23 To Keep a Marriage (1/2)
Isilla stared out the small windows of the carriage, the few minutes she had spent sitting across from Arren felt like an eternity. Trees whipped past them as they traveled down the wooded mountain pass. Arren had ordered that she tell Ilun to wait in her rooms, which she did without complaint or question but now she missed the animal.
She looked at him from the corner of her eye. His arms were crossed and he stared out the window opposite of her, his view much the same. They had not seen each other since she left his bedroom. She wondered if he had found the dropped necklace, if maybe Julen had picked it up and said anything. She had thought about what to say to him, to explain why she had asked in his dream, that she wasn't trying to break the agreement between them but everything sounded weak and silly and she didn't want to strengthen his already poor opinion of her.
Still, she they couldn't just ignore each other. She reached for his arm.
He looked down at her hand for a moment before turning away again, ”We'll be there soon. The ride is not long.”
Frowning she tried again, pulling his attention back to her, his full, blank face on hers. She breathed out and opened her book.
”Isilla,” he said stopping her. ”I have no wish to speak to you. There is nothing that we need to speak of at this time. Just sit. You're already very good at being quiet, now be still.”
She looked down at her hands, the sting of his words turning her cheeks hot. He had turned back to the window. She wrote something in large letters across the page and taking a deep breath, pushed herself from her seat, across the space and half into his lap.
Surprised, he wrapped his arms around her, catching her before she toppled into the door. Before he had a chance to speak she shoved the book into his face.
You don't have to be awful to me!
Shock still on his face, he helped her settle back into the seat.
I know I upset you but we're still married and we should try to get along, she wrote.
He sighed, closing his eyes, ”We can speak on this later. Now is not the time. Please, focus on what is coming.”
I don't know what's coming, she countered.
He rubbed the space in between his eyes with his fingers, ”I don't suppose you do. The Council is made up of representatives from the Twelve Kingdoms and one from the Crown, that is the role my brother fills. When he becomes king, either myself or one of his children will take his place, if any are of age.”
”If you were from the Dark Realm, you would have gone before them before we were married. Because this wedding was part of treaty with a land outside of our own that requirement was waved. When Lehan rejected you it triggered an investigation. You have already been subjected to one half of it.”
She curled her fingers around the open pages of the book at his words.
”I already told you, you will not have to do that again. They may try but I will not allow it. This will be more tame. They are only looking for obvious defects and it is a bid for more in our negotiations.”
She pointed at her throat, indicating her silence.
He nodded, ”Yes, they will speak on that but as what you are is prized by your people, it is unlikely that this meeting will effect much at all. It is a formality.”
She nodded as the carriage slowed. She looked out of her window, the city's gates were coming into view. They hadn't come through the city at all when she was first brought to the castle, coming instead from the side of the mountain.
”We will be there, shortly,” Arren said, his eyes focused on her. ”When we return home, after you've rested from today, we will discuss this power of yours. You remember clearly what happened between you and I?”
She nodded, a blush on her cheeks.
”Then you will tell me every single detail,” he replied.
Why didn't you ask before, she wrote wondering at his sudden change.
”I trusted you before but now you've done something reckless,” he answered.
She looked down at the page, avoiding his eyes.
”You're missing the city,” he said, his voice more relaxed than it had been before.
She looked up at him but his eyes were turned away.
She turned back to the window to see the city pass by. The carriage moved much slower than it had on the mountain. At ground level she could see the streets were filled with people of all ages. Children darted around the legs of parents, laughing. Noble women strolled through the streets, their servants carrying their bags behind them. Workers walked in and out of wooden buildings, so different from the dark stone of the castle.
Chatter and the sounds of life filled the air and Isilla smiled, the strange city familiar to her in its own way. She sensed eyes on her and she turned to see Arren watching her, intently for a moment before she turned back to the window.
The carriage came to a stop in front of a large building made from stone. Tall pillars lined the front and the massive doors were made from thick gold. The high dome of the roof matched the entrance, trumpeting figures ringing it. The door of the the carriage swung open and Arren stepped out on the the pavement first. He held his hand out for her and breathing deeply, she took it, her feet touching the ground delicately. Around them the people of the city stopped, staring, whispering as the Court had whispered when she arrived.
She shivered slightly in the cold air. Arren's shadows created a perimeter that not even the guards would cross, the people kept their distance but she could see them pointing at her. Arren offered his arm to her and she took it, as was proper. Together they walked forward.
The doors swung open as they approached, allowing them entry. Once inside, they shut, the sound ringing inside the building for a moment before the air stilled in silence once again.
Before her sat rows of pews, meant clearly for any observers.A few people sat in them, some writing most simply watching and listening Beyond them, a long table waited with two chairs in front of it.. Already there were men sitting at the table, their clothing all slightly different. Some wore long jackets, others robes, some were dressed much like the people of the castle. The only face she recognized was Lehan's, a small smile on his lips.
The side of the long table was a small desk. A woman wearing a blindfold sat at it, an open book in front of her.
Arren led her to the chairs and motioned for her to sit as he did the same. She folded her hands over her notebook and smiled softly at them, waiting.
”Prince Arren,” a man with long gray hair tied back in a ponytail began, ”As you know, you have been called before the Council to discuss the marriage of yourself and the Princess Isilla. I, Basajaun of Deerwood, will lay out of the facts so they may be retained as a matter of record.”
”Princess Isilla was to marry Prince Lehan to secure the treaty between our nations. As she has been rejected by Prince Lehan, it is now up to the Council to decide if the present terms of the treaty agreement are fair.”
”Though the Twelve Kingdoms are thankful for Prince Arren's apparent sacrifice to uphold the treaty and keep war at bay, this change in husbands has caused a number of interior issues between lands here.”
Isilla glanced at Arren but there was no hint in him as to what the man was speaking of. Lehan had said, after meeting with her people through the viewing glass that Arren had not married her for the sake of the kingdom, could whatever this man was speaking of be what Arren had really married her for? Was that why he asked her if she wanted to return home in the garden that day? To avoid whatever Basajaun spoke of now?
”Before the Council will agree to the treaty terms, these matters must be seen to. We will start with the princess.'