“She should have let you drown.” Siphonie rolls her eyes as she submits, “Fine. We'll do your adventure. What's the plan?”
Present
Reliving that memory, we sat there for hours that day forming a plan to do whatever it was that Thylas had planned. I don't remember what it was now, but I do remember that we, as usual, did get into trouble. Thylas stood up and took most of the blame for it as always, claiming it was his right as a future guard to protect us. Those were the good times. The times before he changed and everything got so complicated.
Tonight, we sit on the floor talking about the new paths laid out in front of us, and we make a promise. One that doesn’treally have to be spoken, but one we all know is there. No matter what happens, we will always be there for one another.
Thylas will be ambassador, that was the biggest shock. From an orphan found on the shores of Antalis, to the kingdom’s first ambassador, I know he will do what is right for our people. But I also know he meant it when he said if Siphonie wants the title, he would hand it over.
Antalis has never needed to have an ambassador in this capacity. Not one who would essentially have rule over the kingdom no … not rule as Thylas pointed out, but have a say in its affairs. Someone to have a pulse on the internal and external politics surrounding not just Antalis, but Shaston and Midaeliea as well. This is the first time since the formation of Antalis that it will be ruled by a king not sitting on a throne on Antalis’ soil.
“Princess Carnaxa,” the deep voice startles me. It's been three days since Thylas had to tell me the news, and I'm still mad at my father for not having the gall to deliver it himself – he’s asked to speak with me but I’m not ready yet. I want to, I know my time with him is limited. I am just not ready for what he has to tell me, I still feel betrayed.
Today I thought a trip to the beach would help me escape the mental thoughts and worries dancing around in my head. But turning around I see my idea of escaping my problems here on the beach is not happening. Ereon stands just behind me, he doesn't wear the furious look he did in the throne room that day, instead he has a slight smile on his face.
“Prince Ereon,” I address him as I bow slightly at the waist, refusing to take my eyes off of him. I don't trust him, and I never will, not now –now that my last dream was shattered justnights before. “What brings you to my side of the beach this afternoon?”
He runs his hand through his hair which cascades to his shoulders. His toned arms are showing through the sheer tunic of black that he wears, and those long legs shown in the loose flowing pants could easily make him a part of any woman's dream. He is a man of woman's dreams ... but my dream is a nightmare.
“I didn't know I had my own ‘side of the beach’ ... Forgive me for trespassing. I just happened to be walking and saw you here, alone, again. No guard today?” He falls in line with my steps as we continue walking the shoreline.
“One is not needed, as stated, this is my personal beach. Well, the palace’s I guess. No one but those of the palace can find their way here. Your door should have been directly beside it when you came on the beach.”
“So that's why we were asked to stay on that side of the palace,” he chuckles, “to keep us from finding the secrets of this beautiful beach?”
Is this an attempt at humor? He's been here long enough to know his way around, he knows this is a private beach and there are, in fact, walls marking the boundary. He also knows that he was positioned in the guests’ part of the palace, none of this is news to him. He’s been here for months, what he was doing in that time I don’t know – nor do I care because it did not concern me.
“I see that we are not in the spirit of laughing today, or perhaps my humor is just terrible. I could try a riddle if you prefer?”
It's then I notice a nervous gesture, he's biting his lip. His eyes can’t seem to figure out if they want to look at me or if he wants to stare at the ocean.
“I'm sorry, I was just unprepared for the company. Do forgive me. I just ... well I honestly was just thinking of the journeyahead of us.” My steps quicken just a bit because this is not a discussion I want to have with him. I've not said many things to him, this shouldn't be the first conversation we have.
“That's actually why I wanted to speak to you. If you would slow down.” He reaches out and places his hand on my forearm, gently pulling it toward him to halt me. “I know what is happening is not what you want. However, the people of Shaston are different. They will want to see their prince wed.”
“And what of my people?” I yank my arm back from him, curling my fingers into a fist as the anger bubbling beneath the surface takes hold. “What of my people, Prince? The people who have watched me grow from birth. The people who never expected to be ruled by another, the people who didn't expecttheir princessto be taken away so suddenly. I know that many have already started preparations for the wedding that was to be here near to our seas, not on your sands.”
He sighs and for a brief moment, his eyes relay a kindness I can't place.
“Your people ... will be mine as the tides turn and the moon continues its cycle. No, it won't be now or maybe not in a year … but they will be my people as well. I don’t do this to disrupt them, but it would be good if you would understand that now, because if you don't it will be harder for you when we get to Shaston. You have to embrace Shastonian laws.”
I want to retort, I should respond, but before I can, I watch as his dark-brown eyes look past me and toward the waves crashing against the rocks out in the bay. He grabs me once again by the wrist this time, tight enough I can't pull it away. He looks down at me as he replies, “Let's not forget you aren't the only one in this situation who is being wed to someone they did not choose. I have no more say in this than you do.”
He releases my arm and turns back toward the palace. His steps are heavy, denting the golden sand as he stomps back fromwhere he came and I'm left with more questions than answers, pity, and anger coiling inside me. It hadn't dawned on me that I am not any more his choice than he is mine. I assumed he had chosen this, or at least is in favor of it. I look up to the moon, if he didn’t ask for this what will we do with the path that fate has laid out for us?
“Did you know the King of Shaston has women used only for sex?” Siphonie leans across the table, thrusting a book in my direction. We sit in a large library that none of us have been in since we were children. Marianna is back from the trip she took with her husband, Fanon, to the kingdom’s outskirts.
Marianna looks up from her own book that has her enraptured as she asks, “What are those?” She twirls her dark brown hair with her pinky as she talks.
Siphonie comes around the table as I try to figure out what she is reading, and where she is even at in the book. “Like ourmænawomen near the markets, but they are forced into sexual relations by whomever they are beholden to says.”
“And who thinks they can have the rights to someone else's body?” I finally see the spot she’s reading from. I take the worn, leather book from her hands and flip to the frontof The Mysteries of The Shastonian Culture. I roll my eyes, of course, she would choose the interesting book- meanwhile, I've been stuck reading about the lineage of Ereon's line. Which reads about as exciting as it sounds.
“The Shastonians, apparently.” She grabs the book back from me a little too forcefully and I gasp at the fact that one tug too much and it could rip. “Listen. ‘I was shocked to find that the King of Shaston keeps a harem of females, sex prisoners, to use as he pleases. The women do not have agency overtheir own bodies, their lives, or even the children they birth. Females are for the pleasure of the male – be that their father, their husband, or anyone else who pays enough coin to obtain them.’”Siphonie stops for a moment, pacing back and forth as her golden gown sashays in the silence. “Eww ... his father has dominion over them, even who they have sex with?” We all shiver at the thought.
“Does that mean that Prince Ereon will have control over you?” Marianna looks at me, sorrow filling her eyes.
“Surely it is different for the royalty there. Who would force their wives into something so … brutish. They can't possibly expect a queen to be used that way.”
