Swords and fire

The master plan

Merida was the eldest daughter of Lady Elinor Dun'broch and Lord Fergus Dun'broch, and as such, she was expected to carry on with the family title and, if possible, improve their social status. In spite of that, she never much cared about the idea of marriage, let alone was she excited by the prospect of bearing children. That of course, didn't matter to Lady Elinor, for she was positive that her daughter would be the flower of the season.

It was spring, also commonly known by the high class as the ball season. Every respected family was expected to host a ball in which, hopefully, the people of age could find a possible suitor. The Dun'broch family was going to present their firstborn to society, and Elinor was a woman on a mission to make it so that her daughter would marry soon after her very first season.
Merida's introduction to society was quite a success, and many were sure that the redheaded beauty would be, in fact, the jewel of the season. Her first few balls were a nuisance. She would dance around, from man to man, having dull conversations and wishing to be anywhere else but there. She was the talk of the town, young Merida Dun'broch of fair skin and bright red hair. Lucky would be the man to score her hand by the end of the season.

Just as Merida was getting fed up with being the main source of entertainment of nosy mistresses, a new person showed up, no less than Duke Hiccup Haddock of the county of Berk. He was quite handsome, rich, with a shiny duke title and, most surprisingly enough, eligible. Regardless of the many attributes of this Duke, no girl danced with him at his first ball.

Whether they were intimidated by his many attributes, or perhaps all the fair young ladies had already chosen their suitors, no one quite knew or understood the reason of the Duke's solitude.
By Hiccup's second ball, there was one young lady willing to dance with him. The redhead that had danced with everyone else. That was, by no means, a bad thing. It really only meant that everyone was curious to see what exactly was so special about this young lady in particular. But when Hiccup and Merida danced, something clicked. It was as if they were made to dance with the other. When the song ended, Merida lead Hiccup by the hand to the Corona manor garden.

"I have a proposition for you" said her, making sure no one else was listening.

Her heart raced. It was the first time in her life talking to a man unchaperoned, but she stayed put and waited for his reaction.

"What exactly are you talking about, miss Dun'broch?" he replied, feeling rather curious.

"You can't get a dance, and I'm sick of being asked out to dance," she explained, "I don't know for sure, but I have reasons to believe that your Grace wants to marry. And I, on the other hand, would rather wait a few years for that."

He quirked an eyebrow, now truly invested in whatever she had to say next. He nodded at her and motioned her to continue. With that nod, Merida also understood that it was, in fact, the Duke's intention to find a spouse.

"So, we have to pretend that you are courting me" she finally said, "That way, you will get the attention of other eligible girls, and I will rid of those annoying suitor wannabes."

He chuckled. Merida was quite an ill spoken young lady, but, even if he'd only known her for an extremely short time, he could tell just how clever and cunning she was. Her idea seemed to have little to no flaws, and so, he accepted.

"I'll court you, miss Dun'broch." He said in a formal manner, "Tomorrow I'll pay you a visit, but for now, we must return to the ballroom, lest our plan be suspected by others"

Little did they know that their clever plan had one but a fatal flaw. They'd fall in love before anything could be done about it.