Flight of the Five Swans

Fate Chapter 34

Dinner had been absolute torture for Ayden. The tension around the dinner table had been so thick that he felt he could have cut it with a knife—even with his butter knife. His father had been most suspicious to find out that one of the Kyorian princesses had been living under his roof for the last several weeks. He spent the entire meal shooting glances across the table at Svana—Raia, Ayden reminded himself—through narrowed eyes. This was likely a contributing factor to why Raia herself looked tense as well, though Ayden suspected that the main reason for her unease was the man who had sat next to her.

Soran, prince of Deturus—or was he the king? Whatever his title may be, he claimed to be Raia's fiancé.

Yet Ayden suspected that there might be more to the story. There had to be more to the story. All throughout dinner, Ayden had seen that Raia sat as far away from the Deturian royal as she possibly could, leaning her body so far in the opposite direction that she was nearly falling off of her seat. And when Soran insisted on escorting her to her room, she looked positively horrified. She had glanced towards Ayden and the king with a pleading expression in her eyes. Yet there had really been nothing that he or his father could have done. After all, from everything that Soran had said, Raia was the one who had been in the wrong, fleeing her wedding and taking shelter in Ithcar under false pretense. In such a delicate situation, their hands were tied. They could do nothing to intervene between the engaged couple without risking antagonizing their newest royal guest—and possibly gaining a powerful enemy in Deturus.

Still, Ayden could not get Raia's face out of his head. She had looked so worried, so frightened. The image of her eyes haunted him even now.

Ayden stood abruptly, knocking the chair over in his haste. He didn't pause even a moment to right the piece of furniture before he had stridden out of the library and down the hall towards the guest rooms.

A guard was standing outside the door to Raia's room. Ayden wished that he could say that he was surprised at the sight, but he had already guessed that Soran would likely take some kind of precaution to ensure that Raia did not flee again. From what little he'd seen of the man, Ayden knew that Soran wanted the Kyorian princess badly. And while Ayden could appreciate the girl's allure perhaps far more than anyone else, he certainly would never have dreamed of stooping so low as to bar her—or anyone—in their room. Not to mention forcing her into a marriage that she clearly did not want.

As Ayden had expected, the guard moved to prevent him entering Raia's room. "No one enters. King Soran's orders." The man said, and the curtness of his voice told Ayden that the guard had no idea who he was. Fortunately, however, this was one occasion where Ayden actually had the authority to overrule Soran's wishes. After all, the Deturian may be royalty, but he was still a guest in their palace. The Ithcarian palace—where Ayden was prince. Not only the prince, but the crown prince, heir to the throne.

Ayden could go where he damn well pleased.

He straightened his shoulders and looked the man square in the eye with a quelling gaze—one he never needed to use with his own men.

"I am Ayden, crown prince of Ithcar. You will let me pass."

The man's face whitened, and he looked for the world as though he were caught in between a rock and a hard place.

"I...I'm sorry, Your Highness," he said at last, his voice full of the deference it had previously lacked. "It's just...King Soran said...he said the princess was not to leave..."

"The princess will not be leaving. But I will be entering. Just for a moment—for a private word with the princess."

Ayden did not give the guard a chance to refuse. He simply strode right past the man and opened the door to enter.