Cecilia was the princess of a post-apocalyptic kingdom of humans. They had almost all been destroyed by the Golden Army, but rumor has it that the princess of the fae kingdom had pleaded for a second chance for the humans. Now Cecilia's brother's(and her's) kingdom was the only population of humans in the world. It had a couple thousand people in it and a forest on one side. There were rumors that fae soldiers were waiting just inside the forest for any unfortunate humans.
Cecilia was the beauty of the kingdom(it was said) with her long auburn hair and green eyes, and she was also the slut. She did love sex and men, and this led to many suitors and many exhausting nights with them. Her favorite so far was Taylor, the lead general to the army, but mostly because he was always nearby. He had clean-cut brown hair and lively blue eyes. He was slightly taller than most of the other nobles.
At the moment, she was wandering the palace grounds, trying to figure out how to stop her brother's ever-growing love/lust for her. She knew he would try to marry her soon, and she had to stop it. She was interrupted from her thoughts by General Taylor running towards her franticly. He grabbed her arm.
"You know how close to the forest you are. It is dangerous and the King wants nothing to happen to you." He spoke into her ear.
"But a big strong soldier like you should have no problems protecting me." She said, inches from his face.
He shuddered slightly, but pushed his urges aside for the moment.
"Please, come inside. A meeting with the Bethmooran King and his sister is approaching soon and the castle must be ready." He told her.
"But that visit isn't for a few more days. I don't need to be elegant and fancy until then." She said, breathing this into his face. Another shudder went through him.
"Please. Not now. Your brother requests both of us in his throne room soon." He pleaded half-heartedly.
"How soon is soon?" She moved her mouth to his ear and said this. Another shudder and he paused.
"Not that soon." He smirked at her and she returned it. They ran off to a secluded area of the grounds.
Taylor and Cecilia fixed their clothes as they hurried to the throne room. They were pretty sure they were late. They stopped outside the doors. Cecilia fixed his collar and he ran his fingers through her hair for the tangles and leaves. Once deemed presentable, Taylor pushed open the doors.
"I am sorry, my Lord. Cecilia was quite hard to track down." Taylor explained.
Cecilia's brother, the King, was a man slightly shorter than the rest of the nobles with short light brown hair and brown eyes. His name was Ronald. At the moment, he was seated in his throne surrounded by nobles. His throne was slightly elevated so he did not feel short compared to the standing nobles.
"Isn't she always?" Ronald chuckled. Taylor did the same, as did the rest of the nobles in the room. The laughter stopped when Ronald's did. "Now I bet why you're wondering why I needed you two."
He stood from his throne and walked towards them, his robes flowing behind him.
"A strong alliance must be formed with Bethmoora, and I need my two best war advisors to think of a way to do it." Ronald explained.
"What about a marriage?" Cecilia proposed. "Between a noble and their king?"
"Not strong enough." Taylor told her. "Perhaps the sharing of land?"
"They'll never agree to that. Trading?" Cecilia said.
"Not strong enough. Again. What about the Princess Nuala? We could appease her, go right past her brother." Taylor offered.
"But she won't live forever and neither will that treaty. We could each give the other something valuable. Something . . . alive." Cecilia suggested.
"That won't last either." Taylor said. "What about-"
"That's good enough. We'll try one of those solutions. Maybe one of Cecilia's brilliant suggestions." Ronald interrupted.
"But none of them would work." Taylor objected.
"They're good enough." Ronald said, walking back to sit on his throne.
"Our kingdom won't last long if we settle for 'good enough' with Bethmoora." Cecilia whispered in Taylor's ear. He smiled at her comment. They both turned serious as Ronald turned to face them and sit on his throne.
"There was also . . . another reason I called you here." Ronald started. "To announce a wedding,"
Cecilia's heart dropped. Please . . . no.
"of Cecilia . . . and I."
All of the male nobles began to argue at once, married or not. They all liked Cecilia on the market, for themselves. It seemed every man in the kingdom wanted her beauty as their wife.
"SILENCE!" Ronald shouted. The room went silent. "It has been decided. One month from today." He stared at Cecilia after he said this. She slightly stepped behind Taylor.
Murmurs went through the nobles. One month? Hardly enough time. And such an announcement. Cecilia felt faint. This couldn't be happening. Not him, anyone but him, even that odd man with missing teeth who sold rotten beets in the market. Just not him! She panicked and began hyperventilating. She fell to the floor as she fainted.
