"What do you think of your future husband, Delaney?" King Reginald asked as they had dinner that evening.
Delaney was trying to keep her presence scarce and when he called her out. She didn't want to speak to him.
"I'm not betrothed." She stated the obvious.
"Watch how you speak to the king, Delaney!" Queen Penelope warned.
"I'll go to the library now." She placed her napkin on the table and left despite knowing how angry her parents would be.
Ylvia came to the library soon after, holding a covered tray in her hand. "How was dinner, My Lady?"
"I couldn't stomach it." She lifted her head from the book she had just started reading. When she saw the tray in Ylvia's hands, she wondered what her handmaiden had brought her this time. Although she appeared to be timid, Ylvia was known to defy many rules of the castle, especially those that had anything to do with Delaney.
For instance, she was not allowed to send food to the princess if she refused to eat at the royal dining table. Nonetheless, she would bring desserts or light meals every time she thought it necessary.
"Ylvia, you know that you can't keep doing this." Delaney reminded her.
The maid smiled. "I'm not going to let you starve just because the king and the queen upset you. So pardon me, My Lady."
Delaney couldn't help laughing. "I'll miss you so much."
That dragged her mind back to the man she was trying not to think about and she was visibly upset. "Do you know anything about the king of Itrusia, Ylvia?" She asked.
"The bloodthirsty king?"
She had been hoping that she had the wrong impression of Darius but Ylvia's question was enough to make whatever tiny hope she had left fly away.
"What do you know about him?" She probed.
Ylvia didn't have anything good to say about him. "He probably has more concubines than the hairs on his head. If he no longer wants any of them, her body will be found floating on the river behind the castle." She dreaded the possibility. "My Lady, you cannot marry such a man! There is a reason why he doesn't have a wife. No woman would willingly be with him and his concubines were probably sold to him or abducted."
Delaney inwardly lamented. Her parents must know this but they didn't care. What kind of benefits did he offer them, exactly?
"My Lady, His Majesty called for you in his study." Sianna announced when she entered the library.
"Guard the food for me, Ylvia." She stood to go. She needed to have a word with her father so it was perfect timing.
"I heard the princess is betrothed to the Itrusian king." She heard a maid gossip as soon as she set foot on the hallway. No one knew but her hearing was much better than most people's, and she could hear a whisper from afar.
"Hush. Sianna might hear you. I saw her enter the library earlier." Another maid whispered, before continuing in a lower voice, "I overheard Queen Penelope's maid saying that it was the queen who suggested she should marry into Itrusia."
"Is that true? The princess is so pitiful. What kind of mother would want that for her child?" The first maid spoke. Delaney was close enough to see her face. She had been her maid before but had been transferred to the kitchen.
The maid with more information continued. "A mother who wants immense power. I heard the king of Itrusia might be a descendant of…"
"Having a great time, are we?" She startled them, almost making them trip on their own feet as they had not seen her coming.
"Your highness!" They bowed almost in unison.
"Since you don't have enough work to do, clean the music room. It's a bit dusty." She ordered and went her way. She hated people who couldn't stop themselves from spreading rumors and if she was the subject of said rumors, it was even worse.
_
"Your Majesty." She curtsied to King Reginald when she walked into his study where he was discussing with Queen Penelope. The queen was standing with her hand touching his shoulder, and when Delaney saw her, her heart sunk. Most of the rumors in the castle were true and if the one about her being the one who decided on her suitor was too, she would hate her forever.
"Delaney, we would like to tell you about your soon to be husband."
What a coincidence? She ignored her mother's presence. "I would like to talk about him too—not as a man I'd accept for marriage."
"Are we still on this, Delaney?" Queen Penelope was on the verge of losing her patience.
"I'd like to speak to Delaney alone." King Reginald said to Queen Penelope, who didn't look pleased about having to leave. When she left the room, much to Delaney's relief, she shut the door and returned to her father's presence.
"He is a murderer. A bloodthirsty one at that." She attempted to complain.
King Reginald eyed her for a few seconds. "Maybe. But you want to be a reigning queen. Innumerable people will be after the crown on your head and you might end up losing both—the crown and your head—if you cannot deal with a few murder attempts."
It was the lamest excuse she had ever heard from a father who merely wanted to send his daughter to the enemy.
She looked at him sternly. "What do you want to tell me about him?"
