Hand of the Heart | S. Rogers x Reader - Royal AU

Ch. 1 - Tournament

You were known as the precious heart of the kingdom, the rarest jewel of the century. You were Princess Y/n of Evradia. Your kingdom, in the middle of all the lands, was the most powerful of them all. With the crest of a pegasus and the colors white and red, enemies trembled at the mere sight of Evradia's symbol.

While you were fair and healthy, your father, the King of Evradia, was on his deathbed with an incurable sickness. He called you to his bedside in the last minutes of his life and wished only for you to marry before your coronation to be queen. While your first instinct was to protest and to say that you could rule as a queen with no king, you silenced yourself and promised your father that you would find a suitable husband to further strengthen your kingdom.

You cried as your father closed his eyes and took his last breath, fading from life. He was gone, and you had work to do.

You pondered in your father's old- now your new- study, thinking of how you were going to find a husband in such a short time. Your coronation was only a couple of months away, and you had to find a husband, no less a King to rule beside you before then.

After two days of thinking and then counseling from your father's court, a Tournament was decided upon.

The rules were simple; to compete, these men must be of royal or noble descent, or be a member of some kingdom's Royal Guard. They must compete in a series of games, which you disclose to them the night before each game at the dinners you have with them to get to know each of them better. You have chosen the games beforehand to ensure fairness. Whoever he be worthy of the throne of Evradia, shall win each of these games and beat every other competitor.

After you announced the Tournament to your own kingdom, which was excluded from volunteering (again, to ensure fairness), you sent letters to each of the five kingdoms that were allied to yours, asking their capable men to volunteer for the Tournament. You included why you were holding the games, and the rules you had in place thus far. Over the course of a week, you awaited the arrival of the volunteer acceptance letters.

When they all finally came by messenger, you made a list of the competitors and found that it was the perfect number for what you had planned.

Crown Prince of Asgard, Thor Odinson

Crown Prince of Asgard, Loki Odinson

Crown Prince of Wakanda, T'Challa

Duke of Wakanda, Erik Killmonger

Crown Prince of York, Anthony Stark

Captain of the Royal Guard of York, Steven Rogers

Knight of York, James Barnes

Knight of York, Samuel Wilson

Crown Prince of Hydra, Brock Rumlow

Crown Prince of Sokovia, Pietro Maximoff

You were more than pleased with the turnout, expecting just as many to volunteer for the Tournament. The Kingdom of York had the most men volunteer, but you were excited to see people of the same country fight against each other in your games. Men of such power, competing for your hand in marriage and the Throne of Evradia.

All that was left now, was to wait for the competitors to arrive at your castle for the first game of four. You were ready to be diligent in waiting to see which of these men were going to win the Hand of the Heart.

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I love royal AUs, so I decided to write one of my own.