My Enemy, My Love

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢

Anurak [Phuwin]

two weeks after the wedding...

I rode past the royal palace at an easy pace. The warm sun cast a golden hue over the river ahead, the palace's white walls shimmered in the light, its tall spires puncturing the sky like the watchful eyes of gods. Even from this distance, the splendor of it was humbling, but it did little to distract me from the thoughts that I had eagerly hoped to escape.

News from the West was impossible to ignore; like a bitter wind it seeped through every crack and crevice. At home, it had become the focus of every conversation. Father was growing restless and in his agitation, he had been drafting proposals to present before the King - campaigns to bolster our military numbers, to station at least half the army along the borders. 

He was convinced that war would spill over, and after hearing the latest reports, I couldn't blame him.

Blood stained the streets in the West. Gruesome tales of assassinations, hangings, and beheadings haunted the ears and minds of the nobility. Death travelled through neighbouring towns, taking with Him women and children; those who resisted were shot, and those who fled were hunted down and imprisoned. Two Kings were dead. Reports of advancing armies, their banners flying as they marched eastward, were now reaching us, too. 

We could no longer ignore it. 

Even Thyme, I imagined, would feel the pressure by now. Bangkok and Chonburi would need to make similar preparations if they had any hope of avoiding catastrophe. Surely his marriage was only the beginning of their strategy. Despite the chaos, I found myself here, riding not with purpose but to escape the tension that suffocated me at home. It felt indulgent, even irresponsible, but I couldn't bear another hour of listening to my father's relentless planning or my mother's whispered fears.

The sound of hooves on wood brought me out of my thoughts. Just ahead, a figure on horseback was crossing the bridge over the river. As I drew closer, recognition sparked like a flame in my chest. 

Ray.

He sat tall in the saddle, his dark hair catching the light as he guided his horse with practiced ease. His presence here, so close to the palace, shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. And with that surprise came an unwelcome flood of nerves.

"Anurak," he called as I approached, his voice carrying over the gentle rush of the river below. There was a smile on his lips, small but unmistakable, and it sent a pang through me that I couldn't name.

"Ray," I replied, reigning my horse to a stop beside him. "Out for a ride?"

"Something like that," he said, glancing out over the fields that stretched beyond the bridge. 

We fell into step together, our horses trotting side by side as we moved away from the bridge and onto the dirt path that cut through the fields. Ray's gaze shifted to the horizon, his profile caught in the pale glow of the afternoon sun.

"Do you think they'll breach the eastern kingdoms?" I asked, breaking the silence. "If the West advances any further, Bangkok and Chonburi will have no choice but to act. They are the most powerful after all with greater military capacity. Both kingdoms could summon troops of up to fifteen thousand men."

Ray adjusted the reins of his horse, his expression hard to read. "They'll act, but the question is how...and when.."

I nodded, letting his words sink in. "My father wants the King of Phuket to station troops at the border. He says waiting for them to come to us would be a death sentence."