The Princess's Servant

44. The Talk

"You never let me do anything fun!"

"If anything, I've let you do far too much. Walk with me, Sybbie."

"But I—!"

The queen shot her daughter a glare that cut her protests short.

Sybil crossed her arms and growled, but she followed Queen Arabell out of the throne room and into the long windowed hallway. The sun had sunk under the ocean and Sybil could see that the skies were streaked with fiery pink. The light was fading fast, now, though the heavens still held some bluish glow.

Sybil caught up to her mother's side. "I wasn't actually going to kill him, you know," she said, very much meaning it and very much sounding like she didn't.

The queen watched her daughter from the corner of her eye.

"I just was just going to mess him up a bit," Sybil defended. "Make him lose consciousness. That's all..."

The queen moved her gaze forward as the two of them rounded a corner. "Sybbie, I don't care what you were going to do with him," she said. "I care that you did it in the throne room. I've told you a thousand times, you can torment people in your bedroom, you can torment people in the dungeon, and that anywhere else is unacceptable."

"But mother—!"

"No buts. Come."

Sybil rolled her neck and groaned as the a guard opened up a balcony door. The queen motioned for her to go ahead and Sybil huffed but obeyed.

"What's any of this about, anyways?" The princess asked. "How did you know where to find me? Did Marcus tattle on me?" She watched her mother for her reaction.

Her mother watched back. "Marcus is gone. Someone informed her of her exile," she said. "And finding you wasn't difficult once I followed the sound of muffle screams."

Sybil glanced away and shifted her weight between her feet.

Her mother turned to look out over the city and the woods. "But I came to find you because there's something we need to discuss." Sybil's mother stood proud and tall, her long dark hair swaying in the breeze like hanging moss.

"Oh what?" Sybil faced her mother again. "Is there another foreign diplomat I need to be on my 'best behavior' for?"

The queen placed one hand on the stone wall of the balcony. "In a sense," she said. "Do you see the moon?"

Sybil stared ahead at the heavy round face that hung just above the forest's treetops. It looked like someone had taken a knife to the perfect little disk and shaved off just a sliver. "Yes, mother, I 'see the moon,'" she said.

The queen ignored her daughter's sarcasm. "In five day's time, it will be full," she told her. "And when the full moon rises in five day's time, you will give your hand to Prince Holden of Ward and the two of you will be wed."

Sybil raised her eyebrows at her mother. "Excuse me?"

"I know this isn't what you want," the queen told her, still gripping the rough stone of the balcony wall. "But you have to do it for the good of the kingdom."

Sybil turned to the queen. "For the good of the— Mother, if I marry Prince Holden, the kingdom is finished! Nara has abdicated. Father can't rule. There will be no one left when you pass on!"

The queen was silent.

"And even if there was someone to rule, I can't live in Ward! The people there are not like us, mother. They subjugate their women the way we subjugate our cattle! They're allowed no rights, no freedom— The men do not even permit them to travel without a male companion! I mean—"

Queen Arabell turned her face from her daughter and watched the flickering lights of the far-off farm homes.

Sybil stepped closer to her. "And Prince Holden!" She said. "He's the worst of them! He writes to me like... like I'm some doll he wants to care for! It's revolting! I can't guarantee I'd be able to make it through the wedding ceremony without bashing his eyes in," Sybil said. She crossed her arms. "Sincerely mother, I think I'd rather die than marry him."

The queen sighed and relaxed her stiffened shoulders. She half-faced to her daughter once again. "I'd think on whether you mean those words, Sybbie, because those may be your only options."

Sybil scrunched her brow for a moment before shaking her head. "You're being dramatic."

The queen turned towards her daughter more fully. "The Wardian empire is strong," she told her. "Ten times stronger than us, maybe twenty. They outman us, they outgun us; they outmatch us. The only reason they haven't conquered Lailoy yet is because they're an empire built on subjugated populaces and they're in dire need of some loyalty. But don't think for a second that they won't conquer us by force if they have you. If you reject this proposal, I have no doubt in some time — maybe one year's time, maybe ten year's time, maybe twenty year's time — the Wardians will come for us. And at this time, they won't allow us to rebel as the Draconians did. This time, they'll make sure that there's no one left to rebel."

Sybil sat on her bed thinking on those words. She'd spent the last half hour looking for ways around the truth. Perhaps if she assassinated the emperor, then entire system could fall and Lailoy could be free!

But Sybil knew that these thoughts were nothing more than daydreams. And as much as she hated it, her mother was right. Ward could and would conquer Lailoy at a moment's notice if they desired it. And the only way to ensure her people's safety was to marry their godforsaken prince.

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