The Departure..

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The Author’s POV.

The Emperor sat next to the king of Decresh. His wife was sitting among other three women. There was no sight of any of the prince.

Princess Rania strolled down the stairs. As she got near to the altar, her stomach made noises. Her feet became heavy. She felt like faking a faint but the physician would end up exposing her. And this would get her family in to trouble.

When she looked at the direction of her father, it was clearly written on his face that, it was over. He  was not going to do anything that might anger the Emperor. As for the queen , she was at  her best , trying to impress the empress.

Princess Rania looked at the Empress. Was she like the rest of her family members? Did she love the pain her husband and child caused to the innocents? Of course she did.

“Where is the groom?” The royal priest asked. He was seated at the Altar with a bare chest. Princess Rania wanted a Christian Marriage , not an old traditional wedding system. But it seemed luck was not her side.

The empress stood up and answered “Prince Ivar is sick. He will be represented by his brother”.

The door opened and Prince Alaric walked in to the room with few guards. He was dressed in a red garment. He didn’t look happy. 

Princess Rania became restless when their eyes met. How earth was she going to swallow this?

**

Princess Rania’s POV.

When the prince was seated at the altar, the royal priest began to chant those eastern incantations.  I wished father would change his mind and cancel this wedding but he didn’t.

Unlike the other Marital rites, ours ended quickly.

The Emperor was so happy that I noticed him as soon as the veil was lifted. Other formalities were cut short.

It seemed they were in a hurry to leave for Aragón. Mother cried when I was about leaving. She knew what I was going to face in the land of strangers.

As a strong Princess, which my father wanted me to be, I held my tears and entered the carriage. Sad songs were sung in order to bid me farewell. The Emperor did not understood our local language. No wonder, he didn’t stop it.

Isabel sent a box to me through my maid, salsa. An idea came to me and I struck my head outside the carriage “Excuse me, can I speak to the Empress?”

“I will have to ask her first, my princess” The guard bowed and left. He came back few minutes later “Yes my lady. If you excuse me, may I ?

I looked at the hand he brought forward. The guard wanted to help me down. I accepted it and went to the carriage where the Empress was.

She looked at me with a smile. “Hope you are fine?”

“Yes , your highness. I have a request” I said, with a little hope in my heart. She looked wicked to me even though we just met.

“Go on” The Empress gave me a green light.

“I want to take one of my maids along, but with your permission?”

“Do you think we won’t give you maids over there?” She asked with a frown face. Oh what did I say wrong?

“Not at all, your highness. Forgive me if you made you feel that way” I quickly apologized. My mother told me to respect the empress at all cost. “With your permission, I will retire to my carriage.”

She didn’t even look at me. I gathered the hems of my heavy dress and went to my carriage.

When the Emperor was done talking to my family, we began our journey. Annabelle told me that it would take us , seven days to reach Aragón.

I asked how my in-laws made it in a day, mother told me that they were in a near by town waiting for my father’s reply. Had it been he refused to comply, a war would have been waged on us. God forbid!

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