Red

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

That’s how I found myself standing in one of the largest and most elaborately decorated halls in the Palace of Larilia: the throne room. I stood on a soft carpet the colour of fresh blood that ran from the door to the foot of a raised platform made of some dark wood. Upon this platform was an elegant wooden throne. The legs were carved into the forms of mighty lion’s paws, and along the edge of the entire frame were small jewels of every colour of the rainbow: deep blue sapphires, rose red rubies, beautiful amethysts and piercing black onyx were among them. When the day was clear, they would shine with the most breath-taking colours from the natural light that would stream from ten floor-to-ceiling windows. But today, the sky outside was miserably dark and grey, and they held nothing of their usual beauty.

Sitting upon a cushioned seat on his throne was a fearsome-looking man. He had deep brown hair the colour of mud that he kept short and tidy, and his tanned face was clean-shaven. His eyes were like a mirror-image of my own: shaped like an oval, and sea-green with a dark blue ring around the outside. His, however, were like solidified ocean water: frozen and unforgiving.

Nothing was said for what seemed to be hours. I stood there awkwardly, staring at the newly forming bruises along my wrists where the guards had held me. I was just rotating them gingerly, masking the pain with an expressionless countenance, when my father silently rose and made his way to a wooden writing desk that stood in a corner. I stared both curiously and anxiously as his eagle-feather quill flew across the parchment. The scritch-scratch of the tip echoed through the otherwise silent hall.

I didn’t have the courage to ask what it was he was writing, and my imagination ran wild. What if he was writing a note to the dungeon guards, advising them to lock me in the putrid, vermin-infested cells? What if he was sentencing me to death? What if I was never to see Will again? My heart hammered in my chest and butterflies did somersaults in my stomach.

I had not seen him since we were caught. He had been brutally dragged away before I could do anything more than scream. The last thing I saw of him was his pleading eyes full of anxiety and pain. His hands were bound behind his back and a foot was pushed into his back to make him, but there was nothing I could do. Yet through all that, a smile had danced upon his lips.

“All will be good, Marissa!” He had cried before they had pulled him away, “Just you remember that!”

I wished to see him more than anything, even if it was just to know that he was okay. What if they had thrown him in the dungeons? What if they had given him the death penalty?

Eventually, my Father laid down the pen and strode the length of the hall to the double doors at the end. With a solid knock, a guard received the string-tied note and, with a sharp nod, closed the door again. My curiosity had finally gotten the better of me, and in a voice that sounded surprisingly small, I asked “Father, what are you doing?”

"That was a letter to King Lorcan of Arandell” He replied, moving in front of me again, about a metre away from his throne. His eyes didn’t look straight into mine, but slightly to the left, as if he was too guilty to meet them. “He asked some weeks ago for a peace offering. He wanted my eldest daughter to wed his eldest son, Calix, and, if he received her, he would cease war upon our nation”

I could feel my jaw drop. He couldn’t of, no, he mustn’t of. “Father, you didn’t-” I started, my voice shaking but he interrupted.

“I wouldn’t have even considered it before, and that was why I was reluctant to reply, but after that dangerous stunt you pulled today with that peasant boy I have changed my mind. You wanted to escape so much, here is your chance”.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The words flew into my ears but they jumbled in my mind, forming incoherent bunches of words.

Lorcan

Arandell

Wed

Calix

Peace offering

Peasant boy

“They-they’re barbaric” I spat, stepping back a few paces and nearly tripping over my booted feet. “You can’t send me there. I know I wanted to leave, but not to marry a blood-thirsty prince. All I wanted was to get my message across, and escape to some place where there was no harsh hierarchy, where Will and I wouldn’t have to hide”

"But he is a peasant, and you are the High Princess of Larilia. He is below us, below you, and I can not believe you even considered going behind my back to see him. What would the people think, if they found out? A member of their own Royal family breaking the hierarchy. At least I have one daughter who obeys me, who doesn’t foolishly sail into a storm with a filthy stable-hand!”

I sharply took in a breath, realising now how he had found us. A small movement behind the throne caught my eye; the rust-red curtains that hid the brick wall fluttered as a lock of mousy brown hair and the corner of a sky blue dress suddenly disappeared behind its folds. My eyes widened and I turned back to meet the eyes of my father.

“Lyra” I whispered, but my voice rose as I screamed “You betrayed me! You are supposed to be my sister, Lyra, but you betrayed me! And what do you gain from this? The title of High Princess? Its not as luxurious as you may think!” I screamed my rage at that curtain, but my sister had disappeared. I was certain it was she who had been there, and she who had betrayed Will and I. I should have known.

The King’s eyes seemed to soften slightly. “I understand your anger, daughter-”, but he had no chance to continue.

“No, no you don’t!” I cried, my voice close to shrill and my hands clenching at my sides. The king’s face was turning as red as a tomato but I didn’t care in the slightest. “You do not understand me at all! All I wanted was freedom. It is like that word does not exist in this castle. I am told everything that I am to do, everything I am to wear, and everyone I am to love! Worse than that, there is no recognition from you, my father, whatsoever! You have barely a positive word to say to me, and I am left wondering what it is I have done wrong. Why can I not be left alone to be with whomever I want?”

Everything was silent except for the combined sounds of our heavy breathing. My heart hammered in my chest so hard I was certain he could hear it. I was sure he would say something back, yet he just turned on his heel and walked away without a word. He slammed the door behind him with a crash that made me flinch, and I was left there, alone.