A Queen for the King

Caught in the Act

The morning sunlight gently hit both Arny and the princess' face as they both slowly began waking up. The princess slowly turned over to Arny who was still sleeping and began gently kissing his nose and cheek.

"Wake up my love" she said as Arny began to slowly move around. He slowly opened his eyes to the sight of the princess looking down at him as the morning light outlined her form behind. Arny reached up and placed his hand on the princess' cheek as he smiled up at her. He brought her closer and gave her a kiss on her lips.

"Good morning beautiful" Arny said in his sleepy voice. The princess slowly laid her head on his chest as Arny played with her hair. The princess looked up at Arny to give him one more kiss on his lips. "By the way" Arny said "You've never told me your name."

Just as the princess was about to give Arny his answer, the doors flew open as Celestia, her father, and her brother began storming into the room

"How dare you do this to me!" Celestia yelled as both Arny and the princess began to quickly dress themselves

"Celestia, how are you back already? You weren't due back of another month or so" Arny said nervously, trying to de-escalate everything that was already happening

"Don't try and make it seem like you don't know what you're talking about! You promised me that you wouldn't be with any other girl while I was gone, and here you are with her!" 

The princess was in the middle of lacing her dress when Celestia's father grabbed the princess by both of her arms and held her, facing both Arny and Celestia

"By order of the king, unhand the princess at once!" Arny said to Celestia's father. After a brief moment, her father let go of the princess, already making a bruise begin to form on her left upper arm. The princess gently pulled the shoulder of her dress back up, softly flinching as the dark red fabric brushed up against her now sore arm

"How could you do such a thing Arny?! How could you throw away our whole wedding and future?" Celestia yelled as she hit Arny continuously, making him stumble backwards into the wall

"Can I please speak?!" Arny yelled so that everyone could listen to what he had to say and to make Celestia stop hitting him

"Your majesty" the princess said quietly "May I please ask what's going on?"

"I'll tell you what's going on" Celestia said as she walked towards the princess 'The king has already promised to marry me and make me Queen of Edessa. He never wanted to marry you in the first place. He even said it himself that the only reason he's marrying a stupid foreign princess is that he could still be king."

The princess walked around Celestia so she could face Arny who still stood against the wall "Your majesty, this is this true? Surely you wouldn't just marry me just to be king. Would you?"

"Your highness this is just a misunderstanding. I would have never thought about just marrying you just to keep my crown." Arny said as he tried to quickly de-escalate the situation as best as he could without losing his cool

"Then what is it?" the princess asked in disbelief. However, her question was met with complete silence as Arny struggled to form an answer for the princess. "So it is true then. You really only meant to marry me to keep your crown. Which means that last night, when you said all of those sweet things to me and how we spent the night with each other was all a plot to take away my virginity just for no other reason than to have some fun for one night?" Tears began forming in the princess' eyes as she curtsied one last time to the king and stormed out of the room, leaving Arny and Celestia, along with Celestia's father and brother. After many hours of arguing between the two, Arny was left alone in his bedroom. He knew that a decision had to be made. His reputation had been soiled by his lifestyle and has cost him a marriage. By the evening, everyone in the kingdom had heard of the private matter regarding Arny, Celestia, and the princess. Somehow, word of the incident reached Arny's eldest brother Ronan, who was many kingdoms away. As the new Emperor of the Orane Empire read the letter, his military officers gathered around him, waiting for an explanation. 

"Gather up the men and call a meeting" Roman commanded his military officers. A quick emergency meeting was called and his army surrounded the post that Ronan stood upon. 

"My fellow army" Ronan said as he looked down at his men "As many of you know, I have received an official letter from the Kingdom of Edessa. It seems that my younger brother had finally made the mistake that we have all bene waiting for. Under the graciousness and power of the gods that be, my wife has used her power to outwit and seduce my younger brother. As a result, I am now the rightful King of Edessa as well as the Emperor of the Orane Empire. We will leave this battleground where our fallen are buried and enter Edessa to make right of all the transgressions and wrongdoings that my brother has enforced. The Kingdom of Edessa will once again be a great kingdom as it joins the great Orane Empire under my rule."