DIANA
“I have never been so insulted in my life.” Mother’s voice cut through the room.
She had been pacing for over an hour, her eyes blazing and her patience gone.
The Dragon palace was cold and it was not the kind of cold that came from winter.
This one settled deep under my skin.
I stood by the tall window, staring out at the unfamiliar lands.
It had been like this since we arrived yesterday.
I had asked about it.
Mother said it was the weather.
Father smiled and told me I would get used to it, but I knew winter and this didn’t feel like it.
“They summoned us here,” she continued.
“Summoned us, Reginald. And yet, since yesterday, not a single royal has seen us? Not one?”
Her steps echoed on the floor.
“Guards opened the gates. Servants welcomed us in. Servants attend to us. Are we guests or prisoners?”
“Olivia, calm down.” Father said.
“Don’t tell me calm down,” she snapped.
“This is disrespect. Open disrespect!”
“Olivia, the Dragons are… different. They’re the sovereign rulers, they don’t follow our rules.”
“They are arrogant lizards, Reginald! Rude lizards with scales!” Mother countered.
“The servants won’t even look us in the eye. It’s an insult. They are treating us like we are nothing!”
I finally turned and leaned against the window.
Father stood near the table at the center of the room, composed as always, though I could see the tension in his shoulders.
“They are proud people and we are in their kingdom. We are to respect that.”
“We are still royalty.” she shot back.
“This is ridiculous.” Lisa’s voice broke through it as she dropped on a chair.
She crossed her arms, frowning.
“We’ve been here since yesterday and no one has even told us who Diana is supposed to marry,” she said.
“How does that make any sense?”
She sat up, clearly fed up.
“How are they planning a joining ceremony when the bride doesn’t even know the groom? It has to be the fourth prince. Anyone… please, anyone but him.”
I looked back at my reflection in the glass of the window.
My red hair fell in waves all the way to my waist.
My blue eyes looked tired and the freckles on my nose seemed to stand out more because I was so pale.
Lisa looked at me.
“Diana?”
I turned to her and stared blankly.
“Doesn’t this bother you?” she asked.
“What difference does it make, Lisa?” I muttered.
“What do you mean?” She asked, her irritation clear in her tone.
I slowly pushed myself off the window.
“It doesn’t matter who they choose. We didn’t come here to choose.”
My gaze moved between them, mother was angry, father, quiet but worried and Lisa, frustrated and confused.
“This is hell already.” I whispered.
“Diana! Don’t say that.” Mother said, stepping closer to me.
“It will be the fourth prince. We’re sure of it. He is the only reasonable Dragon prince and he’s single.”
The door suddenly flew open and one of my handmaidens rushed in, breathless.
“Sarah!” Mother shouted, turning to scold her for coming in without knocking.
“What has come upon–”
She stopped because the girl wasn’t just nervous.
She was shaking.
“Sarah?” I ran to her, my heart hammering in my chest.
“What happened? What’s wrong?”
She dropped to her knees so suddenly it startled me.
“My Queen…my King.” she tried to speak, but her voice broke.
Mother’s anger faded into concern.
“What is it? What happened?”
“The… the choice…” Sarah gasped, her voice breaking.
“I heard them. The guards… they just got the news from the King’s council. They’ve chosen the prince for the union.”
“Is it the fourth prince?” Father asked, his voice full of hope.
Sarah opened her mouth to answer, but a loud voice from the hallway drowned her out.
“The Royal Messenger!”
Two guards in black armor pushed the doors all the way open and a man stepped in.
My heart skipped.
The royal messenger held out a sealed scroll, not bothering to bow in respect to my parents.
“King Reginald. The supreme king’s edict. The groom has been chosen for your daughter, princess Diana.”
Father took it and the messenger didn’t even wait.
He turned, leaving the room just as quickly as he came.
The door closed and I could almost hear my own heartbeat.
Mother and Lisa moved closer to my father as he broke the seal.
I didn’t move, I couldn’t.
I watched them instead from where I stood.
Father’s eyes scanned the words, then his eyes widened.
I felt my heart drop immediately.
That wasn’t a good sign.
“Reginald?” Mother murmured.
Lisa leaned closer.
“Father?”
Slowly, he lowered the scroll.
His face had changed, it had gone pale.
Mother quickly took it from him, her hands shaking as she uncurled the scroll.
I watched her eyes move across the page and then she stumbled.
Lisa grabbed her.
“Mother?”
She didn’t answer.
She just kept staring at the scroll.
A cold feeling spread through me, worse than before.
“Who is it?” Lisa asked, her voice tight.
Mother looked at me and for the first time since we arrived, I saw real fear in her eyes.
I looked at the table next to me.
The water in my glass began to turn into ice right before my eyes.
Crack!
The glass broke.
“No.” Mother whispered.
She stumbled back, covering her mouth with her hand.
“No, no, no… this can’t be right!”
Lisa took the scroll from her and read it.
She let out a jagged sob and fell against the wall.
“It’s a death sentence! Father, they can’t do this!”
My father looked up at me.
His eyes were red, filled with tears he was trying to hide.
“Diana.” he rasped.
I felt the air in my lungs turn to frost.
I didn’t need to see the paper to know who it was.
Their reactions could only mean it was him.
“It’s Prince Draven, isn’t it?” I asked in a low tone.
My father slowly nodded his head.
It was official.
I wasn’t marrying the nice prince.
I was being handed over to the Dark Prince.
The man with white eyes and the man no woman has ever survived.