Serafina: Becoming a Princess

Chapter Seventeen

A couple of days had passed since her brother and father had told her of the proposal from King Marek and she was to have a quiet breakfast with her father, brother, and stepmother that morning to discuss any news that had to be shared. Dea was not invited. Jovan made a point to tell Dea to her face that she was not to involve herself any further in discussions involving the potential marriage proposals going forward.

Regina had remained mostly quiet about Zander's choice for a bride. Sera concluded that she was trying to remain indifferent due to Marek's request for Sera to join the Demarian royal family. The queen probably didn't want it to appear if she had a bias one way or another.

"Good morning my family." Jovan greeted. "I have some topics that I want to bring up and it may be controversial."

"Has the negotiating been not going well?" Regina questioned.

Jovan gave a sigh.

"There will never be a negotiation that goes perfectly. But we have hit a bit of a rut." Jovan paused to make sure everyone was paying attention and then his eyes wandered to Sera's face.

"The new contract will give Regnum Princess Celina's hand in marriage to Zander, along with the island with Fort Aquila, six new merchant ships, six new battleships, an updated trading agreement, and a dowry of ten million crowns."

"Ten million crowns!" Regina exclaimed. "That's unheard of!"

"Yes it is. But it comes with the cost of Serafina being married to Prince Elek. The current contract includes safeguards for Serafina including allowing for Prince Elek to pull out of the contract whenever he chooses, postpones any marriage between them for at least three years, and as a deterrent any descendants that come out of the marriage will not have a claim to both thrones. This means if something bizarre should happen to Zanders descendants then Serafina's wouldn't be able to rule in their place unless they renounced their claim completely to the Demarian throne, and vice-versa. Every descendant in direct line to the Demarian throne must renounce their claim to the Regnum throne. This could deter Marek from following through with the contract but it's to prevent Demarcus from one day having control over two countries. In the meantime, Kalem and my other lawyers will be looking into ways to remove Sera's portion of the contract for when Zander has better footing as my heir apparent with his own heir."

Sera thought back to what Elek had told her the night of the ball. He had brought up a similar plan if something were to happen to her father and brother. It seemed that the only true reason to marry her would have been to have a tie to the throne of Regnum and her father's new proposal would prevent such an event from happening. She wondered what the answer to this new idea would be.

Jovan seemed to have read her mind.

"We will be having a dinner tonight with Marek, Elek, and Celina to get a definite answer. If they agree to this new proposal then we will make the announcement tomorrow at the garden party. This will be a rather big dinner. The Grand Counsel will also be attending. But my mother will not be. She doesn't need to know anything about this. Marek hasn't even seen the rewritten contract so he can't have a secret meeting with her before tonight. Are there any questions or concerns?"

Sera was almost certain that Regina was going to say something but she remained silent.

Jovan then addressed Sera.

"What are your thoughts Serafina?"

She certainly hated the spotlight.

"If you feel confident in this proposal and the possibility of amending it later on to remove me from it then I will do whatever is best for Regnum."