A Dance with Vengeance

Prologue

He was dead. The king. He didn't even say goodbye to his only son. King Aspen Emerson was laying on his death bed, his cold body covered with a white sheet.
The only thing he'd told his son before he passed was to look in his study. No goodbye. No nothing. Only a few mere words; "The study."
The crown prince opened the study door, the forgotten brown wooden door cracking open. The young prince entered, searching through the dusty room. The scent of ink and dust and old parchment papers filling the chamber.
It had been two years since Irnabelle had lost its king. The kingdom hadn't even been aware of his passing. It was the court's idea, to hide the ruler's death. The prince had been nineteen then, too young to rule. Too young for a kingdom to accept him as their ruler.
So he'd been ruling secretly, using the king's name to mask his own orders. His advisor, of course, had been helping.
The prince went through the room, checking the documents, the stuff, the hidden shelves and the hidden compartments. Until he found some very interesting papers.
The prince read. The old papers were starting with some kingdom stuff. Then its history. The kingdom of Irnabelle and the kingdom of Kallivor, the document read. The heirs of each kingdom, betrothed.
As the prince read, he learned that the two kingdoms were sharing a continent, the rulers of each were good friends. Until the royal family of Kallivor disappeared, leaving the Irnabelle family to rule both kingdoms, both being united into one, and Kallivor joining Irnabelle, taking its name.
With the royal family missing, the young Kallivorean princess being with them, the betrothal between her and the prince of Irnabelle was of no use.
And now, the prince sat there, stunned by what he'd just learned. He remembered when his father had to join both kingdoms. But he'd never known about the apparent betrothal between him and the Kallivorean princess. He remembered her, though he didn't recall that bond between them.
He needed to find her, by all costs.