Sage in the Sea

Perfect Image

I took Piers' arm as the herald announced our names. Piers led me out onto the balcony to the sea of people standing beneath it. My eyes ran over all of the faces. The young, the old, the men, the women, the children. People of all different sizes and colors. All of them gathered to see us. To see me.

It was a miraculous thing. Just two weeks previously, I had been anonymous. No one outside of the facility, outside of my family and friends, had known who I was. Now the entire kingdom would know my name. They would know of all of my accomplishments at the facility, of what I would be doing in the future. No longer would I be anonymous. However, they would never truly know who I was. They would never know my parents, my friends, what I had done before I was at the facility. It was as though that part of me had died.

Perhaps it had.

I did not feel as though I were the same person I had been before the facility. And I wasn't. I knew that and I was slowly beginning to embrace it. The facility had given me many tools that I would be able to use to fight against the oppression that the king had imposed upon us all. He was one person. One person among thousands.

I did not think I could take Lysander's offer. I hated to think of it as Piers began speaking to the people in front of us. It was not the time nor the place to think of such things, but as I looked out at the people in front of me, I knew I could not abandon them. They were my people now. They were my family. A person did not simply abandon their family. Shamus had proven that.

No, I would stay and fight. I would use Shamus' position, Piers' rank, and Lysander's budding friendship to fight back. Not all wars had to be fought with weapons. Some of the greatest wars were fought with words.

And that was not something I lacked.

I pushed the thoughts from my mind as I turned to face Piers, giving him my full attention as any wife should. I tried to look at him as though he were the person I had the most respect for, the most admiration. A woman was to worship her husband. She was always to be by his side, no matter how tough times became.

We were in a tough time, yet I was there, standing next to him. The people in front of us did not see how hard it had been for the past two weeks. They did not know of the punishments I had endured to be next to Piers. All they knew was that I had excelled in everything at the facility except for sewing and even that was improving.

I had to be the perfect image of a wife. That was my one job when I was in the public, according to Miss. Dolloway. She'd said the words as though they made her ill. What happened behind closed doors was not to be taken into the open. It was what was best for everyone involved.

As Piers announced me to the people below, I turned away from him and forced a smile onto my face, taking his arm and stepping to the railing of the balcony. The people below clapped politely. No one dared to react too joyfully or not joyfully enough. Even they had a fine line to walk.

"A message from the king and queen," the herald shouted as he resumed his spot at the podium. Piers and I turned away from the crowd to face the herald. "'It is an honor to welcome our future daughter into our household. We are extremely proud of our son, the prince, for having chosen such an accomplished young woman. She shall make an excellent princess and an excellent queen when the time comes.

"'We would like to thank the phenomenal trainers at the facility for producing such a quality woman. Our kingdom would not be capable of functioning as it does if it were not for the hard working people of the facility. We look forward to what the future brings and to the future girls who graduate from the facility.

"'We wish our son and his future wife all the best and we hope that they have a wonderful marriage as we do'," the herald concluded. I swallowed hard, forcing the smile to remain on my face as we turned back around to the crowd.