Nina stood outside of the dining room when Aurelie, Nic and the King exited that evening. Wedding preparations were a drag, and nothing had made Aurelie happier than the thought of sleep.
She nodded and smiled to all their suggestions, flowers, guests, locations. For all she cared, they could do it right then and there. Her only request was that the ceremony not be near any sort of water while trying her best to look like a happy, blushing bride-to-be.
The King, with a strong arm around Nic's shoulder, led him away for cigars and a spiked version of the drink Ja'on had brought them, which they found out was called coffee.
Aurelie hovered around Nina and waited for them to turn a corner. Victor stood on the other end of the arch. She only noticed because he stared at the two of them out of the corner of his eye, waiting to come between them at any given moment.
He had, of course, not been there when Nina and Aurelie resolved their anger. Or perhaps, Nina was simply being compassionate over Aurelie's lost, and still hated her all the same. Whichever it was, Aurelie had a favor to ask.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Valice?" Aurelie frowned.
"Guard duty this evening." He lifted his hand as if to drag it through his hair, but stopped short realizing that he had a helmet covering it.
"You have no other duties, Victor. I thought the King made this clear to all your superiors. Your duty is Valice. In fact, if the King and I were both in immediate danger, your first priority would be to check on Valice and stay with her—even if that leads to all of our deaths. There are no ifs or buts about it. Go on, then." Aurelie nudged her head toward the exit.
"Yes, Your Highness." Victor left without another word.
"Could you follow me?" Aurelie asked Nina. "I have a favor to ask."
"Of me?"
"Ah—yes." Aurelie suddenly felt awkward asking. "You don't have to . . . it's just—well, I want to keep it private."
Aurelie took a tentative step forward, waiting to see if Nina would follow. Her armor clinked at the knees, sounding rusty, but had no scratch on the surface of the polished steel, and Aurelie felt her tense shoulders easy with relief.
"Alright, then."
"You'll think me silly," she started. Though, Nina had thought much worse things about Aurelie. Silly might not be a bad replacement. "I want you to teach me how to fight."
"What with a sword?"
"Heavens, no. With daggers."
Nina lifted the front of her helmet and looked at Aurelie with her brows furrowed. "Why daggers?"
The hall was empty apart from the two of them. The sound of Nina's boots hitting the ground echoed along the high ceiling.
Fresh flowers filled vases that had stood bear with lifeless silver when she had just arrived. The whole castle came alive; the dull, dark curtains were removed and replaced with bright reds or light beiges, the couches reupholstered to reflect the brightness of the castle. At the end of the hall, just before the entrance leading to the grand stairwells, a large version of the dragon insignia, which decorated the uniforms of the guards, hung high above the arch.
"Well, if someone's far enough for me to fight them off with a sword, I can handle them with fire, but if they're right up in my face—Aurelie cheeks warmed at the expression, realizing how silly she must have sounded saying that while dressed in a soft pink colored dress right after planning a grand royal wedding—then my fire won't exactly help me too much. I want to know how to fight with a shield and a dagger. Can you teach me?"
Nina smirked, but it was a nasty kind of smirk. In fact, Aurelie began to think that she'd impressed the bulky guard, and more than that, she actually managed to surprise her.
"I start my shift at the sight of dawn. I'll wake you when the birds start chirping."
"Alright."
"Not too early for you, is it?" She glanced at Aurelie, her chin rising with a new found smugness.
"I'm happy to do it whenever you find the time."
"Daggers, eh?"
"Anything small and concealable."
*****
Fighting with Nina involved a lot of kicking. There were two times that she caught Aurelie right in the gut and a pain so sharp spread from the impact that she thought scales were coming out.
Nina stuck two wooden spoons into Aurelie's hands and preceded to beat her senseless even though Aurelie got her in the heart twice, and in the stomach once.
"You think people just drop dead right away, do ya?" she asked once Aurelie complained. "On your feet!"
Nina enjoyed the training far more than she led on. Clearly, issues between them had yet to resolve and it would require a lot more than a single beating.
By the end of it, Aurelie wasn't sure she learned anything other than how to take a kick and an occasional punch to the face.
She limped back to her bedroom to sleep it off; discovering new muscles with every new ache.
They made an appointment for the next morning at the start of down, and Aurelie wasn't sure she'd be able to stand from the bed, never mind take more abuse by the time she entered her bedroom.
Casandra looked up, placing a murky green dress onto the bed.
"I thought someone kidnapped you." She smiled. "Was about to call a search party. 'Our Princess up before dawn?' I said. 'No, it cannot be true.'"
"Cancel the day," she grunted and plunked down on the bed. "I just want to sleep."
"You have absolutely nothing planned."
"Well, cancel that too. Make it a double nothing with a side of nothing."
"Is that a bruise on your cheek?" Casandra's voice rose and she scrambled around the bed and placed her cold fingers on Aurelie's cheek. "Who did you infuriate enough to commit treason?"
"Why do you assume it's my fault?" Aurelie said into the covers. She hadn't moved an inch since she landed on the soft bed, with the dress Casandra picked crumpled up somewhere below her.
"Because I know you."
"Nina's teaching me to fight."
"Is that what she's calling it?"
