The Arranged Marriage (10 page)

“Our people Rohesia,” He said jovially
as they both entered his study. “I have made arrangements for you
to wedding moon at The Loyal after the wedding ball that will be
held seven eves after the morrow,” He took hold of her hand. “I
hope you don’t mind waiting for the ball,” He added quietly. “But
if you do wait, it will fall on the anniversary of the day I
married your mother. I thought it would be nice for at least her
memory to be there.”

“Oh father,” She said as a tear fell
down her cheek. “Her memory would be with me no matter what day it
was, but I would have waited more than a few eves to have the
blessing of that date. You should have reminded me
before.”

“I didn’t want to pressure you into
more than I have already,” He turned to fetch his parchment. “I
would appreciate it if you could keep the reason for this date from
Yena, and also what I said last eve. She doesn’t know, about any of
it.” He looked at her as if to emphasise the meaning of his words.
She understood he was referring to the fact he couldn’t have any
more children. She wondered then why he hadn’t told Yena, but then
again, she also wondered why he had gone ahead and married someone
as selfish as Yena in the first place. A complete opposite of her
mother. She quickly nodded in confirmation that she would keep it
to herself.

“And speaking of Yena,” He continued.
“She was looking for you earlier regarding the decorations for the
ball, and that of your gown I believe.” He finished quickly as he
noticed the change in Rohesia’s face.

“Did you tell her that I had it all in
hand?” She practically begged.

“I did, but you know Yena when she is
on a mission, nothing will stand in her way.”

“I need a plan, is there any chance we
could ship her off to the Foreign Lands for a while?” She asked
with all the hope in the heart, knowing full well what her answer
would be.

“No Rohesia, and it wouldn’t hurt you
to get her involved. You know how she suffers from boredom not
having much to do here.”

“Because she chooses not to do
anything here.” She interrupted. Argarth gave her a stern look out
of loyalty for his wife, but he couldn’t deny that it wasn’t the
truth.

“And,” He pressed on. “She loves doing
all of this fancy business regarding gatherings, look at the
success of your birthday last.”

“Father, it was going to be pink and
samond, do you know what samond is? It is orange, she wanted me to
have pink and orange, it was only luck that the deliveries of silk
got mixed up and I actually had the colours I wanted.” She feared
she had said too much as her father looked at her with
suspicion.

“You wouldn’t have had anything to do
with the delivery being mixed up would you Rohesia?” Her father
asked, trying very hard to keep the smile at bay.

“No, I did not, but I refuse to have
anything similar or as ghastly at my wedding ball, you know what
she’s like.”

He shook his head.

“I really don’t understand why you two
do not like each other so. I thought one of the blessings of Yena
being younger is you would have someone who you could be friends
with and understand.”

“Yena is incapable of loving anyone
but herself,” She murmured, knowing that even she had overstepped
the mark. “Father, let’s get these other arrangements sorted.
Announcement tomorrow, yes, the Walk can be the day after to give
us time to prepare the invitations, and I will continue to make the
arrangements for the ball, some with Yena,” She added. “And then we
shall have the ball. Ison and I will wedding moon at the Loyal, and
then everything will go back to normal. Agreed?” She didn’t wait
for a response as she sensed a lecture coming on. “Very good, I
will leave the arrangements necessary for you to conduct and then I
will sort the rest. Good day father.” She advised before making a
hasty exit.

Ison felt troubled as he stood in
front of the cave that was rumoured to be one of the rebels hide
outs. The supposed entrance was blocked with rubble yet his
instincts were suddenly roused; someone had definitely been here
recently.

Argarth had explained to Ison earlier
in the morning about the caves of Mount Centurias, and how his men
had been unable to find anything. He was hoping Ison would stop by
on the way to the Loyal with his men just to take a look. Ison had
agreed.

The Mount was a great rock that was
situated directly in the middle of Centurias. It created a natural
border between Dondayas and Ecripian, and Ison was aware the caves
had been used as hiding places during the war.

Moving closer to the boulders that
blocked the entrance, he was wary of moving them until he was
certain there was no other way in. If the rebels were still using
this as a hideout, then there was obviously another entrance and he
did not want to alert them to his presence. He decided it would be
better to be prepared and organised, and for that he would need to
go back and make plans. He summoned Josa over.

“We shall head back, but I want you to
ensure the men are rallied for a meeting as soon as we return to
the castle. We need to start making plans to try and get through
these boulders safely should we not find another
entrance.”

“You think there is something on the
other side?” Josa asked.

“I am certain of it. It’s a perfect
cover, and,” He was reluctant to say. “I have a
feeling.”

Josa suppressed a smile and slapped
Ison jovially on the back.

“I would trust your feelings with my
life Ison; that alone is enough for me to believe your notion.
Come, let’s go eat.”

“Is there anything else that you think
about other than your own stomach?”

“I am not the one who has a beautiful
new wife waiting for me am I? My stomach is all I have.” He laughed
heartedly at his own teasing. Ison smiled.

“And you’ll no longer have that if I
catch you ogling my beautiful new wife, my friend.”

“Ah, I see that someone has finally
got under your skin,” He said, his smile growing. “It has been a
long time coming.”

“If you would like to make it back for
luncheon Josa I suggest you make haste before I let these boulders
loose on you.”

Begrudgingly, Rohesia made her way to
visit Yena whom she found in the grand ball room. She was already
barking out her orders to the servants on what the layout should be
and Rohesia felt her first rise of annoyance.

