Caged Heart

Chapter 9

Serenity woke to the feeling of someone shaking her shoulder. She groaned, putting her hand over her eyes as the sun was shining directly in them from the open window. She rubbed the sleep out of the before looking up at the person who woke her up.

"Nellore? What are you—"

"You missed breakfast," her lady-in-waiting said, "and your mother would've come in here had I not volunteered to come and get you ready. We both know how that conversation would've gone."

"Yeah," Serenity nodded as she sat up, "thanks for saving—wait, did you say that I missed breakfast?"

"I did—because you did—but you needn't worry. The wedding won't begin for another few hours as the nobles of King Emerson's kingdom need time to make the journey here."

"Right," the eldest princess took a breath and nodded, rubbing her face with her hand to try and wake herself up more.

Over the course of an hour, Nellore and Serenity got ready for the wedding, the latter party only requiring assistance on her hair. As she began to brush out her friend's hair, she periodically made eye contact with her while telling her what happened during breakfast.

"Breakfast was interesting. When I walked in, Queen Violette was talking to Genevieve and King Emerson about how they would be getting ready in a room together, King Darius was nowhere to be seen, and Prince Godric and Caleb were having a hushed conversation in the corner. When I sat down, I heard a bit of their conversation: they were talking about Emerson it seemed. I believe Prince Godric may have been telling Caleb to try and keep his cool around his majesty, but your brother was hardly paying attention—or, if he was, I could see in his eyes that he wasn't going to listen completely to what the other prince was telling him. And, speaking of people not paying attention, Emerson was hardly giving your mother's words the time of day." She pointedly stopped what she was doing to meet eyes with Serenity in the mirror, "He was wondering where you were."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he asked. Prince Godric answered him, his attention moving to the king from the conversation he had ended with Caleb, and he told him that you were probably still asleep. The look he gave King Emerson, however, told me—and the king himself—that you were not a topic his majesty needed to be worried about or discussing. Anyway, Queen Violette was quite perturbed at the fact that you were still in bed, commenting on how it was terrible manners to miss even a small portion of your sister's wedding. I intervened before she could make a fuss about coming here and got up to come and wake you. Before I left, I heard her sigh and then tell King Emerson and Genevieve to go and get ready."

"I would say that I wished I hadn't missed that, but, in all honesty," Serenity looked up at Nellore after she finished with her hair, "I'm glad I missed it."

The both of them shared a laugh, and Serenity stood, linking arms with Nellore as the two walked out of her room. They made their way through the halls to get to the throne room, passing servants left and right as they rushed about to make sure everything was still perfect. Once they arrived at the throne room, they separated so that Nellore could go to her father and Serenity could go to hers.

Before she got to the throne, however, she felt a hand on her arm, "I missed you at breakfast." The voice of Emerson was unmistakable, even amongst all the chaos.

Serenity turned to look at him, "I cannot say the same about you I'm afraid." She smiled, "My dreamland was much better."

He put his hand over his heart in feigned offense, "You wound me, your highness. I had hoped I'd made such an impression on your mind that without my wonderful charms, you'd simply go mad."

"If you call what you do charming, you are the one who is going mad, your majesty, not I."

"I suppose so," he chuckled, but his face became serious after a moment.

His eyes flickered with an unreadable emotion as he looked at her, but the one thing she could make out in them was hesitation, which went away as quick as she saw it come. He lifted one hand to tuck some hair that had come out of place from behind her ear back, his fingers running along her cheek as he brought the hand down to hers, lifting it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss on it. It reminded her of when they first met.

"If only I had made peace with your kingdom sooner," he said as he stood straight, his eyes boring into hers; he knew she would know the implication of his words, and seeing her blush let him know that she understood.

Serenity cleared her throat, pulling her hand away from his, it feeling very empty as she did so, "You need to go stand beside the throne," she said, not taking her eyes off his, "It's almost time for your marriage to my sister to begin."

"I have enough time to dream of the bride I truly want," the playful smile was back, "but, as you wish, your highness." He bowed to her, giving her a wink.

As he walked away, Serenity watched, her eyes wide. Genevieve was right, she thought, the bride he truly wanted. The mere thought of his words made her heart flutter, and she fought herself to make it stop. The man she was to marry soon after this was standing in the very room she was in, and as she looked over to Godric, who was standing next to Caleb (both dressed in their royal attire), she tried to feel those butterflies again.

But she couldn't.

Panic filled her as her eyes made their way back to Emerson, who glanced over at her as she did, quickly looking away once he realized she was looking at him. Guilt rose in her chest, as did the butterflies. She thought she had gotten rid of the Hallow king last night, but one sentence—one word, one look—was enough to bring all those feelings flooding back to her.

"Dammit," she cursed under her breath, now dreading the coming event.

It didn't take much longer for the room to fill up with the royal nobles from each kingdom, respectively, and their families, as well as a few other high-esteemed individuals in the kingdoms. Serenity stood to the left of her father's throne, Godric next to her. She had a clear view of Caleb, who was on the king's right, and Emerson—the latter she tried not to focus on, but her eyes kept getting drawn to him.

Stopping her from staring too long was the sound of the piano, which was beginning to play Genevieve's entrance music. Everyone in the room rose from their seats, looking back at the doors when they opened, revealing Genevieve. The young princess was in a fitted lavender dress, her curves accentuated beautifully, with sleeves of lace, and her hair was in a bun at the top of her head. The veil matched her dress in color but was sheer in order to show off her hair, her tiara keeping the veil in place as she walked with Queen Violette down the aisle. It took them only a few seconds to get to the throne where their mother handed Genevieve's hand to Emerson, who took it and gracefully led her closer to the throne.

King Darius stood, a gigantic smile plastered on his face, "We are gathered here today," he began, "to witness the union of our very own Princess Genevieve Jewel Vixon, and his majesty King Emerson Cedric Hallow."

Serenity tuned out most of the words said. She already knew everything that needed to be said as this was supposed to be what she had done ages ago. And everything seemed to be going smoothly; everyone in the room seemed to be smiling and the vows were being read without a problem.

That was until the phrase, "If any person has any objections as to why these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace," was said.

It all happened in a blur.