Long 5SOS AUs

Lion Heart - pt2

Will you be my queen?

What a loaded question. You laid awake half the night thinking about it. How could he ask you that? How could you say yes? It was stupid really, if you had the mark you were his "queen" whether you wanted to be or not. Maybe you should be flattered that he bothered asking, that he cared what you thought.

All you really felt was confused.

When you woke up in the morning your shoulder hurt terribly, probably from the awkward position you finally fell asleep in. There was light streaming through the curtains and you were surprised because usually someone would've woken you by now, especially when there were guests to entertain.

"You're awake." It wasn't a voice you were used to hearing first thing in the morning. Your father was sitting at you're desk in your room.

"Wha-" you sat up straight and rubbed your eyes.

"It's alright dear," your mother was there too, at your bedside. Why were they here? They never came into your chambers like this.

Neither looked happy. Your father's lips were pressed into a thin white line and your mother was paler than you'd ever seen. What had happened while you were asleep? Why hadn't they woken you?

"What's going on?" You let out a shaky breath and listened carefully. You didn't hear any yelling, the castle wasn't under siege. Everything seemed okay, "Where are my ladies?"

"They've done quite enough for the day," your father's lip curled in anger and his face began to turn a light shade of red at just the mention of your ladies. What had they done?

You shifted and the pain was back. Wincing, you rubbed over it and looked down. Only, it wasn't as you'd left it the day before. The skin was- was- colorful.

"Mother," your hand flew away as you looked at your shoulder in shock, "What's happened?" Your heart dropped when you realized what you were looking at, it wasn't the Falcon of the House of Hood. It was two snarling golden Lions wrapped in the heavy red ribbons of Athium. No. "Mother?" You said again weakly as tears filled your eyes. You knew they had three princes. The youngest, Luke, was set to lead and was the only one who hadn't yet found a wife. He was supposed to be ruthless, he would kill you you were his enemy.

"Shhhh," she smoothed down your hair, "it will be alright. The Goddess is never wrong."

"TO HELL WITH THE GODDESS," your father erupted from his seat, "SHE WANTS ME TO GIVE MY ONLY DAUGHTER TO ATHIUM SCUM!" He stood up from his seat and began to pace the room. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides and he was practically foaming. You'd never seen him this angry. He couldn't not give you over. That could induce war from all sides. Laws about marks were sacred and followed by all, to ignore them was a slap in the face to all royal houses. They wouldn't stand for it and your small kingdom couldn't fight every other country.

There was a loud knock on the door, pulling you out of your impending panic. "Come in," your mother stood to greet who it was, but held comfortingly onto your hand as she did so.

Your brother walked into the room, looking just as concerned as your parents. Clearly, something more had happened.

"Well?" Your Father asked impatiently, "how long?"

"They're right next to us, probably a day at most," Michael sighed, "we knew they had spies here, it couldn't have taken long for Luke to get word he's probably already on his way."

"What happened?" You asked as firmly as you could. You were a princess, this was a reality you'd been prepared your whole life for. You couldn't panic, you needed to be strong and calm like your mother. Apparently, you were set to be a queen soon.