Young Writers Society

For a while – which felt to Myriad longer than it probably was – Saegen leant against her, silence broken only by the occasional sniffle. Then Saegen pulled back, wiping under her eyes with the bent joint of her index finger. She took a few long breaths, and Myriad matched her inhales and exhales to Saegen’s.

“I don’t know where to start”, Saegen said with the weary look of a person who only has unfortunes to unfold.

“What happened after the engagement party? That’s the last time I spoke to you”, Myriad said, biting her lip in shame. Too stealthily it had crept up on her that she had become that hateful person who didn’t notice the suffering of her nearest and dearest because of a boy.

“I’ve been to Cabon, to see Sanning.”

Myriad sensed that the full stop was supposed to come much later, but she didn’t pry about what would have been in between. She waited, though dolorous it was, looking at Saegen and nodding her encouragement.

“Alfred… oh, Myriad, I just don’t know – there’s so much –“

“Alright”, Myriad said. “Start at the very, very beginning. Wherever you think the beginning is. We have the whole day. It’s just us here, Saegen. Just like it should.”

Saegen nodded, eyes brimming again. Another breath.

“Alfred and I haven’t been doing well for quite a while now”, Saegen said. Her stoic eyes said she had had this conversation in her mind several times. “Even before your party, he just… he wouldn’t really talk to me. Or if he did, he would just grunt and grumble and call that a response. I really didn’t know what to do, or what I had done… or whether I had done anything. He just wouldn’t explain, that was the problem.”

“Even before the party?” Myriad said, frowning. “But I thought everything was great there. You did your ceremony, and we had that talk… Alfred didn’t seem any different to me. Just reminded me as much as ever why I chose Sumner. No offense, Saegen. Is this where we can tear him apart?”

“I don’t think it would do much good”, Saegen said. “Anyway, I got very frustrated with him and then…” A shadow of discomfort entered her face. “I met someone. A boy.”

Myriad was already opening her mouth to exclaim whatever an inhalation would bring to her tongue, but something in Saegen’s expression twisted her stomach into silence. There was an ounce of truth hanging in the air that she wasn’t sure she wanted to uncover – but at the same time, she knew she had to.

“And then I was even more confused, and I thought I would go visit Sanning to have a little break, only he came too –“

“Wait, wait, wait. I wasn’t going to ask, but I’ve got to. Saegen, what boy? You have to tell me so I can understand.”

Saegen pressed her mouth into a line. “If you were anyone else, literally anyone else, I would say I don’t want to talk about it. I mean, I don’t, but because it’s you I will.”

The knot in Myriad’s stomach persisted.

“I met him at my reading spot, he was so charming, and fun… and he came to Cabon too, to visit a friend, or so he says… I spent all my time with him. Sanning didn’t approve, and I was thinking you wouldn’t approve, and I was angry at Alfred, so I liked him out of spite. I think I wanted to love him.” Saegen swallowed, then continued.
“And he… oh, Myriad, I’m so ashamed.”

“Don’t be”, Myriad said. “Just take your time. And make sure that at the end I know whom to injure and whom not. I’m not certain at the moment.”

“He… we went to an inn. And he was getting all these drinks, and I wanted to show him – I wanted to show him I wasn’t me. So I took them all. And it was so bad. He took me to his room and… took care of me, and let me sleep. He was so nice, and I felt so awful. And Sanning and I had a terrible row, and I wanted to leave, and I went to tell him I was going to leave and that I didn’t appreciate his… approaches, and he… grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go and – I managed to get away in the end, but he… oh, Myriad…”

And here Saegen cried again, bitterly, and every sob was a blunt dagger at Myriad’s core. She stood up in a whim of red-hot fury.

“What did he to do to you, Saegen? What?”

“He told me that we had… that night, at the inn, that we had… That I had… That he… Myriad, he says I lay with him.” Saegen choked, coughed, tried to level her voice. “But I had drunk so much, I didn’t feel or remember anything in the morning… I still don’t remember. All I know is what he tells me. And I don’t know which is worse. That I have, and I don’t remember… or even if I haven’t, I’ve been so dazed that he could say anything and it could be true…”

Myriad sat back down, although her senses screamed for her to do something more. She leant over Saegen, holding her, trying to make her absorb into her all of Myriad’s love for her. If only it were possible. She knew that the most important thing was to save Saegen. Saegen had done it for her, and she would never not do it back.

But she also wanted to run, to find this person, to claw his eyes out and kill him. The force of the emotion surprised and scared her, and she held Saegen tighter as if chaining herself into their embrace. No matter how judgemental Myriad could be of other people, never before had it even crossed her mind that she would want someone’s life to end. She didn’t want to think that, but she couldn’t help it.

She knew that she would never do it. But imagining this faceless person lying motionless on the ground, pierced by an arrow that was sent by her bow… the temptation sent cold waves of dread along her spine.

Even if he had lied to her. Even if nothing had truly happened, he must have known the fear that the uncertainty would cause Saegen.

“Alfred knows him”, Saegen produced from inside the hug. “That’s what makes it worse. Tristan had something against him, he wanted revenge or something… Alfred sent for him to be captured. I hope they find him.”

Myriad stroked Saegen’s back, her silky hair that spread over it. She said nothing, but her mind was busy. Alfred’s guards would surely find him. They would bring him in, lock him up.

And now she knew his name.

“You can’t go in there, Miss.” Wooden spears blocked Myriad’s way at the entrance to the dungeons of Avaleon Castle. Myriad crossed her arms across her chest in a way that signified, they would come to notice, a much stronger obstacle than a couple of sharp sticks.
“Don’t you know who I am?” she demanded.
“We know who you are”, one of the guards said tiredly, as if he were having to deal with her kind daily. “You still can’t go in there.”
Myriad stretched herself to her fullest, queenliest frame, which even at its top height was a head smaller than Saegen’s, and therefore much, much smaller than that of either of the guards.
“Those spears are useless, you know”, she said. “I could easily just duck under them and run in before you’d even noticed.”
It took all of Myriad’s might to not do exactly that. She didn’t want to create any more trouble, but she had to get in. She had to see him, to look him in the eye. She had to find out the truth.
Myriad was glad Saegen was fast asleep in Myriad’s at-least-triple bed back at Adelbraith. It would have been impossible to leave her otherwise, not only because she would have got suspicious, but because Myriad didn’t want to leave her in the first place. No – best to do it in the dead of night, in the time of scoundrels and rogues.
“We have to ask you to leave, Miss.”
“I’m not leaving until you let me in. Seriously, why can’t anyone go in there? What harm could it possibly do? Are you worried I’m an accomplice? That I’ll snatch your keys and let him out?”
“We’re just following orders, Miss.”
“Let her in”, said a voice from behind. Myriad spun around and saw Alfred approaching them, his hollowed cheeks giving his face an eerie quality in the hazy lantern light.
“Your Highness”, the guards said in unison and bowed their heads slightly.
“What are you doing here?” Myriad said. The surprise of seeing him brought a hard tone into her voice.
“Can’t sleep. Haven’t for days”, Alfred said. Myriad took it to mean ‘ever since I ordered the capture of someone who violated my girlfriend’. She had no sympathy for Alfred. It was partly his fault that Saegen had left in the first place.
And partly mine, Myriad reminded herself, biting her lip.
“Just let her in”, Alfred repeated to the guards. At once, they stepped out of the way, returning the spears to their sides.
“Thank you”, Myriad said to Alfred, not particularly warmly.
“I can’t bring myself to face him”, Alfred said. “Not yet, anyway. I’m not sure I could guarantee what I’d do.”
“Oh, I can’t guarantee what I’ll do”, Myriad said and walked in.

