ROYAL DUTY

3.Dilemmas!?

"Let me go with you." Preston pressed for the hundredth time, glancing at her luggage.

Natalia had already packed all her stuff and given her brother all the information he could need to take over her duties with the spies.

"You need to stay here. General Randall is planning something. You need to re-strategize and find a way of dealing with him. I had a plan, but it's obsolete without me. You will need to think of something fast. You can't waste time escorting me to balls and whatnot." She knew he knew these things. it's just, he prioritized her above his duty as a prince. But it's something he needed to change. The kingdom needed to come first to him. Like it did to her.

"I don't trust Tyren or his blasted family. I can't just send you there."

"Well, thank God you trust me. Because then you know that I'm smarter than them and can definitely defend myself. I'm not some damsel in distress. I may have to use that approach to study my environment, but you know what I'm capable of." Just to make a point she withdrew a knife from a strap in her belt and threw it into the wall a small distance from his head.

Rolling his eyes in frustration, he yanked the knife from the wall and placed it on the now clean table, "I know that you are no damsel, but I won't stop worrying unless I know you are truly safe."

"Pres!" Abandoning the packed boxes around her, she rounded the table and moved to him, until they were standing face to face. She took his hands and held them to hers, squeezing them. "I need you here. Father and Mother need you here. The kingdom needs you here. I have been trained to withstand soo much. I am strong enough for this. But to reassure you. I promise to write to you every day and give you very detailed updates about my day. Plus, I give you full permission to stomp there if I will be in even the most remote of dangers. How about that for compromise?"

"It's not a perfect compromise. But I will take it. Now swear to me here and now that you will write each and every day and that you will never lie to me in your detailed reports and if anything dangerous happens you will alert me immediately."

Ever the protective twin brother. Natalia rolled her eyes and did as asked.

"Fine! I swear."

"Swear on something important, I won't take it otherwise"

"FINE! I swear on your life." They both knew that they meant everything to each other.

With one swift motion, he pulled her into a tight embrace and held her there. The hug was tight and stayed long but she didn't disentangle herself from him. Because she knew she would miss her brother terribly and wasn't sure when she would see him again.

****

As she walked away from the parade of kingdom officials, she couldn't help the tightness in her chest. It was hard to say goodbye to her family. It was difficult to leave the only home she knew. Most of all, it was hard to leave her family in the throes of all those fake people, who acted like they honored her sacrifice while they rejoiced at the thought of her leaving her home to be a hostage. She could hear their wheels turning with plots against her family.

They didn't think that her capable of winning Prince Tyren's heart. They were happy that she would be turning into an Athasanian hostage, instead of being married for an alliance.

She walked towards her carriage and retinue- which included her maidservants, the minister of foreign cultures, Kyle, and five other soldiers for their protection. As she neared them, Kyle moved to open the carriage door for her. But looking at that carriage. She saw another cage, an ironic reminder of the future that awaited her in Athanasia. As she stared at it, she reached a resolution. She was not leaving her country in a cage just to get into another. So she shook her head at him, walking towards her horse instead.

This could possibly be the last time in her kingdom. The last time she walked out those gates, the last time she inhaled its air, the last time she saw her people. There was no way that she was going to do any of it hiding and enclosed in a dark carriage. She would ride her horse and bid her people goodbye. She loved them. She was doing this for them. And she was going to do it with pride.

Climbing onto her horse, she savored the gasps of shock from the onlookers.

"I'm going to say goodbye to my people before I leave." Looking back at the officials on the palace terrace, she dared them to oppose her. Despite their shock, none of them went against her. Sparing one last look at her family, nodding at them, she turned her horse around and rode off from the palace.

The moment the gates were opened, she was surprised to see a large mass of her dirty and poorly clothed people gathered around. Fathers and mothers with their children, boys, and girls all stared at her in sadness and despair. And of course, there were hardly any healthy persons among them. All the strong and talented of their people had been sent to Athanasia as a tribute.

"Your Highness!" the people exclaimed, falling to their knees as they made a way for her and her retinue to pass between them.

They kept chanting, "Your Highness" as she walked between them, as if they understood the sacrifice she was making for them. Forcing a smile, she waved at them, trotting slowly but elegantly.

Her people weren't rich, her people were poor. Her people suffered from the corruption of their ministers and the oppressive demands of Athanasia. As she looked at them- her people- still there paying respect to her. And bidding her goodbye despite their difficult circumstances, despite her failure at doing better for them. A fresh pang of anger rose in her, a strong determination springing from her.

She was going to fight to be The Empress with all she was and all she had. She will seduce, threaten, cheat, manipulate, and do whatever she needs to do to be Crown Princess of The Great Athanasia.

                                                                                         ~~~~~~~~

A/N

Okaay This was a sad one. But a fiery one too, huh? 

Are ready for Athanasia? Because I think Natalia is. And who knows, we may meet her prince in the next chapter.

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Xx

Isabel Loyal.