PROLOGUE - LUCAS

By the look on aunt’s face, you would think the wedding was hers and not Alex’s. Heaven stands besides the pew closest to the altar, chin high and cheeks ablaze. Odin beside me is slightly flushed too, but nerves are different than the ego boost that comes with getting your way.

My voice sounds shaky against my best efforts. “Are you okay?” He fixes his tie, green eyes darting everywhere. Big, thick fingers fumble with the knot. “Don’t asphyxiate yourself,” I warn. If I’m being honest, he looks a bit sick. Purple isn’t a color meant for a soldier’s face.

The church is crowded. People from the media, commoners, guards, royals, and nobles. Even the council decided to come. Everyone is here to watch my sister get married and a general become king. I’d think he’d be more excited, which is why it’s surprising to see his frame hunched, his hands shaking on his collar.

“This isn’t going the way I planned,” is all he allows, giving up with the tie, his mother next to him fixing the crooked angle. Her touch is light even if her son dwarfs her dainty figure.

“So you’re scared? Or are you having regrets? I could tell Alex to call off the wedding if you’d like,” I tease, smirking.

He returns the same rueful smile, his tie finally in place. “I’m more scared of her than I am of the rebels.” His mother beside him finds it in her to smile begrudgingly. There’s something about her I don’t like. She seems innocent, conniving. Which means she’s not.

I shift my weight. The irony of the wedding and the circumstances surrounding it is astounding. “Bet you didn’t see that one coming. Life has a weird way of working out.”

He echoes my sentiment. “I didn’t think I’d ever become a king. I guess you didn’t think I’d become one, either.”

“Dad wanted you since he first met you,” I say, standing up from the big yet uncomfortable couch in the waiting room right next to the common room of the church. Speaking of father gives me something to look forward to. In some ways, this wedding is everything he wanted for Alexandra. If he had no doubt in Odin, neither should I.

Odin rolls his thunderous shoulders. “He told me so himself, but I never thought Alex would end up marrying me.”

I shrug. “Guess you’re just lucky then.”

The mockery and wonder in his voice are gone, his hands on his sides suddenly steady as he holds my gaze. “That I am.”

I respond in kind, fixing him a stern glance. “And if you dare to hurt her, you’ll have me to worry about.”

He smiles, shaking his head. “Believe me, she knows how to guard her back. A little stubborn, she is.”

Understatement of the year.

The people behind us are the main ‘actors’ of the wedding. Because that’s almost what this is. A play the country will watch to entertain themselves and calm the boredom capable of sparking an almost-revolution while we play along hoping they’ll buy the whole thing. Chloesa’s family, the council, and Alexandra’s maids in waiting are all here. Everyone who matters for Alex is behind, almost as if we were backstage about to perform a show.

Everyone but Greece. And Logan.

Logan, I understand. Watching the woman you love married off to someone who wasn’t here months ago must be a big hit. But Greece, Alexa’s best friend, she had to be here. Show Alexandra her support, be the crutch she needed.

Alexa isn’t here. She’s the bride, and she swore she needed a couple of minutes by herself to gain back her composure. I left her in the chapel as she whispered a greeting to our parents’ boxes. She’s not the same girl I spoke to when the bird in my chamber appeared.

She’s grown, matured, lived and died.

She’s not my Alex anymore.

“Where’s Greece?” I ask, hoping he’ll tell me she’s with Alex or out on the pews.

I get a shrug from Odin, his eyes scanning the crowd. Worry furrows his brows. “Don’t know. Alex isn’t late now, is she?”

“She won’t stand you up,” I assure him.

He huffs. “She’s been paranoid ever since she spoke with the seer.”

I knew. Father and she had the idea of visiting one of those women who read the future, somehow granting you a chance to change things. Even if it is a ruse to get your money, I don’t blame Alex. If I were her, I’d need every coping mechanism I could get to deal with the crown.

“Do you know what she told her? I mean, seriously, how accurate can the predictions be? She’s wasting gold on a woman who doesn’t—”

He cuts me off, walking closer to the table where the archbishop stands, talking to a Father. I follow him. “I don’t know the details, but it mustn’t have been something nice.”

I noticed Alexandra’s grim expression at my wedding. Paired with Bridgit’s kind visit, my sister had too much to handle in such little time. “Things like ‘the crown is a curse’ and stuff of the such?”

His face pales for a second. He clears his throat. “Is she wrong?” It is all he says before his father signals him over, Odin’s tall frame walking from one side of the room to the other to meet his father.