The castle dungeons at Cordovan and Avaleon weren’t so much in use anymore, Myriad knew. They were either temporary locations for people that would be moved later, or reserved for members of the court, should they turn against their country. Clearly, Alfred’s people were fine upstanding citizens, for the dungeons were dark and empty save for one cell with a torch burning outside that lit her way in the corridor. Despite the heat of the flicker, Myriad’s veins chilled. She did not want to step closer. She had never been to a dungeon, and she didn’t feel like midnight was the best time to start going.
But then a dragging sound came from the only occupied cell, and the icy chill inside Myriad flared into an angry fire. She strode forward as if pushing through a crowd, her shoes clattering against the stone floor.
Through the barred door hinged onto the stone walls, she saw a form sitting up at the noise of her arrival.
Seething, she gripped the bars of the door, thinking Tristan was lucky he wasn’t close enough for her to clasp those fingers around his throat. No sound came from her, but she could feel that her knuckles were turning white.
He looked confused as he peered at her, clearly expecting to see a guard. For a second, Myriad was surprised at how utterly normal he looked, not like the spawn of heartless cruelty that she knew he was.
Then a grin of recognition spread across his face, and he gave a gasp of mock delight. “Oh, I am honoured! It’s the Laundress herself! Spreading her famed joy to the poor and unfortunate. I apologise, I don’t believe I’m appropriately dressed for this grand occasion.”
Myriad could not explain the horror of realising that she was face to face with a complete stranger to whom she wasn’t a stranger at all. She gritted her teeth, willing her face not to show her shock.
He would not have the upper hand. He was the one behind a locked door.
“Shut your mouth”, Myriad spat through her teeth. “You do not – have the right – for anything – ever.” She fought back tears of rage. Her jaw was so tight she wondered if it would stay that way. “Did you do it? Just tell me this. Did you do it?”
“I should’ve guessed they would resort to sending a messenger”, Tristan said. “I have never met two more dastardly people than Alfred and Saegen. They truly deserve each other. If he’ll still have her.”
“Don’t you stain her name with your sick mouth. Just answer me. Did you sleep with her?”
“I don’t remember”, Tristan said aggravatingly.
“You’re lying. You told her you had. She told me.”
“Really, we were both so drunk that night. If she was too out of it to remember, then how on earth should I be expected to? That seems unfair, don’t you think?”
“Listen, you bastard. She has to know. Personally, I don’t mind, I’ll be happy to throttle you either way –“
“I couldn’t care less about her”, Tristan said. “What will really get me through life from now on is that Alfred will always be wondering.”
“I wouldn’t count on getting through life”, Myriad said. What could she do? What? She was so desperate to find out the truth for Saegen’s sake. Why was he still out of reach?
She wouldn’t really do anything – would she?
Tristan laughed. It echoed unpleasantly in the stone vaults. “How were you planning to slay me? Calling me a dirty name in your little gossip column?”
He scrambled up not very gracefully – Myriad supposed staying in a cube of stone was taking its toll – and approached the door. She fought back the urge to retreat. He’s locked up. He’s locked up.
He stopped just on the other side of the door, looking down at her. Close to the flame of the torch, she could see clearer what she hated. Contrary to what she had thought at first, there was nothing normal about his appearance – his eyes were dark in colour and in expression, his mouth curved into a spiteful smile. For the second time that night, Myriad adopted her tallest posture.
“I wonder what people will say”, Tristan said. “If these rumours get out. How harmful it might be for the royal family. Surely His Highness Prince Alfred shouldn’t be associating with such girls. It might affect how people will see him. They might even blame you.”
Do not engage with him. Do not – “What do you mean?”
“You and Saegen have been together all your life. You can’t be a good influence on the sweet girl. I was there with everyone else – when that farmboy told everyone of your simply shameful debauchery. They’ll say really, it’s no wonder that Saegen would make bad choices, they’ll say – Oh, that’s not a tear, is it?”
Quicker than almost possible, he poked his hand through the bars and had just the time to graze Myriad’s cheek before she spat at him.
“Do not touch me”, she screeched. He staggered, then regained his footing and brushed at his face without the flicker of an eyelash. In a mocking surrender, he raised his hands and went back to lean against the wall, this time standing. Myriad took a deep breath, trying find her balance and sanity.
“Just because they don’t speak of torture devices anymore”, she said, “doesn’t mean they don’t still exist. I’m sure any of them would be great at jogging one’s memory.”
“You’re wasting your time, princess”, Tristan said. “I won’t even be here for much longer. They can’t imprison someone for something they didn’t do.”
“You did it”, Myriad insisted.
“How am I to know? I don’t remember. And…” Tristan pushed out his bottom lip in a juvenile pout, pairing it with sad eyebrows. “… neither does she. I guess we’ll never know. What a shame.”
Before Myriad fully realised what was happening, she had yanked the torch off the wall and thrown it, still burning, through the bars into Tristan’s cell. For a fleeting moment, she saw horror in his eyes, expecting the fire to find something to catch onto – and then nothing. The impact of the fall had smothered the flame.
There was a short, shocked silence, as they both tried to understand what Myriad had just attempted.
Then, Tristan’s victorious laughter filled the darkness, suffocating her like the torch.
She knew he was right. Without proof, there was no one who could keep him there. They’d have to let him go.
And there was no point in becoming a murderess, because that still wouldn’t bring out the truth.
Blind and broken, Myriad started staggering along the long corridor, away, towards where she thought the entrance was. Tristan’s laughter rang in her ears the whole way.
“Listen, if Saegen ever remembers what happened, be sure to let me know! I would hate to live the rest of my life not knowing if I’ve been disgraced!”
The echoes of his mockery, made fainter by the distance, reverberated off the thick stone walls. Tenfold, just like the pain of her failure.

