Arranged Marriages

Rosemary, Princess of Harrow

I traced my fingers over the edges of a small wooden horse, the small teeth marks on it giving the impression that it had been a baby's teething toy. How deeply rooted horses were here - even as babes they were taught to love them. The thought of my giant Briac being a small baby made me smile to myself as I moved on to the other trinkets and nicknacks, touching each lightly so not to break or disturb them. 

Coming to the end of the shelf, I noticed a deep red velvet curtain, oddly not matching the drapes that hung at the windows of his rooms. Pushing the curtain aside, I was shocked to see not the outdoors but a painting. 

The painting bore a horse that I recognized as the one I had ridden with Briac just that morning, beside it with a hand placed on its neck was, why, Briac himself, but not the one I knew. This one had too many limbs, was missing the design on his left half, and had an air of either melancholy or boredom, which I couldn't quite tell from the paints. Hesitantly, I reached to the painting, feeling the brushstrokes that paired to form Briac and his companion. It was all wrong. 

"D-do you l-like it-t?" Someone said, causing me to immediately snatch my hand away from the painting and hide it behind my back as if I had done something wrong. 

Seeing that it was Briac, I jutted out my chin and asked, "How long have you been there?"

Smirking, rather than answer he explained, "My m-mother made me p-p-pose for that not long bef-fore I left for battle, where....w-well, the obvious h-happened. She u-used to drag that chair over and s-sit and look at it w-while I was g-gone. She covered it-t up after I c-came home i-injured."

Dropping my hand back to my side, I looked from Briac to the painting, studying it for a moment before looking back and saying simpley, "He looks too sad."

Taking the steps to close the room's distance, I continued, "He looks sad, the horse is the wrong color, and you are much taller than that. What was the meeting all about?"

Smiling, he reached for me, wrapping his arm around my waist and resting his forehead against mine as he whispered, "You."

"Me?" I asked, surprised at the topic. What could they possibly say about me?

"And the other p-princesses." He clarified, his eyes trailing down to my mouth. 

He moved to capture my mouth with his, but I quickly got in, "What about us?" 

Sighing, he explained, watching me carefully, "There w-was talk of the unions b-breaking."

A gasp caught in my throat and I held tightly on to Briac's shirt, as if letting him go meant losing him. 

"It was remedied." He quickly explained, "B-besides, even I-if they b-broke I would st-still m-marry you."

Beaming, I rose on my tiptoes and showered his cheeks with kisses. 

"Why do you tease me?" He smirked, trying to move so I would place a kiss on his lips. 

Blushing red, I placed a quick, soft kiss on his mouth and pulled back before suggesting, "I should be getting back to my room."