Fighting for a Crown

Chapter Fifty Four

Even once I had comprehended the concept of dancing without knowing the steps, I felt awkward to the bone.

The Queen had explained to me that their music had been recorded onto a disc, which a large funnel made loud. Adrienne was actually the only person this evening who would talk to me without insulting my country, habits or accent.

In fact it was my favourite part of the night when I got to stand up on the raised platform, the king's own order forcing them to listen to me. Henrietta played quite the part, smiling and blushing as I slipped the heavy, cold ring onto her finger whilst balancing on one knee. They all applauded as I stood and she took my hand, her fingernails grating uncomfortably against my palm. The doors opened for us, so it seemed I didn't have to endure any more of the party. We left, and as soon as the great golden doors clicked shut, the princess's hand slithered away from mine.

"Good night, Fil des Yllers." She nodded quickly to me, before making her way down the shining white corridor.

"Wait!" I called after her, confused. She turned expectantly. "Well don't you want for us to get to know each other a bit? We just got engaged." The princess shrugged. "I mean in my country," I continued, "We normally spend a great deal of time with each other before even deciding to get married and -"

"In your country they also herd a load of women into the palace and get you to choose whichever you despise least yes? And they let their own citizens bomb the opera houses." Henrietta snapped back.

I hadn't done anything wrong had I? I mean we were actually going to be getting married but she was shunning me off like I was a servant.

"Alright fine." She threw her arms up. "Come this way, keep up."

I almost needed to jog to keep up with her as she led me down wide corridors, eventually we ended up in a small, silk draped sitting room, it was cold but cloying perfumes floated in the air.

"Well sit then why don't you?" Henrietta threw herself down onto a loveseat.

Gently, I sat down on a stiff couch. There was a pause as I tried to figure out what her constant scowl meant.

"What do you want then? Idiot." She spoke with a flick of her hand.

I searched my mind for the things I first discussed with Evie. God how I wish it was Evie here instead of Henrietta. "Well...what's your favorite color? That's as good a place as any to start." I smiled through the dim room.

"Purple." She said with a click of her tongue. She then went on to inspect her fingernails

"Great." I tried to smile, finding it difficult to further this conversation. "Mines red."

There was another pause.

"Tell me about your brothers." I tried again; me and Evie had talked about Nicholas the first time in my study.

The princess rolled her eyes. "They're dead. You killed them. All three. How's little Prince Afanasy?"

I sucked in a breath through my teeth. "I don't really know to be honest."

She smirked. "Of course not. Oh and just so you know, I highly disapprove of this marriage." Every word was said whilst glaring me in the eye.

"Oh." I muttered, a little hurt. "Why is that? Do you have a sweetheart you'd rather run off with? Or maybe-"

"No I just don't like you. Or your country. Papa is forcing me to do this. Thought you should know." She smiled casually.

The walls of my throat stuck together as I tried to plan a course of action.

"I heard that my father killed your friend this morning," Henrietta spoke idly, as though about the weather. "I'm terribly sorry. Wouldn't have happened under my jurisdiction."

The only nod I could manage was to my feet. "He was a good man." The words were barely a murmur.

Again, there was a pause, then Henrietta rang a bell and a maid took me back to my room. The party still continued below us, it's music loud and booming. I was alone for a while, before Jules made his way in, yet another sheet of paper in his hands.

"Bonsoir." He smiled widely, pulling the curtains closed. "I am proud of you, petit fil. You have done well tonight. The king is proud of you too, or this would have it seem so." Jules turned and passed me the letter, it's swooped hand was the king's. "He wants you to ride by his side into Beltrain tomorrow evening. The army will have claimed the city by then."

The words on the paper confirmed what Jules gleefully said.

"So soon?" I sputtered a little. "I thought the plan was to wait until the mourning period for my father had passed."

Jules shrugged, sitting on the end of the bed with me. "The king listened to you. Your brother will come to no harm by the Kents, no one will sit on your throne but you and petite fille. Well done, Gavrila."

I scoffed aloud, impressed. This time tomorrow, I would be home.

Perhaps it wouldn't be the home I had imagined, with Evie by my side and Father watching me from behind, but Fana would be there to support me. How glad he would be to see me, too, seeing as he was blackmailed into kingship.

Once I was King and the wedding was out of the way, I would have every resource to support Evie's family, to find where she'd got to. And to know that it would all start, my new, happy life would start tomorrow, it was wonderful.

For the first time since we got to Raverly, I slept happily, comfortably, woke up to a fresh morning breeze and took breakfast without the desire to smash any crockery.

Perhaps it wasn't how we'd planned, but this was how my life was going to start.