Of The Rose

Four

Piper never imagined this would happen. She was livid, she was so close to finally taking the throne. Years and years of studying, work, and training. She faced task after task, read book after book, stayed up studying until the caffeine wore off and she passed out from exhaustion, just to become the sole empress of Codvia. And what does that get her? Being married off to a random white man in another kingdom.

It's not that Piper found him bad-looking, he was actually sorta handsome. Piper had seen a portrait of him with his family. He wore a dark navy blue blazer with gold badges clipped onto it, the most memorable thing about this portrait was his smile, it's admirable. Maybe because it looks sincere? That or he's a good actor. It's probably the latter.

Piper possibly had hope that this experience wouldn't be as horrible as she imagined it to be. Hope is another word for unreasonable expectations, this is what hope has led her to, being excluded from political affairs, cast aside, and forced into another tea room with the two women whose husbands are in there chattering on. Piper's face may have remained relaxed but in her head, she was fantasizing about shoving that biscuit on the table down his throat and watching him choke on it.

Could you believe it? He didn't even say anything, just went along with it. First, her fiancee's procreators start bitter arguments with her, then he insinuates an insult, he tells her to get sleep yet he remains a hypocrite, and now he does this. It's bad enough she has to marry him. This is probably why he gets no sleep and looks so tired, which serves him right for being a- she really shouldn't say that, even if these are her thoughts.

Piper looked across the table to see the two women she mentioned that she saw earlier. The two were talking earlier so she can only assume they know each other. One wore a light blue dress that contrasted her darker skin, with her curly hair tied up, decorated with ribbons. The other woman wore a light yellow dress with white lace details, the dress almost matched the color of her hair as she was a blonde with curls that were pinned back.

"You made quite the exit out there." The woman in the blue dress said with a slight giggle before picking up her teacup and taking a sip.

"And you are?" Piper questioned.

"Ah, forgive my awful manners. It slipped my mind that you haven't been introduced to us yet." She set her teacup down on the saucer. "I'm Hazel Levesque of the south-eastern kingdom. My fiancé is in there talking with yours, so is hers." She gestured to the woman next to her, the blond.

"You're both engaged?" Piper asked.

"No- well. Yes." Now Piper was just getting confused.

The woman in yellow must have noticed her confusion because she put a hand on her chest and let out a little laugh. "Lady Levesque is technically, and well so am I." She wiggled her ring finger showcasing the ring on her ungloved hand. "I'm Annabeth Chase, my fiancé is in there. We're engaged but it's very recent and it's complicated. We're both rulers of a kingdom, ours is a little farther than Lady Levesque's though. Our kingdom is located near the coast but we like to visit here often."

"And you're completely content with this?" Piper continued to show curiosity in the two. "Just okay with being cast off to the side?"

Both women exchanged a glance before bursting into laughter. "Listen," Annabeth said wiping a tear from her eye. "We are not 'cast-off to the side'. We allow the men to do the little chitter-chatter meanwhile, we do the work, manage the finance, keep everything in check and order."

"Miss McLean," Hazel continued from where Annabeth left off. "Just because we're okay with letting them have their little discussions doesn't mean we don't do our fair share. Who do you think writes all those letters towards the kingdoms and fills out all that paperwork to make sure we follow the safety precautions when we travel. We do that."