Chapter TWENTY-SIX: A King's Promise -DEVIN

...

Daybreak came. A burst of sunlight shimmered pleasantly through the window in the barrack. Alicia woke up in high spirits after a restless night and watched Devin sleep soundly. His arm held around her, hinting that at some point he must of known she was there. At first, Alicia tried to fall back to sleep, but as minutes went, her conscious ballooned heavily about everything wrong she was doing as queen...and as a daughter.

Thoughts of her ill father discovering that she was no longer in the castle, and the disappointment that would come if she failed to marry the empress son today, came down in painful devastations, leaving an awful lump in her throat. In addition to all of this, she was with Devin, alone in his room, and the disgrace as queen of being caught in such a position would surely shame the throne and her family. Her father had pardoned Devin before, but now, even though Devin said he would speak to him, the risk was too great for reigniting forgiven reprisals.

Alicia began to sob silently as she carefully moved his arm and got up to leave. She put on the winged sandals and gently closed the door behind her.

...

Devin woke up moments later, when he reached for Alicia, to find that she was no longer there with him. He stood up immediately. The old and horrible thoughts of losing Talia streamed through his mind once more as he compared old thoughts of losing Talia to Alicia's sudden absence.

This is all Talia's fault. She shouldn't have become the Dreamer, Devin blamed pointlessly, wondering why Talia never visit his dreams anymore. But Talia was gone and Alicia was who he now loved.

Suddenly, Devin knew where Alicia had gone. He knew Alicia well enough to know that she would not try to disappoint her father in his current debilitating state.

"The wedding!" Devin exclaimed as he hurried to get out and began to run towards the castle.

He slowed down when he saw her ahead of him several yards. Alicia leaned against the grey stoned castle wall, hidden in its shadow, and sank half way to the ground, with her sandals covered in mud. Devin went to her and helped her stand. At that moment, he knew that if he ever was to become king, he would have to fight for them as one would in these sorts of circumstances.

"Devin, go back!" Alicia gritted in anguish and trying to get away.

"No! I am coming with you."

"But..."

"Alicia, my queen, I would love more than anything to be your husband...I love you!" Devin told her dotingly, and kissed her, pushing her back to the wall again, to stop her from leaving. "We're in this battle together. I'm speaking with your father. I want you to be my wife, Alicia."

"...And...King?" Alicia asked him now smiling vividly.

"Yes, and king, too...Alicia, I did not know how I truly felt about you until last night. You're incredible! I love everything about you. You're the feistiest person I've ever met, and a pain half the time, but I love that. I love you, Alicia," Devin panted softly.

"I love you more than anything, too, Devin. I have yearned for over two long years to hear all of this...I should have never let you go then. It's my-"Alicia whispered, unable to finish as Devin kissed her again.

Devin broke off and looked up at the castle-her castle. "I don't have anything for you...I don't even have a ring," he said suddenly realizing that he was proposing without one.

Alicia looked up at him, thinking for a moment, and then began to fish around in his pockets.

"What? What are you doing?!" Devin laughed. He began to search too, sure that there was nothing in them; at least, that's what he remembered from last night.

"I am looking for my wedding ring: the Pendragon Sigma heirloom. The one you had last night...The one I purposely left under your pillow with the thrill of hope that you would come back..." Alicia trailed off once she realized that Devin had beaten her to finding it.

She had seen the ring a million times before on her mother, but it was like seeing it for the first time ever. Devin found her wedding finger and gazed at her as he slipped it on, then kissed her wrist, and then kissed his beaming fiancé.

A small group of knights suddenly walked by and recognized Devin with an unknown woman that they couldn't see very well. They began to whistle and holler at them. Devin turned and tried to conceal Alicia, but she stepped aside and looked at them fiercely. They bowed apologetically and swore they had not seen anything.

"You'll get respect when you're royalty," she looked at Devin and grinned seemingly.

"I could get use to this...Let's just hope that they don't like to brag...Well, of course they'll brag! We really should go talk to your father now, Alicia," Devin said and grabbed her ringed hand.

They walked around to the castle entrance. Both had placed defensive looks on their faces as they walked hand-in-hand past the throne room and several guards, whom watched them in surprise.

