Shawn Mendes Long Fic Collection

The Perfect Arrangement | Shawn Mendes AU

Summary: When your father, the king of the southern kingdom, arranges for you to marry the werewolf prince of the northern kingdom to create an alliance, you are less than thrilled. The last thing you expect is to actually fall in love and find a better home than you left behind. Will things go as planned, or will this alliance come crumbling down around you? Will you choose love or your family? [fluff] [royal au] [werewolf au]

Word count: 19k

Astoria is beautiful this time of year. The trees are all turning bright shades of orange, red and yellow. Under any other circumstances you'd be thrilled to be visiting such a beautiful place. But now, today, you're driving toward a future here. A future you didn't choose for yourself and one you cannot change.

Your dad, the King of Highwater, made a lot of enemies on his way to the throne. You were only a baby when your family took the royal position in the Southern kingdom. Twenty three years later and he's trying to make amends with those he turned against. But to do so he needs allies and there is no ally more powerful or larger than the Northern wolf kingdom of Astoria, and what better way to solidify an ally than to marry into their family.

When you were eighteen your older sister, the favorite child, married a man in the east who was set to take the throne of the Eastern kingdom. Danielle was always the pride and joy of your family. She was the prettiest, smartest and highest sought after woman in the South. Your parents doted on her, gave her everything. Danielle was a princess through and through and you...well you just did your own thing. You didn't have to worry about being princess like, and that was just fine. You hated all that proper royal hullabaloo and stayed out of it. Until now.

Two weeks ago your dad announced during a dinner that you would be sent to Astoria and expected to marry the prince. It came out of nowhere and completely shook your world. Never did you think that your dad would try to marry you off for an alliance. It's wasn't unheard of but...you weren't a princess. Well you were technically, but you weren't a princess that anyone wanted to be a queen one day. You tried to fight your dad on it, arguing that you were not the way to go with the alliance, that you had no idea what you were doing. He gave you a choice. Don't marry into the North and put all of your people at risk, or do it and create an alliance. You couldn't risk anyone's life, so you took the deal.

So now you are in the back of a car on an eight hour ride from Highwater to Astoria. You've never met this prince before, your kingdom didn't generally interact with the wolves of Astoria. Your father was never keen on the wolves, which surprised you even more when he said he wanted you to marry one. Their king is supposedly a hardened man who rules with an iron fist and takes no shit, having been the king in Astoria for more than thirty years. You're terrified of what the prince maybe like. You've heard his name is Shawn but you didn't go exploring much farther. You have no idea how old he is, what he looks like or what he has done. You were too nervous to look into anything. Now you sort of wish you had, not knowing is absolutely so much worse.

The car winds through the hills of beautiful trees and old brick homes. The castle looms in the distance, a gorgeous white stone structure. Your new home. The car enters locked gates and circles a large courtyard minutes later and stops before a set of steps where there are two people waiting for you. Your heart feels like it's going to beat out of your chest.

The two people walk down the steps and you can see it is an older middle aged woman, beautiful as can be, the queen no doubt, and a young man. He is handsome, stunning as he walks the queen down the steps with a hand on her arm. He's tall, lean but fit and as he gets closer you can see the resemblance between him and the queen. He must be her son, but surely he isn't the prince you're meant to marry. He is far too gorgeous not to be married. He can't be the prince you're meant to marry.