She didn’t stop at Alfred’s calls. She half ran, half walked, depending on which thought her mind was currently settled at – tell Saegen, or let her sleep. In the dark night air, her eyes had adjusted easily enough, but occasionally there was a flash of orangey red – simultaneously the colour of her rage, and the immediate consequence of that rage – somewhere behind her eyes. The urgent footsteps at her back barely registered.
“What happened, Myriad?” Alfred was insisting. He sounded out of breath, but it couldn’t have been the short distance it had taken him to run after her. Something else had settled in his chest, blocking the air.
Myriad knew, because she felt it, too.
She only shook her head in response. She didn’t know whether it meant nothing can be done or don’t talk to me or he didn’t do it or he did it. And if she herself knew none of these things, how could anyone else be expected to?
It was hopeless. Had that been his intention all along? To suck all things good out of everyone else’s life because of a petty disagreement (if it had been that)?
Suddenly her stride stopped. Alfred had yanked at her arm, pinning her in place next to him, stationary. She wanted to go, she didn’t want to stay.
“Myriad. I command you to stop right now.”
Why is it only now that you sound princely and determined, thought Myriad in passing. Mostly she thought, nothing.
“What – happened”, Alfred said needlessly slowly, as if Myriad was a child, not just shocked and angry.
“He said what he must have said to your guards before they locked him up anyway. He – didn’t deny it. But he didn’t confirm it, either. He seems to prefer to leave it uncertain, the little bastard. He… he said that he wanted you to wonder. That it was all he cares about.”
As Myriad expected, Alfred fell silent. The silence lasted longer than was comfortable, if anything about the situation could be described as comfortable. Finally, he drew breath and spoke again.
“It is all my fault”, he said quietly, almost resigned. “I did wrong by him, I knew I should have looked into it –“
“Oh, right.” Myriad’s senses unexpectedly perked up again. Somewhere in the back of her brain she knew it was wrong, but a strange sort of power bubbled up inside her at the possibility of getting someone to blame. Saegen had explained about Tristan and Alfred’s past, but it had been difficult to connect the dots with so much second-hand information.
“I know you’re going to want to blame me”, Alfred said. “But I only did what I thought was right at the time. I mean, considering all this, it is highly likely that he did something to that maid. I wanted to believe the servants when they were so agitated. But there was no real proof.”
“Like there isn’t now”, Myriad mumbled. “He’s right. They’re going to have to let him go. What am I going to tell Saegen?”
Again, there was a pause. Out of the corner of her eye, Myriad saw that Alfred was shaking his head slightly.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
-
Back at Adelbraith Hall, Saegen’s peaceful sleep face tugged painfully at Myriad’s heart. In her sleep, she must have been able to push reality aside and dream of what should have been. Myriad did not want to be the one to tell her things that would wipe that peace from her face for who knew how long.
But first, Myriad would wait until the morning. At that moment, she felt that Saegen deserved nothing more than one last uninterrupted night’s sleep. She changed into her nightgown and climbed next to Saegen, put her head on the pillow and tried her best to join Saegen in her nocturnal peace.

-
When Saegen woke up, she had that instinctive feeling of a few seconds that something was wrong, but she couldn’t remember what and why. Physically, there seemed to be no sensible reason as to why that should be – she was warm, she wasn’t hungry, and wherever she was lying had the feel of the fluffiest, most comfortable cloud.
She kept her eyes shut tight even as the curtain of sleep started to evaporate, and the morning air of real, woken life started to find its way around her body. She knew that as soon as she opened her eyes, she would remember exactly what was going on, and she didn’t feel ready to face it yet.
“Mmhh.”
The noise from next to her ear made her eyes fly open automatically. She was greeted by a dark head that had the appearance of a cluster of old rope.
Of course, she was in Myriad’s bed.
Of course, this was her refuge. She remembered it all now, but somehow, the mere sight of a compassionate person next to her made it a tiny bit better.
To her unpleasant surprise, Saegen found that she had started to view what had happened as if it had befallen somebody else. This felt dangerous, because it seemed that whatever had happened to another person felt less like something Saegen would have to deal with. Surely she could just stay here, in her warm cocoon, and shut everything but Myriad out of her life forever.
As if Myriad had heard this thought, her eyes started to open as well, first fluttering and bleary, suddenly wide open.
“Saegen, I need to tell you something.”
Saegen didn’t want to hear it. She turned away, pulling her knees against her chest. She felt like a child, in the most pleasant way possible.
“Look at me.” Myriad reached over and turned her back, pulling her shoulder. Saegen sighed. She supposed it was time to return to reality. Everything was lopsided, and she was empty.
“I… went to see Tristan last night. Don’t – I knew you wouldn’t let me, so I decided I’d only tell you after. Saegen – he – I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. He kept twisting it around, he wouldn’t tell me the truth. He just wanted to get revenge on Alfred. So he’s refusing to talk about it. He says he doesn’t remember, which is obviously a lie. Saegen, I… I don’t know. I… I think he did it, but there’s just no way to know for sure. I’m really sorry.”
Myriad bit her lip, and again, Saegen felt nothing. She had believed him at first, but – She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember, as if she hadn’t done that a hundred times already. The last thing she remembered from that night was him sitting in the armchair in the room, and the first thing she remembered from the next morning was him still sitting there, fast asleep.

