Duty Bound

Gabriella watched as her lover's constant pacing began to burn a hole in the plush rug in her chambers. She let out a defeated sigh as she knew there was nothing that she could do or say to console her. With a deep breath her eyes fluttered shut, trying to get her mind off her troubled lover she concentrated back on the telepathic conversation with her older kin that was taking place.

"They want me to wed him, brother," Gabriella finally said after reporting the meeting's events."They say that it is best to ensure my Kingdom's safety and not to do so would show I put my well-being ahead of the Kingdoms as a whole."

"I'm not all that surprised they would resort to this given the situation." Wrath scoffs more to himself than anyone else. "This does work out in our favour, our Lord Father neglected to keep tabs on the Crystal Empire during his reign, we know very little of them."

"Is it that easy for you to sell me off like a common harlot!" The Princess fumed, Wrath could feel her anger flowing through their link. "Your own sister!"

"Stop being a child, Gabriella." He admonishes her in his deep voice. "Are you not willing to do anything to save your Kingdom as well as your Clans'?"

"That's easy for you to say." She hissed at him in annoyance. "You're not the one having to bed the fool and break your lover's heart."

"Don't tell me you refused the offer for that wretched girl." Wrath's booming voice echoed through her head causing her to wince. "You being in the middle of the planning could change everything, and you would turn it down for her feelings." His last spoken word came out like venom.

"Of course, I did not refuse, I told them a moment was needed to think it through," Gabriella snaps at the older ruler. "Herra could hear everything from outside, I could not accept being within reach of her."

"You have got to be jesting with me…" Wrath sighed, something she had gotten used to, but at that moment was making her want to slit his throat and watch him choke on his lifeblood.

"You might not understand because you are not in love and I doubt you have the heart to ever be." She shot back at the older Blessed. "But talking to her first is the least I can do before betraying her like that."

"If she truly wished for the well-being of our Clans' she would not see this as a betrayal but a strategic move." Her older kin states matter of factly. "Do whatever it is that you have to do with her then accept the proposal immediately, do you understand."

"Yes, my Lord." She bites out bitterly before closing the link and opening her eyes.

The young Princess stood up and slowly approached Herra like a giant Fire Spider-Bat would a three-humped Howler. Herra stopped pacing as she felt the presence of her lover inch ever so closer, coming within arms reach of each other. Their eyes interlocked, the apparent pain behind her light brown orbs enough to bring her to her knees, and that is precisely what it did.

With her head bowed low the Princess of Embers apologised to the woman. Tears cascaded down both their cheeks as they realised that no one knew how long this war would rage on. They could be apart for months or even years for all they knew.

Herra sank to her knees and cradled Gabriella in her arms for what would most likely be the last time in a very long time. Whispering to the Princess sweet nothings of her unwavering love for her. The assassin let her cry out her frustrations for the moment, her frustrations at her brother and his machinations. At the loveless nights, she would be forced to spend intertwined with her new mortal husband. For the children, she would undoubtedly be forced to bear.

Yet after a time, the Princess composed herself and stood up, strong once more.

"I have to give them my answer by the rest of Xal," Gabriella announces to her lover. "I will then move as soon as possible to combine our Kingdoms and ensure our safety."

"Then at lea-" Herra began to beg, her eyes locked on her beloved and filled with pointless hope...

"You can not come with me." She told her aloud for the first time since being reminded of the promised engagement, Herra began to object, ready to fight for their love, but the Ember Princess raises a hand silencing her. "Bringing you along would increase the chance of failure, we can not have you acting rashly in the name of love."

"I will do what I must for my people and Xendrada." She holds her head high and looks into Herras eyes with little to no emotion. "Duty means doing things you regret, I do not have the luxury to pick and choose what I wish to do, my people are counting on me."

"Your brother is a heartless monster!" Herra howled in anger, her helplessness coming through as rage. "Your father would have never let this happen."

"My father was foolish enough to get killed in a way Wrath never would." Gabriella narrows her eyes at the woman standing in front of her. "You will not speak of your Lord in such a disrespectful manner or you will lose your tongue."

"I know what you are doing, my love." Herra's eyes softened with love as her gaze locked onto Gabriella's own. "Pushing me away so that I will not feel the pain will not work, if anything, it only makes me love you more."

"I do not need your love, I never did," She scoffs just like her brother, something she nearly cringes at even as the sound passes her lips, "We were a mistake, in truth, one that I should have never made."

Herras eyes blaze with fury and without another word she storms out of her lover's room, disappearing from her sight. Not wanting to waste any more time delaying the inevitable, Gabriella calls a meeting with the nobles to announce her decision.

***

Gabriella looked up at her castle for what would be the last time for longer than she would care to admit. Hera never did return after their argument and she was seconds away from leaving. Her heart throbbed at the thought of not seeing the woman she loved again, even if it was not forever.

A crimson cloak was draped over her shoulders to protect her from the cold of the North. There was a long way to go yet before they reached the Crystal Empire, she could not even teleport there! As far as the other nobles knew she was as mortal as they come, with little magic to speak of. Her mood sobered even more as she thought about being in a land so vastly different from her own. Where the Phoenix Kingdom was ever bright and full of lush trees and beautiful flowers, the Crystal Empire was a tundra. The light of Xal rarely lingered there, and when it did, it was not for long.

