Chained Hearts

Introduction

The moment I opened my eyes that morning, I found myself briefly blinded by the pink light coming from the window. It was the first time, for as long as I could remember, that I was not awaken before dawn to face a long list of activities. I knew the vast majority of commoners fantasized that life in the palace was full of luxury and benefits, but these people certainly never had to live with my father and his suffocating obsession with order and method.

Not that I questioned his point of view. Since childhood, I would hear the story of a world that not even my grandfather had seen, with long green meadows, animals of all shapes and sizes, and machines that were even able to fly up in the skies and take the men to the moon and beyond. Although, deep inside, I believed such stories to be nothing but bedtime stories, my father had made sure I would see by myself the landmarks built for the two flagella that had befallen Earth: the Great Defrost that reduced the fertile land to a minimal and, consequently, the Hunger Wars. Were it not for the creation of what was now known as Solid Laws, instituting the rule of a life for a life, the survivors would have ended up eating each other in desperation.

My father told me that, many centuries ago, the area around Île Écarlat was a great cultural and artistic center, and judging by the beautiful items that decorated the palace, I would not have a doubt. However, even when the waters stabilized and there was plenty of food once again, works of art, gold and precious stones had lost its value. Therefore, when time had come to decide on a name for the island's throne, the Cerisier family was chosen not for their possessions, but for their strategic skills and swordsmanship.

Therefore, although unwillingly — I would happily trade my prince position for a monastic life, focused on books and oral traditions — I followed his strict code of conduct and dedicated myself to the offered training. Even more because, despite my reluctance to consider it, my father was getting older year after year and it was only natural he would have the urge to prepare his own heir to take his place.

That, however, was not a destiny I was waiting anxiously to come. Being the Emperor would mean being responsible not only for my family but for all the families who lived in our territory. At that stage of life, all I wanted was to be like the young people I could see from my balcony in festival nights: irresponsible, noisy and free to choose their own path. Nonetheless, with a resigned sigh, I got out of bed, knowing I would never dare displeasing my father, not even on my own birthday.

Besides, there was a special reason for me to leave the room that day. As in all of the Palace official events, my mother and Margot, my younger sister, would finally leave the Inner Chambers to spend the day beside me. I had been waiting for that moment the whole month and of course, I would like to be with them as soon as possible.

I missed my mother's presence in my life and the joy that Margot brought to the Palace. The biological weapon that ended the Hunger Wars had killed almost every woman, and among the survivors, most had become unable to give birth to a healthy child. Since then, fertile women were worth much more than gold or diamonds and for that reason they were called "Jewels". Locked away from any risks of contamination or abduction, they stayed apart from public life as the rare and delicate objects they had become. Families were no longer ranked by the amount of money or possessions they had — as nothing material could mean more to a man than the need for heirs. The more fertile women a family had the richer and more powerful they would became.

For women, however, it was a painful and hopeless life. Away from their families and beloved ones, submitted — from time to time and always under the supervision of a healer — to a humiliating ritual of fertilization, since the act of reproduction rarely involved concepts such as love, passion or romance. The risk was too high.