the one we lost against the Silverbloods.
‘Are you boys ready?’ king Arnold asks. We all nod and I sit up straight. The door slowly opens, with princess Arayna storming in the room.
‘What the hell is going on?!’ she shouts, totally ignoring our presence. She storms towards her father and stops right in front of him. ‘Calm down Arayna.’
‘No! I won’t calm down! I literally just turned eighteen and you are already selling me to these idiots!’ she shouts still not caring about our presence. ‘Arayna watch your tone!’
She doesn’t care about the fact that we’re sitting here, but the king does. I think that’s the reason he wanted our parents gone so that his daughter can yell at him without him having to hide it from the other kings.
‘You will go to the flower mansion with them for a year and fall for one of them. If not, I will pick for you, understood?’ She steps back, as if he just pushed her away, and looks at the ground.
‘Now go introduce yourself to them. We’ll be waiting in the dining room.’ King Arnold leaves the room and it stays silent for a few minutes.
No one wants to start this conversation. It’s too early for this shit and I can tell that no one wants to marry her. Sure she’s very pretty, probably the prettiest girl I know, but she’s also very stubborn and can be a pain in the ass. She’s too dramatic to become a queen, but she will be. Because she is the strongest of the Flores family.
‘Tell your fathers that you don’t want to marry me.’ she says after a moment of silence. We all look at her, while she’s pacing around the room. ‘Just tell them... Tell them you hate me, that you want an alliance without marriage or something!’
‘You know that we don’t have any other way princess Arayna.’ Edward Kane says. It might as well be Ethan, but I don’t care. I hate that the Kane brothers are one of the princes I’m up against.
‘Did you even try to go against this?!’ I look over at the others and sigh. ‘No, but there is no use. It’s happening if you want it to or not.’ She looks at me, throwing daggers at me with her eyes.
‘You will have to marry one of us princess, the choice is yours.’ Thobias says, while standing up. ‘I’d rather die than marry one of you.’ ‘We can take care of that.’ One of the Kane brothers says while grinning like crazy.
‘Look Arayna. We don’t want this either, but we don’t have a choice. It’s our duty to protect our people and we all need an alliance with Armonia.’ I said before standing up as well.
‘So that’s all I am to you? An alliance?’ I don’t get why she taught she would ever mean more than that. Sure, she is my friend’s little sister, but nothing more than that. ‘Yes.’ we all answer at the same time.
She sighs and walks towards the door, not looking at any of us. ‘Tell my father I’ll be a little late.’
_____________
Hello everyone... This is so awkward... Okay so, Hi! I hope you enjoyed the first “Chapter” of The Four Kingdoms. I want you to know that English is not my first language, so I’m really trying here. Also, let me know what you think so far and maybe even come up with some drama? Anyways, please vote so that I know if you liked the chapter. There will be some smuts in this story, but not too many. I will try to put a disclaimer at the smuts, but I’m sorry if I forget them. Also, let me know if I should continue this story?
Xxx Shiara