So even before Myriad opened her mouth again, Saegen knew what she was going to say.
“They will have to release him.”
Hearing the words didn’t make it any more real – and yet all the more real. Saegen didn’t know whether he was dangerous or just thoughtless, cruel in a juvenile way, but she still wished she didn’t have to think about running into him again.
But she had made her mind long before this, and all this further justified her decision. She would be fine. All that remained was to tell Myriad, a simple task that felt elephantine in proportions.
“Myriad, there’s something that I need to tell you.”
“Did you understand what I just said? I’m sorry, I just have to make sure –“
“I understood”, Saegen said. “It’s… fine. I mean, it’s not, but… I understand. It makes sense.”
The truth was, it did make sense. She didn’t like it – she abhorred it. But you couldn’t seize someone just for being a terrible person, without anything to show for it.
She wished she could remember.
Myriad was looking at her with a curious expression. It suddenly occurred to Saegen that they were truly older now, with older girls’ problems. This was somehow reflected in Myriad’s eyes, although Saegen wasn’t sure whether Myriad realised it herself.
Even so, it went well with what Saegen was about to say.
“I don’t know if I said it clearly last night, but I said goodbye to Alfred. I mean – I left him. It wasn’t right for me to keep both of us in the dark – I know we can’t be happy with each other. Not right now.”
Myriad looked stupefied, even though Saegen had already told her things between her and Alfred hadn’t been great for a long while.
“But – but –” Myriad said, “isn’t that what good relationships like this have against bad ones? That you can trust to keep hold of them even when everything isn’t right? To not let the other person go just because it’s been rough for some time?”
“Myriad, I know that this isn’t how you’ve envisioned it all. We were all meant to get married, rule together, be together, forever and ever. I know you wanted it. I wanted it, too. When I was younger. But we’re grown up now. I can’t keep playing this fantasy game anymore. This is real life, not a story.”
“This has been our plan – forever”, said Myriad, upper lip trembling. “Literally this is what we always dreamt of. We both found our princes. What more could we ever want?”
Saegen considered this for a while. Then she said, “More.”
“I think you’re making a mistake”, Myriad said defiantly. “Alfred is the one person that can help you get through this. Well, and me. But you can’t marry me, unfortunately.”
“No. I’d be making a mistake if I stayed in this reverie that we’ve created for ourselves. Yours has come true, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Against all odds, you’ve managed to make true what you always dreamt of, and I truly admire you for it. But it’s not true for me. I like Alfred. I do. He’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known. But I don’t love him. I think I’ve only recently realised that. I wanted to love him, for you, and for those little girls we once were, but the girl I am today can’t do it. I was really trying, but I think I knew somewhere deep down that I was only fooling myself. Alfred and I – we’re not an eternal love story. We were a hopeful love story, one of those thousands that were doomed to die down from the beginning. Because one of us wasn’t truly in it. I’m sure Alfred will come to see it as well. I don’t believe he can have thought it was genuine when it clearly wasn’t.”
Myriad was on the verge of tears. “But – I had no idea, you seemed to be so happy. I really thought he was what you always wanted, and what you had was what you always wanted. Really, it was exactly like we had hoped. We were going to be princesses together.”
“I think a part of me felt like it was expected of me. In a way, I expected it for myself. And all the time I was trying to push against something that didn’t fit at all. You see, he’s what I always thought I would want… so much so that I never took the time to actually figure out what it is that I really want. I let my childhood dreams pass me by. To define something for me when I should’ve thought of these things with my own head so much earlier than this.”
Myriad was shaking her head. “I kind of feel like I don’t know you, but I also kind of feel like… of course this is what happens. You know, you’ve been going along with things for so long… I know I’ve sometimes taken advantage of that, and for that I’m sorry. So I guess it’s only natural that you’d choose something else at some point. I can’t say I’m overly devastated by this… I mean, Alfred is sweet, and he means a lot to Sumner… but he was never really that interesting to me. No offense.”
“None taken”, Saegen said, and for the first time she felt liberated by saying something that she truly meant. She was under no obligations to say or feel – or to not say or not feel – anything about Alfred anymore. She could focus on starting to think of him as what she had always, deep down, thought of him as – a friend.
And then there was that other thing.
“There is still something else that I wanted to tell you. Now that I’ve got started. I haven’t told this to anyone else. Obviously.”
Myriad leant closer, eyebrows furrowed expectantly but also emanating a sense of there’s nothing you can tell me that will surprise me anymore.

Chapter 35

On a sunny day twelve years earlier, a little girl with dark plaits down her back had seen a sight that she decided would set her fate. That sight was a beautiful, white bride, with an armful of flowers and a pearl barrette in her flaxen hair.
Next to the little girl, there was another head of flaxen hair, only smaller than the bride’s. They clasped each other’s hands, hardly able to breathe from being so full of wonder at the marvellous vision.
That clasping of hands said it all, and the little dark-plaited girl knew that one day that bride would be her.
However, the little dark-plaited girl had no way of knowing that when, eventually, it would be the eve of that one day, she would be so full of dread that she could hardly even eat.
Which was a shame, because a table laden with different tea time goods had been presented before her, and she hated for sweet treats to go to waste. Myriad had had to trust her mother to do her job for her, since, despite being present, Saegen, Princess Cicely, and Queen Esther only poked at the pastries and moved them half-heartedly around the small decorative plates, acting as if that somehow accounted for eating. For Saegen, Myriad suspected the reason was nerves, like her, but Cicely and the Queen would probably have rather have ridden astride the horse than be seen eating a sugared confectionery.
Of course, those sugared confectioneries had been laid out to honour the upcoming nuptials of their son and brother to the lady of his choosing, which probably had made it even easier for them to refuse to eat any. Fortunately, Ellen Gosling had attacked the treats with a hearty appetite – a fact that did not go unnoticed by the royal participants.
It was a Cordovian tradition that the day before a wedding, the bride and her closest female relations – her mother, possible sisters, maid of honour, and her future mother-in-law and sisters-inlaw – would gather together for a tea party for the bride to start celebrating the big day and receive life advice from the wiser and more experienced older ladies and shared enthusiasm from the younger ones. It was a welcome occasion for at least three of the five present. Myriad’s mother had been excited to “finally get to know” Queen Esther and Princess Cicely, although Myriad had warned her to not get her hopes up.
Myriad also wondered how long it would have to take for them to start liking her, or what she would have to do to make it happen. Perhaps there was nothing to do – perhaps the mere fact that she wasn’t from a noble family was enough to turn them off her.
And probably the column catastrophe hadn’t much helped them to like her.
All through the tea party, Myriad had tried to analyse everyone’s facial expressions and any little intake of breath or sigh they had produced. She had also been painfully aware that every second passed brought her that much closer to her wedding day, which alone sounded so grown up and serious that she wanted to laugh, and then throw up right after. There had been a little bit of polite conversation, interrupted by haughty sniffs from one side of the table and delectable smacking of treat-devouring lips from the other.
Neither Myriad or Saegen had produced any of these sounds. In a way, it reminded Myriad of who really would be there for her through thick and thin, no matter what – even silently taking her side at an awkward tea gathering.
Had anyone even had any tea, Myriad wondered in passing.
There were really only two things that Myriad cared about when it came to her wedding, married life, and everything else during and after. One was Saegen, and the other was Sumner. Her mother too, of course – but a child instinctively knew throughout their life that one day their mother would not be there anymore. That knowledge had not made itself at home in Myriad’s head about her soul sister or soulmate. And there could be an infinite number of awkward tea gatherings or unfriendly relative-in-laws, if only those two things persisted in Myriad’s life and kept her sane.
Now Myriad was alone in her room at Adelbraith Hall, waiting for one of those two things to come and give his goodnight wishes for her last night in the house that had not become her home in the few months that she had spent there. She had not seen him for several days, and she suspected that this predetermined meeting on the eve of their wedding had two potential purposes: one, to serve as a reminder that the person really was the one you wanted to marry, or two, to provide a private rendez-vous where you could discreetly let the person know that, in fact, you had changed your mind.
Myriad would not have been surprised to find out that Sumner’s mother had done everything in her power to ensure that Sumner would have gone for option number two, but she already knew how the meeting would actually go.
She had not seen him for several days, and multiple times she had thought she would explode from the longing. Therefore, when the expected knock on the door came, a horde of hungry butterflies invaded her stomach, making her barely able to express the invitation to come in.
Any number of days would not have been enough to make her forget what he looked like, but somehow still, when the door opened revealing him on the threshold, her breath caught in her throat from the mere sight of his handsomeness. It took everything she had to not flung herself at him before the door was safely closed.
Sumner laughed softly into her hair. “Hello, my bride.”
The words sent a shiver through Myriad. It was true, it was real – today she was a girl, tomorrow she would be married. In the back of her mind, she knew that tomorrow she would also be a princess, but somehow that didn’t seem important right now.

