Petra's mouth opened.Closed.Opened again."Your Highness...I don't...who told you the marriage was temporary?"
"The Grand Duchess.When she explained why I needed to marry Archie."The words were thick in my mouth."Six months of political marriage, then divorce.That was the deal."
"Your Highness."Petra's voice had gone very gentle, the way you'd talk to someone who'd just received devastating news."The marriage isn't temporary."
The linen closet suddenly felt too small."What?"
"The marriage is permanent.In perpetuity.That's...that's the whole point of a royal alliance.To create lasting bonds between nations."She looked stricken."I thought you knew.I thought everyone explained this to you."
"No one explained anything."My voice didn't sound like my own."The Grand Duchess said six months.She said I'd do my duty for six months and then I could go home."
Petra's hands twisted together."Your Highness, I'm so sorry.I don't know what to say.I assumed...everyone assumed you understood the nature of royal marriages."
"Show me."The demand came out sharp."Show me the marriage contract."
She hesitated, then nodded."There's a copy in the household files.Lord Renaud keeps them in his office for scheduling purposes.I have access."
We walked through the palace in silence.My mind was screaming, but I couldn't form coherent thoughts beyondpermanentandforeverandlied.
Lord Renaud's office was empty, he was in meetings all afternoon, Petra said.She unlocked a filing cabinet and pulled out a leather folder embossed with both the Valdorian and Solmarian seals.
"This is a household copy," she said."The official versions are in the royal archives."
I opened the folder with hands that shook.The document was in multiple languages, English, Italian, French, with official seals and signatures.My signature.Archie's signature.The Grand Duchess's seal.
I found the English section and started reading.
Article III: Duration and Dissolution
This marriage is entered into in perpetuity, creating permanent bonds between the Royal House of Valdoria and the Royal House of Solmarina.Said marriage shall endure for the natural lives of both parties and may not be dissolved save by death or by mutual consent of both governing bodies, requiring a supermajority vote of no less than two-thirds of the combined royal councils.
The marriage shall produce legitimate heirs to both thrones, with succession rights to be determined by existing protocols of primogeniture as modified by the Treaty of Mediterranean Alliance, Article VII, Section 3.
The words swam before my eyes.In perpetuity.Legitimate heirs.May not be dissolved.
"Your Highness?"Petra's voice sounded like it was coming from underwater.
I flipped back to the first page.Saw the date I'd signed it.Remembered the Grand Duchess handing me an expensive pen, telling me it was all standard diplomatic language, that we could be here until Putin invaded the Mediterranean if I insisted on reading every clause.
She'd rushed me.Made it seem urgent, routine, not worth the time it would take to actually read.
And I'd signed it.Signed away my entire life while thinking I was agreeing to six months.
"She lied to me."The words came out flat."The Grand Duchess lied about what I was signing.And Archie knew."That realization landed like a punch."He's known the whole time.That's why he looked uncomfortable when I talked about leaving.That's why everyone keeps mentioning my 'permanent responsibilities.'"
I thought about last night in the library.About Archie apologizing for the Chilly fight, for not trusting me, for being cruel.
But not apologizing for this.Not mentioning this at all.
"How long have you known?"I asked Petra.
"Since before the wedding, Your Highness.It's in all the household documentation.”She looked miserable."I thought you knew.I thought everyone had explained."
"No one explained anything."I closed the folder carefully."They told me to sign papers and smile for cameras and play my part for six months."
I left Petra in Lord Renaud's office and walked through the palace with my mind spinning.The marriage was permanent.Permanent.Forever.Until death or some impossible supermajority vote.
And everyone had known except me.