As he walks away, I can’t help but picture the crown on his head. How will he handle power? Will he be just, like father was? Or will he become those kinds of kings who love power more than anything? He seems genuinely attracted to Alexandra, and for both our sakes I hope it’s father’s personality the one he’ll take after.

The bell above our heads echoes a while later, its beat making the whole thing really sink. It’s a low, dull throb, reverberating in my stomach. Chloesa walks beside me, my hand on her lower back, as I lead her toward our assigned pew. I stare ahead to where Odin now stands, a serene expression on his face while he fidgets with his hands.

He cuts a handsome general. Someone to respect, to fear. In some ways, he carries the strength I used to see in father. He’s scared. I see it in his wandering eyes and pursed lips, but he won’t allow the fear to peek through for my sister’s sake.

Alexandra makes her appearance holding onto Duncan’s arm, just like father would’ve wanted. Her dress extends a couple of meters behind her. It is a delicious intricacy, something mother would be proud of. White brings out the sharpness in her electric eyes, juts her cheekbones. Her hair is pulled back with the veil in a style I’ve seen before somewhere. Her makeup, light and almost invisible, makes her eyes shine brighter underneath the chandeliers and the colored glass. It hits me then.

It’s the exact same look mother wore to her wedding.

I’ve seen pictures and tapes of that day but seeing my sister in a very similar dress with similar features makes my chest heave. The dress by itself is simple, no embroidery or details, just white satin falling but embracing her shape. Surprisingly, she doesn’t look as

young anymore. There’s joviality in her face, but it is shadowed by a deeper sense of maturity.

“She looks stunning,” Chloesa whispers beside me, catching my eyes for a second before trailing Alex’s figure down the aisle, the whole room gone quiet. The traditional song plays in the background and the soldiers closest to her at all sides are careful not to step on the tail.

Alexandra is the reincarnation of mother. It’s all I can think about. Royal and beautiful, wise and strong, and even a bit more stubborn. It’s almost my imagination, but there’s an air of power as she walks, swaying her hips gracefully, her chin out in a sign of clear defiance. This is a moment that will secure her foothold on the crown, the thing she had to do to remain alive. I’m almost glad she made the choice as quick as she did. Life was kind enough to find her a friend in Odin.

Odin smiles at her, it is all I see, the same way Lennon smiled at mother on those videos from years ago. All I can think of and pray for is they don’t share the same fate.

All too quickly, she reaches the three steps to the altar, smiling softly at Duncan as he bends over to kiss her hand, a sign of recognition. Odin walks forward, taking her hand and bringing her up the steps.

I take a deep breath. Chloesa holds my hand.

The archbishop, the same man in charge of her coronation all those days ago seems happy about the wedding, a soft smile playing with the crinkles in his eyes as he grabs hold of the bible.

“Friends and family, people of Alemiss, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of your queen, Alexandra Coltrane the first, and Odin Abernarthy, general from Lanese’s armies.” The pair turns, eyes on each other. The archbishop doesn’t need a microphone. The acoustics in the chapel is designed for events like these.

I can’t see Odin’s face, but Alexa’s expression is drawn. Maybe in thought, probably about mother. She has no real reason to be afraid. She knows Odin, probably more than I initially had guessed. She knows I wouldn’t lead her to the strange hands of a man who wouldn’t know how to handle her. Still, her eyes flicker and her hands holding Odin’s shake the slightest bit. She bites her lip.

Heaven beside me looks around the room too, as if finding out a piece of information missing. Her hushed tone and pursed lips make her look pleasantly annoyed. “Where are her friends? Greece? And... is his name Liam?”

“Logan,” I murmur back. Right. She’s looking for Logan. Heaven smiles at my lack of reply. She knows Logan’s name. Aprincess born, a queen in power, she has the names of all her enemies, and if Logan wasn’t one, he was clearly an obstacle.

An obstacle she overcame with flying colors. The wedding happening around us is enough testament to her power.

I can’t blame Alex. Letting something like that go must not be easy. I also trust her enough to know she’ll respect this marriage, even if it meant nothing to her romantically.

She cares for the country and the crown. She cares for her life and our safety.

And, a small part of her cares for the overrated general.

“This wedding is not just for the sake of love,” says the old man. “In a civilization like ours, monarchs have to exchange such luxuries for protection and alliances. Though, God willing, people find those trials difficult to endure and love sprouts along the way. We’ve seen so in kings and queens before. Our former monarchs, Bliss and Lennon Coltrane.

This wedding is for the citizens of Alemiss, and may God place a good spirit in everyone’s hearts here today.”

