by Lisa Daneils
A laugh escaped Ethan, but Liam simply shook his head, “I’m not as afraid of it as you guys. As for my reasons…” He simply shrugged.
Even though he knew that Liam wasn’t going to divulge his reasons, Ethan had hoped for more. Unable to control his frustration, he uttered a low moan before muttering, “Here we go again.” Ready to give up, he walked back to his seat, his hands clenched into fists as he tried to calm himself.
Liam’s brows knit together for a second before he let a small smile turn up the side of his mouth. “Feel free to keep fighting. I may not be happy with our options, but I like to think it might not be quite so bad as we’ve heard.”
“Is that why you are doing this? To show us that it isn’t so bad, and hope that it will be convincing? You do realize that would mean overlooking the fact that they are human. How could it not be worse than we are expecting?” Aiden looked at him intently, his face still resting in his hand
“Pessimism really doesn’t suit you,” Liam said, his gentle smile reflecting in his reddish-brown eyes. Any hope he had of persuading them was clearly dwindling. He seemed almost willing to accept the failure, his eyes revealing that he was resigned to the situation.
Almost as if to make one last attempt before giving up, Liam focused on Aiden. “I’ve heard some really good things about Bridget. Maybe she isn’t quite as capable as our women, but there are some definite charms to the humans. Grayson even thought so, once upon a time.”
For a second, both Ethan and Aiden held their breaths. Liam had clearly given up if he was willing to invoke that memory. And the reaction was predictable. The silence seemed to stretch on forever, but all three princes waited for the response they knew was coming. Finally, the sound of a hand slamming against a table caused all three heads to turn. Grayson glared at his younger brother, and the tension between the two was nearly palpable. A wicked grin then crossed Grayson’s face as he quickly leaned back and kicked his feet up on the table. It was as childish a display as anyone could have made, and everyone in the room knew what Grayson was doing with this gesture. The Golden Kingdom’s future king’s tone managed to be both dismissive and biting, “Sure. If you don’t mind a weak, sheep-like creature that has nothing to offer but a womb.” Grayson threaded his fingers behind his head, disturbing his bright red hair.
Trying to relieve the tension, Aiden chuckled, “At least they come with more coloring.”
Liam said nothing as he walked around and knocked Grayson’s feet off the table. To Ethan’s surprise, he didn’t say anything about the childish display, a sign that he was done trying to persuade them. He ignored his brother’s glare as he headed to the door.
The guilt was eating at him as Ethan watched the young prince try to do what he thought was right. There was no doubt in Ethan’s mind that Liam was making the decision to marry a human to force Grayson’s hand before any more trouble arose in their kingdom. It would have been heartbreaking if the whole situation wasn’t so incomprehensible. The three eldest princes still weren’t certain that their fathers were serious because the kings never offered any explanation of this completely irrational demand. Royalty was always limited in their options, but this newest decision went against all reason. Queens should be able to support the kings because the land drew from the king. Without a very strong and supportive spouse, the kingdoms would be in serious trouble.
Ethan flopped down in a chair. “What in all the names of the undead realms would make our fathers agree to this treaty? I will never understand.”
“We don’t have to understand, Ethan, just comply.” Liam said as he reached the doorway. “You are always free to ignore it if you want to let your fathers try to pass on the kingdoms to someone else.”
The youngest prince didn’t wait for them to respond as he left.
Aiden sighed again, “Why does he insist on trying to make us look bad?”
Grayson sat forward, watching the doorway where his brother had disappeared. “Because he’s afraid.” His tone was so serious that it was difficult to imagine that Grayson had actually been the speaker. With that, he got up and left through a different door.
“Well,” Aiden said suddenly standing up, “that’s enough stupidity and drama to last me a lifetime.”
“You always say that.”
“And yet everyone keeps making me put up with more.”
Ethan couldn’t help but laugh, “I just wish I knew what our fathers were thinking. We don’t need the human lands, we don’t stand to benefit from human wives—”
“And we sure as hell don’t need to be allied with those weak things. If I were cynical, I would say that our fathers are counting on us dying young so that our bloodlines aren’t watered down. Our homes won’t benefit from us having children with those bipedal sheep.” He gave another chuckle, “Or maybe they are sacrifices. We cover the lands with their blood after their short little lives are over and take proper wives after that.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ethan said, his eyes still seeing Liam’s final expression before heading upstairs. “Only humans have been stupid enough to use sacrifices to the land. Still, as much as I hate to agree with the rest of what you said, I can’t think of any other reason to make us marry such a pathetic species. Humans are barely sentient. Might as well force a horse to marry a mole.”
Aiden let out a loud laugh, “Ah, the words of wisdom. Perhaps I will tell my father to just kill me instead. It would be so much better for my heart and what is left of my soul than to be humiliated with such a union.” He moved to the widow. Still facing Ethan, Aiden left him with one more concern. “If Liam is willing to prove our fathers are serious by doing something so ridiculous, I should do my part to prove that they aren’t.”
