The Heirs

Andrew and Amara: Puzzle Pieces

Chapter 38:

(Andrew POV) -Tangu-

I reread the chapter that Amara had left for me and I had read through the marriage laws of Tangu and I was still having a hard time figuring out what she wanted to tell me. "Come on, what am I missing." It was pretty clear that in Tangu that she had to agree to the marriage by herself and in Krygastonia that her husband had to kidnap her and keep her away for two weeks. But she was in Tangu now, all she had to say was that she didn't want the marriage and then she wouldn't have to be married. I had to be missing something. I flipped through the pages of the book when I saw some writing on one of the other pages. I flipped back and remembered there was another chapter she wanted me to read. I was flipping to the first page of the chapter when the library doors opened. I closed the book quickly and tucked it away.

I looked up and saw Mom come in, "Hey, how are you feeling?" I shrugged not really wanting to talk. She sighed, "You talked to your Dad before, right?" I nodded my head, "Yeah Mom we talked." She nodded to herself and then reached into a pocket, "Zandar was supposed to give this to you but, he asked if I could it's from Amara." I looked up at her and she looked defeated as she handed it over to me, "I hate what all of this is doing to you." I heard her voice whisper. "Mom," she looked back at me, "I promise you once I figure out how I actually feel about all of this I will talk about it with you, ok?" She smiled and nodded, "Yeah baby. See you later."

I looked over the handkerchief. There was an elaborate patter she embroidered on it, but it wasn't as clean as her usual work was. She usually painstakingly focused on each stitch and would never give me anything she didn't deem perfect. Something was going on with it but, I couldn't tell what it was. I put it down for a while and refocused on the book and flipped open to the new chapter page.

-Flashback-

Amara was leaning into me as I sat behind her. She was working on something embroidering it carefully. She held it up and I could hear her frown, "It looks great." She shook her head, "No, it's not. I can do better." She then began pointing out all the tiny blemishes in her work. She put it down and smiled up at me, "You will see. It will be great." I chuckled, "Anything you do will be great." She rolled her eyes, "Yes but this one needs to be perfect." She refocused on her work and I relaxed as I watched her work.

- two months later -

Amara placed a present in my lap and I looked up at her confused. "What is this for?" I asked. "Just open it," she smiled again. I warily opened the box and I saw the handkerchief she had been working on before. As I held it up I saw that she was right. Every stitch was intentional and deliberate. Individually those blemishes before were unnoticed but, after seeing this I couldn't help but notice where they had been before. I looked over at her and she smiled, "I know that you said that your Dad keeps something from your Mom tied to the reigns of his saddle. I figured maybe you'd want something to remind you of me." I placed it down, "It's perfect." Her smile turned to a smirk, "I told you it would be. I'd never give you anything that wasn't perfect." "You know that I'd love whatever you gave me, right?" I asked. She nodded her head, "I know doesn't change the standard of care I am going to give."

(Amara POV)

I hoped Dad gave the handkerchief to Andrew and that he could figure it out. I had a large cotton cloth laid out in front of me and my embroidery threads. It was all I could really do right now without everyone looking over everything that I do. I hummed quietly to myself as I made my way around the boarder of the fabric in an intricate combination of patterns. I didn't know what I was going to do next at each point but it didn't matter I just needed to do something. The attendants began switching who would stand in the room and in the halls but I tried not to think about them. I finished the border of the fabric and looked at the blank canvas I had in front of me. An idea hit me and I began working on the top left corner. I focused on each individual detail as I cleared my mind of everything else.

A loud knock startled me and brought my attention to the door. I turned to the attendant in the room and gestured for her to open it as I folded up my work and put it at the foot of my bed. I stood up with my head facing the ground. I knew that it was none of my family members coming to visit me. I heard footsteps stomp on the ground as the ambassador made his way inside. "Princess Amara." I went into a semi-curtsey not saying anything. I stood up and looked at him, "Your fiancé will be here in two days and you will be married the following day. You are not to leave this room besides for meals until his arrival. Do you understand?" I nodded my head and he smirked to himself, "Very good. Malcolm did an excellent job with the selection." Selection? I thought to myself. But I stayed focus on a point on the wall. "Well I have arrangements I must make before the wedding including withdrawing you from school," I still didn't react. He smirked and bowed, "Princess." He left the room and I kept myself collected as I went back to my work. I was constantly being watched and I didn't want any of them to see me weak but I added a teardrop shape into the pattern on the four corners of the cloth to remind myself how I actually felt even if the world couldn't know.

(Andrew POV)

The chapter I had forgotten about was about Royal Traditions. I flipped through the pages quickly until I landed on a family tree where I saw her handwriting before. She had circled two members of the family tree. I looked down the line and I realized that one of them was the most current generation. This must have been the prince that she was engaged to: Crown Prince Shahid of Krygastonia. I wasn't sure what this all meant but, I knew there had to be more

I looked at the handkerchief that she had given me and it was unfolded and twisted on the table. I went to pick it up when I saw that the stitches started lining up. I began moving the fabric around and the lines lined up again connecting at the blemish that she had made. I kept going and then the twisted fabric had a word displayed in front of me: Malcolm. There was clearly a few pieces to this puzzle but I wasn't seeing what she wanted to tell me. I kept staring at it as it laid out in front of me.

Crown Prince Shahid, Malcolm, Bridal Kidnapping Rules...
Crown Prince Shahid, Malcolm, Bridal Kidnapping Rules...
Crown Prince Shahid, Malcolm, Bridal Kidnapping Rul...

It hit me. I flipped back to the pages and reread what she underlined just to make sure that I wasn't getting this wrong:

- a man must kidnap his intended bride from her family

- he must keep his bride away for two weeks then they are to marry whenever the grooms chooses.

Crown Prince Shahid, never kidnapped Amara, Malcolm did. He has no claim over her and Amara underlined that the groom chooses. Could that mean that he doesn't want this either? My head was spinning. I looked over at the book that I had on the rules for Tangu. The marriage has to be of both parties own volition. Clearly there was some reason why Amara was agreeing to go through with it that she wasn't going to tell us, but if I could figure out another way to get her out of this. I flipped the book back open to Royal Traditions to make sure that there was nothing about princes have arranged marriages when I saw the family tree again. There was another family member circled and I looked it over and the name was familiar. It was from one or two generations ago and it was a cousin: Asrar Percival of Krygastonia. What was his role in all of this? Could he have something to do with why Amara wasn't fighting this marriage?