Chapter 37 - Arranged Marriage

A FEW MONTHS LATER.

"Are you ready, princess?"

No, I thought. "Please don't call me that. It's Jay."

"As you wish, Jay."

I was being led down from my bedroom to the courtyard where I was to be married to the man of half my choice, Evan Valdes.

When I first met Evan, I was skeptical. An arranged marriage seemed so 1600's and I was afraid of all the things that could go wrong.  But soon enough he grew on me. And now,  I think I might actually love him.

He is from the Royal family in Fescue, known for their intelligence and business communications with other worlds.  Because of our close partnership with their city it only seemed right for Evan to be a candidate for "My affection"

There were others, of course, that my dad and Remus let me browse upon, but Evan fit the standards that I made for this whole process.  I still was iffy on the whole arranged idea, hence "half my choice." 

But we got along.  Maybe that's not all that matters but he seems to understand my feelings toward my power-hungry-throne-seeking brother. 

The crowd came into view, and the music was on. I walked as gracefully as I could down the aisle, now escorted by my father. He smiled at me as he took my arm, avoiding my eyes.  I knew deep down that he wished it could all be differently, that it could have been what I wanted from the start. A deep feeling of hatred for my brother pierced my mind as I thought of this.

The walk seemed to take forever, but I finally made it to my groom.  The little me inside my head applauded, congratulating me on succeeding to not trip on my dress.  I looked up at him now and another round of applause filled my head. Okay, so maybe I didn't want to be married for my brothers selfish needs but I couldn't complain that much as Evan was very, very,  good looking in my eyes.

 "You look beautiful" He whispered,  our hands now intertwined.

  And the fact that I was beautiful in his made me blush.

The wedding march ended, and we exchanged our vows, and rings.

His shaky hands slipped my ring carefully on my finger, the gold band gleaming brighter as he did.  As the ring set in place I looked up into my husband's eyes and couldn't help but to smile like the dorky fool I was. As the moment couldn't get any more perfect he grabbed me and kissed me like it was the end of all Ulaysia.

The kiss set off something like a fire alarm in the crowd.  Everyone was cheering and clapping as the excited guests witnessed the main event of the night.  I scanned the crowd ad Evan took my arm and led me back down the aisle where I came from.  

We ended back at my bedroom so I could change into my dinner dress.

"That was quite a show for some of them, huh?" He said, leaning against the window to look down on the others.  "Your brother didn't look very happy, though." He noted as an afterthought.

"He never looks happy. Ever. The only time I get to see him smile is when he gets his way or when he's feeling extra creepy."

"I get what  you mean by creepy" Evan said, backing away from the window, slowly turning his gaze away from it. "It's like he was just staring at me, kinda gave me goose bumps"

I shivered at the thought. "Well he knows we're up here and probably wants to talk to us. Maybe we'll even get a congratulations out of him or even a - shit !" I accidently took too many pins out in an attempt to fix my hair.

Evan was soon besides me, laughing at my reflection in the mirror.

I turned to face him as he smoothed my hair down, fixing it with his gentle hands. "It's fine."
"I hope so" I murmured. I didn't spend 4 hours getting it done for it to accidently fall out and look like garbage.

"I think it looks very nice" he whispered, his hot breath warming my ear.

I've never seen this side of him and the butterflies in my stomach let go, full force.

He swept me into another kiss that  consumed my conscious thought. He stopped abruptly and laughed, "Almost forgot about the reception." He pulled away, grabbing my hand to lead me out. "It's okay, though." He said, his eyes twinkling, "We'll just save the rest for later."
I hope so

Chapter 36 - I Just Can't Wait to be King

      A flurry of days passed and I found myself hopeless.  There was no way of getting out of Remus's master scheme.  The only thing that kept me partially sane was Brinson.  The trouble with this was the visiting days.  Only once a week was she allowed into the castle to visit and time flew when I was with her.

      Our first day together was spent with me filling her in on what happened.  She listened patiently as I told her everything from my grandmothers death to the arranged marriages. She was a great audience and it felt nice to have someone that would listen, always gasping at the right times and nodding her head in agreement.

 

      "What are you going to do?" She asked, eyes full of sympathy as I finished.  

"I haven't spoken to Brenton in days," I said, my eyes tracing the pattern of the wooden floor, "I think Remus or Raven talked to him already . I'm not sure what to do anymore, and I'm not even sure what to make off all this."

"Jay," She whispered, "I'm so sorry."

      I looked up at her from the ground, noticing her eyes watering.  "There's nothing I can do about this.  Nothing."

"You're not even going to try to stop him?" Her voice quivered, and I knew she was scared for me.

"There's no point. If I go against him he'll just find ways to hurt me more. I'm too broken for that Brin,  I don't think I can handle any more pain."

Brinson got up slowly from where she sat, holding out her hand. I took it as she helped me up and she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.  We cried into each other's arms until security came to take her away.