The Princess's Guard ✔️

6

Word Count: 1666

~Kiva

I hobble into the dining room, exhausted from a day of training with Ark.

"Why is there another plate?" I ask, slumping into my seat.

Father looks up from the book he's studying. "We have a guest tonight, Kiva. He is freshening up."

I blink. That's what I get for showing up late to dinner.

Although it's not my fault. Ark is relentless at training.

"Please don't tell me it's another suiter," I groan. The only time he doesn't tell me to prepare for a guest is when he's trying to set up an engagement.

He knows I'll berate him otherwise.

"You just have to meet him. You know how I feel about this, that it's completely your choice," he assures me.

It's my choice, as long as he's a Prince and it's on a specific timeline.

I groan frantically, slumping back in my seat. "But it's expected of me to marry a Prince."

"It's preferred," father says carefully.

Father's problem is that he has expectations of me that he tries to hide behind transparent excuses. I have to marry a Prince. That's it.

"They are all as boring as cardboard, and painfully arrogant," I grumble.

Father sighs, taking a long drink. "Just meet him. His name is Caspian, and he shall be in here shortly."

"Also, I wanted to speak to you about Ark," I tell him.

I can't work with him. I just can't. He's going to drive me insane, and frankly, I don't trust him. I want a stable guard who doesn't hate me and hasn't killed someone before.

"What about him?"

"I want him gone, swapped out with someone else," I demand.

It's not often I tell my father I don't want something, so he should know how serious I am. He knows how special Andri was to me.

So me fighting against my personal guard is a sign of a bad one.

"It's not ideal to bring someone else as highly skilled as he is right now," father tells me dismissively. He's concerned that someone will get behind our walls that shouldn't be, which although is a valid concern, isn't going to help me with Ark right now.

I open my mouth to speak but he holds his hand up in warning, nodding behind me at someone walking in the door.

As soon as I glance briefly over my shoulder, I'm turning around, glaring at my father.

"You've brought Caspian into the manor..." I mutter flatly.

I haven't met Caspian before, thanks to a few perfect coincidences, but his name has been brought up by my father plenty of times before. He's a Prince, from a nearby Kingdom, and the subject of us getting married has been talked about plenty between my father and his parents.

Naturally, neither of us have been consulted on the matter.

And now that I have come to realise my mate is out there, someone, evil or not, makes me even less likely to want to delve into a marriage with him.

"Caspian is from a respected family, and is highly trusted. Do not worry, Kiva," father insists lowly, before standing up.

Looking back around, I see Ark follow Caspian through the dining hall's threshold. He has an impassive expression painted across his face, now tasked with protecting a whole other royal.