Then she stepped back, abruptly.
“What?” Sumner said.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
Sumner raised his eyebrows.
“I’m not going to kiss you tonight. You can wait until tomorrow.” Of course, Myriad hadn’t expected him to think she’d have changed her mind about marrying him – but still, his reaction was a bit too lazy for Myriad’s taste. Couldn’t he have even feigned concern?
“I don’t think so”, Sumner said, stepping closer and filling the gap she had created. She stepped back again.
“I do”, she said with the grin of only realising what she had said once she had said it. “You’re getting too cocky lately. As if it was easy to get me as your bride.” That last word made Myriad’s stomach flutter, but she made sure to let it show in her face.
“But it was.” Maddening, maddening boy!
“You be careful now”, Myriad said. “Or I might not let you consummate our marriage.”
“Ooh”, Sumner said. “That’s harsh.”
“Yeah. And I mean it, too.” As if to fortify her threat, Myriad crossed her arms across her chest. No access granted there, either.
“That’s a shame. Naturally you’re aware that any property or, say, titles that one would be bestowed upon through marriage will not be valid without a proper consummation.”
“Naturally”, Myriad said. “Do you take me for someone who is only after property or, say, titles?”
“I do sometimes wonder. Obviously, those are not my reasons for marrying.”
It stung a little, but only in the exhilarating sense. Myriad remained collected, though. A woman of her future station (which was an unimportant but unavoidable consequence of events, of course) would not be tempted by an excessive outwardly display of emotion before an important day. Especially before an important day.
During this exchange, Sumner had kept his distance well enough. Now, however, he bridged the gap once more and raised his hand to touch Myriad’s neck lightly. Exactly where he knew she particularly liked, that villain.
No matter how much she would regret her decision to hold off the kissing until the next day, she would not budge. Not an inch.
But, oh, he did it so well. His thumb was just exasperatingly grazing her bottom lip, and she had to struggle to keep herself from puckering up.
“See you tomorrow, then”, he said, stepping away.
“Your dreams are about to come true”, Myriad responded, a little out of breath.
Sumner broke into a genuine, sunny smile, with no twist that way or other. “They really are.”
A few other things were said, and when Sumner was gone, Myriad smiled and gasped at the same time. She really, really couldn’t wait for the next day. What was anything, anything at all, when she would stand with him for the rest of her life?
Then she thought of what Saegen had said and her smile dimmed a little. Well – Sumner’s presence might turn out to be more important than ever. She trusted and loved Saegen, and she wasn’t afraid – that was to say, for Saegen’s sake. For her own, she couldn’t be so sure.


Chapter 36

In the books accounting the chronicles of royal families of now and then that Myriad had had to study in the recent weeks, why did they never print information on the level of the brides’ nausea on their wedding days? Myriad would have liked to know whether she really could be the first bride in the history of the world be so close to throwing up. It would have made her feel better, at least in the mental sense. Physical sense, she was afraid it would not do much good for.
She simply couldn’t vomit in front of everyone. Not only would it have been extremely humiliating, it would have not proven to anyone that she was just as worthy of marrying as a lady or a duchess or a countess.
“I don’t think this is a good idea”, Myriad said through her teeth, not really sure what exactly she was referring to.
Saegen, on the other hand, seemed to be. “You know that it is. Sumner loves you so much, and you know he just can’t wait to be able to call himself your husband.”
Myriad nearly gagged again. Why did all the words related to marriage or weddings sound so terribly pompous and grown-up and fraudulent?
She was scared, but in the way that she also couldn’t wait to see herself in her wedding attire.
She was aware of looking slightly cake-like, as both the sleeves and the skirt of her creamy white wedding dress were puffy as a profiterole. Saegen had been buttoning up the dress for the last ten minutes, and she still wasn’t quite done. Tilda was also standing by, but only as an aide in case Saegen was not dressing the royal bride properly.
Most of all, Myriad looked forward to the veil. She had never seen it on her own head, but it was the same veil that the brides in the royal family had worn for decades and thus was readily present in a lot of wedding portraits hanging in the palace gallery. It was long – it would have easily reached from wall to wall at Myriad’s old room back in Inglemere. It was attached on the head with a silvery band that was not quite a tiara but enough so that Myriad thought she would truly feel like a princess with it on. As for her hair, it had never looked as shiny – she didn’t know what sort of magic potion they had rubbed in it. It was arranged in some kind of twisty way that Myriad had not yet seen. Mirror would be the very last thing.
“Is it done yet?” Myriad asked, somewhat testily. She regretted her tone, but she knew that it was only the nerves talking.
“Soon”, was Saegen’s stoic reply.
“What if I don’t know how to do it?”
“Do what?”
“Get married.”
Saegen exhaled through her nose in a way that sounded like she was amused. “I don’t think there’s anything you need to know. Your mother and I will help you in the right direction, and then Sumner will come and take you where you need to go, and then you’ll just have to answer Yes to whatever you’re asked. They will hold your hand through everything, you won’t need to do anything by yourself.”
Myriad thought she detected an edge to Saegen’s tone at her last remark, but she forgave her for it.

At last, the final button was fastened, and Saegen grasped Myriad by the shoulders and turned her around. Her blue eyes glistened as she looked Myriad over, and Myriad felt a sting growing hot behind her own eyes – suddenly she was not quite sure whether she wanted to become a woman when Saegen would stay in girlhood. Who would teach her how to behave? The etiquette coaches were, of course, not to be trusted.
“You aren’t leaving me behind”, Saegen said. “I’ll get to see you just as much as ever.”
“No you won’t”, Myriad said before she could stop herself. The shadow left Saegen’s face just as quickly as it had entered it.
“Yes I will”, she insisted. “More than I’ll want to, I’m sure.”
“It’s almost time”, a voice sounded from who knew where. It barely sounded human, it barely penetrated the little bubble of pausedness that was currently enclosing Myriad. Why was it so hard to be over the moon?
Because you don’t think you can do it, Myriad’s own voice said inside her head. You don’t think that you’ll pass as a princess consort.
It was funny – as soon as she had thought it, she felt two things: one, that of course that was what was bothering her. It made perfect sense, and Myriad didn’t know why she hadn’t had the courage to think it into words before.
And two, heck yes she could do it. And she would do it better than anyone dared to fear.

