A/N: This is my very first fanfic, of any kind, so please be gentle ;) Reviews are welcome, if you like this so far then please review and if you don't like it then please review with ideas on how I could improve :)

I would like to write this up until the fall of Troy but at the moment I don't have past the second chapter in my head, but I will see how it goes. Also, I know the title of this story isn't great but I didn't know what to call it.

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Butterflies fluttered nervously in Princess Andromache's stomach. As time passed by they grew more and more agitated. She rubbed her stomach in gentle motions in hopes of calming her nerves.

Finally the day had come when Andromache would meet her betrothed: Prince Hector. Nothing could prepare her for this meeting, not even her mother's soothing words. In a few days Andromache would be leaving her home, Thebe, and sailing away to Troy with Prince Hector.

Of course Andromache had protested against the marriage but nothing had changed her father's mind. She knew, as well as the rest of her family, that she could prove to be the key in creating a strong and powerful ally for the weak Thebe.

As soon as Andromache had been told of her pending marriage to Prince Hector, stories of him suddenly began to swarm around her. The thing she heard most was that he was a Tamer of Horses.

Prince Hector was well renowned for the ability to tame even the worst of horses and this scared Andromache. Andromache feared that Hector would be a strict and brutish warrior who broke horses down to his will; she feared he would break her.

Andromache now sat on her grey coloured stallion, called Alexandros. He was a beautiful horse and had been a present to her on her fourteenth birthday, only five years ago, from her father. Andromache was not able to take Alexandros with her to Troy and so she wished to savor every moment she had with him.

It was frowned upon for a woman or maiden to leave the citadel without a male escort, but Andromache often rode alone in secret, like now. She knew Hector would be arriving at the palace today, but she didn't expect him to arrive until later that day.

Still the thought of being married to a man she had never met seemed absurd to her. A part of her wished to believe that it wasn't real, that this was all a bad dream, but she couldn't convince herself to believe that lie. Andromache loved her family dearly, especially her seven brothers, and she could not bear to leave them … not now … not ever. However, Andromache's marriage to Hector was inevitable.

Andromache now looked across the lake she had ridden to, which was not too far away from the palace. No one usually came here, so Andromache used it as her sanctuary, her place of thought. Being in the palace, with her mother fretting over her marriage, was unbearable and so Andromache had ridden away from the palace as soon as she could.

The water shimmered blissfully under the blazing, hot sun that was shinning its light from high above. Gigantic trees, which were spread around the lake, with green coloured leaves, swayed smoothly with the gentle wind. Birds in the trees sang cheerfully as they fed their young. Andromache sighed heavily and leaned forward to stroke Alexandros' neck. Soon this will all be left behind, thought Andromache sadly.

The sound of horses trotting suddenly crept into Andromache's ears; she gripped harder onto her reins and straightened her back when she saw who the men were.

Andromache could tell by looking at their beautiful decorated breastplates that these men were Trojans. She had not expected them to arrive so early, nor did she expect them to ride to the palace from their ships by taking this route. She thought they would sail straight to the palace docks and ride their horses from there.

One of these men, Andromache thought, will be my future husband. She caught the eye of one of the men who rode in the front; she glanced curiously at him for a moment but then turned away abruptly when a loud horn was blown.

"Step out of the way, madam!" shouted the man who had blown the horn.

Andromache was wearing a navy coloured cloak; its hood was on her head which covered her crown that revealed her status as a Princess of Thebe. She resisted the urge to pull down her hood, and instead rode off the dusty path and halted on the grass, a few yards beside the path.

Andromache bowed her head as the men passed her but she soon felt a pair of eyes on her face. She looked up slowly and saw that the man, who she had seen only moments ago, was now looking at her intently. Somehow, Andromache felt that this man was her future husband. She quickly lowered her head and waited until the men had passed and had rode out of sight, only then did Andromache ride back to the palace.