“Aiden,” Ethan’s voice was a mixture of concern and warning, “what are you thinking of doing?”
“I just told you. I’m going to ask my father to kill me because this is one humiliation I refuse to consider, let alone execute.”
Before Ethan could say anything else, Aiden spread his arms out and fell out of the window backward. Ethan began to count the seconds, and just as he was about to rush to the window, a shadow passed over the room. “Selfish bastard,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. Without any reason to stick around, Ethan decided to head home. Liam had guest rooms ready for them, but considering what he had said was going to happen tomorrow, Ethan did not want to be around to witness the young prince marching off to martyrdom.
Chapter 1
Subverting Expectations
Fidgeting by the window, Nissa looked around her room. This was completely out of character for her, but now that she knew her father was not going to stop her wedding to Prince Oscar, she couldn’t continue as she had. Her heart belonged to Nicolas, and there was no chance that she was going to marry someone she didn’t love—certainly not someone like Prince Oscar. Her reflection caught her attention for a moment, and Nissa saw her black hair sticking out from under the coarse cloak. Pushing it back under the hood, the cloth moved back a little too much, exposing her blue-green eyes. She couldn’t have those be too obvious because it would give her away, so she pulled the cloak a little further over her face. In this outfit, she looked nothing like a princess—it was a look that she had mastered over the last few months.
At twenty years old, Nissa knew the clock was ticking, but her father had always assured her that marriage was one of the choices she could make on her own. He and her mother had been forced to marry, and based on what she had heard from the nobles of the court, it had been an absolute nightmare for her father. After he became king, her father had seemed determined to spare his daughter similar misery. What had happened to change his mind was all too obvious to the young woman.
Nissa had never known her mother because as soon as the princess was born, her mother had eloped with one of the minor nobles. Whatever happened to her mother, Nissa never learned. Nor did she care. Her father had always been more than enough.
Over th
e years, it was really her tutors and instructors who had ensured she grew into the person she had become. For the most part, her father spoiled her in an attempt to make up for not having a mother. Nissa was definitely grateful for this, so when he announced that she was going to marry the prince from the wealthiest kingdom, she had been shocked. The Bronson Kingdom was small, and it had gained its wealth through less than honorable means, at least according to rumors. Just what would make her father decide this—without even talking to her—the princess had her suspicions about.
She had tried to talk to him, but the king refused to hear her. He would only say that she was nearly too old to marry. During one of these verbal arguments, the king finally let it slip that he was concerned about her age. Princess Bridget had married a bit later, and her marriage had lasted only a few months before her husband had died. This had been on her father’s mind.
“Look, Nissa, I understand you want to marry for love. I know what you have experienced without a mother because we weren’t compatible. But I know Prince Oscar. He’s a good man.”
“That’s because you were friends. Dad, he’s almost as old as you.”
The king frowned at her, “Nissa, he is nearly 10 years younger than me.”
“And he’s more than 20 years older than me! How is this a good idea?”
“Because he is a good man. You cannot look at his age and judge him a poor choice. He is powerful, wealthy, kind, and he can take good care of you.”
“And he loves young women.” Nissa folded her arms across her chest.
“He has assured me that he will stop after the marriage ceremony.”
“Oh, and that is good enough for you, is it?”
“If you find he has not kept his word, I will attack his country myself.”
“And do what? Talk him to death? Please, you are about as capable on the battlefield as you are in the bedroom.”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Nissa regretted them. Her father had never remarried, never gave any other woman attention because he was focused on raising his daughter and taking care of his kingdom. “I’m—I didn’t—”
A dark look came over his face. “It is fairly clear now what my advisors have been saying. For too long, I have let you get away with too much. Now, I am convinced that it is past time for you to wed, and it will take a much stronger hand than mine to fix the spoiled nature of my daughter. It looks like you harbor some of the worst of your mother, despite everything I’ve done.”
Nissa gritted her teeth. Not trusting herself to say anything in response, she gave her father a low bow, exiting the room from that position—just like one of the servants. Her father tried to say something, but she ran as soon as she was out of the room. If he was determined to treat her like he had a right to dictate her future, then she was going to treat him like a ruler instead of her father.
For two days, she locked herself in her room, refusing food or drink from the servants. None of them were aware that she actually had her own stock of both hidden around her room, largely because she snuck it out to her lover on the rare occasions when they could meet. The regret of what she had said ate at her, but not as much as her father’s poor logic. She had no doubt that his friend would continue to play around with other women, especially after learning that she was no virgin. The looks Prince Oscar had been giving her for years had always made her nervous, so Nissa had made a point of always leaving the palace when he was visiting.
Somehow, the 42-year-old had convinced her father that the marriage would benefit everyone. Maybe Prince Oscar had a point, but Nissa did not trust him after years of leering. She knew that she had seen a side of Oscar that her father hadn’t, because her father wasn’t a young woman. It was much easier to pretend to be a good guy around other men and people in power; it was only around people who were weaker and more vulnerable that people really showed who they were. And Nissa had not seen evidence that Prince Oscar was the man her father believed him to be. The fact that her father would take Oscar’s word about stopping his promiscuous behavior after marriage was laughable. It was made that much worse that her father insisted on going through with it despite her objections.
