Chapter 3 : The Kingdom of Aldermor

Poppy’s POV

“I’m so sorry to put you in this position, sweetheart,” my father said, reaching over his desk to squeeze my hand in apology. “It seemed like the best solution. Not only will Myrkr become a valuable trade ally, but it seems like the best way to put all this war and violence behind us.”

His reading glasses dipped down on his nose, eyeing me with concern.

I squeezed his hand back. “You know I would do anything to stop this war, dad. My people matter more than my comfort. That includes marrying…Eir-i-keer…” I trailed off, unsure how to pronounce his name. “Is that how you pronounce it?”

My father dipped his head, glancing over a stack of parchment. “They have a very thick accent, Poppy. I don’t know.” He laughed it off, but I wasn’t laughing.

It would be very rude if I didn’t know how to say his name when he arrived.

The last thing I’d want to do is offend my future husband. Not when so many lives are on the line if this engagement doesn’t go through. “When should I expect our guests?”

“Your betrothed will be arriving by the end of the week. His parents, his brothers, and his personal knight…uh…Magnus will be joining him.” My father looked down at his parchment again. “I’m mistaken. They call them ‘riddari.’ I don’t know what the damn difference is.”

With a sigh on my lips, “Please, Dad. Have some diplomacy.”

I loved my father, but he was always too forthright with his thoughts and hung onto too many old ways of thinking. If this was going to work, we needed to be accepting and interested in learning the Myrkr culture. Not bar it because it was different than ours.

“What other events do we have planned?” I asked.

“Well, after he arrives, you will meet him and we will announce your engagement to the kingdom during the Autumn Ball,” he continued reluctantly. He raised an eyebrow, only unveiling the answers to the direct question.

“When is the wedding?” I pressed. Like pulling teeth with him, I swear.

“Three months. Your mother is already starting arrangements.” Then he released a noise of frustration. “This engagement is your mother’s idea. I don’t like the idea of handing you over to a man I don’t know.” He sighed, combing some loose auburn curls out of his eyes.

A golden crown stood high off his head, golden threads twining through his curls. My crown was shaped like a diadem, matching jewels adorning my forehead. Not as extravagant as my mother, but enough to boast my status as the princess.

But I only wore it around the palace. At the clinic, or at the pub, I didn’t like wearing it. Too dangerous to go around boasting my status outside the castle. And at the pub, I would sneak around to get away from my guards long enough to enjoy myself.

I made enough public appearances that someone would recognize me if I didn’t wear a hooded robe.

Not that my father knew any of that. As far as he knew, I did charity work at the clinic and put our family in a good light. He didn’t know how dedicated I was to that work. Nor did he care. He was only interested in making sure I was safe.

He’d only increased my security if he knew what I was really up to.

I glanced back at my father.

His ears came into exaggerated points, one of them torn from wartimes. He gave me a resigned expression that aged him an extra ten years.

“I can handle myself,” I reassured him. “Besides, you’re not handing me over to anyone. I’m walking freely. At least now my wedding will mean something.”

With a sigh, he gave me an exhausted smile. “You may be all grown up, Poppy, but you’re still my baby girl. I don’t care if this man is to be your husband, if he so much as looks at you funny, I’m throwing him in prison.”

“And that, my dear father, is why I’m twenty-two and still unmarried,” I teased, standing up from my seat.

“How about you take off the rest of your studies for today? I want to give you some time to process this,” he said as if this realization deeply upset me.

Which it didn’t. In fact, a little well of excitement started to flow through my chest, overfilling like a frothing tankard of ale. I started to think that this engagement upset my father more than it upset me.

He is the one that needed time to process. Not me. I offered a curtsey before saying, “In that case, I’m off to the gardens with Dot.”

My father nodded, waving me off, his smile not reaching his eyes. “Have fun, sweetie!”

I nodded at him, turning to leave his office, the silk robe over my undergarments flowing around me. My arms fell to my sides, the large dolman sleeves swooping widely over my fingertips, hiding my hands and my jewelry. The robe was a deep, jeweled green to match my eyes and complimented my copper-red hair.

As I stepped down the steps into the gardens, guards bowed as I passed.

“Good afternoon, Princess Poppy.”

“Good afternoon to you too,” I would reply during my walk.

As it usually did, my mind wandered. I wondered what my future husband looked like. If he would like me at all.

The history between the Myrkr clan and Alder Elves went back centuries. A constant flow of conflicts. At one point, it was a land skirmish. Then an argument over which seas belonged to who. Hunting licenses. Assassination attempts on both sides. A lot of raw wounds that never healed properly.

Perhaps now it could. Our war fell into a stalemate. A standstill of tension. Joining the kingdoms could finally put all of that to rest and make both kingdoms stronger than before.

Assuming our families got along long enough to sign papers and bear the marriage sigil. And assuming my father didn’t find the first thing he disliked and threw Eirikur and his family into the dungeons, using the advantage to win the war.