She was never quite certain of Yena’s
intentions at times like these. It was well known that Yena and
Rohesia had no love lost for one another, and that they were only
polite for Argarth’s sake more than anything else. But with Yena’s
patronising attitude, especially when they were alone, Rohesia was
uncertain whether Yena’s offers of help were genuine with an
unfortunate bad taste, or an act of sabotage. She was almost
certain it was the latter.

She reminisced back to the time when
her father had introduced Yena to her, and after the initial shock
of her father marrying a woman her own age, she had tried hard to
get on with Yena. But after discovering that they had absolutely
nothing in common, and her own temperament unable to put up with
Yena’s condescending manner, she had finally stopped trying and
became as false as Yena was. For now, their odd snipes and remarks
were enough to get them through it all.

Yena turned around to address
Rohesia’s entrance with a smug look on her face.

“Rohesia, I hear congratulations are
in order.” she said with an exaggerated shriek of tones. “Do come
over here and join me.” She ordered.

Rohesia half-heartedly made her way
over to the centre of the room where Yena had been standing with
her parchment and board. As she stopped in front of her so-called
stepmother, she noticed how petite Yena was when stood next to her.
She supposed she could even be considered sweet with her small oval
face with long blond ringlets surrounding it. Apart from her tiny
eyes and pinch-like mouth, Yena might just get away with being the
innocent she always portrayed to be.

“So have you decided what colours you
are going to have?” She asked with a strained politeness. Rohesia
didn’t want to tell her as she knew their tastes clashed, but
sighed and resigned herself to it.

“Red, amber and a trim of black,” She
advised confidently. She remembered Ison had been dressed in a red
and black tunic for their wedding. “To join the colours of Ison and
Ecripian.”

“Oh wonderful,” She smiled
sarcastically. “I don’t think it bodes too well blending the honour
of Ecripian with that of a Bloodhunter do you?” She let out a laugh
that could have been mistaken for a cackle. Rohesia couldn’t
contain her fury and bit her tongue, hard.

“That is my husband you’re talking
about Yena, I would ask you politely to make no offence.” Her
temper was starting to fray around the edges already.

“Oh and I meant no offence, I only
speak the truth,” She started to scribble down on her board. “Now,
I think passion fruit and lemon would go better, it would give a
brighter effect.”

“My colours represent the very reason
of this marriage Yena,” Rohesia interrupted. “And the only thing
that I will tolerate being altered is the shade.”

“Very well,” She replied abruptly. “I
will place the order with the merchants if you can trust me with
that,” Yena didn’t give her a chance to reply, but Rohesia was
already making a mental note to check the order with her friend at
the merchants; the same friend who had ensured the ‘mix up’ for her
birthday ball.

“What about your gown?” Yena
added.

“It’s being designed by Chester, they
will have my brief in the morning.”

“Colour?” She practically
demanded.

“Pale grey crushed silk and white.”
She added, again a colour that she had just decided on the
spot.

“Pale grey and white?” Yena
practically shouted. “A full boring colour against your chosen
black drop?”

“Hence why I didn’t want it to clash.”
She replied through gritted teeth. There was something about this
woman that Rohesia did not trust, and she detested every minute
standing here discussing her wedding ball with her. She was in two
minds to just snatch up Yena’s notes and get the planning started
on her own, but then the image of her father came to mind and made
her feel guilty.

“What colours did you have in mind
Yena?” She asked resentfully and found no satisfaction in the smug
smile that had settled on Yena’s pale complexion.

* * *

“Have you seen Princess Rohesia?” Ison
asked the young girl who he caught up with in the courtyard. Kaya
slowed down and curtsied when she saw who had asked the
question.

“The last time I saw her she was on
her way to her chamber,” She suddenly looked very nervous. “She
didn’t look very happy my lord.”

He wondered why. They had gone to
sleep on good terms after her sudden outburst of denying him, and
they had both seemed amicable after her fit of laugher. What could
be wrong?

“Thank you for the warning.” He
advised before heading towards their bed chamber.

Rohesia was in a bad mood. Not only
had she succumbed to giving up her dream of a proper wedding, she
had now been brow beaten into wearing a pink and lilac gown. A gown
that had more underskirts than all the ladies in the court put
together.

She let out a sigh and wished for an
outlet to release her frustration. If only she could be allowed to
‘outlet’ on Yena. She suddenly jumped at a knock on the chamber
door.

“Come in.” She demanded whilst looking
out at the children playing in the courtyard. To be free again, she
thought.

Ison made his way into the chamber and
shut the door behind him.

“Good day my lady, I assume you are
now well rested?” He smiled gently to soften his tease. Rohesia did
not answer him so he moved closer and raised his voice a
little.

“I said, good day my lady.”

She looked at him this time but her
eyes were not welcoming.

“Why did you have to bring me back
here?” She demanded. Apparently her upset was with him.

“I don’t know what you mean.” He
replied calmly. He was becoming quite interested in her
moods.

“Back here,” She continued. “To
succumb to everyone’s wishes but my own, I hate it here.” She
whispered, but through her anger it managed to come out more like a
hiss.

“This is your home Rohesia. You have
family and people you love here, who could wish for more?” He
realised as soon as spoke that he had said the wrong thing. He
watched as she turned on him and came closer. She had crossed her
arms over her chest and her chin was thrust out as if ready for
battle. Ison felt very excited.

“I do not wish for more my lord,” She
advised through gritted teeth. “I just wish for my freedom, my
freedom of choice, and the last time I heard there was no charge
for that.”

He backed away slightly but the more
he did the more she moved closer to him, unbeknown she was urging
him to the large bed. She prodded hard at his chest.