Arand's Fighting Princess

Forced

Princess Aria finally finished getting ready after a couple hours later, in which she ate breakfast and lunch and played around with her new puppy, Snow, while her handmaids helped her get ready. During all the time she had taken to get ready, King Stefan was working in what he hoped would be a pleasant surprise for Princess Aria. He had gathered the most noble and important guys that were around her age or not too much older because since she was already 17 she had to think about marriage. He preferably wanted her to pick someone from another kingdom in order to unite his kingdom to theirs to avoid the conflict that had been brewing for years. They all came in from all the kingdoms and finally, after much preparation, it was time for the ball to start. Back in her room, Princess Aria reluctantly left Snow on her bed and started walking towards the ballroom. She was really nervous and anxious because all eyes would be on her. 'Shouldn't I already be used to this?' she thought to herself nervously.

Finally, she reached the staircase and looked down into the expectant eyes of her father and the curious eyes of everyone else, except for Hunter's. His eyes had another different emotion that she could not recognize.

'What is it?' she thought as she slowly and hopefully gracefully walked down the stairs with a trembling smile on her face.

Meanwhile, in the same room a strange and very handsome prince looked at her with a smirk in his eyes. 'My, my, my. You have grown so much. You are a very lovely woman now. I will make you mine, even if it takes forcing you' the 28 year old prince thought with a sly smirk.

Near him, Hunter was observing Aria as she walked down the stairs gracefully, yet nervously. He admired the wine red dress that seemed to float all around her with the also red corset with gold detailings. She looked stunning. She could have gotten any man's heart that is in this room and probably already did for she for sure already had his. Finally, she reached the bottom step and exhaled. It seemed like a spell had been broken for then the musicians started playing, everyone started talking, and a lot of people were walking towards her. She really wanted to talk to everyone, but first she had to talk to her dad since he had said that he has a surprise for her that could not wait till the end and has to be revealed right now. She then started walking to King Stefan and passed a lot of disappointed faces along the way, until she arrived to where her dad was seated on his throne on the podium. "Sit my darling" King Stefan said to her as he motioned for her to sit in the throne next to him which was normally reserved for her older sister Alexa, but since it was her birthday, they switched their seats for today at their father's request.

She then sat down next to him and asked him "What did you want to tell me father?"

He then looked at her and said " You are one of the best daughters a man could ask for and know you are officially a woman and because of that I want to give you something that you will cherish for the rest of your life and something that will keep both you and us safe"

Aria looked at him nervously and cautiously, dreading what he was going to say. "I got you candidates" he finally said.

"Candidates?" she dreadfully asked.

"Yes. Candidates to be your future husband"

When Aria heard that she started coughing out of shock. Her dad patted her back until she stopped and waited for her to say something. "Dad...I don't want to get married right now"

King Stefan seemed a bit taken aback, but then he gathered his composure and said "I know, but I brought them so they could meet you and I know you don't want to marry right now, but I want you to meet them and pick out a couple worthy candidates and get to know them for a year. Next year you will be getting married"

"But-" she protested but was interrupted by her father who sternly said "You have to do it. I am counting on you. The truth is... the relationships between the kingdoms are strained. We barely get along and I need something to reinforce our relationship with at least one other kingdom. I would have your older sister do it, but she is the first heir to the throne. She needs to marry someone from this kingdom. I will not have any other person from another kingdom sit on my throne... at least not yet"

Aria looked at her father sadly and reluctantly said "Okay. I will do it if it means that my beloved kingdom and my family will be safe from harm"

"That's my daughter" her father said brightly and hugged her "I love you"

"I love you too.... Dad"

After that, King Stefan gave her one last squeeze then walked away to greet his best friend, the king of Geneve, King Derek. She watched her father walk away from her then turned around the other way and looked at the smiling crowd. 'Oh boy' she thought nervously as she saw a guy notice her looking at him and wink and smiled at her. She looked away and immediately started walking away from the guy and headed for the huge chocolate fountain instead. 'A girl needs a break' she thought as she piled her plate with all sorts of stuff and covered it all with chocolate. She then went to go sit down when she heard a man's voice say "Well someone's hungry" She then looked up and her blood ran cold.

AN: Haiiii guys! I am so sorry that I kinda left it on a cliffhanger, but I wanted to save it for the next chapter. Also, I just wanted to say that I will try to upload at least one chapter every day, although I will probably miss some days sometimes. I love ya'll!