Shattered Crowns

I glanced over my shoulder, feeling a strong sense of sadness as Everglen grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Once the hill blocked my view completely, I turned back forward. I sighed heavily. We were surrounded by so many people I was surprised we managed to all fit on the road. Father wanted to make sure we were safe, though. And, as the vampires kept casting glances at me, I was glad for that.

Rowan cleared her throat pointedly. She was staring at my hands and I sighed, a little frustrated. I had been bunching my skirts in my gloved hands. Ever since I was a child, I had the bad habit of gathering some of my skirts into my hands and wringing them until they were permanently wrinkled. Since it was her duty to make sure my appearance was perfect, Rowan would get in trouble.

“Sorry,” I murmured and smoothed the skirts. I started to fiddle with the reins. “I’m just….”

“It’s okay,” Rowan interrupted. “But we’re all going to be safe.” Her eyes darted to the front of the group. Ambassador Samael was riding between two guards, one of which was the one to hurt Talon. “What happened with the ambassador?”

I pursed my lips, swallowing my anger. I was known for my temper and the thought of Samael’s bold attitude made my blood run faster.

Father waited until everyone was gone from the dining hall before having us move to the throne room. I sat gracefully on my gold and blue throne. I had decided to give Ambassador Samael the benefit of the doubt but it was hard to do. I may be marrying the prince to merge our kingdoms, but that didn’t mean I had to trust them right away.

Samael got comfortable in the provided chair. We waited for him to speak but it seemed he was going to be courteous and follow our traditions this time. My father shifted on his throne. I knew he was uncomfortable. He was horrible at confrontation unless it was with the vampire king. On his other side, my mother’s face was completely blank.

“A storm?” I asked, breaking that awful silence.

All eyes turned to me as Samael flushed again.

“It was… harsh,” he said. “We wanted to leave in case it impeded-.”

“You know, Father,” I interrupted. I kept my eyes on the ambassador but heard Father groan quietly. “Don’t we have some scouts or hunters near the pass?”

“Yes,” he said, his voice heavy with resignation. “But I highly doubt we need to bring them in on such a fine day. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I bit my tongue. Instead, I turned my eyes to the window facing Morandaal. Even from here it looked bleak.

“What is your true purpose for coming early?” my father asked.

It took Samael a while to respond. It was as if he was trying to decide whether he wanted to continue with his lie. When I looked at him again, his eyes darted to my father. Legends spoke of vampires not having any blood at all to go through their veins. As Ambassador Samael turned a brilliant shade of red, though, I knew that wasn’t true.

“You didn’t think we’d hold up on our end,” I said when he still struggled for words.

“I did not mean to insult the princess,” he said finally. “You must understand that things are… delicate.”

I didn’t answer.

“And the attack of the falcon?” my mother asked. “Was it necessary? The last I heard, vampires did not need the nourishment of animals.”

“As I said, we were worried it was a spy. Were we correct?” he challenged and I clenched my hands.

“How dare you!?” I shouted, jumping to my feet. “We would never do something so-so-so disrespectful!”

“Calm, sweet daughter,” my father whispered, reaching over and putting his hand on my arm. I felt peace spread through me, cold yet warm at the same time. I let out a sigh and sat back down. Samael looked stunned by my outburst and I tucked some hair behind my ear.

“My apologies,” Samael said. “We will… keep that in mind for the future.”

“Make sure you do,” my father said. “Such a thing could cause trouble as things are, as you said, delicate.”

“It was just a falcon,” he said.

I bit back my retort as the conversation became more polite. My father inquired about the true journey, the usual questions: how was the weather?, did they encounter any trouble?, what supplies needed replenishing before we left? I soon grew tired of the idle chatter.

“We will leave in a few days,” Samael said. I hid my nerves. “We will ride steadily through the day. I had my best knight, Luca, keep track of different inns and villages where we can rest. The journey should take no longer than a few days if we stay at that pace.”

My father nodded. “And we will leave in two weeks. That will give your king time to prepare for our arrival, for Sorina to get to know Prince Andrei a bit more, and the different wedding traditions will be merged.”

“And then Princess Sorina will become the queen of Morandaal,” Samael said with a smile.

The temperature of the room seemed to drop ten degrees. My father, for the first time, looked frustrated.

“We will discuss that with King Desmond,” he said. “For now, I will have a servant show you to your quarters.”

I spoke quietly, relating my tale to Rowan. She was frowning by the end of it and glaring daggers at the back of the ambassador’s head. She was also glaring at the man beside him.

“That’s the one that shot Talon,” she said when I asked her why.

The falcon was circling the air above us. I watched him for a while. He was a graceful bird and the only other creature that Rowan trusted aside from me. Eventually, he tired and lighted onto Rowan’s shoulder. From a pack on her hip, she fed him a few bites of his favorite treat.

Beside me was Balin. Out of all of us, he was the only one to hide any hostile thoughts. I envied him. My anger with Samael aside, I was very scared of these vampires. As if she could read my mind – and she probably could by now – Rowan passed me another satchel.

Curious, I opened it. I smiled at her and took the book out. It was the complete history of Everglen. When I meet this prince, I will give it to him as a present. Not only will it show that we trusted him with facts unknown to the Morandaali, it will also act as a kind of wedding gift. I wondered if he had a gift for me. The book we had didn’t go into specifics about their wedding traditions.

“Complete with pictures,” she said teasingly and I ran my finger along the drawing of a tree trunk.

“Where will we be resting first?” I asked when the sun started to set.

“There’s a tiny inn not far from here,” the knight named Luca said over his shoulder. “We’ll stay there and you two ladies can rest up.”

“And our knights,” Rowan said in a slightly harsh tone.

I had been consumed in a drawing of our family and picked up on Luca’s true statement. I narrowed my eyes at him as he faced forward again. So he thought vampires were sturdier than elves? Well, Rowan would definitely take care of that.

When we got to the inn, we all seated at their largest table. A vampire sat across from me. Of all the knights, he was the one to remain silent and didn’t even tell me his name when I asked.

“What is your prince like?” I asked, trying to be polite and engage him in conversation.

“Kind,” he grunted, staring into his tankard of ale. “Doesn’t socialize much, though.”

“Do you know him well?”

He looked at me as if I had gone mad. “No knight is to have a personal relationship with their charge.”

I leaned back and put a hand on Balin’s shoulder. “Not so with the elves. I consider Balin a very close friend.”

Balin smiled kindly at me with a bow of his head before eating again.

“Well, it’s not normal for vampires,” the knight muttered and stopped talking.

I gripped my spoon tighter and Rowan nudged me. She smiled a little and pointed at the bar. I followed her gaze and giggled behind my hand.

“He can try to hide all he likes, but I’m keeping an eye on him,” Balin said darkly.

“Oh, give him a break,” I said. “He meant well.”

Cowering by the bar behind a large man, was an ex-servant. Adam was a hard worker but had a strong liking for me. One day, he let his desire for me overtake his common sense and tried to kiss me. Balin tossed him out by his ear and he left the village right outside of the castle.

“Bed time,” Balin announced an hour later. Rowan and I were playing a game of dice and cards that we created when we were children and we both tried to convince Balin to give us a few more minutes. “I’m afraid not. We have to get going early in the morning. You can play more on the road.”

We gave him identical pouts and he laughed, ushering us up the stairs. Rowan helped draw me a bath and I sighed. If everything went this smoothly, we would be in Morandaal in no time.