But I couldn’t let that happen. I was true for my word. My father was a bit more…decieving. Very protective over me.

It wouldn’t surprise me. A guard gave me a flower for my birthday one year and my father claimed fraternization and tossed him in the dungeon for the night before transferring him to my cousin’s lordship across the forest.

Overreaction was always on the table whenever my father’s business pertained to me. My mother, on the other hand, was the more logical of the two. I was happy he had her to balance him out.

At least if a farmboy smiled at me, my father wouldn’t have him arrested when my mother was with him.

He just needed to realize that I was a woman now and not a prize made of glass. I would get married and I would be Queen. And I would eventually bear the next heir after my baby brother.

Speaking of…

A ten-year-old boy spun past me, fluffing up my overrobe before diving into a bush in the main courtyard. What in the name of Cernunnos was he doing?

The guard next to the steps gave the bush an odd look, but he ignored it. My brother was always up to mischief.

“Lorcan,” I whispered, approaching the rumbling bush. “What are you doing in there?”

His head popped up through the fauna and he glared. “You saw nothing!” He disappeared into the greenery again.

Whatever. I don’t have the capacity to get involved with whatever game he was playing this time. As if on cue, numerous boys came darting down the main hall, holding toy bows and arrows, one had a wooden sword.

The one with the wooden sword approached me, swinging it and asking in a Northern accent, “Aye, lass. Have you seen the one…called…Lorcan? Betrayer of Gods. Hider of Monsters!”

A small smile pulled at the side of my mouth as I played along, “The Mighty Lorcan? I can’t say I’ve seen him.” I slowly stepped toward the gaggle of boys, making myself seem larger than I was. I gasped, pressing the back of my hand against my forehead. “Except for the Hall of Shadows!”

All the boys gasped, looking at each other and whispering, “Is that…the trophy room?”

I nodded and the one with the wooden sword declared, “To the Hall of Shadows!” and ran off, laughing and hooting down the hallways toward the trophy room.

Lorcan jumped out of the bush. “Thanks, sis! I owe you!” And he ran off again.

With a roll of my eyes, I turned around to step over to the balcony railing to stare down at the forest. Still green. The leaves wouldn’t fall until after the Autumn Ball, marking the Solstice.

In the distance, I could see the light of town, and hear the distant hum of industry.

“I heard the news,” I heard Dot say as she joined me on the side of the balcony. “Your mom is going absolutely feral for wedding preparations.”

I laughed, looking over my shoulder at my friend. We’d been friends since we were children and she was the daughter of my mom’s handmaiden. But we really became friends when we ran into each other the first time we both snuck out of the castle.

It was a funny, fond memory of mine.

Her overrobe wasn’t as ornate as mine, but it reflected her status as a member of the castle. “I’m not surprised. She’s been looking forward to my wedding since I came of age.”

“What about your dad? How’s he taking it?”

I arched a brow at her and her cheeks pinkened. She knew the answer to that. Her dark eyes gleamed with understanding, reflecting beautifully off her peachy complexion. Black hair cascaded down her face, braided back in simple knots, with no cuffs or threads in her hair like mine.

“Right. Right.” She paused, nudging my shoulder. “How about you? What do you think about this whole arrangement?”

“I‘d marry an ogre to stop this war, Dot. At least he’s a man of drinking age. That’s my only requirement,” I replied nonchalantly.

She pursed her lips. “You’re taking this well. I expected you to argue. Throw a fit or something.”

“I pick my battles, Dot.” I released a heavy breath, leaning against the railing. “And besides, this engagement actually takes a lot of stress off me.”

“How so?”

“Now, I don’t need to deal with the pressure of finding a husband. I don’t deal with my father refusing his blessing. And better yet, I don’t have to give up my studies to be paraded around the towns to various Lords when I’m—” I put up my fingers into air quotations, “—too old to be desirable.”

My friend nodded, coming around to see things from my perspective. “You forgot the pressure of not being compatible in bed and not knowing until after you’ve already…sealed the deal.”

I recoiled. “What? I don’t care about sex, Dotty. I’m not interested in it.”

“Have you seen a Myrkr Elf?” She sighed, propping her elbows on the railing and staring wistfully out at the forest.

I snorted a very unladylike sound. “Have you?”

“No, but I’ve heard things from the traveling merchants. Insatiable, Poppy. Insatiable, greedy, sexually deviant pleasers,” she said longingly. “What I wouldn’t give to experience that firsthand.”

With a roll of my eyes, I said, “That’s you. I, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about compatibility. All that matters is the political side of it. I can deal with all other factors.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Talk to me after your wedding night, and then tell me you don’t care.”

I felt the color leave my face. Truthfully, I hadn’t given that much thought. My mouth opened and closed while I tried to find the words to say. I shrugged it off. “It doesn’t matter.”