Between the Veil and Crown

Arvek 21

The wedding of Prince Arvek and Princess Rovyna was announced to the public a couple of days after negotiations.

King Tyrovo strongly expressed a desire to return home after the announcement, while King Masitof insisted that there was some kind of public ceremony so that the people of Harlofelp had a chance to meet the bride-to-be. So strong was the disagreement Cor and Arvek both shared the opinion that it had the possibility of ending the arrangement of marriage.

Tyrovo made the declaration that he and his daughter would leave by the end of the week. He was still adamant on having not public ceremony (something about it being too exhausting meeting people he didn't care about), so Masitof took to entertaining him in one of the castle's parlors in hopes of him changing his mind before that day arrived.

It did not seem as though Rovyna was interested in keeping the peace in these discussions. Instead, she often chose to withdraw to another corner of the castle. Though it did not slip Arvek's notice that the majority of the time Rovyna slipped away, his mother also found reason to disappear.

In the meantime, Cor had respectively refrained from bringing up the subject of Selim around Arvek. He would instead offer to keep Arvek occupied with just about anything else. Arvek felt it was rather to soften him into a better mood before bringing it up again, but went along with it all the same. After all, it kept him away from his father.

On one particular morning, Cor had convinced him to play a game of chess. Originally intended to be just one game, it extended into multiple games. It was about the fifth game when Veran entered the library where they were playing it.

He came in seemingly with purpose at first. However, whatever that purpose was, it was forgotten once he caught side of the board game. He stood by to survey the board as intently as the players, eventually pulling up a chair to continue surveying while sitting.

No words were exchanged in this time. The only sounds were that of the clacking of pieces on the wood, the occasional footsteps by the library, and whatever noises from the outdoors drifted in.

The scene was so familiar to Arvek. Years back, when he and his brothers were younger and not so pressured with the ways of politics, they would gather in the library. Arvek would play a game with either Selim or Cor, and Veran would always be to the side, watching. Though if he were playing against Selim, it would be so quiet, as Selim would have a lot to say -from defending a move he was doing as legal to calling out a move Arvek made as illegal. If Arvek played against Cor, Selim never watched, but was usually curled up in a window with a random book he pulled off the shelf.

So familiar was this scene that Arvek glanced at the window, half-expecting Selim to be there, book and all. Perhaps not even half-expecting, as he startled a little when the glance showed that there was no one there.

The fifth game ended, and Cor set up a sixth without checking to see if Arvek was still up for another.

Most of their pieces were out of their beginning positions when another person entered the library.

Rovyna swept right up to the table where they played, standing beside Veran's chair. Like Veran before her, she made no comment, no remark, but watched them carefully as they played.

As they drew to an end with only a few possible moves left, she finally spoke.

"Our fathers have decided to go on hunt today," she informed them.