Edaedien

Chapter I

Adrian.

I sigh, dropping my chin into my hand heavily and allowing my eyes to trail across my untouched food. When will this gruesome repetition end?

"...from Abaosean. Or what about Miss Eleanor from Ibaywien? I hear her family has quite the garden; I know how you love to be outside." Mother smiles at me sympathetically, as if this small gesture of her caring enough to accommodate my interests will make up for her incessant rambling.

"Adrian," a deeper voice rings out from the head of the table. It comes from my father, in all his haughtiness and absolute and utter care for me. Of course, though, Mother and Father only want what's best for me-and are naturally inclined to believe they always know exactly what that is.

I avoid his eyes, muttering into my hand. "You know how I don't want a suitor."

"Look at me when you speak to me, Adrian," Father says. I reluctantly turn my head to find his eyes boring into me. This same stare used to make me squirm; it felt like two daggers had pierced my skin and torn my very soul beneath it. Not only does it not invoke the same feeling, it warrants no reaction at all. Perhaps there is no longer a soul within me to pierce. Surely, the long hours I have spent in these rants have drained it by now.

"Now," Father continues, staring his weary old life away, though he should know by now that it won't affect me, "listen to your mother. Venus," he turns his head to Mother, inviting her to speak.

Mother frowns, gazing at me with genuine sadness in her eyes. She's always been more sympathetic to me than Father, always cared about what I wanted.

"Adrian..." she begins, "I know you'd love it all too much if you could keep yourself free from the ties of marriage, but... You are our only son. The only one who can carry on our family's legacy. You know what would happen to our people if power fell into other hands."

I sigh. There's nothing to argue with-no means of retaliation. Had our family not come to rule Edaedien three generations ago, the poor, the middle-class, possibly every citizen of the kingdom would still be living on less than two coppers a day.

Mother reaches her hand across the table and brushes her fingers over my hand. "It's ok to be reluctant, darling. We can always wait longer for you to find a suitor."

She smiles at me, and, somewhere deep in my heart, it tugs on a string of emotion-obligation, almost. I return her affections, however forced it may look. I know she cares for me, and I know I have to try-if only for her and no one else.

I jump suddenly, feeling something cold touch my arm. A burst of cheerful giggling follows my actions and the face of a certain wide-eyed, smiling child comes into my view.

"Paisley!" I laugh, taking her little hands to help her clamber into my lap. "Now, what are you doing here, Princess? Shouldn't you be off with Miss Judith?"

"No, no!" says Paisley, bouncing in her extreme and entirely un-contained excitement, "I ran away from her! Miss Judith could not catch me!"

"Oh, dear, whatever shall I do with you now?" I exclaim, scooping her up and raising her above my head, causing her to shriek in delight. "I can't let you go or, surely, you would escape!"

"No, no!" Paisley repeats as I set her back down on my lap, "I wouldn't run from you! Not from you! You are much too fast! Much faster than Miss Judith!"

"Oh, no, I could never be as fast as Miss Judith! Why, you train her speed at all hours, what with your habits of running away like this! No, Miss Judith must be the fastest living thing in the entire palace!"