The Whiteriver 1

What in the light's name does Irene want to talk to me about?

"Why in the world are you married to prince Liam? He's a devil." Irene said.

Why would Irene think prince Liam is a devil? Wait... Does she know of the secret Queen Charlotte has desperately been protecting? But how?

"What are you saying, Irene?" I asked.

"You know I was doubting it when I heard you got married to prince Liam and not his father. I did great research about him and princess Nardin? Your husband is a devil." She explained.

"Where did you read that?" I asked.

"I didn't read it. A relic told me. He defeated hundreds of well-armed warriors in a battle without a sword and has since then allegedly been termed evil. I had my doubts at first but when Queen Charlotte instructed me never to spend time in this room....." She continued but a knock on the door cut her off.

"Princess Nardin, the king and queen want you down as soon as possible." A guard's voice spoke.

"I'm coming." I responded. "Irene, we can discuss this later right?" I said.

"Of course. We should hurry." Irene said.

She quickly retouched my makeup and straightened my dress before we went down.

As I got down the staircase, King Albert, Queen Charlotte, and Prince Liam were already standing all dressed waiting for me. But before they realized I was there my husband the prince was already getting pissed off.

"Really mother? So we have to spend hours waiting for your daughter-in-law. What does she even know about this festival anyways." Prince Liam said.

"Keep calm son. Your brothers are not here yet anyway." King Albert said.

Yes, the brothers he spoke of were his half brothers. The boys the king had with his conversations. They were equally royalty and so had the right to attend the Devata festival with King Albert as their father. The only people not permitted to come were their mothers as they weren't considered royalty.

"I'm sorry I took a lot of time." I apologized to get their attention.

All three of them turned towards me and their jaws dropped. I could see in their eyes that they were impressed with my looks.

"Oh, lights. You look beautiful my dear." Queen Charlotte complimented me.

"Thank you, your majesty." I responded politely with a bow.

"Can we go now?" Prince Liam said. I'm sure he was impressed but why was he hiding it and acting all tough. Well, his loss.

"Okay, let's go." King Albert said.

We all headed out to meet the rest of Prince Liam's half-brothers already waiting by the chariot.

"Hello, father." The eldest greeted King Albert.

"Hello, son." King Albert responded and they gave each other a side hug.

"Your majesty." He bowed to the queen then turned towards me.

"And you must be princess Nardin." He said smiling.

"Yes, I'm princess Nardin." I responded nervously.

"Oh. Nice to finally meet you, my princess. I'm Prince Percy." He said.

"Nice to meet you too." I said then I stretched out my hand for a handshake.

Percy took my hand but didn't let go of it easily. "You're really beautiful." He said smiling and staring right into my eyes but before I could respond Liam stepped in.

"Of course she is. Wifey we're riding together." Liam said and pulled me away from Percy who in turn smiled slyly.

I rode in the same chariot with my husband prince Liam, Percy, and the other three brothers rode together while the King and Queen rode together.

As we were riding, I wanted to start up a conversation with my husband who seemed uninterested in talking to me. I thought of what to say to get his attention before I finally spoke up.

"Ehm, so your brother...." I started.

"Half brother." He interrupted.

"Oh right. You half-brother Percy. He's nice. He seems cool." I said.

Liam scoffed before he responded. "Stay away from him princess, He's not as nice as he seems. Those smiles of his are just a facade" Liam said with an expressionless face.

"But he seems kinder than your other half brothers," I said but this time Liam ignored me.

"Why don't you all get along?" I asked again.

"Are you really interested in knowing my brothers?"

"Yes. I mean if your father regards them as his sons and your mother doesn't have a problem with that then maybe I should equally get to know them."

"Keep your distance from them, Nardin, I mean it." Liam said.

"Liam, I'm your wife and I think you should treat me with respect before I'll be able to obey your words." I said without even realizing it.

"Obey my words?" Liam looked surprised. "You know I respect you a lot, Nardin."

"But you still brought your mistress into our bedroom." I said.

"That... That was a mistake. I shouldn't have done that knowing that I have a wife now. It won't happen again." He said.

Hold on, did prince Liam just admit that I'm his wife? And is that his way of apologizing? Oh my gosh. Should I take this as a good sign?. I smiled to myself as I looked around until my gaze cut Percy's. She grinned at me without taking off his strange gaze. His stare makes me very uncomfortable. I managed a fake smile and nodded at him then quickly took my eyes off his direction. I could still feel his eyes on me though I wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Ignore him, he's like that sometimes." Liam said to me.

I hadn't even realized he noticed Percy's stare.

After a long journey, we finally arrived at the Whiteriver.

"We're here." Prince Liam said. It was a big castle. I'm sure it could contain over a hundred thousand guests but being that only royalties from just five kingdoms were only permitted to be there, I'm sure the hall would seem almost empty.

Prince Liam got out of the ride first and gave me a hand. I took his hand and got out of the ride then he linked his arm with mine.

"Calm your nerves, Akalon is the most looked up to kingdom here." Liam said.

"We'll be the last to make a grand entrance after the fourth kingdom is announced." Queen Charlotte said.

Soon the fourth kingdom was announced. Avira kingdom. Then the royalties started to make their way into the castle and my eyes caught one of the royalties. It was Maya, my sister. She and three other women followed the king of Avira as he had his arm linked with his first queen.