The great palace hall shimmered with its usual elegance
Seated atop their respective thrones were King Ryker, Queen Mireya robed in silks, along with the Crown Prince Adam of Drakonia.
Adam sat tall but cold, his sharp eyes brushing over the ceremonial scrolls laid before him without so much as a flicker of interest.
The curve of his mouth was flat, unimpressed. His silence stretched uncomfortably long until King Ryker broke it with a strained smile.
"Your Highness..." seeing you in our realm is an honor we all hold dear. We are thrilled about the engagement."
"Engagement?" Adam’s voice cut clean through the room like the sweep of a sword.
King Ryker stiffened, the air hitching in his lungs. "Yes... today, the royal house of Drakonis was meant to speak of betrothal to my daughter."
"I wasn’t told I would be speaking of an engagement," Adam said, his tone deceptively calm. "I was told today is for marriage. I was summoned for a wedding."
Gasps scattered among the courtiers. Even the queen Mireya blinked rapidly, hands tightening on her chair.
"Your Highness..." King Ryker began again, this time his voice gentler, wary.
"I understand the urgency following the Kraken’s appearance... but surely a short engagement could still..."
The words died on his lips when the doors opened with ceremony.
"Princess Rhynera has arrived!" a guard announced, and all eyes turned.
Rhynera strode in with her signature poise, surrounded by her handmaidens.
A practiced smile curved her lips as she bowed to the king, then turned to the prince with theatrical warmth.
"Welcome, my lord... I am pleased to finally meet the Crown Prince everyone speaks so highly of," she said, voice light, sweet like dew clinging to poisoned leaves.
Adam gave her a measured look and a nod, nothing more. She waited for a word, a compliment, a second glance but it never came.
Queen Mireya, sensing the stillness, rushed to fill it. "Your Highness, this is my daughter Rhynera... your future Crown Princess."
"Yeah." Adam’s lips twitched in a smirk. "I could tell."
Mireya’s smile tightened, but King Ryker gestured for Rhynera to take her seat beside them.
Her skirts rustled as she sat, with her eyes burning holes into Adam’s expressionless face.
He turned back to the king to proceed with their conversation. "Now that she’s here... let us begin the arrangement..."
Before they could proceed with their conversation the doors opened again.
Another announcement rang out, "The arrival of the oldest princess... Lumina."
Adam’s brows furrowed now staring at King Ryker. "You have an older daughter?" he asked, confused.
King Ryker’s mouth opened but only produced a slow, faltering chuckle. "Yes... my prince. But she... she kind of..."
Whatever excuse he was about to give vanished when she appeared. Lumina stepped in slowly, her cane tapping against the floor in elegance.
A wave of whispers slipped through the room like wildfire. She is like a goddess trapped in a mortal form as she strolled through the hall.
She stopped before the royals and bowed low, perfectly aligned despite her lack of sight.
"My Lord... I must have arrived late. Please forgive my delay."
Stella whispered near her ear, helping her subtly toward the prince’s direction. Lumina tilted her face just slightly, her expression serene, and composed.
"Your Highness... it must have been a long journey. I hope your stay here brings you peace and warmth." For the first time that morning... Adam smiled.
A real, glimmering smile that curved his lips and softened his hard-set jaw.
Rhynera’s heart deopped watching this. She had practiced for this moment for months. The way she would smile, how her voice is supposed to interest him. Her entrance and her gown. Yet the prince who barely acknowledged her existence had just smiled at a blind girl.
King Ryker beamed at this, "Your Highness," he said quickly, seizing the moment, "That is my eldest daughter... Lumina."
"She’s beautiful," Adam said simply. "If you had told me such a jewel lived in your palace, I might have come sooner."
Rhynera’s hand clenched around her jeweled fan until the hinges creaked.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your kind words," Lumina said softly, then took her seat with Stella’s quiet guidance.
From then on, the hall shifted and they resumed the marriage talk.
Scrolls were brought and discussions commenced, Adam would shoot her some glance time to go time But Lumina’s mind wasn’t in the room.
She kept her head bowed politely, but her thoughts danced far away to Seraphine’s warning.
And most of all... she didn’t have a good vibe around the crown prince. She had a dark feeling the moment she stepped inside.
Just then her hands fidgeted beneath the table, knuckles brushing the fabric of her robe. She couldn’t forget what her aunt said.
"Find your way into the Drakonis world... if you want to know the truth about your mother... and about your power." She was still lost in thought when Adam rose to his feet.
"I have made my decision," he said. The room went silent. All eyes turned to him. Rhynera sat up straighter.
"I have no time for delay. Today, I will choose my bride and I would like her to be sent to the Drakonis world in the next three days... there will be some rituals before the actual marriage"
Queen Mireya’s breath caught and King Ryker smiled eagerly, Rhynera smiled hoping that finally the time was coming she was about to become the crown princess of the Drakonis.
"There would be one more request," Adam stated, making everyone eager aside Lumina who was in her world.
Adam glanced at Lumina, whose face was directed at the table still in her thoughts but the moment his eyes laced on her she felt it.
"I would also want princess Lumina... as the wife of the last prince of Drakonia."
Gasps exploded. The queen nearly stood. Rhynera paled, her hand flying to her mouth.
While Lumina sat frozen, as the world around her shattered in silence.