Lincoln skimmed over the letter in his hand, mouth twitching in annoyance. Their mother had made a mockery of not only their father, but their family as well. And now Leighton had the nerve to write to her? In one swift motion, he crumpled up the letter in his hand.
"Should I inform the king, Your Highness?" The voice of Officer Wilson pulled Lincoln from his thoughts.
"That won't be necessary, I will handle this myself. Please continue to monitor my sister's mail, both incoming and outgoing, I would hate for temptation to get the best of her." Lincoln replied as he shoved the crumpled up paper into his pocket. With that, the nineteen year old prince exited the room. He knew exactly where to find his twin sister. As much as he wanted to rush, Lincoln walked at a measured pace. Now that he was the Crown Prince, he was under much more scrutiny, and his every movement was analyzed, racing over to the gardens to lecture Leighton would draw more attention than the leisurely pace he was forcing himself to take. Before the guards could move to open the door for their prince, the door swung open to reveal Princess Leighton herself. Lincoln resisted the urge to roll his eyes, she looked like she didn't have a care in the world. Since they weren't alone, he forced a tight smile.
"Have a nice walk?" Lincoln asked, keeping his tone pleasant. Though Leighton could see the anger in his eyes.
"It was very relaxing, thank you," Leighton answered in her usual chipper tone.
"Wonderful," Came Lincoln's response as he offered her his arm. "It's been a while, I think it's time we had a chat."
A flicker of fear flashed across Leighton's brown eyes, though she kept her composure and flashed her brother a tight smile as she took his arm. "Of course." In the past month, her brother had changed. Sure, he had always been serious and more withdrawn, but now his whole demeanor had changed, he acted better than everyone, including her. Now, she only saw him at meals, and whenever she went to find him, he sent her away and told her not to disturb him. Understandably, she knew there was a reason he was seeking her out, and she could tell that whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant.
Lincoln led his sister away, through the hallways and up the winding steps to the third floor. Once they reached her room, he pulled his arm free and opened the door, giving her an impatient gesture to step inside. Leighton glanced at her brother briefly before she stepped into her room. Lincoln followed behind her and closed the door shut behind him. He then turned and narrowed his eyes as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Is everything alright?" Leighton asked, as she fiddled with the ring on her index finger.
"I heard an interesting rumor about you, Leighton," Lincoln started as he stepped forward, closing the distance between them. "Except, it's not so much a rumor as it is a fact." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter, then held it out for his sister.
"I think I know what this is." Leighton mumbled, as she reluctantly reached out and took the letter. She smoothed it enough to read the contents, then crumbled it up again. When she finally looked up at Lincoln, instead of seeing remorse as he expected, he saw hurt and betrayal. "Why do you have this?"
Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "I think the more important question is why you wrote it in the first place? How much correspondence have you had with that whore?" He demanded, his tone coming out harsher than intended.
Leighton flinched at the tone and averted her gaze. She's still our mother, she thought, but knew to keep quiet. She had never seen her brother like this, and hated that he was acting like he owned her, but they both knew she was techncially in the wrong, at least that's how their father would see it.
"Answer me." Lincoln commanded, surprising even himself when he grabbed his sister by the jaw and forced her to make eye contact.
"I don't know what possessed me to write it…" Leighton began, eyes wide in a mixture of shock and fear. "This is the first, I just…I wanted an explanation, that's all Link."
Satisfied, Lincoln released his hold on his sister and placed his hand on her shoulder. "She did a terrible, immoral thing. You know that. So why would you want to contact her?"
Leighton shrugged her shoulders, she didn't like how uneasy she felt, this was her brother, why was he acting like this? "I know she did, but I just, I don't understand how she could do something like that..."
"It hardly matters," Lincoln said dismissively. "What matters is that she's gone now, and we must be impeccable, beyond reproach to repair the damage she has caused. You, more than anyone, must show our people how a true Illéan woman conducts herself." Lincoln softened his tone, and gave his sister's shoulder an affectionate squeeze, softening his expression. He knew he had to get the message across, but knew not to push his sister too far. She spent too much time with their mother, which was only a problem in hindsight. Who knows what damage had been done?
"I understand that, it's just, everything's changing so fast, especially between us," Leighton tucked her hair behind her ear and looked down so her brother wouldn't see how upset she was.
"I know," Lincoln agreed before his sister could continue. "Listen, Leighton. Everything that is happening, is for the best. All you need to do is do as you're told, things will go much more smoothly if you do. And push her from your mind, she betrayed all of us from the beginning, especially you. One day you'll see that."
Leighton forced a smile and nodded. "I'll try, and look, I'm sorry for trying to write to her."
