One for Cards

Chapter Three

28/11/19: Exams end tomorrow and I just cannot wait anymore! Here's a brand new chapter, just 'cause. As usual, vote, comment, share, the works—Thoughts on Addie? Thoughts on James? Let me know! Enjoy x

THE SKY GLOWED ORANGE, THE DUSTY KIND, AND ADDIE LOOKED OUT AT IT, with her chin resting in the heel of her palm. The cobbled streets, slick with the day's drizzle, glinted with the light of dusk. Her mother was silent across from her in the carriage, but all Addie could hear was her voice.

Your father could not let us risk our lives any longer. I had to give everything up, but it was hardly a significant sacrifice in exchange for your safety. Your father never had red hair, but I did. As you say...it would be too conspicuous if I kept it that way.

The unmarked carriage trundled along a quiet road and, inside, she tried not to feel put out. Normally she would be on her rooftop admiring the view – it would have been divine from up there, she knew it. But a few days had passed since she'd met the King, and today she was on her way to the to meet with an important lord instead. She resented it somewhat – her mind was still on the fine time she could be enjoying by herself.

But she reminded herself not to lose sight of the bigger problem she faced. This Lord Westbrook was only the first of a long string of people she would have to smile at. The King had given her a few weeks' notice – on her birthday in two months, when she turned of age, she would be crowned Princess of Lastyria and move into the palace. And then she would have to start looking for a husband. The King had said it himself when she'd asked him.

Why are you only telling me now?—Why are you telling me at all?

Because the kingdom needs its princess. You already know that things with the Ottoman empire have been...uncertain. The people will be worried. And you are going to be twenty soon. It is time for you to begin looking for a suitor.

I assume I am to be used as a distraction, she'd said blithely. The King had flinched at the bite in her tone, and had had the decency to try and deny using her, but she hadn't believed him. How could she? After she'd suffered for so long because of his absence, how could he possibly care about her if he only brought her back when he needed to a spectacle?

Some of her classmates might've been thrilled at the prospect of being princess, but she was more concerned with how her entire life was going to change in ways she'd never consented for it to.

Perhaps, though, she hadn't needed to consent. It wasn't a girl's place to submit to anything that happened to her, after all. Despite everything her mother had told her about forging her own path, about building her own life, about being strong... She would just end up like everyone else.

After a relatively short journey, albeit one long enough for Addie to rethink her entire existence, the carriage pulled into the gates. Somewhere along the long driveway, it came to a stop, and the door opened.

"Mrs Smith. Miss Smith," a footman greeted. These titles, though still theirs as their identities remained a secret to most, were empty now. Whose name even was Smith? Still she nodded curtly as he helped her out, then her mother.

"His Majesty awaits you in his private parlour," he said. "It's right this way."

Addie remembered, but followed his lead nonetheless as he escorted them to their destination. As they walked, she wondered if he knew who they were and why the King was seeing them for the second time that week. If he did, he made no indication of it; and if he did not, he showed no interest. He only bowed politely when they arrived at the familiar archway that led to the extravagant room before he took his leave, and she marvelled at how profoundly incurious he was.