Free Web NovelChapter 4: Chapter 4
Over the next few months, all the girls, Hera included, sought out any information they could find about Aurelia and the cities they occupied.
Aurelia had been a middling kingdom at its inception, consisting of at least five cities. Erindros, its capital city, was captured during a war that lasted three years. But since then, the kingdom has had no shortage of new conquests it set its sights on.
Now at its height, the Aurelian empire controls powerful cities such as Helionis, the city of gold, Aekje, known for its spice, and Amonis, which controls the largest port along the West. Known for their harshness, they mete out vicious punishments to criminals of the uprising threatening their reign. Not just that, forcing their people with some of the most brutal sanctions and taxes
However, this dictatorial rule has lasted many years. The numerous cities that it controlled are said to be the richest across the lands, and the people seem to love their current way of life.
They’d been searching for information about the royal house on one such occasion, when the king, their father, had come in to meet them in the study.
"Any luck with your research?" He’d asked them out of the blue, referring specifically to no one. But Hera answered.
"The Aurelian Royal house, father’ she chimed, "tell us about them."
"Oh," he reeled slightly, a little off guard by the question. "Well, King Specter comes from a generation of brutal rulers. He is known to have forcefully married his wife, who bore him three children. No one really knows what kind of rulers their children will turn out to be in the future, but... There are talks."
"Talks of what father?" Hera asked.
He shook his head softly and gave her a sad smile. "Just be careful, my love, you need only worry about yourself in Aurelia. Everything else will fall into place, I can assure you, " he said quietly, his voice sympathetic.
"Also," Astrid interrupted, "it’s a little fishy, Father, but why are we the only ones that Aurelia has proposed marriage to?" She asked suspiciously. "For a powerful kingdom like that, they do not need this bargain. Their son could probably whisk a mermaid from the sea if they so chose, why us? Why Epirus? Why Hera?"
Their father looked away, refusing to meet their eyes.
Her eyes narrowed. "I knew it. You’re hiding something, aren’t you?!" Astrid hissed, her voice already rising.
"Sister," Larissa called. "Why don’t we just...."
"Not now, Larissa. Not now," she warned. " i knew there was a catch. " She got up to stand in front of him, looking at him squarely in the face. "I knew there were more lies. You were going to set your daughters off to a foreign land without telling them the entire truth." She’d begun shouting.
Her mother rushed in, looking bewildered.
Astrid wasted no time in shooting a series of questions her way. "Did you also know about this mother? Was I really right last night, and all that act of yours was entirely a lie?"
"I, I, I, I don’t understand," she stuttered.
Astrid burst into a cackle, the most wicked sound she’d ever heard herself make.
"You want me to spell it out for your mother? Fine. Why were we chosen? Why was Epirus chosen out of all the kingdoms across the region, across the continent even? Why us!?"
Confusion was written all over her mother’s face.
"Because of the invasion," she said slowly. "They’d promised they wouldn’t invade us if we sent over our daughter to marry the prince."
"And what exactly makes us qualified?! Why only us?!"
"It’s a competition," their father said quietly.
All their heads turned sharply towards him.
"They have set their sight on many kingdoms. But the king has stated that he would make us all an offer. We send our daughters to Erindros so the prince might choose a wife, or we risk invasion, which we will never have a chance of winning."
"What?" Hera said, stunned.
The girls were silent. Nothing had prepared them for the turn of events.
Astrid collapsed on a chair at the rear end of the room with her head in her hands. Their father continued to deal them painful blows to the heart.
"So, I’m not actually going to marry this man?" Hera’s voice hitched as she talked. "I’m going to fight other girls for a man I know nothing of? A man who could be as brutish as his father? Is that what you’re telling me? That I have no choice in the matter?
I’ll be torn away from my family to enter a competition?! For heaven’s sake, father, how long do you want to keep up the streaks of disappointment?"
"My dear," he started, " you know I have no other options. It had already been decided. And the kingdom... "
"The kingdom be damned, father!" Hera rebuffed. "If Astrid didn’t pry this information out of you, you’d have let us go blind into dangerous waters. I didn’t blame you when you’d unexpectedly told me i had to marry to protect the kingdom. But i have to embarrass myself on top of that? You jest!"
"I’m sorry, my dear girl. I really am."
"Do you delight in treating your family like this? Astrid asked. She had stood of from where she sat and came to face both her parents again. "The lying? The secrets? Are you both truly happy? "
Her mother stood silent, tears welling up in her eyes, while their father refused to meet her eye.
"You know what? Forget it. There’s no use asking. Hera, do you want to leave this place? "
Her parents’ faces shot up, looking from one girl to the other.
Hera stood silently, her body shaking as the tears poured down her face now. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"My dear girl," her father began to say.
"You will not speak," Astrid shouted, her voice reverberating through the room. "You have done enough."
"Hera," Astrid said softly, "what do you want?" She asked. " Do you wish to continue down this path? Or would you like me to take you far away from here?"
Hera collapsed on the chair beside her as her legs could no longer support her. Every part of her body shook violently as the tears continued to pour.
After a while, her tears dried up, and her body relaxed. She sat silently for what felt like a long time before she spoke again, wiping the tears on her face.
"I will go ahead with it." She stated. "No matter what has happened, my conscience would not be at peace knowing that our people could be slaughtered and enslaved."
"Are you sure, princess?" Iris asked. "In the events that you might not win, you may never return. You could die in the process. A lot of unexpected things could happen." She said. "If you do this, you must be unequivocally sure that you are ready for whatever consequences that may befall you, and you aren’t doing this because you want to save people who will never learn of your sacrifice."
Hera’s smile was sad. " I am a princess, am I not? It is my duty to serve and save my people in whatever capacity I can. Is that not right, Father?" She turned to face her father, who still refused to look at her.
"I will support your decision, sister," Astrid declared. "And I promise you, no matter what, my sisters and i will always be by your side."
The relationship they had with their parents broke almost entirely after that. Both daughters no longer acknowledged them much after the incident. The palace was filled with a suffocating silence until the day it was finally time to set sail for Erindros.
They had all gathered at the harbour, loading trucks containing clothes and gold. The king made sure their coffers lacked nothing.
All the girls from the order boarded the ship, waiting for the princesses to say their farewells.
"Please take care of yourselves," their mother whispered. "I’m sorry for everything that has happened between us. I hope one day you could forgive me."
Astrid rolled her eyes at this while Hera stayed silent.
"Be safe, my angels," their father added. "May the gods guide your path and give you victory over all your obstacles."
"Goodbye, father, mother," Hera said finally and turned to board the ship.
Astrid looked at her parents, peering intensely into their eyes for the last time, bowed, and went to join her sisters. As the ship pulled away from the harbour, she turned to look at her parents. No matter how she hated the cruel hands they had been dealt with by fate up to this moment, she could not help but ache for her parents still.
"It’s alright." Selene came to stand beside her, patting her back. "One day."
And off they went, sailing through rough tides and green waters to reach Aurelia.
