Reign of love and war

II. Sacrifice

Confusion, hate, anger, sadness. Emotions, thoughts, possibilities, and alternatives that were disturbing Elaine's mind since the moment her uncle left the council chamber.

I'll do nothing, I give in, I'll marry him, she considered for a second. Then the thought of her in a white gown and a Prince at the altar clouded her mind. Doing nothing would mean following her uncle's orders, doing nothing would mean giving him the satisfaction of her saying the words she was so scared to pronounce. I do.

No. There had to be another way, but how? She was pacing around her room unable to sleep, it was almost three in the morning but her stubborn brain kept racing around the same topics: marriage, uncle, war.

She tried to distract herself with something else but in the darkness of night, when she is alone in her chambers with no one else to bother her, there was nothing else to think of. After the meeting, most of her father's most trusted advisers had asked her why she had rejected the offer of marrying another strong noble, she tried to convince them that she had made the wisest decision, but the truth is she didn't exactly understand the reason behind her rejection to such an important proposal.

There was only one thing she knew for sure: for her to be respected in this world in which power was the most important and valuable possession any king or queen could acquire, she would eventually need to marry someone to form an even stronger bond to fight against the upcoming obstacles.

It was not a secret that her kingdom, the Kingdom of Araledon, was slowly losing its power that it had so hardly gained through the years and it was her responsibility to keep it afloat, so why not marry him? A small part of her knew that fear was the only reason behind her constant doubt. When trying to make a decision she hardly ever stuttered but now she was trembling with every step she took, stepping on uneven surfaces and one wrong step could make her fall into an endless abyss.

She had personally seen the horrible things an arranged marriage could cause, she had been the one standing there late at night when she heard every violent fight that happened between her parents, she was too young, too innocent to hear every hurtful word her mother screamed at her father. Young or not she knew that an arranged marriage meant no love, life is not a fairytale, but still getting married in any way meant having some part of you attached to them, a part that they could either use it in your favor or completely turn it against you. And the later was the reason for her growing fear, the reason why her father was not here anymore.

He slowly drowned with every word and every insult thrown at him until it was too much for him to bear and he couldn't get back up anymore.

It was not a nice story but he did it for his kingdom, he saved thousands of people with the bond formed in that marriage. Elaine wanted to save her kingdom too, she knew the price to pay was big but if sacrificing her future would save a thousand lives then she was ready to do it in a heartbeat, after all, that was the only thing that was firmly engraved in her mind: be loyal to your roots, the Kingdom of Araledon comes first.

She knew she had to tell her uncle the change of plans because every second wasted on self-doubt was a second closer to losing everything and losing someone completely.

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Elaine was pacing in front of a door she knew too well, her nails were piercing her arms enough to create a pain that could distract her from the weight of the choice she was about to make. This will either save the future of her kingdom, destroy hers, or both.

The door opened to reveal a furious man, maybe coming at three in the morning wasn't the wisest decision but she had to make it official or else she would never have the strength again to make such an important choice for her life, she had to tell her uncle she would marry Prince Caspian.

"Lord Hales, I'm sorry for showing up at such an inconvenient time but I've made up my mind, I'll marry Prince Caspian." her heart was racing and her hands kept pressing harder into her arm trying to keep her stable. Any sign of weakness shown to her uncle was a potential threat to her safety and she was already showing too much.

"Well, I'm glad you finally came to your senses, Your Majesty. I'll arrange a dinner with Prince Caspian and his family to make the official announcement of the Royal Wedding." If he noticed her unease he didn't mention it as he always did, he simply closed the door of his chamber and left her alone in the hallway.

A huge weight was lifted off her shoulders, her mind couldn't quite understand the consequences this huge step in her life would cause her but she was proud of herself. However, there was a part of her, the smallest one and the one fueled by hatred and revenge, that was annoyed by the idea of her doing yet again what her uncle told her to do, but this was the last time he would see her following orders. What she didn't know is how much this kingdom loves to live by lies.

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