Page 21 of Legends of Sorcery
“What happened? Do you want to talk about it?” Arion asked surprising them both when he took a seat next to her on the large stone.
She sighed and laid her head against his shoulder. Arion felt like her only true friend in all of Amaria and she wasn’t even sure he liked her most of the time. Being a princess was a lonely life, so she grabbed tight to even the slightest show of kindness he gave her even knowing how pathetic that made her.
“He is pressuring me to marry,” she confessed. “The Duke of Chellgar has made him an offer. Father likes the idea of me betrothed to a Gavalonian, though at the feast he is throwing in my honor next month, he is inviting the upper elite throughout all six kingdoms of Amaria, still he favors those from Gavalon.”
“But you do not?” Arion asked.
Valaria snorted. “The Duke is twenty years older than I am. He’ll want children immediately to secure his line for the throne. I’m not ready for all that. Plus he disgusts me. We’ve only met once several years ago, but all I remember is that his breath smelled worse than a pig pen.”
They both laughed. “So you’re really going to marry the smelly breath Duke?”
Valaria sobered quickly. “Not if I can help it. Besides, I know you think I’m exaggerating, so come to the feast and stay for the ball and see for yourself.”
Arion actually considered it. “When?”
Valaria relaxed and smiled for the first time all day. “It’s on the next full moon.”
“That is my birthday,” he whispered.
“Then I shall save you an extra piece of cake to celebrate.”
Chapter 8
Arion and Valaria walked the forest and countryside finding very few untreated unicorns. They talked and laughed as they passed the time. It surprised them both how well they got along.
“The sun is high in the sky. We aren’t far from the castle. Do you want to stop in for lunch before we continue?” Valaria asked.
“I’ve never been in the castle,” Arion confessed.
“Well it’s about time you did. Come on,” Valaria said leading the way.
Arion felt out of place as they entered the castle. Valaria was wearing pants and a tunic, having given up on dresses and returned to her preferred attire, not much different from his own clothing. Beyond the castle walls they’d felt much like equals, but the moment they stepped inside it was like the air around her changed.
Several people did a double take as they passed and a few older ladies grimaced at her appearance behind her back. Arion hadn’t missed it though. People stop and bowed, curtsied, or at least nodded in acknowledgement everywhere they went.
For the first time Arion it dawned on Arion just how important the princess really was, and he started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” she asked nudging him in the gut with her elbow.
“It’s just, wow. I mean Zallon doesn’t even bow to your father when he visits, It never once occurred to me that I should be showing you that kind of respect. I mean look at you,” he whispered jokingly earning himself a harder elbow this time.
“I’m just me, Arion,” she said seriously. She liked that he didn’t adhere to the pomp and circumstance that came with being a princess. Since the first moment they met he had always treated her like any other person he encountered, unaffected and unimpressed by her title.
“Oh, I’m aware,” he teased. “Your highness,” he added with an exaggerated bow.
Valaria rolled her eyes. “Please don’t ever do that again. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
At the royal kitchen, Valaria commanded the room from the moment she walked in. She ordered what sounded like a large amount of food to Arion and told them they would be taking it in her private quarters.
“Come along, Arion,” she said in a voice he had never heard and didn’t like. He gritted his teeth and followed anyway.
Once back in the hallway she sighed and morphed back into her normal self.
“What was that all about?” Arion asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean who were you back there? It was weird.”