"-Queen Alicia, the seamstress will be fitting you for your wedding dress this afternoon," a maid informed her as they walked ahead and ignored her. Devin then squeezed Alicia's hand in response to her pending wedding plans. There would be no wedding as far as he was concerned.

They reached King Alexander's chambers. This time Devin opened the door and Alicia followed. Both walked up to the king who was sitting up. He looked at them with an indeterminable pale expression, mostly because of illness. Devin did not bow this time. He stood his ground and simply waited for the king to say something.

The king looked down at Alicia's hand and saw her ring, and wanted to smile, but he coughed instead.

"Father, I am not marrying whatever-his-name is! From where-ever-you-said-he-was from!" Alicia proclaimed to break the daunting silence.

"-Alicia, let me," Devin interrupted. "I love your daughter and we are only here to receive your blessing, not your approval. I want to marry Alicia, sir-I want her to be my Queen...but as Alicia Perry."

"Lad...no you would be: Devin and Alicia Pendragon if you were to marry," the king corrected as he tried to regain strength to talk. Alicia wished she had mentioned this technicality to Devin beforehand, whom turned slightly red over his error, but he remained firm. After a moment the king was finally able to crack a smile and then laughed merrily.

"Daddy, this isn't funny!" Alicia responded.

"I know, I know...but I never expected going through the great lengths I went through to get you two to marry!" the king admitted.

"W-what are you talking about?!" Devin asked dumbfounded.

"Daddy? What?!.."

"My dear, dear Alicia...Did you really think that I would forgive Devin after deserting Thais for two years, and allow him to return as highest knight, and also let him take you to Spring Equinox? -That I would make you have a ball after not having one in so long, even when your mother and I had not dared mentioning matrimony since this One went missing? Or that I would betray your trust-my dear and only daughter-and arrange a marriage to someone you do not love, yet alone, do not know?"

"Yes, daddy. I did think you would do all those things. I thought you had lost your mind, but I would have complied with all of it!"

"...Alicia, before your mother died, she made me promise to stay alive long enough to see that you find happiness. She made me promise that if Devin here ever came back, I would see that you two got married.

"Your mother did teach me a thing or two about love in the last 20 years...That lesson was: time spent with one another, with a little jealousy, and impending urgencies-such as an imaginary empress' son wedding-pushes us closer together.

"Or...perhaps you could have married both men, like a Veldtian women, but you wouldn't know where that is either, and I believe that you just want to marry only one man, since you have dragged him all the way to my chambers," the king joked merrily.

"I am...I am angry at how you handled this, but I am so grateful!" Alicia said as her eyes glistened with pure joy. She let go of Devin's hand and went to her ailing father's side.

Suddenly, seeing it all so clearly, everything that had happened since his return, Devin felt he had been cornered into marrying Alicia. Though, despite knowing this, in some ways he was also grateful for what the king had done for their happiness.

"By the way, did you really send Master Gerrith to the Eastern Isle?" Alicia wondered suddenly.

"Well, yes, but that was for him to visit the Academy there, and also his relatives. Other than that, the empress does not even have a son as far as I know. She is about your age, so any child of hers would be an infant...I suppose you should invite her to your wedding and meet her yourself," the king said and became saddened at the thought of children. "I...I do not think I will get to see my own grandchildren..."

"Oh, daddy, don't say that! You'll get better!" Alicia answered panic-stricken.

"No, let us not pretend. I know that I am on my deathbed, my Princess. The healer told me that there was nothing else she could do. Old age and ailments, just like your mother, she said, even though I am not that old," the king said warily, but soon changed the topic. "But let us talk about happier things, such as your wedding. The seamstress will be here this afternoon. And your husband-to-be will need assistance to learn his duties... And we can forget invitations too...you'll need to invite all the rulers of the all the isles...Oh and the coronation. I expect that-"

"-Your majesty, thank you. I will take care of Alicia and protect Thais as you have always done," Devin suddenly felt compelled to say. The king grinned since Devin had read his mind. He knew now that Devin would be a good king and husband to his daughter.

"Daddy, you need your rest. Devin and I will take care of everything," Alicia said worried and kissed her father's forehead, detecting a high temperature.