She loved her father, but Nissa was not about to listen to him apologize to her repeatedly in a year or two after whatever Oscar would put her through. No, she was going to do what Nicolas had been trying to get her to do for the last several months. Sneaking out to meet him had been thrilling, but she had always felt guilty. Nissa had tried to convince the noble from another kingdom to talk with her father, but he had insisted that would not work. Nicolas was afraid that coming forward would mean he would be banished from the kingdom. No matter how much Nissa had assured him that wouldn’t happen, the man had been determined to keep their love hidden out of fear of losing her. Over time, he had become convinced the only way they could be together was through eloping. She had managed to arrange a situation where her father and Nicolas got a chance to meet, with Nicolas’s knowledge, and that had convinced Nissa that Nicolas might be correct. Her father had been greatly suspicious of the handsome young man, and had been overly protective of Nissa. Not that Nicolas had been the only one there. It had been one of the kingdom’s celebrations, so there had been a lot of young men, and her father had been suspicious of all of them. It was almost as if he didn’t want his daughter to marry with the way he had scared so many of them away.
Nicolas stood out, though. His long, blond hair was left down, flowing over his broad shoulders, accenting his chiseled features. Nissa easily thought he was the best-looking man at the party. Oscar had asked her to dance a couple of times, and the last time, Nicolas had stepped in and asked for her hand for the last dance. Nissa knew she must have looked uncomfortable with her father’s friend because he had been making advances at that time. She had enjoyed the last dance, staring into Nicolas’s dark brown eyes. They were nearly so dark she could see herself reflected in them.
Soon after that, though, her father had started mentioning her getting married. He had broached the topic carefully, but over time, he had become more serious. When he had finally mentioned Oscar, Nissa had laughed, believing it to be a joke. She had never told her father that Oscar made her uncomfortable or mentioned the passes he had made at her over the last few years, even before she was of age. When she tried to say something after her father suggested the pair wed, he had dismissed it, saying that she didn’t need to try to smear his friend’s reputation. After that, he became more and more determined that they should marry. Any objections that she voiced were quickly dismissed.
Now here she was, slipping out of the palace like an ungrateful child. If there were any other options, she would have taken them, but Nissa couldn’t think of any. Her father had sent word through their servants that a wedding date had been set and he would send her details once he and Oscar had finished working out the time and location.
He was mad at her. Not that she entirely blamed him. Nissa had managed to act more like a child than an adult during the last few conversations, and she knew that some of her behavior had triggered the worst in her father. That point was driven home when he had compared her to her mother. And now she was proving that she really was more like her mother because she was running off to be with a man whom she loved instead of being married to a man she didn’t trust.
Is this how Irene felt when she left us? Did she feel torn between doing what was right and following her heart? If that is true, perhaps I have been too hard on the woman who gave birth to me. If my father can go back on his promise and force me to marry, perhaps he did something similar to her. It’s not like his servants would tell me otherwise. This thought caught her off guard because she had always thought of her father and herself as a unit. Now what was his was not hers. Sighing, she knew that had always been true. If she had managed to marry earlier, things could have been different, the image of her wonderful father saved in her memories, untarnished as it had been until the last year.
N
issa did not like feeling distrustful of her father and identifying with her mother. After all, her mother had left her behind too. There was no note, no words, no concern expressed for how Nissa was to be raised. By all accounts, her mother really had been a terrible person; even her brothers and sisters had said as much. Yet her mother had done something similar to what Nissa was now doing. Perhaps they would say the same of her after she was gone. It was very likely as she would be leaving no heir to her father’s kingdom. A small part of Nissa was very cynical, believing that he would name Prince Oscar as the next king. It was the only way he was likely to be a king since he was the fifth son of his own kingdom, and about the 15th in line for the throne.
The princess knew that her thoughts were getting petty. “I really am ungrateful, aren’t I?” Nissa looked around the room, and for a moment she considered staying.
Then her eyes fell on the note she had left for her father, and she immediately felt the ire rising. Being told one thing all her life only to be forced to marry someone whom she did not like, let alone love, was too far. The fact that she knew her father would eventually beat himself up for having forced her was another reason to leave now. He could blame her instead of regretting his own choices. That alone was enough reason to go. She knew he was just trying to do the right thing for her, but he failed to see that it was the absolutely wrong thing because he was blind to his friend’s flaws. Not that Oscar was a power-seeking parasite. She knew that most people found him charming, just none of the young women who encountered him. His station and privilege made him blind to his own unsettling behaviors and habits. It was still very wrong, and he would never have gotten away with it if he was of a lower station. Still, it was rare to find anyone who was either all bad or all good, and apart from his abysmal outlook on women under a certain age, he was generally a good guy.