He attempted to smile affectionately but it came off as spiteful. That was probably what he felt for her. Spite. "It's a long story, Delaney. You need to know that only by marrying him can you save my life and that of your brother. Our entire kingdom will be shattered into ruins if you do not agree to this. You will not escape either."
_
Returning to her chambers, all she could think of was the King's warning. That if she did not marry the Itrusian king, her kingdom would be ruined. How? Was it about the curse? She shuddered just thinking about it but she dismissed the thought. The goddess's curse must have already been broken by her birth, right?
Was an enemy kingdom planning to attack, and had he promised help? It was not new for a princess to be traded off to another kingdom for political alliance but one thing stuck in her mind. Since when did she have a brother?
There had to be a reason why King Reginald didn't mention this in the presence of Queen Penelope. He probably had a secret son hidden away, but the secrets within the walls of the Ivrasean Castle were too vast to be cracked.
"My Lady, you are back." Ylvia offered her a warm smile.
The queen would probably punish Ylvia for it if they were found out, so she dragged her handmaiden into her chambers and shut the door before throwing herself into her arms.
"My Lady, what happened?" Asked Ylvia. It was nothing new for the princess to act this way around her. She freely broke yet another rule of the castle now that they were behind closed doors.
Delaney couldn't stop the words pouring out of her mouth even if she wanted to. "I don't get it. If it's so important, why won't he tell me everything? He only mentioned saving the kingdom and didn't even tell me what kind of help the Itrusian bloodthirsty king offered."
"Who knows the ways of men." Ylvia all but shrugged, and Delaney caught a glint in her eyes.
What was that?
"My Lady, I will get you ready for bed." Ylvia picked a wooden comb from a drawer in the dressing table and undid the braid that was holding up Delaney's waist-length, brown hair.
She was tired and sleepy, so she brushed Ylvia's expression off. Ylvia had taken care of her since her birth and she had been nothing but a kind woman. She must be overthinking the gaze she thought she saw.
She sat on the dressing chair and shut her eyes, letting reality sink in with the strokes of the comb through her hair.
"My Lady, if I may be audacious to speculate, the king might be after the power of the helio." Ylvia finally spoke of what she had been holding back.
Delaney's eyes shot open but she didn't turn to look at her maid. "What did you say? The helio?"
When Ylvia remained silent for too long, she turned to probe.
The maid figured there was nothing worse than what she had already said, so she went on. "The king of Itrusia is rumored to be the son of the sun goddess. If this rumor is true, or if His Majesty believes that it is true for some reason, it might explain his desire to marry you off to him."
Delaney's eyes visibly dimmed.
"If I may state my suggestion, My Lady, there might be a way to get you out of this." Delaney's grunt was her cue to continue. "If we prove to His Majesty that the rumor is false and the king of Itrusia is only an ordinary king, he will no longer want to marry you off. After all, Itrusia may be powerful but if the only special fact about its king is fabricated,"
"Forget it. It is true." She raised a hand to stop Ylvia from speaking any further.
The Fox's card finally made sense. The sun rising at the center of the card might be a representation of the helio, who was probably Darius, and the permanent change was their marriage.
Except, she wanted none of this. Was there a way to change it?
_
When she woke up the following morning, the rising sun seemed to mock her by reminding her of her predicament. She was already having a horrible morning, and she thought it couldn't get any worse until her governess dropped in.
Eugenia was said to have decades of experience turning princesses into timid puppets at a circus that was controlled by their fathers and brothers then later husbands—popularly known as educating them—and, in her own words, Delaney was her worst nightmare.
Not only did the princess of Ivrasea do everything a princess shouldn't do, but she also refused to obey most of the rules set for her. She was a headache, that one.
They met face to face in the music room for yet another session that was going to be torture to both of them. Eugenia had the urge to skim it over but couldn't dare to do so.
"Her Majesty informed me of your wedding that's coming up in a week. So I will remind you of the basics about marriage." She said to the princess who was sitting on the couch before her and looked nearly bored.
Delaney dunked her hand into the jar of shortbread for another piece. "By the basics of marriage, do you mean how to please a man?"
"That's part of it, yes." Responded the governess.
Delaney was indifferent. "What if I don't want to please him but instead, what I want to know is how to kill him fast without revealing a trace?"