Tie It With a Ribbon

“Alena! I must insist that you open this door!” Alexandros called, knocking rather loudly on my unlocked door.

I sighed. Privacy was more important than his supposed love for me. “Why?” I called nonchalantly, taking out my contacts and placing the case under my pillow. “I am exhausted, but if you must…”

The door opened quickly, and my personal guard glanced around my room frantically. “I have not seen you all day, and I heard a lion’s roar… I thought…”

“I am fine,” I muttered, waving him off.

“Are you feeling quite well?”

“I am delightful. Now might I be left alone? I’ve had a trying day, Alexandros, and I have a lot on my plate right now. What is it?”

“I was just wondering if you might fancy a walk or something of the sort.”

My expression softened, and I smiled apologetically. “I’m exhausted. Perhaps another time, Alex.”

He nodded, watching me so carefully. “Right.”

#

The next morning I did not awake to the sun pouring in through my open window; rather a rambunctious man sitting on the chest under my window. I nearly screamed, but I caught myself as the joy sank in.

“Oh, you’re here!” I cried with wild abandonment, hopping out of the bed and throwing my arms around him before realizing what I was doing. “Oh, goodness, I’m sorry.” I tore myself from him. “I’m not decent, Zanzibar.”

He smiled playfully, standing up carefully, placing himself in the corner, and throwing a hand over his eyes. I laughed quietly to myself, changing quickly into a rather casual outfit considering the fact that Zanzibar was not wearing a suit. I gave him the O.K., and he turned around with a gentle smile plastered to his face.

“Just let me put these in,” I mumbled, putting the contacts in to cover my pale eyes, and he frowned.

“I just rather you wear your normal eyes and skin, but I suppose we may have that eventually. Tell me something, if you would.” I nodded, using the tanning lotion hurriedly. “Alexandros…”

I glanced over to him quickly, my gaze faltering for a second. “Did you hear our conversation last night?”

He nodded, watching me with soul-staring eyes. “You did not seem so infatuated, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“I…” I bit my lip. “I sounded like a horrible, ungrateful woman who just turned down the most perfect Aquilan man.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“I just—I don't think… I’m around kittens too much, I suppose,” I mumbled resignedly, daring to glance up at the smiling man.

“Do you still consider this suicide?” I shook my head fervently. “Come on. Let’s go home, shall we?” He offered a hand, and I took it without hesitation.

Chastity met us in the middle of the woods, and she grinned madly as she saw us. I thanked her, and Zanzibar thanked her much more than my own words could have ever expressed. I began to think that maybe they had a different language, one that expressed beauty more efficiently. I leaned against him as we walked leisurely through the forest, his warm skin leaving a pleasant sensation on my hand.

“I really do like it here,” I admitted quietly, not out of restraint but out of a desire for an intimate moment between the two of us, a moment that I would not need to share with anyone but him. “I feel…liberated.”

“As Queen of the Leonians, you would have absolute freedom; you would be able to come and go as you please,” he mentioned gently, understanding my quietness without needed me to speak of it.

“Why would I ever want to go?” I asked louder, smiling happily as I walked closer beside him.

He smiled at the slight change of distance. “I could not ever imagine wishing to leave, unless it was to talk with you or perhaps have a moment of peace without the bustling of the town. I do have a favorite place, hidden in the woods. I should like to take you there sometime.” I smiled in response but frowned as he pulled himself away from me apologetically. “I do not want them—or you, Katrina—to get the wrong idea. I already have a potential Queen, and I must insist that I stay faithful.”

I grinned childishly. “I’m sure she is a lucky woman.”

“As I am a lucky man.”

He walked me through the marketplace again, reintroducing me to many lions that I had met yesterday. I remembered quite a few faces and names, and I felt a strange kinship with everyone that reached out and touched me casually as they socialized freely. My skin should have screamed at them for being repugnant and outrageous, but I could not imagine ever behaving that way around them. I had been raised to hate the Leonians, but I felt safer around them than I had felt around Aquilans—including my own mother. Zanzibar began relax and ease up on the “do not speak to or touch this lady” rule, and I laughed happily as Salina interrupted my relaxed conversation with a complete stranger.

