The Princess's Servant

79. The Certainty Ceremony

Sybil didn't have nightmares. Whenever a dream turned terrifying, she rather enjoyed it. But this surreal, very real event that unfolded before her eyes invoked something far worse in her than terror: pure, unadulterated embarrassment.

Her bare skin burned in the cool, dark air of the cathedral. Her heart beat fluttered and thumped in her throat as she tried to swallow back her mounting nerves. Holden stared at her, his eyes as wide and fearful as she'd ever seen them in her life. Holden, afraid, she thought. Normally she'd love this sort of thing. But that night, all she could think was: do I look the same?

She did. Blood bloomed on the surface of her cheeks. She felt her face go from ghost-white to rosy pink as she stood frozen in her underwear. For a moment, neither of them took a breath or moved a muscle. Their eyes locked dead on the other's, not daring to stray south.

A man in the crowd cleared his throat. Sybil dipped her chin just a little.

Holden took a long beat and the parted his lips — as if to say something — but he closed his mouth before he could. He thought for a moment, raised a finger and then nodded. He climbed into the bed and got under the covers. He beckoned her to join him.

Some of Sybil's sheer embarrassment converted into offense. Who did he take her for? Giving her orders, and for something like this? But Holden met her annoyance with insistence as he waved her over again. Sybil lowered her head a little lower and remembered that this was Holden, not a creep at the Tavern on the Edge, and that maybe he had something in mind. With great uncertainty, Sybil followed him in.

As soon she she got into the covers, Holden pulled the sheets over their heads.  

Sybil faced him in the dim light of the blanket tent. "I think I have a plan," he said. "But I don't think you're going to like it."

His words registered with Sybil and she kicked his shin with a swift swing of her leg.

"Ow!" A sharp whisper. "I don't mean it like that!" Holden rubbed the spot she'd battered. "Look," he said. "If you want, we can walk out of this room and forget any of this ever happened. Our marriage will be annulled, but we can find a new way to save your kingdom. Or... If you wanted to take a less risky approach..."

Sybil narrowed her eyes at him. "Then?"

Holden locked eyes with her again. "We fake the ceremony," he said.

"'Fake the ceremony?'" Now Sybil was certain she was lost.

"Yeah, you know..." The prince search for the words. "Go through the motions," he said. "We have a screen in front of us, so it'll just be shadow puppetry. They won't be able to tell if certain... 'things' are in certain places. We can just act it out."

"'Act it out,'" Sybil voice echoed with a tinge of disbelief.

"Yeah," the prince replied. "And we can make it quick. They won't need much."

The princess felt a lump in her stomach. "You're sure that would convince them?" She asked.

"I don't see why not," he replied.

"Fine." Sybil shook her head. "We'll 'act it out,'" she said, and she swung her leg over Holden to get herself on top.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Holden whisper-yelled. He dragged her back down beside him. "What are you doing?"

Sybil's brow twitched in anger. "What you told me!" She said. "I'm 'acting it out!'"

"That's not how we do things here!" Holden said. "You have to be on bottom."

Sybil could not find the words. "What? Why?"

"I don't know! Those are just the rules!" He explained.

"What rules?!" She asked

"I don't know!" Holden felt a new wave of blush bloom on his cheeks.
"This ceremony is kind of... supposed to prove a husband's mastery over his wife. If you're on top, then it defeats the point."

Sybil felt a rage blossom inside her. "This ceremony is to prove a husband's mastery?"

Holden shook his head. "Listen, it's an easy role to play. Just— lie down and I'll take care of the rest," he said.

"An easy role?!"

"Easier than what I have to do!" He sighed a pointed breath. "Look, we can still walk out if you want. It's your kingdom, so it's your call. But if we stay, then we have to do it correctly. Otherwise there's no point."

Sybil searched his eyes for any sign of deception. All she saw was dread. "... Fine." Exasperated. "I've put my kingdom in enough risk as it is. Just do what you have to so we can get this over with."

"Happily," Holden said with heavy annoyance in his voice. He exited the covers.

Sybil got herself on top of the blankets, and maneuvered herself so her legs dangled over one side of the bed. That damned cool air burned her skin again. That must've been why she wanted to shiver, she told herself.

Holden came to the side of the bed. He stood over her.

He stood there for a moment, watching the shadows they cast onto the screen. The outline of a man and a woman, no doubt. Holden lowered his head and moved between Sybil's bare legs. He brought his hands to his loincloth and pretended to shift around.

And then, Holden made a mistake. He brought his gaze from the white of the sheets to the whites of her eyes. Sybil's eyes. Sybil. There she was, sprawled on the bed in nothing but a thin bra and underwear, her gaze cast to the side as though she were in an oil painting. Her golden hair radiated from her face like sunlight and her bare stomach swelled and flattened with her breath. The prince felt his whole body stiffen. Nope. Nope. No way. There was no way he could do this. There was still time to run out. He could leave Ward and start a new life as a nomad. Thomas wouldn't destroy Lailoy if he was too busy trying to find and execute his only brother.

Someone in the crowd coughed. Another person sniffled. Sybil became very aware of exactly how much time was passing. He looked to Holden who stood there, unmoving. What in the seven hells was he waiting for?

She didn't mean to give him an ticked-off look, but she must have because when Holden looked back at her, he halfway jumped. Slowly, slowly, he nodded at her. For Lailoy, he thought.

For Lailoy.

He drew in breath. Getting a grip on himself, he very timidly pretended to push into Sybil. He heard a "finally," from the crowd as he began to hump the air.

A/N:

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