I zone out. I heard this just days ago at my own wedding. I stare at Alexandra’s hair, black and just as smooth as mother’s, or focus my attention on Chloesa’s arms around me. I listen to the vows. Anything to keep me away from the memories I pretend to dodge.

Odin clears his throat. His shoulders shake with emotion as he rolls them again. “Alexandra. I can’t begin to express how lucky I feel to get a chance like this. Not only of protecting and caring for your people as if they were my own, but to have a chance to support you along the way and watch you become a woman of good. A merciful queen for your country, now mine too.”

Alexa smiles. Her lips quiver. Fear flashes in her eyes. With a blink, she shakes it away. She’s one to find her way around fear.

Odin’s voice drones on. “I can assure you, you won’t face anything alone, and I’ll always have your back, taking care of the duty left behind by your ancestors and honoring our people with my last breath. In chaos like this and in serenity like before, in sickness and in health, I pledge myself to you, Alexandra Coltrane.”

Odin’s father close to him leans to say something to his wife, her eyes gleaming with something I suspect are tears. It’s so human, to show her doing something as mundane as crying. But it comes out fake. Staged. Wrong.

Alexandra’s voice steals my eyes from the woman. “I promise to let you handle matters with me, Odin Abernarthy, and I trust you will take care of my people, now your own. I will be there for you. A friend, a wife, an ally. A queen.” That’s what she is, smile gleaming for thousands of people to see. “And together we will honor and respect the legacy we are yet to build, loving one another and our people in hopes of a brighter future—the one my parents would’ve wanted—for Alemiss.” Her voice doesn’t falter. She sounds sure of herself, even stopping a couple of times to stroke Odin’s cheek. It’s not hard to understand her intentions. If people buy this, it’ll appease the masses just enough for Odin to get back the cities we’ve lost and be able to send our soldiers back to the battlefields if necessary.

Though part of her, the young, beautiful part of her I know so well hides behind those words and swift caresses. She feels something for Odin, and though it might not be love, I hope someday love blossoms from it.

The bell rings again. People cheer around me. Chloesa jumps to my arms and I find myself smiling at the view. I wish father and mother would’ve been here, but I’m sure there’s part of them with me, with us.

With Alex.

Odin signs the papers he only would’ve signed if my sister had asked him to—the coronation slips. Ink is placed on her thumb and his alike, they press it to the paper just like Chloe and I did, the bishop declaring, “Long live King Odin and Queen Alexandra.”

“You seem worried.” Her voice can break through the fog clouding my brain as easy as the sun peeks every morning from the darkness. Her green eyes shine in the fluorescent lights of the dancefloor.

I shake my head, dismissing her comment. I don’t want to worry her. I don’t even know what I’m thinking of myself. “I’m just thinking, that’s all.”

She smiles at me, touching my cheek, caressing the stubble growing there. My energy was consumed by Alex’s wedding. In past days, I rarely had the strength to drill with the soldiers or do something as simple as shaving. I couldn’t bear the thought of her doing this for a country with nothing more than vain traditions to uphold. “I can see smoke coming from your ears. What’s going on?”

Her words are why I didn’t put up any resistance to marrying her, I think to myself, she’s sensitive and knows how to make people around her feel better. She’s just what I need, a solid companion.

Like a child in the middle of a tantrum, I heave a theatrical sigh before surrendering my efforts. “I don’t know how she’ll handle this. Or even if she’s ready to.”

She hums, gripping my tight shoulders, looking up at me. “If she’s half as stubborn as you are, she’ll get through this. We got through this.”

“I’m not talking about the wedding. I’m not really worried about it,” I tell her. “But with the marriage come new strategies and an heir. As soon as possible. She’s a queen in the middle of a civil war.”

And through it all, I must keep her safe. Odin is a new addition to the plan; one I’m still testing. He cares for her. He’ll go through lengths to keep her safe. Sometimes the biggest threat she faces is herself.

Chloe smirks at me as I twirl her around, her green dress puffing around us. “Never underestimate a woman, Lucas.”

“It’s not... I mean, yes,” I say as we finish the song, her head on my shoulder. “I understand. But I—the council isn’t necessarily her number one supporter. The war’s not looking good either and the decision she made about the brides’ leader was not a good choice. Not in the eyes of the council.”

I’ve heard about the meeting all over the news, seen it in the council’s preying eyes and on Alexandra’s lingering blue pebbles. I don’t know how it went. Odin has kept the information to himself. Try as I may, I haven’t been able to get anything from him. I can only hope whatever it is, Odin knows how to calm Alexandra.