Even from far away, the palace garden was clearly decked out with all the colours of the world. Oh, that looks nice, thought Myriad in passing before she realised it was all for her. Well, and Sumner.
Myriad hadn’t been to many weddings at all. But those she had been to, it had been beautifully sunny, and the ceremonies had been outside. She knew it was important to be married under the sun and the sky, but she did not know what happened when it rained.
But today it was sunny. Maybe it was some kind of magic – maybe the sun was so happy to see couples joined together in eternal love that she just didn’t want to hide behind the clouds. It was exactly the kind of thought that Saegen would have had, and Myriad didn’t know what it was doing in her head. Maybe, after nineteen years, Saegen’s good influence that they always spoke of was finally sticking.
“I nearly forgot”, Saegen said. She grabbed Myriad’s arm and pulled her behind a rosebush, away from the procession, despite the concerned looks from the others. Fortunately it wasn’t quite time to be walking yet.
“I don’t know what you think, but I thought I’d like to give you something to wear from me. You can say no –”
“No”, Myriad said. “I want it.”
“Alright”, Saegen said, clearly pleased, with hints of timid. She reached into her pocket hoops and pulled out something small that glittered slightly.
It was a dainty hair comb, so intricate that one had to take several moments to notice all its details. There was a design of two purple flowers woven from what looked like tiny narrow ribbon attached on a silver comb, with little pearls dotted around the flower.
“Saegen, this is beautiful.”
There was a conspiratory smile on Saegen’s face. “I thought perhaps you wouldn’t recognise the base. It’s the comb that Sanning wore at her wedding, all those years ago. She gave it to me to wear at mine, but I think you should have it. That wedding greatly contributed to your marrying Sumner, I feel.” Her eyes twinkled. “And I made that extra bit. I thought we are a bit like those flowers, entwined together even when it’s windy or wintery. Close to you on important days like this, but, you know, still together even when closed away in your jewellery box where you won’t always see them.”
Overcome with emotion, Myriad grabbed Saegen and pulled her tightly into her arms. She had to do something before she cried her face out of shape.
“I love you”, she sobbed into Saegen’s flaxen hair. “Please don’t ever leave.”
“I’ll be right here with you now”, Saegen sobbed back, despite having been straight-faced during her speech.-
“Girls”, a loud whisper said from the other side of the roses. “We need to go.”
Saegen pulled back, taking a part of Myriad’s heart with her as she did so. She reached towards Myriad’s face and wiped her tears away with her slender forefinger. “Alright, darling”, she said, smiling through her wet eyelashes. “Time to get married.”
Myriad was surprised at the regality with which she took this information and allowed Saegen to pick up the end of her veil so it wouldn’t graze the ground, neat as it were. They joined the others in silence and, in similar silence, started to walk towards the other, colourful end of the garden, where it looked like a hundred guests were already seated.
Later on, when Myriad would look back on the day, she would think of that moment as the one that the marriage really, truly hit her. Not putting on her dress. Not being referred to as the bride. Not having a maid of honour present her with a bridal gift.
But seeing all those people, having come to that place for them, even if most of them didn’t even know her. This occasion that she had dreamt of for years was being considered so important by that many people that they would show up and, stars forbid, wait for her to arrive.
Myriad’s mother squeezed her hand. From the corner of her eye, Myriad saw her eyes glistening, too. Her mother took her place behind her beside Saegen, and Myriad was left to proceed alone at the front, her stomach filling with dread a little more with each step. Traditional music was coming from somewhere, but Myriad could hardly see anything around her.
It was because she was finally at an angle to see Sumner, waiting for her at the end of the path, and simultaneously her stomach emptied itself of the dread and her heart absorbed all the urgency, the excitement, the ecstasy that she knew belonged there when she was with him. She wanted to cry, she wanted to laugh, she wanted to run to him. But another kind of power made her keep collected and not hasten her step, no matter how much she wanted the walk to be over so she could reach him.
Sumner was smiling wider than she had ever seen. He was so handsome in his official uniform, she didn’t even recognise him for a fraction of a second. He hadn’t seen her in her attire, either, and she hoped he liked it. Judging by his expression, he did.
In a near-blind and near-deaf haze, the journey felt like years, but finally she met him, he took her hands, she wanted to time to stop, she half-registered kisses on her cheek that must have been from her mother and Saegen, but she didn’t see where they went nor did she worry about it.
Her hands were in his, and there they would stay, forever and ever.
They turned towards the priestess, who welcomed all with a wide grin of her own and started to recite the ceremonial words. Myriad wished she could pay attention to the most important ceremony of her life, but all she wanted was to look at Sumner. Evidently, he felt the same, as her gaze was returned with the same intensity she felt.
Suddenly, though, Sumner said, “I will”, and gave Myriad a nudge and a wink, ever so tiny. For a second, she panicked. Was it over?
In a moment of desperation, she looked at the priestess, who didn’t seem to have noticed anything but was drawing breath to continue speaking.
“And as we stand under the sun, the moon, and the stars, and in front of your loyal party, I ask you, Myriad Neve Gosling of Inglemere, will you pledge yourself to His Royal Highness, Prince Sumner Cobalt Bertrand Louis of Cordovan, and stand with him as you stand now, braving together the storms of existence and life itself?”
The question was long, but the response she had known and savoured for years and years.
“I will”, said Myriad Neve Gosling of Inglemere, looking back at her prince.
The priestess smiled again and nodded, as if commending her on her choice of words. “You arrived here as two, you leave here as one. Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, I present to you His Royal Highness, Prince Sumner of Cordovan and Her Royal Highness, Princess Myriad of Cordovan.”
There may have been music, there may have been smiles, there may have been applause. All Myriad knew was that when Sumner kissed her, he took them both somewhere completely different, away from the garden, far away.