"We all have moments of weakness, Leighton, just don't do it again." Lincoln warned as he let go of her shoulder. "But, on the bright side, the Selection will go forward as planned." He continued after seeing the confused look on his sister's face; "The applications had already been processed prior to everything coming to light, and the Selected decided and announced. Father and I decided why break promises because of that whore? So, my first order of business as newly anointed Crown Prince will be to host the Selection."
Leighton was quiet for a moment, before she forced a smile. "It will be nice to have more people in the palace, I suppose." She couldn't help but think that things were moving too fast, it was only two weeks ago the her mother and uncle had been exiled.
"Speaking of that," Lincoln started. "It's important that you keep in mind, that they are here for me, not for you. It would be best for you to keep your distance."
"Did father say that?" Leighton asked, blurting out the question. Normally, she was more composed, more in control. But this wasn't making any sense, why wouldn't she be allowed to get to know the women competing to marry her brother?
"Does he have to?" Lincoln challenged. "You listened to Elis no problem, why is there suddenly issues with me?"
Because Elis didn't order me around, Leighton thought. "No, he doesn't have to. I'll keep my distance from the Selected." she mumbled, caving. She could tell the power was getting to her twin's head, but she knew that couldn't be the only thing, there had to be something or someone else making him act like this.
"See to it that you do, and I think you should spend the rest of the day in here to think about what you've done." With that, Lincoln left the room, leaving behind a very stunned Leighton.
STORY INFO/WORLD BUILDING
For this story, Illéa is still an absolute monarchy. King Julian and his ministers have slowly been dismantling rights and freedoms of the citizens of Illéa over his twenty year reign to push a far right agenda onto its population. The goal is to revert Illéa back to "traditional family values". Women's rights are slowly being stripped away. The most radical change has been to gender identity and sexuality. The only tolerated sexuality is heterosexuality, anyone who deviates will be deemed mentally ill and forced to participate in the "necessary" treatments. The Illéan government only recognizes two genders - male and female - anyone who does not conform, will again be deemed mentally ill and subjected to treatment. Although it's not extensively covered in the books, it did seem very heteronormative, so I don't think this one would be too big of a stretch to incorporate, yes there would be protests, that would have been quickly and swiftly shut down.
In terms of women's rights, the government has moved slowly to prevent an uprising or civil war. The first change was that divorce required government approval, and in recent years divorce in its entirety has now been outlawed.
Adultery is now a punishable crime, by either corporal punishment, jail time, or a combination.
Public displays of affection are tolerated in a limited capacity, hand holding and a kiss on the cheek are permitted, anything else is distasteful and depending on the severity, unlawful.
In every family, the most senior male relative is considered the head of the household. This could mean a grandfather, husband, father, brother, uncle, etc. It just depends on the circumstances.
The head of household must give written consent for a woman to be married. At this time, all parties involved in the marriage must give consent (ie bride and groom). But many suspect arranged marriages are on the way.
Women are unable to open new bank accounts, those with their own bank account may not add funds nor will interest accrue, once the account is drained of all money, the account will close. Women can work, but any pay received is to be put into the bank account of their head of household. If it is necessary for women to spend money, they must use cash.
Fashion has slowly changed to become modest, at this time there are no laws dictating what can and cannot be worn, but, there is substantial pressure to wear modest, non-revealing clothing. Many businesses do have dress codes that are heavily influenced by the upper castes as well as the royal family, who have all adopted a very modest and non-revealing dress code.
There has been additional pressure put forward to parents to raise their children to take on traditional gender roles and as the time has drawn closer to the time of the story, girls are more and more expected to be demure, softspoken, graceful, kind and nurturing. This started with the royal family, then the upper castes and is slowly trickling down to the lower castes. The prime example of this would be Princess Leighton.
THE QUEEN'S SCANDAL
Now, to explain the scandal the first chapter was referring to, it was discovered that Queen Caris had an affair with King Julian's younger brother, Prince Cedric. DNA tests were performed on the princes (it was not necessary for the princess, as she is a twin). "Prince" Elis, was discovered to be illegitimate, and fathered by Prince Cedric. Prince Lincoln and Princess Leighton were discovered to be legitimate and true heirs.
As punishment for her crimes, Caris was stripped of her royal titles, publicly caned, and exiled to Whites and placed under house arrest. Cedric was also stripped of his royal titles, publicly whipped, and exiled to Lakedon under house arrest. Elis was drafted for military service to prove his loyalty to his country and to atone for the sin of his parents.
^ All of this is public knowledge. There was an emergency Report four days after the announcement of Elis's Selection which covered the scandal, not in extensive detail, but just to inform the public and to show that the laws apply to everyone. Rather than re-send out the invitation, the ladies chosen for Elis's Selection will still get to compete, but it is now Lincoln's hand they will be fighting for.
I hope that was all clear, if you're confused about anything please feel free to ask. Character submission form can be found on my profile. Thanks!