“I heard about it. What happened there? Any news? I don’t think they reached an agreement. The security here is packed,” she mutters, raising her head and staring at the guards at every corner.

“It may not have been a good move, but it isn’t a terrible move either.”

We walk back to the table, her tiny hand reaching out for a glass of champagne. She knows of diplomacy as much as I do, but even with the knowledge, these are times where tests are hardly foreseen.

I stroke her hand lightly. “I forgot you’re a neutral, too.”

She takes a big gulp, her throat bobbing up and down before she smiles at me, her lips a deeper shade of red. “No, I’m not. I’m with the decrees. Of course, my opinion doesn’t matter since I’ll never be a queen but...”

I don’t know what I expected from her, but the words gush from her mouth and my eyes

widen in disbelief. I stare at her for a moment once we take a seat. “But—but you’re a woman.” Mother was against the decrees. Alexandra, Greece, their maids. Everyone I know. Even me.

“Yes, but we need the decrees to establish order and to...”

She trails off, bowing her head. I pick her chin up with my index finger, staring at her. I force her to continue. I need to listen to her thoughts; see how she thinks. She’s the strongest ally I’ll get here. “Yes?”

Shaking her head, her auburn hair leaving behind a sweet smell, she pushes my hand away softly, taking another sip at the glass. “And nothing. That’s it. My family is neutral—verbally. We fully support the measures. It helps keep the monarchies stable.”

But I know her better. Her eyes flicker with guilt, and I take her hand resting on the table. “There’s something you aren’t telling me, darling.”

She coughs, surprised by my manners. I share her way my trademark smile, hoping she’ll trust me. She knows she can trust me. It doesn’t work, I realize with shock. Am I losing my charm? “I’ll tell you later. Now’s not the time. It’s your sister’s wedding.”

“Chloe—” I push. Her gaze turns back to me, her eyes glossy. I backtrack, easing my prodding. Whatever it is, it’s important enough to hurt her, so I decide to wait.

“Lucas, please not now.”

I nod, swallowing my words and pulling her in for a hug, resting my chin on her head. The music stops and the peculiar sound of a knife against glass shatters the comfortable silence, followed by a few murmurs. From the private table beside the dance floor, Odin stands up, eyes alert and shoulders stiff.

Alexa’s missing from his side.

He smiles ruefully though, shy once the crowd notices the queen isn’t there. “Alex—um, your queen had to leave to fix her corset, but we’re almost done for the night, so I wanted to thank all of you on her behalf, for coming here to celebrate our wedding...” His words trail off as I begin to think the possibilities, the hidden meaning behind his words and uncomfortable stance.

She would never skip something important unless she felt sick or something was missing.

Someone.

From one moment to another, I am pushing Chloesa away softly, excusing myself to the bathroom and walking fast towards the exit. Once I reach the hallways, I start running. Wherever she is, this must be starting to wear on her. I go to the floor of her chambers. Nothing. The garden looks empty. I ask the guards in a couple of hallways. They all shake their heads. It seems to me they’re not doing their job of monitoring the castle. Finally, a bulb lights up in my head and I run the opposite direction, to the noblemen floor.

I stop at the sight of her on the floor, her head bowed, something on her lap. I reach her slowly, willing my shoes not to make any noise, though I doubt she even notices at all. She doesn’t move, her legs crossed and her hair spilling forward, the dress around her like a rag doll.

Bending down, I touch her shoulder lightly. She jumps at my touch. Her face is serene, almost void, and I find myself asking her if she’s okay, but she doesn’t reply, her gaze returning to her lap once again.

In it, a piece of leather lies. I take her cold hand in mine, asking her for silent permission to read whatever it is. She raises her head, nodding to me, blue eyes gone cold. I take it from her thin fingers, frozen hands, kneeling in front of her.

When the words finally begin to make sense in my brain, I drop the note, laying it on the cold marble floor, and look at her. She’s already looking, refusing to speak.

All I can say is her name, taking her head on my hands and pushing her to my chest, embracing her in an attempt to keep her whole and alive, bring back the spark in her eyes they’ve taken from her.

She doesn’t cry, just wraps her arms around my waist, pulling me closer. I inhale her familiar scent, so much like mother’s, and we stay like that for a couple of minutes.

Maybe more.

Time doesn’t matter when Alexandra is hurt.

They have used her emotions, not against the country, but against the alliance.

How will Odin react?

_________

EEEEEEK im so excited! writing from other points of views proved to be super fun so expect more of that. let me know what you think! (this is the second book of my previous novel, bride war. i have it all uploaded to my profile, too, so check it out)!

thank you so much for reading!

-goldenmel