If someone had told me yesterday morning that today I would fight in a war with monsters, be betrayed by my lover, and be used by my family to marry the monsters' king, I would have laughed in their face because there was no way Arthur would betray. Serves me right for trusting someone so blindly. At that moment, all I wanted to do was march to where that traitor was marrying my sister and stab him in that stone-cold heart.
But here I was, in my room, staring at the black dress my sister had sent for me. Traditionally, at weddings in Atrofall, the brides wore white or milky pink, blacks were for funerals and mourning. So her sending this dress had a clear message. I was marching to my own funeral.
"Princess," one of the maids called quietly. "Do you want us to bring another dress?"
I looked out my window and saw the black flags in the distance—the flags of the monsters. Scafera, the monsters' Kingdom's colours were black and gold. I knew my dear sister did not know that, or she was simply so focused on trying to pick on my wounds that she did not think this through.
I suddenly let out a laugh, startling the maids.
"No need. Bring me all the gold jewellery," I ordered before sitting down to get ready. If they were really so eager to give me to the Monsters, what was the harm in taking their colours? Also, there was another upside of wearing a big gown, I could hide many, many weapons under my dress and I planned to take my entire armoury with me.
However, it truly felt like I was getting ready for a funeral. The young maid helped me get ready in complete silence. Once or twice, when I caught their eyes, some of them instantly looked away, looking sad, afraid and guilty. I kept a straight face and looked as calm as possible.
After I had gotten ready in black and gold, the last thing was putting on my tiara and the veil. The veil was not exactly our tradition but I knew why I needed to wear one today. I needed to hide my face because the King of the Monsters could see my face and immediately reject me. My father and mother did not want to take that risk. So I needed to hide my face until the marriage had occurred and the treaty had been sealed.
"They have arrived, Your Highness," the guards the Queen ordered to guard me, informed.
"Princess, traditionally, two maids go with the Princess to her husband's Palace," the oldest maid said as she fixed my tiara before I could go. "Whom would you like to accompany you?"
Instantly, the rest of the maids froze and stared at me, looking terrified.
Did she ask me to take two young maids to the Beast's home?
Surprised, I looked at the old maid who kept on fixing my tiara and my veil. She did not look bothered at all by what she was saying. Then I looked back at all the young maids I grew up with, all of them lowered their eyes to the floor. Yet, I could see the fear in their eyes; one of the girls who was just two years older than me, whom I was particularly close to, had some tears in her eyes. Maybe she had already guessed I would choose her and drag her to the monsters' lair with me. I looked over at the older maid again as she finished putting on my veil. This woman was responsible for all these young maids, yet she did not care about their fate at all. She offered me two of them despite knowing where I was going. Her nonchalant face reminded me of my own mother and I wondered how many more girls like us would be sacrificed before they realised what they were doing.
"I would take no one," I announced as I stood up.
There was a brief, shocked silence in the room before the old maid spoke up,
"But Princess, the tradition –" the old maid looked frantic but I cut her off.
"I do not care, Matilda," I said giving a fake smile I knew the old maid hated. Also, I knew her name was not Matilda, I just said it to irritate her. She hated me anyway since I was a kid.
"Princess?" The guards urged as if I could still refuse to go.
"Yes, yes," I rolled my eyes.
I picked the red rose bouquet for my wedding, looked around my room, taking in the fact that this was the last time I would be here, and marched out without looking back. Hastily, the guards hurried after me.
The Royal Garden did not look much different from any other day; in fact, it looked gloomy today and very crowded. I walked through the pathway leading to the archway in the middle of the garden and saw people standing on both sides of the path.
Not people. Monsters.
They didn't look much different from humans, considering they were in their human forms, but even then, their eyes could not hide who they truly were. They had the eyes of different animals. Eyes of predators. The predators, who had caused so much destruction in my kingdom in so little time. Half of Atrofall was still burning and weeping, yet here they were standing in their human forms, looking restless, staring at everything with distrust and anger, while my family looked at the monsters with fear and disgust.
Everyone turned to look at me when I entered and I noticed how my mother's eyes narrowed looking at my dress, how my sister smirked standing in a white dress and veil, wrapping her hands around Arthur's arm; how my father glared at me as if warning me to not do anything stupid; how my brother looked away immediately and tried not to meet my eyes, and how the old royal advisor sighed with relief seeing me quietly walking down. Then I turned to my left and realised the cruelty in the eyes of all those monsters was not much different from my own family. Maybe it was worse.
The monsters hated all the humans. My family hated me.
"What a gathering," I muttered under my breath and smiling bitterly, looked straight ahead.
There under the archway stood the High Priest with a solemn expression and in front of him stood a tall figure, completely wrapped in a black cloak and armour. He wore a hood over his head and gloves on his hands, so there was not a single part of him visible. For a split second, a fear gripped my heart because this Beast was something unknown. I did not fear the Beast but how do I fight the unknown?
