Summary: Esmee was in love with the Prince of Thidon and hoping for a proposal from him when her family informed her that she was promised to his older brother, the King. Forced into a marriage with a man she does not love while so close the one she does offers a lot of temptation. Esmee is already in trouble when she starts to realize treachery is around every corner in the Castle of Thidon.

000

The dark room almost lit up with the smile that crossed over Esmee's face, when she heard a rock meet her window. "Blake." She whispered excitedly, knowing there was no other who would be outside her window at this time of the night.

She glanced quickly at bedchamber's wooden door, making sure it was bolted before rushing over to the simple window to unlock it, flinging it open in one hurried sweep; paying no mind to the night shift and robe she only wore.

Her smile never faded as she put her index finger to her lips to signal quiet to the boy below, and then Esmee began to climb out onto the window ledge and with a few well practiced maneuvers into the old oak tree whose branches graciously extended close to her quarters.

Once she was on a branch near to the bottom Blake lifted his arms to her waist to help her down the rest of the way. Esmee concealed a giggle as she landed on her feet, grabbed his hand and ran; past the gardens, past the stables, and into the forest. Once they were deep enough in though she let out her relief in the form of laughter, turning around in his arms to kiss him full on the mouth.

"I missed you so." She said, still smiling like a fool, after pulling away.

"And I you." He answered simply, crushing his lips against her once again, running his hands through her loose curls.

Esmee pulled away after a few minutes of intense kissing and leaned her back against the trunk of a tree, "I wish we didn't have to wait a full month to meet like this." She said with a sigh.

Blake smiled at her, then placed his strong hands on her hips, pulling her back into him, "Hopefully soon we won't have to wait so long to see one another; we'll be close enough to enjoy each others company every day."

Esmee smiled up at the young Prince, sending a silent prayer upward that he meant this as a hint of marriage. She had yearned for a proposal from him since the first time she had met him seven months prior.

He returned her smile, then bent down very close to her lips, just barely touching, "Enough talking for now, my love." He whispered, pulling her back into a passionate kiss.

000

The stress awoke him early again that morning, the dawn barely creeping into the blackness that filled the majority of the sky. If he wanted to guess he'd say he got a grand total of two hours of sleep the night before, as the stress kept him from falling asleep too. But he didn't want to guess or contemplate the exhaustion that crept over his body, aging him ten years each day it seemed.

The country his father had left him nine months prior was in limbo from the fear and anger his father had conceived during his reign. King Adan was not a ruler Jared strived to be in anyway, but the people were cautious of him and the future of their kingdom, despite all the attempts to turn things in the opposite direction of his father and make sure his people felt secure with their new King.

If his father had lived any longer Jared had no doubts that there would have been a revolt led from the desperation to escape King Adan's brutality. When his father suddenly died of a heart problem one night, Jared felt a sense of relief that made him sick; knowing that despite his brutality as a king, that he was also his father and family should never feel a sense of rejoice when losing a member.

Jared rose, stretching out the aches that had been spreading along his body from the weight of his responsibility. Never one to complain outwardly though, he brushed the thoughts aside and let determination flow in. He could not fail, so he would not fail, no matter what it took; even marry a woman he had never met in just two months.

He contemplated this a second as he had a few times since agreeing to the betrothal. Though he assumed he should have thought about it much more often than he had. Jared had never laid eyes on Lady Esmee before and didn't particularly care to have an artist sent out to bring back a miniature for him. He was going to marry her regardless of how she looked so why bother? That argument was met with shrugs by the councilmen who may have wanted to know if it was their betrothed, but understood his reasoning.

No, what Lady Esmee looked like certainly didn't matter. What mattered was making sure her father-Lord Ronen of Kenon-did not secede from Thidon and claim their land as part of the country of Esterdell. Thidon was already walking on eggshells after his father and now was not the time for war over land. So he had been advised by his mother and councilmen to offer an alliance with the family and to take their daughter as his wife. Seven months ago his brother and an adviser had taken this proposal to the Kenon family and they accepted. Jared was happy for one problem to be fixed and thought little of it since.

But in a fortnight he would be traveling to Kenon to meet his bride for the first time and bring her back to the castle with him where she would prepare for their wedding. This dawned on him suddenly and an aching feeling began in his stomach. Jared had a country to run and bridges to mend, so visiting his betrothal or using any of his energy to finding out about her hadn't much crossed his mind. From the example he had seen growing up with his mother, Jared figured a Queen had one job: bear heirs. As long as she could do that, it didn't quite matter what she was like. Mistresses were for companionship, wives for a family. But now he had wished he had bothered to find a little more about her, feeling unsettled that he'd be going to Kenon to pick up a woman he knew absolutely nothing about.

He sighed, pushing the troubling thoughts away, as he got dressed. There was no sense in worrying about another thing when it was inevitable that they'd be married regardless of her personality, interests, or looks. She was an important alliance, what more mattered? Though he did feel like a brute for not caring more.

The slight guilt followed him as he made his way to his study, but it quickly began to be replaced with lists of the things he needed to get done today. The sound of something crashing on the floor around the corner and then a curse interrupted his quiet contemplations. The king raised his eyebrows as his youngest brother, Blake, stumbled around the corner and almost running into him, looking dead on his feet.

"Were you out all night?" Jared asked his brother, a mark of disapproval in his tone.

Blake seemed startled at his brother's voice, not having seen him there in his exhaustion. He shook off the surprise quickly and straightened up defiantly. Though as tall and broad shouldered as he was, his elder brother surpassed him by a bit, which annoyed Blake greatly, "I didn't realize I had been given a curfew, dear brother."

Jared rolled his eyes at his brother's childish antics and stepped around him, "I don't have time for this today, Blake. But I will beg one thing of you."

Blake was taken a back for a moment, since his brother never pleaded or begged anything of anyone. Cautiously he asked, "And what is that?"

The regal and stern king returned in Jared as he replied, "Grow up already and become productive in your life."

With that Jared stalked off, not wanting to be annoyed any further by his irresponsible brother.

Blake stood where he was though, watching his brother march off and only one thought chased through his mind: I've already begun to become productive.

Authors note: Currently this in in T, but I'm going to forewarn all my readers most of my stories end up becoming M rated (for violence and sexual situations). So there's a chance the rating will change later on. If it does I will give you a big fat warning and make sure it's written so you can skip over any "lemon" scenes. But if it really bothers you, you may not want to get attached to this story. For now though this is a T and will be for many chapters to come.

Anyways, with warnings out of the way let me know what you think so far! This story has been knocking around in my head for a year now, but I wasn't going to write it until my other ones were finished. My muse on the other hand wouldn't let me deny it any longer.