"Are you ready Princess?" One of her Knights accompanying the princess on the long journey asked respectfully, she looked over him in his armour and fought the urge to scoff. She could crush him in a blink of an eye, and that armour would do little to help. "We must get going, we will be on the road for over two moons."

She glances around and notices the elders above bordering the edge of the overwatch with infuriatingly smug looks on their faces. She for just a moment considered teleporting to them to take their throats. It would be so easy, she could probably do it without anyone seeing her as well. The thought of tearing their necks out with her bare hands and watching them bleed out as they choked on their blood left a pleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She shook her head, thinking better of such an action, and stepped towards the carriage. A far too ornamental thing, jet black with feathers of gold rimming the edging. Should she be any normal princess, she mused, it would be an invitation to every bandit and mercenary within a thousand miles to attack her.

The Princess of Embers suddenly drew a hidden blade, as everything around her stood still, the feeling of time stopping caused her to go on alert instantly. She only allowed herself to relax when she felt the familiar energy of her sister by marriage. Syrin, the Lady of Wrath, stepped out of the shimmering air and approached the princess with a purpose.

"Good evening sister," She grinned as she held out her hand, in it a plain wooden box, locked with a magical seal. "Your elder brother asked me to give you this, place it in your fiance's tea every night and make him remember a night of sensual depravity,"

She curtsied to the other noblewoman as the small object floated into the other woman's hand. "That way you will not have to lay with him, be safe and come back home whole." Her brother's wife's smile became more genuine when she spoke next, "I would not be able to console little Galliard if something were to happen to his precious older sister."

"Thank you." Her heart swelled knowing that Wrath had done this for her, silently vowing never to tell him what she had thought of him over the past day.

"Until we meet again, little sister." Syrin winked, an impish grin on her face, and then she was absent once again.

She held the small, innocent-looking, box tight in her grasp and brought it to her chest as she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath of relief. Time began anew as she made her way into the carriage and settled in.

"Please wait for me, my love." She whispers, hoping her wish reaches her ears.

They set off and out of the Kingdom, her people lined the streets by the thousands waving goodbye and cheering her on. Even though many of the noble houses of the Kingdom despised her, the common folk cherished their Princess and all that she did for them. Her mother's lesson ingrained in her that a ruler is nothing if she has no one to protect and rule over.

Gabriella put on a brave face as she waved to them out the window of her moving carriage. On the inside, however, she was broken up at the thought of marrying someone she did not love. If the war went on for longer than expected she would have to bear his children eventually as well. Although, she mused, she would probably murder the man before that happened regardless of the consequences.

"Is something the matter my lady?" The knight from earlier asks across from her in the carriage.

She resists the urge to roll her eyes at his question. She was being forced into an unwanted marriage and ripped away from everything and everyone she knows. For him to ask her if something was wrong would be like asking if looking directly at Xal would hurt one's eyes. Being the Princess she was doing so for the good of her people, though her people were not these mortals, she could not voice her abhorrence to the whole asinine affair.

"I am perfectly fine sir knight." She smiled at him, though it did not reach her eyes.

One of his eyebrows raised slightly in her direction, his raised visor the only reason she could see the action. Clearly, he did not believe the lie but refused to say anything more on the subject.

They rode in silence for the next few hours, giving her time to try and calm her erratic thoughts. Gabriella was considering making a run for it and fleeing to the castle of Wrath where no one would ever dare pursue her. However, she knew she would not be welcomed with open arms; her brother would send her right back to fulfil her duty.

She lets out a defeated sigh as her shoulders slump in defeat. There was nothing she could do to stop what was about to happen from happening. Not without major repercussions, in any case, laminating at her situation she pouted to herself in silence for a time. The carriage suddenly pulls to a halt, disrupting her brooding, the carriage door opening to one of the other guards accompanying her standing there.

"It is getting late, Princess." He stated dutifully to his ruler, through the entrance of the carriage door. "We should stop for the night and let you get some rest."

She bows her head in thanks and gets out of the carriage. Everywhere around her was busy with her people setting up tents and fires for the night.

"Your dinner shall be with you soon." The guardsman said bowing before walking away to presume his duties.

She looked around and noticed the handmaids that were chosen to stay with her as she visited this new Kingdom. Young ladies meant to keep her company during her stay, however long that may have been. She felt for them, they had to walk all the way here behind the carriage and would have to walk the rest of the way for the next couple of moons.

There is such a vast difference when it comes to her and the servants. Unlike in the clans', the nobles were not to interact with them unless necessary. In the clans' they are raised among the others, they fight together and grow together. So they could not help but grow close to one another, everyone there was family regardless of status.

She fights the urge to go over there and converse with them. The poor things would know not what to do if she were to walk over there and begin making small talk. Sitting on a log brought over to her, the princess looks up at the darkening sky and wonders where Herra was on this fateful night.