He did not move even slightly as I approached him, did not turn his head even slightly when I stood beside him. He was taller than I expected, yet not tall enough, judging by the stories of the Beast that were told in our kingdom. I was among the taller women in our country, almost as tall as my father, but I barely came up to the Beast's broad shoulders.
However, I could not see his face, though I tried to but the hood of his cloak was too big, I took a deep breath and decided to do what he was doing. I ignored him. I also looked straight ahead at the High Priest, who had already started speaking about the marriage ceremony and briefly explained what it meant. I listened to words like "being faithful, honest, and devoted . . ." and stopped listening after that until the Priest turned to the Beast and asked,
"Will you, King Kaelenor of Scafera, take Princess Esmeray of Atrofall as your companion for life?"
"Companion for life?" The Beast let out a low chuckle as he repeated the Priest's words, then said, "Yes, as long as she lives."
Following his words, the monsters of his kingdom laughed as if it was the funniest thing ever, while the Priest looked uncomfortable.
My hands around the bouquet tightened. I was so mad I felt my veins in my head would burst any moment.
"And will you, Princess Esmeray of Atrofall, take King Kaelenor of Scafera as your companion for life?" The Priest turned to me with pity in his eyes.
"Since I have to, yes," I said mockingly and the monster's side stopped laughing.
The Beast slightly turned to look at me, but I did not turn to look at him anymore. He was exactly as I thought him to be, I did not need to see the monster beneath that cloak anymore. He was a monster, regardless.
"Then seal this bond with a kiss," The Priest said and I sighed. I forgot about that part. And apparently so did my family.
"The veil should –" The Queen began but she did not get to finish her words.
The Beast fully turned towards me and reluctantly, so did I. He leaned closer and I met his eyes with a glare. He had the most different eyes from the rest of the monsters, they looked glowing golden and there was this –
Before I could finish looking at him, his head dipped lower and without lifting the veil, he kissed the corner of my mouth over the veil. I froze as my thoughts tried to process what was happening but all I could think was his lips were warm.
And then it was over. He pulled back, turned around, and walked away leaving me there stunned.
"Bring me the treaty, King Lionel," The Beast called as he walked past my family. "We will be leaving then. Say your goodbyes, Princess."
His words immediately made me grimace. Say goodbye. Right. I reminded myself of the situation and pulled myself together. It was not even a kiss, it lasted less than a moment and it was over the veil, not even on my lips. It just surprised me.
To make sure neither kingdom went back on their words, an agreement paper was written and the Kings of both realms marked the agreement paper with a drop of their blood, making it binding. After that was done, the monsters got ready to depart and I found myself with my family. My sister almost cackled with delight when she came face to face with me.
"Well then, sister, I can not say you will be missed. But maybe I will miss not knowing how you died. Maybe they will eat you as soon as you step into their realm or perhaps the Beast would chain you to his bed to play with you? Arthur, love, which one do you think would be perfect justice?" Leonora pulled Arthur closer to her.
Arthur, now my sister's husband, still did not have the courage to look me in the eye. Coward.
"Esmeray –" Arthur tried to begin but I did not like the sound of my name from his lips anymore.
"Since I am already doomed to my death, I was thinking nothing is stopping me from slitting your new husband's throat right where he is standing and making you a widow, Sister" I paused feeling satisfied as fear flashed in Arthur and Leonora's eyes. Our father stepped towards us hearing my words but I continued, "But then I thought, as a sister I should be generous enough to give my used goods to my sister. So, congratulations on your wedding."
"You – you –" Leonora was about to shriek at me but our father intervened.
"Esmeray, keep your mouth shut and go peacefully and never return. I do not wish to see your face ever again," The King of Atrofall gave me a murderous gaze.
His words stung but I already expected it.
"You better pray that I do not return Father, because if I did," I smiled at my father. "I would be the enemy you would need to negotiate with and you already know I do not like to compromise."
My Father stared at me, stunned just for a moment, before his face twisted into a snarl.
"Yes, I will pray for your death since I could not finish you myself," my father spat.
"Calm down, Lionel." My mother put a hand on my father's shoulder and urged him to step back. "We still have company."
My father glared at me, grumbled something to Mother but then stepped back. My mother took his place, standing in front of me, she stared at me very calmly, then she smiled.
"You are not coming back, Esmeray," The Queen said matter-of-factly as if she could already see my future. "Since you are my daughter, I will warn you, in case you plan to seduce the beast to win his favour. There is a reason the Beast never had a human mistress; a human body is not built to endure the strength of the Beast. Therefore, as soon as you consummate the marriage, you will die."
[To be continued]