Chapter 37

Princess. She was a princess. Some were born to it, Myriad was born to it.
There was a difference.
And the list went on and on. She was a married woman now, not a maiden. She wasn’t a Gosling anymore (except in her heart), she was “of Cordovan”.
And she had Sumner. Truly, rightfully had him. And he had her. They were both filled with such exultant exhilaration that the number of the kisses they had exchanged as a married couple probably exceeded that of the ones they had shared before.
The intimidating number of the ceremony attendees had formed sort of two long lines between which Myriad and Sumner were to walk towards their new carriage. At royal weddings, it was tradition that after the ceremony, the pair would take a drive around the city for the people to view them and thus participate in the festivities. Afterwards, the real celebration would begin at the palace, with a few hundred of the most important people in the kingdom, and other kingdoms besides.
Myriad had mixed feelings about this drive. On one hand, she could not wait to have everyone see her as the new princess. She was so excited that she wanted to tell everyone, except everyone already knew.
On the other hand, those same people had seen her sell cakes and bread in a holey apron and flour on her face. They had seen her grow up. She had gone to school with some of them. She had fought with some of them, she had taken their sweethearts and broken their toys, completely unintentionally of course, but no one had ever believed her.
And not long ago, they had seen her disgraced right in the middle of the town, what with her idle gossip writings and… but of course, that wasn’t important right now.
She glided alongside Sumner through the crowds, accepting greetings and congratulations of your highness, dear prince and princess, warmest wishes, may the sun shine upon you, all the happiness to you – and she received them all with the warmest of smiles that she felt would truly be called ‘gracious’. That was her, the gracious Princess Myriad.
Princess Myriad!
At the end of the lines, there stood the king and the queen, Princess Cicely, Myriad’s own mother, and Saegen and Alfred. Separately, but neither of them looked anything but happy. Not far from Saegen, Myriad caught a glimpse of Sanning and her husband with their new, beautiful baby. The sight of the baby brought tears to her already emotion-filled eyes, while she simultaneously wondered in an idle manner whether Sanning could see her old hair comb in Myriad’s hair and if so, what she thought of it.
Before they ascended the carriage, they stopped to receive well wishes from their families. Myriad got teary-smiley hugs from both Saegen and her mother, while the queen and Cicely only stooped to bestow upon her a kiss on the cheek that barely even touched, and Myriad could have sworn that the breath that grazed her skin was ice cold, or at least it made a good story even if it wasn’t. The king’s greeting was warmer, although still royally reserved.
Myriad didn’t feel sorry to have him as her father-in-law. In fact, she could already feel that the king would serve as an unlikely ally against the queen on many an occasion.
Alfred gave her a hug that felt like the hug of a boy absolutely terrified of girls. And maybe he was, in a sense. Sumner grabbed him in a huge embrace that lifted Alfred off his feet, and Myriad felt sure that Sumner would have twirled him in the air had not his mother’s piercing eyes crushed those ideas right down.
Then he turned to her, and Myriad’s heart melted all over again.
“Shall we, my dear?”
He assisted her up the steps of the carriage – he did it for the audience, for they both knew that Myriad could ascend carriage steps much more gracefully than him, with or without help – and climbed on himself, as soon as Myriad was on board. They had just time to wave to the guests that they would soon see again anyway, before the carriage’s slightly jerky start.
“My wife”, Sumner said, his grin piercing Myriad all the way through. The words gave her chills, and she grasped his hands like she had never let go.
“Husband”, she replied, suddenly glad they had saved the first uses of the words for when they were alone. As alone as they could be, at least.
“How long until we get to the streets?” Sumner asked.
“No, there won’t be time to consummate this marriage right here in this carriage, I’m afraid.”
“Sure?” Sumner grasped her waist to pull her even closer, if that was possible – and she felt very, very sad about the lack of time indeed.
“It would take you until long in the evening alone merely to unbutton this dress. You don’t want to know how long it took to get me into it.”
“Maybe later, then”, Sumner said, grin not fading.
“I know I kind of said it already back there, but… I love you.” Myriad didn’t know what her mouth was doing – it seemed to be working quicker than her brain to the extent that she felt just as expectant as Sumner must have been to hear what she would say next. “I wanted you to know that. I mean, I guess you know that, but… I wanted to say it again. When we’re alone. Well, sort of alone. And thank you. For, I don’t know, marrying me. And everything.”
“I love you, too”, Sumner said, serious now. “And don’t thank me for marrying you. That’s about the dumbest thing I ever heard –”
“Hey! It can’t be the dumbest –“
“Well, one of them, nevertheless. I could not be if I couldn’t have married you. Do you understand that? There was no other option for me. None. From as soon as I first saw you, that was the only option.”
Something in her burned and warmed her all over, but there was something else that was burning, in a different, unpleasant way, that she needed to smother. Her words got ahead of her brain, once again.
“There’s something I need to tell you. That night that I went to try and drag the truth out from Tristan –”
“That bastard”, Sumner added with a scary tone of voice.
“Sumner, I… Firstly, I need you to know, he was getting on my nerves. A lot. And I hate him. A lot. So when he wouldn’t speak, I got so mad that I flung the torch into the cell. And it was still burning.”
Myriad wasn’t sure whether to go on or not, since Sumner didn’t seem to be taking the opportunity to speak. She waited for another beat.
“I was intending for that torch to hit him, Sumner. Only it went out when it fell on the floor. And it didn’t even get close, but I… wanted it to. I think… I tried to kill him.”
“He would’ve deserved it.” His tone was still dark, and for a second, Myriad wasn’t sure whether she loved or feared him for it.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Myriad. I’m glad you didn’t. Mostly because it would’ve haunted you forever, and probably not the best thing for a princess to have done… but he would’ve deserved it. If it were my cell he was in and not Alfred’s… well, but Alfred is right about the lack of proof, I guess. Wouldn’t stop me, though.”
“We have to keep an eye on him”, Myriad said. “Even if… well. We’ll just do that, won’t we?”
“I promise you that”, Sumner said, kissing her on the forehead. “And just so you know, I don’t hold any of that against you. Not that I’m an advocate for murder, but your reasons for wanting it in this case… that’s the woman I married.”
Myriad wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to be a murderous person, but at least she counted herself lucky that Sumner wasn’t repelled by it. She was quite sure, however, that he should’ve been repelled, and perhaps this meant that they were equally terrible and therefore deserving of each other.
“Okay, we’re getting there”, Sumner said suddenly. A glance out the window told Myriad that their carriage was approaching the gates that marked the end of the palace grounds. “Forget murder and be prepared to wave.”

It was madness. Myriad wasn’t sure if she had ever seen that many people in one place – or rather, in several different places all around everywhere. The streets of Inglemere were lined with people – with public – that were all waving their hands and craning their heads trying to get a good glimpse of the new peasant-made-princess. She could almost hear them explaining to each other how they each knew her and how she had told them this secret or that at age eleven, thirteen, sixteen. How she had smiled at them at school and how they had pined for her ever since. How she had chosen them as a friend over someone else. They didn’t need to bother, though, because everyone knew each other well enough to know when they were lying.
Sumner was waving with the ease of someone who had grown up to do just that. Myriad tried to smile and wave imitating his relaxed manner, but it was impossible. Seeing familiar faces felt just like it always felt like when she saw them – when she had been just one of them. She couldn’t see them differently, even though everything was different. But perhaps she could use it to her advantage. She wasn’t just any distant high-born lady who didn’t care how the people were doing and whether they were happy or not. Myriad knew them inside and out, well enough to know how they wanted things to work and what was irrelevant, what there was enough of and what there wasn’t. All of a sudden, she felt empowered rather than embarrassed about her new position in front of the Inglemereans. They couldn’t ever have felt closer to the royal family as they could be allowed to feel now.
Realising this brought the smile on her face, and a spontaneous wave left her right hand. The people were waving and smiling back. They only wanted good things for her, she saw now.
Then the carriage passed Mr Talon’s house, and before Myriad could bring her eyes to meet the editor’s happy and proud face, they were drawn to Clara, looking just as unpleasant as ever. She was standing with her father like a sullen child that has been forced to do a hated chore. Only crossed arms and stamping feet were missing, but Myriad imagined them and laughed at the picture.
A tiny bit of her noticed that Clara was standing just with her father. No sign of anyone else, which made Myriad unroyally gleeful. Not that she cared, of course, and really she was going to be a gracious people’s princess, but who said she couldn’t exclude Clara from her benevolence?
They rode along the streets, Myriad’s hand and arm slowly draining themselves of energy. She rested by pulling Sumner’s face towards her and kissing him, which made the crowd cheer for more. But she had to detach herself, because the carriage was pulling towards the part of town where the Gosling’s bakery was, and she felt an urge to watch. She wasn’t sure why, considering she had seen it nearly every day for the entirety of her life up to that point, and probably could still see it whenever she wanted. It just suddenly felt important that she take a good long look at the place where she had attempted to make a living when she still could.
It seemed as though Inglemereans had realised the significance of the bakery, too, because around it there seemed to be more people than Myriad had seen in any one place along the route. Her heart swelled – they knew her just as she knew them.
Then her heart seemed to freeze and a dark cloud pass over her head.
Amongst the crowd in front of the bakery, Larch stood and stared directly at her. Seeing him – for the first time since that day of the Launderette catastrophe – would have been terrible enough, but what made it ten times worse was that he was beaming and exclaiming their names exactly like the people surrounding him. As if he were just one of them, any other citizen, happy to welcome their new prince and princess.
She felt her smile fall immediately. She considered pointing him out to Sumner, but he really wasn’t worth it. Instead, she made sure to meet his eyes, willing all the death and destruction in her heart to realise themselves in her stare, and she made sure to look long and hard until his smile faltered and his eyes fell. Myriad felt a sick pleasure at seeing him cower, but most of all she was happy that he knew.
That he knew that she hadn’t forgotten, and that she regretted every moment she had ever spent with him, and that she couldn’t care less what happened to him in his life from now on. And how dare he stand there, in front of her special place, and pretend – no, not pretend. Myriad was quite sure that he was happy to be a part of this public celebration – he most likely wasn’t intelligent enough to fake his enthusiasm. What maddened her was his audacity to be enthusiastic in the first place. That alone told her all that she needed to know about the nature of his feelings for her then, now, and ever. She wasn’t important, therefore it didn’t even occur to him that he should feel anything but shared joy at this happy occasion. No guilt, no shame, no regret was necessary, because he simply didn’t view her as someone significant enough to deserve those feelings.
Myriad would have liked to think that she wished him all the best, but it simply wasn’t true. She would have liked to wish him a horrible life, but she had a feeling that that would have meant she still cared. The real answer was to forget about him as soon as he left her field of vision, but she couldn’t quite do it without some sense of spite.
So she kissed Sumner again, longer this time, which prompted a louder cheer, and then she looked Larch directly in the eye once more, just before the carriage rolled past.
And then she forgot about him.

