Two

"My Lord," I added- but he was already turning around, steadily so, eyes confused as he looked into my eyes.

"Serefin!" My father snapped. "You are not allowed to speak!"

Or be seen, or breathe too loudly, or move- I wasn't allowed to do anything even when my entire existence was keeping the humans from being at war with the man he was begging to spend just one second with me.

"I know I am not allowed to speak," I said, "but I have a right to know why I am being refused. Even a bride to be must be treated with respect even if she is rejected."

I couldn't tell if he appreciated my confidence, confidence that didn't even exist, but Drayan fully turned to face me. He stood with his hands still at his sides, and nodded his head.

"You may speak."

I felt as though I had won a country or a contest. I was pleased enough that I would have smiled.

I played with my thumbs as I spoke because I didn't know what else to do with my body.

"The treaty between you and my people states that I am to be wed, to you, when I have come of age," I was surprised that I was speaking properly under the gaze of so many powerful men. "I came of age 2 winters ago."

My father and I flinched at the same time because we both felt as though my tone was disrespectful.

I expected a back lash or to be silenced from then on until the end of my days, but Drayan sighed and shook his head at me as though I were some great idiot.

"Those are your customs, Serefin," he replied, "where I am from, the right age is 19 periods."

I was to be 19 in a half period which wasn't too far away.

"You will return to this land when you are the right age, never again before that. I will not accept you unless you are of age. Understood?"

The time that it would take for me to continue to be trained, continue to live learning about nothing but marriage rites and rituals, would definitely kill me.

Not only was I here as the ink to a treaty that was made before I was even thought of, I was here to learn how to be the wife of an immortal leader yet I was not learning anything because my own teachers had no experience what so ever.

My father needed this treaty to stop the immortals across the veld from winning the war. He had grown weary, become broke, and lost supporters because he had no solutions to the immortal problem until Drayan made a deal with him 1 period before I was born.

"Produce a child, an heiress, and give her to me".

And there I was.

Drayan turned around and my father's face sunk.

My opportunity at freedom had finally arrived but my opportunity at proving myself to my father had just refused me. I was born to be a Queen, something I had never before accepted, yet when I watched the muscles on the back of Drayan move as he rushed to the exit- I wanted more than ever to fight for my birthright.

Fight to be queen.

"No," I sighed, "I don't understand."

The men looked at me as though I had lost my mind, my father narrowed his eyes at me as though he was convinced I had lost my mind. Drayan turned around and glared at me and I left a reminder in my head to kill myself if he didn't kill me first.

"Pardon me?"

I slumped my shoulders and fisted a hand in my dress.

"I have no way of understanding you or your people or your customs if I go back to my homeland."

The silence in the room was loud enough to cause deafness.

I cleared my throat, prepared to explain.

"You can understand what I will go through," I tried, "I will rule as an ignorant and dull queen because I will not understand who I am ruling."

I had never sounded so wise and reasonable in my life because I was always the person who made or found a joke out of everything around me. But the way the men in the corner nodded their heads, the way my father sighed in relief, the way Drayan visibly relaxed from my words- it all made me feel a lot better than I had seconds before I opened my mouth.

"What you propose is to stay here?" Drayan asked. "In my lands?"

I hesitated when I imagined my bedroom, imagined Katrina’s tearful gaze when I left her. When I imagined the gardens I relaxed in every morning and the towers I climbed everyday. I imagined it all before I nodded my head at the King- at the same time- I said a quick goodbye to them all.

"Yes," I said.

"Arthur," Drayan addressed my father, "will you sign for this?"

My father would have signed for anything if it meant he save his lands. He moved from the corner he had retreated to, in order to privately sulk when he didn't get his way, and joined Drayan in the center of the room with the biggest and possibly fakest smile he had ever managed to pull.

"Yes, sire," he said, excited, "it is a wonderful idea for us both."

Drayan nodded his head in agreement, "Yes, it actually is."

I looked down at my feet and sighed heavily because I knew I had just sold my time away. I had sold my soul, my heart, all for a country that would not appreciate me and a father who would never miss me.

"You will leave her here," Drayan announced, nodding his head as though the idea came from his own mouth, "and when she comes of age, you will return to witness the rites of our marriage. Until then, the treaty is not active."

My knees began to shake from the fear and dread i felt as the intensity of my father’s silence reached my form.

I wanted to run a hand through my hair, I wanted to rub at my eyes until they stung, I wanted to understand why I was such an unlucky lady.

Drayan walked away from my pleading father, I stood up straight and managed not to move even though there was no point any longer.

I forced my knees to stop shaking, I forced my mind to clear itself of my biggest fear- I knew then if I went home, it would be my father who killed me first and not because I couldn't follow simple but unnecessary instructions, but because I couldn't achieve a single signature of Drayan's on his treaty.

My eyes were glued to my feet, no longer caring about the porcelain wall, I studied the golden rings of my shoes but I could honestly not see them.

I was too busy accepting that one day this treaty would be the death of me.