Clarissa Morgenstern knows many things. She knows that her father is the king of a small nation named Alicante. She knows that one day her brother, Sebastian, will take his place. She knows that her job is to look pretty and do what she is told. And she knows that one day, in the near future, she will wed the prince of Idris, Jonathan Herondale - a man she's never even met.
Clarissa was a lonely child. Her mother and father were much too busy with their royal duties to pay much attention to her. Even her brother Sebastian, as much as he wanted to play, was constantly kept busy learning how to rule a country and never had much time for her.
And Clarissa had a lot of time. She didn't have to bother with learning how to rule as she never would. After her father passed away, Sebastian would ascend the throne and eventually pass it on to his son who would pass it onto his son. When Sebastian wasn't learning the responsibilities of ruling he was learning how to fight, as he may need to lead his country into battle one day as his father had before him. However, Clarissa was never allowed to learn - the battlefield was no place for a woman.
Clarissa spent most of her days in lessons with her tutors or reading. She could speak seven languages by the time she was ten and had read every single book in the castle by thirteen. She knew about history, geography, politics, science, numeracy, literature, and astronomy and she had absolutely no use for this information.
She enjoyed learning as it gave her something to do and made her feel like she had a purpose. Like she had something to offer the world. Her father thought her foolish for spending time gaining knowledge she would never have use for. He told her that her only purposes in life were to help her country through marriage and to have children.
Since she was three years old, Clarissa has been promised to Prince Jonathan. It's a mutually beneficial agreement; their marriage will provide an alliance between the two countries. Alicante will have access to Idris' armies and Idris will have much-needed grain and wealth from Alicante that can be used to feed their starving population.
Clarissa's job was to stand by Prince Jonathan's side as he ruled his country and her brother ran her own. She was to have no say in the way either countries were ruled and her single use was to provide Prince Jonathan with heirs.
Her mother and father regularly showered her with gifts, but they didn't love her. Not in the way they loved Sebastian.
Clarissa's only friends all throughout her life had been the maids, guards and kitchen staff that worked in the castle.
But now everything was changing. Clarissa was three days away from her 17th birthday and three days away from her new life.
She was going to Idris, a place she'd never been with people she'd never met, and she was going to be even lonelier than she was at home.
And then there was the fact that she was meeting Prince Jonathan; the man she was expected to spend the rest of her life with.
Hey! If you're here because you read my other story, Forbidden Longing, then welcome back! And if you're new here, then it's nice to have you!
Some quick notes:
Her brother was originally called Jonathan but then I reread and decided to change it to Sebastian as Jace is going to be called Jonathan quite a lot and I don't want it to be confusing.
Alicante and Idris are two different countries.
The inspiration for this story came from the TV show 'Reign' but it is in no way an exact copy, nor do you have to watch that to understand the plot of this story.
I don't know if this story will be updated as much as Forbidden Longing but preferably I'd like to balance them.
This chapter was written in third person but after this, all chapters will be in first person and alternate between Clary and Jace's POVs.
Leave me a review and tell me what you thought of the first chapter!