The guests were already lined up at the palace doors when their gilded carriage pulled through the gates. After greeting the people (of which there had been more than Myriad even knew lived there), it was time for the celebration. The newly wedded couple were to lead the guests into a two-day affair of dancing, music, food, and drink, which had been prepared for weeks and weeks in advance.
When Myriad and Sumner descended the carriage, she somehow felt even more married than before. Had the short ride been all it took for her to become a wife in her head as well as physically?
She never wanted to feel like only a wife, she thought. “Wife” implied there was a husband, but “Myriad” didn’t imply there was a Sumner, no matter how much he was a part of her now. As long as she and the people close to her remembered the Myriad part, she would be just fine.
The party was unlike any party she had ever attended. It seemed like she and Sumner were the party, so much of it seemed to consist of guests demanding for them to kiss, dance, hold hands, or do whatever princes and princesses did for their people’s amusement. Myriad didn’t have much attention or patience for anything but Sumner, but she did catch a glimpse of Saegen and Alfred talking to each other, neither of them looking too miserable. She guessed that was a good thing, although she still couldn’t help wondering how it could have all gone awry.
After most of the food had been had and the passing of the time had been forgotten at least a hundred times, the Queen approached them from seemingly out of nowhere.
“Elusive ones are never the last to leave”, she provided like a spell and glided on without even stopping.
Myriad had given up trying to make sense of her and looked at Sumner in the slightly bored way that meant that this had happened several times already and would probably keep happening until the end of her existence.
Sumner rolled his eyes. “That means she thinks it’s good form to retire before the guests have all left.” He paused. “That means she thinks we should go to bed.”
“Really? Is your mother implying that we should get into our marital bed with all these people still here? Does she expect happy news by the morning?”
“It takes longer than that”, Sumner said.
“Oh, I’m sure you know all about it.”
“I could show you.”
“The funny thing is, I don’t need to act like you’re being inappropriate anymore”, Myriad said. “And going to bed with you is actually what’s expected of me now.”
“That, and also you never acted like I was being inappropriate. As I recall, most of the inappropriateness was done by you.”
“That’s no way to speak your future queen”, Myriad said. Sumner grinned, took her hand, and led her towards the platform where they could be seen by everyone.
“My wife and I would like to thank you all for coming to celebrate with us. As it has been a long and exciting day, we will now leave you for the night, but please stay and enjoy for as long as my mother will put up with you.”
Gentle laughter erupted throughout the great hall. Myriad didn’t dare look at the Queen.
At the foot of the stairs leading to the chamber wing, someone tugged at Myriad’s sleeve, stopping her. Saegen stood at her side, beautiful and tired.
“Tomorrow”, she said, squeezing Myriad’s hand.
“Tomorrow”, Myriad agreed. They hugged.
“Goodnight, your highnesses”, Saegen said with a smile and a curtsey.
“Goodnight, Saegen. And thank you”, said Sumner. “Let us know all the debauchery of the rest of the night in the morning. I look forward to it most eagerly.”
“I certainly will”, Saegen said, in a tone that said she certainly wouldn’t.
The last thing that Myriad saw before entering the hallway was the fair girl standing away from the colourful crowd, looking encouraging and a little sad at the same time.

“Do you look forward to it?”
“What?”
“Our first night that doesn’t involve anyone sneaking around”, Myriad said.
They were in Sumner’s chamber, the enormity of which still caught in Myriad’s throat despite having lived at the magnificent Adelbraith Hall for weeks. Myriad was sitting in front of the looking glass, brushing out her hair that curled even more than usual after having been pinned up all day.
“Well, I don’t know”, Sumner said. “It kind of takes the fun out of it, don’t you think?”
“You’re right. I’m pretty tired anyway, so… maybe we’ll just leave it until later. Maybe tomorrow night?”
Their eyes met in the glass, and at the same moment both of them burst out laughing. And Myriad wondered how on earth had the first thing she did once entering the room been to unravel her hair. Sumner approached her, not breaking their gaze, and stopped behind the chair she was sitting in. She stood, heart suddenly beating just a little quicker.
“I am not wasting my time on these buttons”, Sumner said, eyes on fire.
“Then don’t”, Myriad said. Her breath caught in her throat as Sumner took the material between his hands and pulled so hard that the back of the gown ripped in half, taking the underdress with it. Both garments fell off her, revealing her pale skin in the mirror in its entirety. She stepped out from the middle of the fabric, Sumner receiving her hungrily.
“It’s my wedding dress. It’s not like I’m ever going to wear it again.”
“Never wear anything again”, he mumbled into her hair. In a flash, he picked her up like she weighed nothing and took her to the enormous bed. Myriad had seen him undress a few times, but never so fast as he did now.
It was allowed. She was allowed to want it, and she wanted it with a force that surprised her. It was different from previous times – she had known she had wanted it before, but she had also known that it wasn’t going to happen.
Now she knew with all her heart.
And when they took each other, she thought of little more. Just that everything in her knowing him had been leading up to this point, and he might have done little else than talk the talk, but he could certainly also walk the walk.