❝ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɪꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴋɪɴɢᴅᴏᴍꜱ ᴡᴇɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴡᴀʀ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ? ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ꜱɪᴅᴇ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄʜᴏᴏꜱᴇ? ❞
Ever since she was sold to the Kingdom of Racaea as a young child, Sabre has grown up on the castle grounds as a blacksmith's apprentice for the roya...
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As Sabre left the dining hall, the echoes of that awful nickname reverberating in my ears as she did so, I couldn't get out of my mind the memory of her touching my knee to stop it from shaking. Her touch had been so warm, firm yet gentle. It had dragged me out of the thoughts of this plan failing and Racaea's potential destruction. If I somehow did manage to remove that image from playing over and over again in my head, it would only be replaced by the fact that she had grabbed my hand. The way her skin tasted when I kissed it. What was she doing to me?
My mother turned to me with an expression I loathed. She knew I was up to something, hiding something from her, the unnerving glare sending adrenaline through me.
"Does she know about what the prisoner said? That she's the reason why he's here, of Icrodeia's potential attack? Making her your fiancé might endanger Racaea even more." She spoke when enough time had passed for Sabre to be well out of earshot.
"No, I haven't." We didn't know if the prisoner was telling the truth or not. It was already breaking her heart to see Icrodeia and Racaea on the verge of war. To know that she was the reason for it, it would tear her apart.
If I could prove that she really wasn't the reason for Icrodeia's plans, I would let her know what he said. She'd be angry at me for a little while, I was sure of it, but hopefully she would understand why I had kept it a secret from her. If I couldn't prove that she wasn't the reason for Icrodeia's potential hostility, then I didn't know what I would do.
"The spy might have been lying. There could easily be another motive for their actions," I explained. She had just agreed to the engagement between Sabre and I, she couldn't just change her mind now.
The queen hummed in consideration. "It's a possibility, I suppose, but I want us to be prepared. If there are even subtle signs of Icrodeia still wanting to attack after the ball where your engagement has been announced, you'll have to consider marrying Lady Lorella instead."
"What about trying an arranged marriage between us and another kingdom? Surely that would reap better benefits." I had nothing against Lady Lorella — aside from the fact that we didn't know if she could be trusted — it was just that perhaps something different would be better for our kingdom.
My mother shook her head. "The majority of the neighbouring kingdoms have closer ties to Icrodeia than they do to us. It might be a futile attempt for an alliance." When she finished the food on her plate, she waved some servants over to clear the table. "I've sent orders to have every piece of information we have on Icrodeia gathered. Every past interaction between us, every person passing through the borders, everything. I'm hoping that will give us more insight as to what's going on."
Every piece of information? The castle's archives held a lot of transaction records and such, but could they really find every single one? Then also put them in one place?
The queen stood from her chair, preparing to leave. "I'm having some specialists look over the information, but if you would like to analyse it yourself, you are more than welcome to join them." She made her way to the door and before she left, she turned back to me. "Think over the engagement some more and how it will help Racaea. I know you may love Sabre, but this kingdom needs to come first."
