LOCATION: THE CRUCIBLE, 100TH FLOOR
PLANET: LAPIS DIVINUS, ORION LUMINARY INSTITUTE
YEAR: ? | DAY: ?? | TIME: ??
What is it with these royals being so direct?
Rowan always thought they were all about undertones and decorum.
“Well?” Lucien said, impatience beginning to creep into his voice now.
Rowan cleared his throat.
“Ahem. Your Highness, I think you will find that Princess Kaela is perfectly capable of defending herself.”
He paused, wondering how much to say. In the end, he added nothing else.
Lucien exhaled. That impatience was still there.
“Was it meant as an insult? Tell me plainly. You will not be punished.”
Rowan laughed. He leaned in so his fellow guards would not overhear.
“You may not punish me, but my King would if I ever spoke against him. However, I will be honest. His thoughts are far more concerned with ending the war than they are with insulting Your Highness. That I can promise.”
Lucien listened quietly, then nodded.
“I suppose I can accept that. Very well, then. Let’s head inside and enjoy a meal together while they tend to your horses. You and your men will depart in the morning.”
The rest of the evening went smoothly. Candlelight flickered in the sconces and lanterns. A bard played soft music all evening.
Lucien sat at the head of a long table laden with meats, breads, and cheeses. Kaela sat to his right. Their retinue of guards filled the rest of the table, giving the couple several feet on either side for privacy.
“Was your journey tough, Princess?” Lucien asked, breaking off a corner of bread and slathering it with a generous pat of butter.
Kaela smiled, and simply told the truth.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle, Prince Lucien. Oh, and please. Call me Kaela when we’re alone. There is no need for formality between the two of us, is there?”
He had been about to take a bite of his bread, but he stopped and turned toward her when she said that, searching her eyes.
She was sincere.
Lucien had assumed that his relationship with this Princess from another land would be formal and impersonal.
Yet, here she was, topping off his wine herself from a nearby carafe rather than snapping her fingers at the staff. Leaning in and whispering. As if they might be actual lovers.
She was clearly intelligent, witty, and very funny. All of it was so utterly unexpected that Lucien found himself lost in her eyes.
The royal couple and their guards spent the evening making a valiant effort to clear the inn of its entire stock of ale and wine.
Kaela, for her own part, also enjoyed the Prince’s company more than she had expected. He was wise beyond his years, and had an excellent grasp of geopolitics, science, and the history of the realm.
Early the next morning, Ellister Rowan, his accompanying guards, and the two coachmen bid farewell to Kaela and departed to return to Caerwyn.
Shortly after, a new carriage arrived and Kaela was overwhelmed by the display.
First, the carriage was luxurious to the point of being overindulgent. They had sparkling wine inside, along with finger sandwiches and dried meats.
The Prince offered to ride horseback, but Kaela insisted he ride with her inside so they could continue talking. He was glad she asked, and obliged her request.
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The carriage was driven by two coachmen, and escorted by a retinue of fifty mounted knights. Several of them carried pikes with the Seraph’s Hold royal banner, a shining golden-yellow lion set against a light gray backdrop.
It was a two-day ride to the castle, and when they arrived, both the King and Queen were standing on the palace steps, waiting to greet them.
They both hugged her and the Queen welcomed her to the Seraphen royal family.
“Well,” King Alaric said, “not quite yet.”
“What do you mean, father?” Lucien asked.
The King smiled. Actually smiled!
“The wedding is in three days. Then she will officially be welcomed to the family.”
He turned toward her.
“Until then, Princess Kaela, please be welcome within our walls. I will see that you shall want for nothing.”
It was all a lot, and for those three days, Kaela found herself wondering if it was just a show they were putting on for her. She was still a guest. The marriage hadn’t even occurred yet. She figured maybe the warmth would fade with time.
But it did not.
The Queen was absolutely delightful. She spent so much time with Kaela that Kaela began feeling bad for monopolizing her time.
But Queen Emmanuelle insisted that any time she spent getting to know her new daughter was not wasted.
The first year went by in a blissful flash.
While Lucien attended to matters of state, Kaela began training with the combat instructors from Seraph’s Hold.
They took it easy on her at first.
Until they realized that their new Princess was far more capable than they had imagined.
The first time she took down the head of the King’s royal guard, nobody knew what to do. They clapped, assuming he had allowed it to happen to fluff up her ego.
But there in the dirt training yard, she reached out a hand to help him up. He just looked at it, unsure of whether he should allow a woman, and his Princess on top of that, to help him up.
Kaela shook her hand impatiently, and he finally reached up and took it. When she pulled him up effortlessly from the ground, he was shocked at the strength of her grip.
“Princess, you are stronger than you look, are you not?”
Kaela laughed.
“I was wondering when one of you would notice. Now, can we spar for real this time? Don’t worry about hurting me. My health regeneration is also higher than you imagine.”
The guard laughed, and nodded.
“Fine, but don’t complain to anyone if you get a scratch.”
She smiled and tossed him to the ground like a ragdoll for that comment, and that was when he began getting serious.
Of all the men who trained in the yard on a near daily basis, the head of the King’s guard was the most formidable. It took only twenty more minutes of sparring for him to respect her.
And by the third day, he knew the truth: Princess Kaela could best nearly everyone in Seraph’s Hold. He made it his mission to find someone who could beat her, bringing in expert after expert.
Kaela relished the challenge, welcoming the opportunity to learn from someone who excelled at any aspect of the combat arts.
It didn’t take long before she became known far and wide as The Lioness. She was fierce and elegant at the same time, and Prince Lucien was proud of her.
The men almost wished the war hadn’t ended, as peacetime felt like a waste of such impressive talent.
The evenings with Lucien and the King and Queen were a delight. They reminded Kaela of her own family, and the warm atmosphere at the dinner table made her long for home.
When the Queen caught her tearing up, she assumed Kaela was longing for Caerwyn. She apologized for taking Kaela away from home. But Kaela corrected her.
“Your Highness, I am just overwhelmed by the kindness your entire family has shown me since arriving.”
She sniffled, tears now falling down her cheeks.
“I don’t know what I expected on my way here, but it was not all of this warmth and respect. I didn’t expect to so quickly feel like part of the family. If I may be so bold.”
The Queen rose to hug her, but Lucien beat her to it.
“Of course you’re part of the family,” he said. “I could say the same. I assumed we would have a typical political marriage. One for the sole purpose of producing offspring to cement peace between our nations. I never expected to fall in love with you.”
And Kaela had to agree.
She had no idea where it all was going, but she had to admit that Lucien was a good man, and she was falling for him.
It took the two countries eight months to extricate themselves from the war, each side retreating one bit at a time and waiting for the other side to reciprocate.
When it was all done, the King of Goldenvale announced he would host a grand celebration at his castle, inviting the royal families from Caerwyn and Seraph’s Hold.
He set the date for one month out, and began making preparations immediately.
He placed orders with his vintners for the best wines the land could produce, with his brewers to create delicious new ales to delight the senses.
He imported various delicacies from faraway lands, and set the stage for what he hoped was finally a lasting peace between his two closest allies.
But sometimes fate has a way of upsetting even the best-laid plans.