Page 8 of The Royal Marriage Alliance

Wisteria

Iroll my eyes when I see Poppy walk into the dining room for breakfast.

It’s been a week since Father dissolved her and Florian’s marriage—a marriage Florian had no problem with being dissolved. In fact, he almost looked relieved when my father worked the magic.

Fae don’t have divorces—no supernaturals do. But since the marriage was less than twelve hours old, hadn’t been consummated, and had been performed by a human officiant, it wasn’t an ‘official’ marriage. Something my father seemed relieved by. If he hadn’t been able to dissolve the marriage, I’d be the one betrothed to the dragon crown prince.

Despite this, Poppy is being very dramatic about it all. I shouldn’t have expected anything less than that from my older sister, but even I think her attitude is a bit over the top.

Since she considers a life married to the dragon prince a ‘fate worse than death’—her words, not mine—she iswearing all black. She’s decided to mourn her old life. But a simple black dress wouldn’t do. Everything she does is over the top, so she more resembles a moody teenager than a person in mourning. A black dress, big black boots, and even black lipstick. She tried to dye her hair black, but our father drew the line. He used magic to dissolve the color back to her natural shade of strawberry blonde.

Honestly, Poppy acts like she’s the youngest in our family. Our fifteen-year-old brother has more emotional maturity than her.

“Two weeks until the end of my world,” Poppy says in a monotone voice as she plops down hard in a chair. She makes sure to turn the chair away from our father so that she’s not looking at him.

Father ignores her. The only show of his annoyance is the orange hue of his eyes.

Cypress and I share a look, but neither of us says a word. We know better than to get involved in an argument that isn’t ours.

Nobody says anything for a good three minutes. At that point, Poppy gets up, huffs loudly, and stomps out of the room. The second the door slams shut after she leaves, I take in a deep breath.

Should I be this relieved that Poppy is gone? Does it make me a bad sister? Two weeks and then she’ll be the dragon shifter’s problem. Though, maybe that is a bad thing for our alliance with them. No doubt they’ll be asking to give her back.

Cypress clears his throat. “I heard Florian has a new girlfriend. He brought her to some court function last night.”

His words make me snort, which makes him start laughing. I soon join him and even our father cracks a smile. With us is the only place Father can shed his impassivemask and just be himself. Though, it doesn’t last long—it never does.

Father sits up straighter. “I need the two of you at the council meeting tomorrow.”

A groan slips past my lips. “Please tell me they’re not discussing my marriage candidates again.”

He shakes his head. “That’s for Friday’s meeting. Tomorrow we’re discussing a potential alliance with the elementals.”

I cock an eyebrow at that. “But they hate other supernaturals.”

He doesn’t deny it. “So do fae.”

Cypress smirks at that. “Except the dragons.”

Dragons are the only supernaturals that fae have ever made an alliance with, which is why we’re in this mess to begin with.

Of course fae like dragon shifters—they’re the only supernaturals on the planet that can match our strength. Or, at least,couldmatch our strength. That was before our magic started to weaken. Now, I’m not sure where we stand on the supernatural hierarchy scale. It’s why we keep to ourselves so much.

What will the dragon shifters think when they realize how weak Poppy’s magic is? Then again, with her attitude, her level of magic will be the least of their worries.

That night, Poppy doesn’t show up for dinner. When Father sends for her, the guards can’t find her. The same thing happens the next night, and again the next.

Poppy is gone from the castle, though Father can’t figure out how she managed it. But I know. It’s all my fault. I was the one who broke his compulsion. I made her promise not to do anything stupid and fae can’t lie. I took that for it granted without considering that what Poppy and I consider ‘stupid’ are two very different things.

I take a deep breath, trying not to stress about it too much. She’ll show back up eventually and when she does, Father will make sure she can’t leave again.

It isn’t until the fourth day that Poppy finally shows up. And when she does show up, she is brought directly to Father’s office, where he and I are going over notes from our previous council meeting.

Poppy has a smug look on her face and each of her arms is held in place by a fae guard. Her black clothes are, thankfully, gone. But I don’t like the fact that her eyes are the brightest blue I’ve ever seen. Poppy doesn’t do happy.

“Where have you been?” Father clenches his jaw as he glances from the papers to Poppy. His entire body stiffens as he looks into her eyes. “What did you do?”

She lifts her shirt, showing a small bandage on her abdomen. “I found a solution to my problem.”

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