Valiant (*On Hold*)

11 Allegiance Again - Adelaide

I found the former Vyndoli princess, as I had expected, in her rooms thrown carelessly atop her bed in a puddle of tears. I hesitated in the doorway as she had not heard my entrance but then I closed the door silently behind me and crossed the room to sit at her side. I reached out and touched her shoulder gently and she jumped as she turned to face me. Her dark hair had come partly undone and the strands blew about her face in an untidy mess. She breathed and one blew away from her lips.

"P-Princess!" she gasped, wide-eyed, and then sat up straighter and made a pathetic show of straightening herself. I placed a hand gently on her forearm to still her and gave her the kindest smile I could.

"Do not trouble yourself. I only come to offer comfort," I told her and watched as she visibly relaxed. I patted her arm before withdrawing from the contact. "I know you are distraught. I know that this was not what you expected. You were under the impression that our families had an arrangement."

"They did. My father told me-"

I held up a hand.

"Men lie," I said simply, maintaining my smile as best as I could. "You're far too old to not have learned that lesson already. Your father told you that your match was agreed upon just as my father told me the road to Vyndoli was safe and my brother told me that I could choose who I married. Men lie, Princess, that should have been the very first lesson you learned."

She frowned and stared down at her hands as I stood and walked over to where a decanter of wine and two glasses sat ignored on a nearby table.

"The second," I said as I poured "is that if you wish not to be discarded, you must make yourself indispensable to them. And, I'm afraid, love and duty are not enough."

I turned back, handed her the glass, and sipped from my own as I stared down at her from over the rim. She was pretty enough with her dark Vyndolian hair and plain, empty eyes. But she had been bred for one thing and now that it was stolen from her, she was a ship without a sail, lost with no direction, nothing pushing her onward.

"For me, I've used my wit. Men do not like to admit that a woman can be clever but my military strategies have won some of my brother's best-known battles so, as controversial as the move may be, he still seeks my counsel in all matters of war. That may change but, for now, it is enough. You must find your strength, something outside of your beauty, something that will not fade. If you want to be important at court, you must bring something to the table."

"But your brother has banished me from court," she reminded me, her eyes filling with tears again. "He didn't... he doesn't want to see me."

"I know what it's like to be unwanted," I touched her forearm in comfort once more. "But men are fickle. They do not know what they want. What Acton wants today may not be what Acton wants tomorrow. He is surrounded by noble women, beautiful women who have been raised to stand silently and look pretty. They are all the same. What makes you different?"

With that, I stood and, setting my wine glass on the table, headed for the door. As my fingers brushed the bronze knob, I threw a glance over my shoulder.

"You will always have friends in Etzera, Princess. We will never forget what happened to your family. But, if I were you, I would pick the widows."

"Excuse me?" she called back, eyebrows knitted in confusion. I smiled.

"As wise and noble a cause as dedicating one's life to God may be, the nuns, I'm afraid, require certain vows that are such a pain to get out of," I told her and, as a smile touched my lips, I winked. "If you should have need to, of course."

Her smile told me she understood my meaning and I left her in her rooms feeling much more hopeful than I had found her. And she should. I had just informed the former princess that I did not think her part was yet played in this and I meant it.