The Vengeful Princess

Chapter 14: New Cynesige's Best Kept Secret

"She's over fifty years old, Rose!" Charles was hysteric. "She has children older than me!"

"Charles, please calm down." I attempted to reassure him, "Alex is speaking to King Francis on your behalf right now."

"He's set a meeting for the two of us already. I'm to meet her this afternoon. He told me that I have to act like a gentleman and court her. He wants me to court someone almost three times my age!" Charles paced around the room restlessly.

My heart went out to Charles. We were around the same age. However, I couldn't possibly imagine being in such a position where your own father saw you as a commodity. Nothing King Francis did surprised me anymore. That man would sell his own flesh and blood for power. Still, I couldn't shake the look of utter betrayal on Charles' face as he found out about his own marriage last night.

It had been a chaotic morning. Appearances had been kept up until the nobles had taken their leave and majority of the Privileged had retired to bed last night. Alex had somehow found out about the marriage arrangement and spent all morning with Queen Alice attempting to find another solution or a loophole through the treaty King Francis had signed, with no avail. The treaty could only be broken by King Francis or the Duchess herself, if she decided against wedding Charles.

The doors to the library swung open and Alex shuffled in. It was the first time I had seen him since I returned the Favoured hairpin. If he hadn't been bed bound for the past few days, I would've suspected that he had been avoiding me. His complexion looked a lot healthier, now tinged with colour. He had also gained some weight back, filling out his hollow cheeks. He looked much stronger.

"Were you successful?" Desperation exuded from Charles' voice.

"Father won't listen to me." Alex shook his head sadly. "If it's any consolation, you'll be saving many lives and the Southern Lands are quite beautiful. It's not ideal, but your marriage will greatly benefit New Cynesige."

Charles stared at Alex in disbelief. "I don't care about New Cynesige! I was sold, Alex. I was sold by our father. Do you not care?"

"You're my brother, of course I care!" Alex protested. "But father refuses to break the treaty. Mother and I have searched for a way out all night, but came up with nothing. There's nothing we can do."

"Then I'll find a way out by myself." Charles snarled, roughly pushing past Alex and I.

The silence that lingered in the room was unbearable. I glanced at Alex out of the corner of my eye and immediately regretted it. Frustration at his lack of power was clear on his face but there was also something else. He looked torn. Torn between choosing his brother's happiness and the wellbeing of his country.

"You may be willing to sacrifice your own happiness for New Cynesige, but you can't expect everyone else to do the same." The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"I know." His voice sounded so broken and quiet I barely recognised it. He cleared his throat, raising his voice a little. "But I'm going to be King of this country one day. I have to start thinking like one."

"I just hope that when you become the King, it is Alex that rules the country, not a mindless puppet controlled by King Francis."

Hurt flickered briefly over his features but he didn't dignify me with a response. I promptly headed for the door, my stomach boiling with turmoil at the realisation - Alex was simply another King Francis in the making.

♕

The rest of the morning went by fairly quickly. My mind was a war field, one side constantly reminding me of the sweet and kind Alex that I knew and the other side relentlessly plaguing me with thoughts of the monster he could potentially become. King Francis was really a piece of work - he had one son willing to help dethrone him while the other worshipped the ground he walked on.