*****
A knock pulled her back to an aching reality. She tried to lift herself from the bed, but even her neck hurt, so she lay face flat against her pillow. Even in her sleep, it seemed she could not move a muscle.
"Come in."
The door opened, and the footsteps stopped as soon as it closed.
"Who is it?" she asked, already annoyed that whoever stood there was just about forcing her to move. "I hope you've brought miracle witchy salve."
"No such luck, I'm afraid," Michael said.
Aurelie swore under her breath, and turned reluctantly; feeling every muscle in her body, from her neck to her calves, protest.
"This is a surprise."
"I'm sorry. I just came to tell you that I got a new assignment. I'm leaving when the shadow walker arrives at the castle, which should be no later than this evening. I thought you should know—which I now realize is extremely inappropriate." He colored with embarrassment and turned to the door.
"Michael . . ." Aurelie felt a tinge of pity for the man.
His cheeks colored. "That isn't the only reason I'm here."
Aurelie pulled herself up by her stiff arms and squinted all the while. "So, why?"
"There's a woman for you downstairs. She said she's been asking for you since the start of the week. She said her name was Deborah and that you'd know her."
Aurelie's eyes widened. She wanted to jump out of the bed and meet her immediately but Michael was still hovering at the door.
His icy blue eyes beamed with embarrassment, and he turned away. Aurelie thought he was about to leave, but he stood still instead, unspeaking and unmoving, hand clasped tightly around the handle so that his knuckles turned white.
"This isn't my place to say, but I don't feel that I can safely leave you without saying this. I'll miss your wedding, you see, and so I won't be able to stand up, be bold and tell you not to do it. So, I thought I'd do it now." Finding new bravery he turned, broad chin held high. "You shouldn't marry him. Not because there's some future love affair that I envision, I know better than to expect you to want anything to do with me but because what I saw at that ball wasn't what you deserve. Whatever the reason, and I know it isn't love or his men, riches and the vast grain Redayrah provides, it just isn't worth it. Your whole life, Aurelie, that's what you're offering him. Your happiness. Everything. I know that gaining their side will secure our borders and that this marriage is strategic, but Julopi can grant you wealth to buy armies and food to feed them, Rao can provide you with all the men you need in a matter of weeks. I know all the nobles and kingdoms that have come to offer their sons to you, and taking any of them on as a husband grants us an advantage."
"Nic is—"
"You cringed away from his touch. Ja'on's little fish revolted you less than the affection of your future husband."
Aurelie lowered her eyes. "We'll hardly have to do anything along their vast border. This alliance gives Lukas two entries, the sea and the little gap by Krapos Pass, which we can secure comfortably with a tenth of our men. My mind's made up."
"I want to believe that this is why you're doing it, but I can't help thinking that it's something a lot more sinister."
"I can't help where your thoughts choose to dwell, Michael. I hope you have safe travels. Do close the door on your way out."
*****
When Aurelie had finally come downstairs to meet Deborah, the guards told her that they had chased her away because of how desperately she was trying to enter the castle on a daily basis. She only got to Michael because he hadn't seen her crouching outside of the castle walls every morning. They advised her not to meet with Deborah, saying there was something off about her and she told them to send her up to her chamber as soon as she came back, which, for the first time in weeks, was not the following morning.
Over the next few days, Aurelie received freshly picked flowers daily. She wished Nic would just leave for Redayrah already and not ruin perfectly good, flower aromas for her.
He increased his efforts by asking one of the servant girls to help him craft a flower crown out of the roses from her late grandmother's prided garden—the flowers had been aflame up until her grandfather left the Dream Realm—making just above everyone she knew fall in love with him. She wore it until the roses withered to prove her devotion, but Nic appeared to be a little smarter—or maybe just sickly ambitious—than she imagined, and appeared to notice Aurelie's lack of feelings for him despite how hard she tried to prove otherwise.
He was overbearing, demanding walks in the gardens, being introduced to Valice and holding her hand through every task as if the two of them were conjoined.
Gifts from his father arrived, a sword with the family's mountain jaguar crest for Nic, and a diamond noose of a necklace for Aurelie. He wore the sword everywhere, not even removing it for dinner. It became a third arm. She expected he bathed with it too.
Aurelie saw herself as being just another decoration for him. He didn't let go of her either, and letters of congratulations came from places and people that certainly had no business in knowing about the marriage yet.
They stopped by the river after one of their walks. Nic had a basket packed for them, and a poor guard had to carry it around wherever they went until he finally decided on the right place. Aurelie wanted to protest. You're not allowed here, she wanted to scream. This was her place. This was where Kirin came alive, by the water.
The way that he watched her when he thought she wasn't looking, not in a loving way, but with truth-seeking intensity, and the many questions he asked her, about Kirin's death, her time at the inn felt more like an interrogation rather than a man trying to get to know his fiancé, and the firm and possessive way he held her hand, which grew even tighter when they were in the presence of the King and the council members, made Aurelie understand that she had to increase her efforts to convince him.
He had to be sure, without a doubt, that she was his if she wanted to break him. His death was certain from the moment he led Kirin into the trap, but death was so simple, so final, and certainly too easy, she wanted him to die inside first.