Serafina: Becoming a Princess

Chapter Sixteen

After receiving the last minute news of her brother and father having a private supper with her, Sera quickly bathed and readied herself. She was certain that it had something to do with Zander's choice of bride, although it made her curious as to why the meeting wouldn't include Regina as well.

Zander, her father, and Kalem arrived shortly after the food and they were quick to start the meal, leaving Sera to stew on what the meeting was for. Catching on to her stares Zander was the first to clear his throat and wipe his mouth with a cloth napkin.

"We have a bit of a dilemma that has come up this week. It would appear that King Marek is very willing to marry Celina off to me and would be giving her away with an unbelievable amount of wealth, a very valuable fort, as well as a brand new trade agreement."

Sera's heart sank a bit with the realization that the rumors were more true than she had thought. She tried to remain optimistic.

"That's very impressive. Has anyone else come close to that for an offer?"

Zander sighed.

"No, this offer blows the rest out of the water. But it comes with a heavy price."

"What price would that be?" Even though she already had a good idea of what it was.

Kalem pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"You, Lady Serafina. You would be the price."

She kept her composure.

"I can see on how that would be a small price to pay for such a contract. Is there anything else that they could possibly want?"

"No, M'Lady. King Marek is unmoving with this condition. But we may be able to sneak in a couple of clauses to the contract to safeguard you and your role in the contract."

"How so?"

"Well, even though you are old enough to marry and could be put into a marriage contract right now that doesn't mean that you are required to get married right now. We may be able to buy ourselves some time. We could even put in a bail out for Prince Elek as well. Say if he found a more suitable bride and would benefit more from her, then he would be allowed to back out of your marriage contract with no penalties. In the mean time we can work out other ways to pull you out of the contract before a wedding would be required. However, I wouldn't recommend bringing too much attention to potential scape clauses. These words should not leave this room and the Queen Mother especially cannot know of what we are speaking of."

"But we still are not committed to the idea." Jovan jumped in. "There is nothing set right now and there doesn't need to be. We can try to go with a different choice."

Kalem gave a skeptical glance at his master.

"Your Majesty it needs to be acknowledged that the Grand Counsel may not give you much of a choice. You need them to legitimize Lady Serafina and they may completely deny you unless you allow for this contract to move forward. Once they all see what King Marek is offering they may make it a requirement that Prince Zander picks Princess Celina in order to add Lady Serafina to the succession. But we can try and make this work in our favor if we remain smart about it."

"Let's hear what Sera has to say about it. She is the one it could effect the most." Jovan pointed at his daughter expecting.

She felt the pressure of the spotlight on her shoulders and she didn't care for it. Her fingers began to twiddle as she tried to find her voice.

"I did firmly say that I will help you and Zander and my country in any way that I can or am directed to. I will stick to those words. But I won't say that I like the idea. I don't like the idea that Prince Elek is willing to marry so easily."