“I do hope someday I can see what a true Aquilan looks like, one that does not threaten to slit my throat anyway,” she teased quietly, dragging me away from the center of the town and into the palace, leaving Zanzibar to handle his people charismatically and unhurriedly.

“I am certainly not a true Aquilan lady, Salina,” I admitted regretfully. “I do not think I ever was. Perhaps mistakes are made in the celestial world, and perhaps I was meant to be born in this town. It would not surprise me, if we are being honest.”

She smiled childishly, taking my hand without a thought and leading me through the winding hallways. I could not ask where we were going, because she simply threw me into another random conversation rather than let me speak, so I gave in eventually. Salina insisted on me closing my eyes as well, and I obeyed without another word.

I felt a cool breeze lift my hair, and Salina tugged on my hand, telling me that I could open my eyes. I watched her as she ran ahead, and I cringed. We were in a beautiful garden, but all I could see was gravestone upon gravestone. The sixteen-year-old girl kneeled down in front of one, glancing back to me with a ghostly smile.

“This is Talon, Alena,” she murmured, turning back to look at the memorial. A fresh bouquet of daisies and chrysanthemums rested peacefully on the patch of soil, bringing a sense of finality to the entire garden. “I don’t want to lose any more.”

I nodded sadly, glancing around the quiet wilderness. A short stonework fence surrounded the length of the area, as if the respect of the place was enough to keep people out without reason. There were hundreds upon hundreds of tombstones, firmly announcing the deaths of so many Leonians that had died—soldiers, civilians, brothers, sisters, parents, and children. I straightened my back with respect, a silent whisper of apology to those whose lives had been lost due to pointless bloodshed.

“Salina,” I breathed, swallowing a hard breath. “I need to talk to Zanzibar.”

She nodded in response, returning to her soft murmurings to her deceased older brother, and I dashed back into the palace from which I came. I was going to be Queen soon, and I did not want to be Queen of the Dead.

“Where’s the fire, Alena?” he asked teasingly, his voice flowing smoothly and his warm hands catching mine. The halls were deserted, so it was only us.

“We need to talk, Zanzibar.” I spoke quickly, not daring to leave myself enough time to breathe. “I cannot sit idle any longer while I must accompany more and more children while they die! I simply cannot bear the thought, so I’ve thought all I need about your proposal. It is not suicide. Alexandros will not stand a threat to you, for I will not allow him. I could not even begin to understand what had possessed King Liam to suggest such a marriage, but I do not know what I was thinking. I like to think that we’re friends, and that friendship can only grow, Zanzibar. I know that it may not be easy, but I am saying this merely as a scared little girl.”

“Breathe, Alena!” he begged, shaking me gently and carefully. “Time is not going anywhere. We are already beginning peace treaties and trying to arrange peace talks. We cannot rush things.”

“Do you not hear what I’m saying?” I nearly shrieked, shaking my head furiously. “I will marry you, right now. Can you arrange your coronation to happen in an hour? I know it is entirely unorthodox, but we don’t have the time!”

“Alena,” he whispered, gently tilting my chin up with but an index finger placed under my chin. I watched him, terrified and anxious. “I had hoped we would not do this. Alexandros—no, scratch that. You do not wish to marry me; you wish to save your people. That is admirable, but marriage cannot be political. Yes, we are becoming closer, as I had hoped, but once we do this there is no turning around.”

“I am entirely aware!”

He smiled apologetically. “In order for me to take you seriously, you must be rational. In a week—I will set my coronation for a week. If you still feel so strongly about this, I will drop down to one knee in submission and beg for your hand in marriage—for companionship, and down the line, love. But you must understand that time stops for no man. I may control my people easily, but I cannot manipulate the clock. Do you still wish to do this?”

“Yes!” I cried, shaking my head free of him and tossing my arms around him. “My mother will object when I tell her, and my guard will surely lose his temper for the first time in years. Will your people despise you?”

“They would never hate me. If I love you with all my heart, they will come to accept you as their Queen. Your people are a different story.”

“No. Your people will be my people soon.” He smiled at the gesture. “Will you still visit me, at the Nest?”

He nodded, kissing my hand softly. “I will visit you every night, Alena.”