Underwater

Chapter 4: The Honeymoon

The light outside had disappeared when the reception finally started winding down. He'd made his rounds of the ballroom, greeting people while Sylvia hung off his arm as usual. There were many delegates from the surrounding kingdoms, who had travelled to Virtrie to congratulate the crown prince on marrying his Chosen. He made sure that they had all the alcohol and food they could possibly want during the reception, to make up for the disappointing ceremony.

It's a good thing he had asked the governing archdukes and archduchesses of the other kingdoms not to attend. It was normally tradition for them to be in attendance for an imperial wedding, but Delwyn had sent out express instruction to send mere delegates, as the matter of his marriage to his consort was no big deal. This, of course, was another way he had devised to emphasize the woman's lack of authority and significance in Aquina despite being his Chosen.

He had been watching the woman's face when the officiator had skipped straight through to reciting a simplified version of the vows, wondering how would react to the wedding ceremony being cut short. He wanted to see her composed face crack. When she didn't react at first, Delwyn wondered if she'd simply believed the ceremony was meant to be that short. She wasn't accustomed to the ceremonies of the Aquina Empire, after all. However, he thought he saw the ends of her lips curl up slightly.

Is she... glad?

Delwyn realized then that he had forgotten – this was the same odd girl who didn't care to stay married to royalty. She'd demanded a divorce herself, insisted on it being put in their marriage contract.

"Will you go to her now?" Sylvia asked glumly as he escorted her as far as he could, until they would have to split off and head to their separate destinations.

"Yes." Delwyn had yet to tell Sylvia that he had already attempted to bed his consort. Twice. He felt miserable just thinking about how he was going to spend his wedding night. He didn't want to give up yet, but as his mind flashed back to the sensation of being inside that woman, he shuddered involuntarily.

"I see," Sylvia murmured.

"I love only you, Sylvia. It'll be a miserable experience – nothing like how it would be if it were you instead, I'm sure."

She laughed. "I don't believe so. You're just saying that."

I'm not, though. Delwyn wanted to add, but didn't, in case it cast suspicion on himself. He lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. "I can scarcely wait for our wedding night."

Her smile widened, showing off the rows of perfectly straight, white teeth. "Me neither."

She swam off first, leaving him to stare after her longingly. As he glided through the hallways towards the woman's room, dread continued to pool in his stomach, weighing it down. He secretly blamed the failure on his consort. There had to be something wrong with her, why else would they struggle so much to have sex?

Delwyn took the long route to her room, trying to put off their marriage's consummation for as long as he could. He reached her room far too soon. The guards on either side of the double doors nodded at him. He returned their gesture, then threw the doors back.

To his surprise, what awaited him was a dark, empty room. He flicked his wrist and the walls illuminated. But Reina wasn't there. He checked the bathroom... not there either.

"Where is she?" he demanded of the guards.

"The consort has yet to return, your majesty," one of them answered. "She's probably at the library..."

The library. The guards he had assigned to her turned in their reports nightly. She did little more than visit the library and stay the entire time there, reading books.