Alianna awoke the next morning and got dressed. Instead of eating in the dining hall like she usually did, Alianna had her breakfast brought up to her chambers. She didn't want to be anywhere near her father or Murtagh at the moment. Once Alianna was done with breakfast, Emma joined her and the two of them walked downstairs. Emma began to question Alianna about what had happened between her and Murtagh the night before, but Alianna was hesitant.
"It's nothing. Murtagh was just being a jerk as usual." Alianna said.
"You're lying." Emma said.
"How can you tell?"
Emma laughed slightly, "I've known you for a long time my lady. You get this certain look on your face when you're lying. Besides, when I saw you walking in with Murtagh last night, you seemed very troubled."
Alianna was about to tell Emma what really had happened, when a group of men and women approached her and began to measure her all over.
"What are you doing?" Alianna asked.
"We need to measure you." one of the women said. The woman introduced herself as Nicolette.
"For what?"
"For your wedding dress. We also have some of the finest material for you to look at. King Galbatorix wants you to start making the arrangements for your wedding."
"He certainly doesn't waste any time." Alianna said to herself.
Alianna thought the men and women would never stop measuring her. Finally, after writing everything down, they lead Alianna to a room where various types of material were layed out across several tables.
"Take your time." Nicolette said as she and the other men and women left the room.
Alianna began to browse through the material. They were all very pretty. Despite feeling extremely upset and overwhelmed, Alianna found herself enjoying planning her wedding dress. She looked around for more than an hour, asking Emma's opinion on the material from time to time.
"I told you this would be fun." Emma said.
"I don't know if fun is the right word for it." Alianna replied as she came across some white satin, "What do you think of this?"
"Beautiful!" Emma told her, "Have you thought about what you want your dress to look like?"
Alianna shook her head no, "Not yet. I've barely had time to think about any of this. Only yesterday Father told me I'd be married in a month and today he's making me do the wedding preparations."
It took awhile, but Alianna finally decided on the white satin for her dress.
"An excellent choice." Nicolette said when Alianna told her what she wanted, "What do you want you dress to look like?"
"I'm not sure." Alianna answered, "I guess something really pretty, but not too fancy."
Nicolette smiled, "Don't worry, I'm sure we can come up with something. We'll be back as soon as your dress is finished." With that being said, Nicolette left.
Alianna then realized that it was nearly time for her training with Murtagh.
"This day just keeps getting better and better." she said sarcastically.
Alianna said goodbye to Emma and went out to the stables to get Bella. Then Alianna (along with her guards) rode off to the training field.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Alianna was surprised to see that Murtagh was not at the training field when she arrived. Usually Murtagh was the first one there and would always complain whenever Alianna was late.
Alianna turned to her guards, "You can leave now. Murtagh will be here soon."
"I'm afraid we can't do that my lady." one of the guards said, "We were given our orders. We will stay with you until Murtagh arrives."
"Fine," Alianna sighed.
Ten minutes had passed. Then fifteen. Finally, after twenty minutes, Alianna could see Murtagh riding towards them on his horse.
"And you get mad at me for being late." Alianna said.
Murtagh looked at her with an angry, yet sad expression on his face, but said nothing at first. Alianna dismissed her guards and then turned her attention back to Murtagh.
"About last night…" Alianna said.
"I don't want to talk about it." Murtagh told her.
"But…"
Murtagh snapped, "I said I don't want to talk about it! Lets just get started, shall we?"
"Alright"
"You're not going to use magic on me again, are you?"
"I'll try not to."
Alianna and Murtagh began to spar. Unlike the previous day, Alianna matched Murtagh blow for blow. The only thing that was different, however, was that Alianna and Murtagh didn't argue with each other. They hardly talked at all infact. Alianna thought that this was a bit odd, but she decided not to dwell on it.
By the time their training was done for the day, Alianna was all sweaty and very exhausted. Just as she was about to sit down and rest for a bit, one of Alianna's guards arrived.
"Princess Alianna" the guard said, "Your father wishes to see you."
Alianna nodded and then turned to Murtagh, "I guess I should go."
"I guess so." Murtagh said.
"Will you be joining us for dinner again?"
"Maybe…"
Alianna waited for Murtagh to say more, and when he didn't, she headed back to the castle.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When Alianna stepped into her father's chambers, she found that he was in a rare good mood.
"Ah, Alianna," Galbatorix said, "Just who I wanted to see. Did you begin the wedding preparations?"
"Yes" Alianna replied, "By why didn't you tell me?" She preceded to tell him what had happened with the people measuring her for her dress.
"That doesn't matter." Galbatorix said, "You have a lot to do before the wedding. See to it that it gets done."
Alianna nodded, "Yes, Father. But I take it you didn't call me in here just to talk about the wedding."
"You're right." Galbatorix replied, "Alianna, you're 17 now. I think it's about time you go down to where the dragon eggs are and see if one of them will hatch for you."
Alianna was surprised, "Do you really think I could be a Dragon Rider?"
"Why do you think I've had you training? Teaching you magic and the ancient language? We're going to need a Rider to help defeat the Varden."
Alianna would never agree to serve her father like that and kill thousands of innocent people, but she didn't dare say that to him. Instead she followed Galbatorix down to the room where the dragon eggs were held. The room was heavily guarded of course. Nobody was allowed in unless Galbatorix was with them. They entered, and there, in the middle of the room lay two beautiful dragon eggs- one red and one green. There had been a third egg (a blue one), but it had been stolen years ago- long before Alianna was even born.
"Go on." Galbatorix ordered.
Alianna nervously approached the eggs and bent down to touch them. She ran her hand across the green egg first, and then the red one. Then, there was nothing to do but wait. She waited for what seemed like hours, but nothing happened. Alianna sighed and realized that neither of the eggs were going to hatch for her. She wasn't going to be a Dragon Rider.
Alianna looked up at her father. She could see how angry and disappointed he was.
"Father…"
"Get out!" Galbatorix shouted.
"What?" Alianna asked.
"Get out of my sight!"
"I guess I'm just not meant to be a Dragon Rider." Alianna said softly as she left the room.