Captive of the Snake King

SELENE

After Ashla left, my handmaidens returned. They stripped me of my pale blue priestess robes and ushered me into a bath. I stared longingly at the garment the entire time the two elderly women washed me. Was I doing the right thing, leaving before my vows?

“We must hurry, Your Highness,” Martha said. Her rounded cheeks were rosy as she scrubbed my skin raw. She’d been my handmaiden since I was a child, her once copper hair now faded with silver at the roots.

Darshelle, my second handmaiden, olive-skinned with finger-length black curls, nodded vigorously. “The princess must leave immediately,” she agreed.

They garbed me in one of Cressida’s too-tight dresses. There had not been time to make alterations. Father had picked one of her white garments meant to mirror a wedding dress since there was no time to have a personalized one made. It didn’t matter since I wasn’t truly getting married.

The material was softer than clouds, expertly woven by magical seamstresses. Each step I took made the swishing sheer fabric glimmer like the surface of pearls. But I hated how the bust squeezed my sides, and the deep neckline brought my well-endowed chest into view.

Martha pinned my pale blonde hair away from my face with half hanging down my neck and along my exposed spine. I was now ready to go.

I turned to the door, and a man I didn’t recognize entered the room. He was escorted by my brother and father, both wearing solemn expressions as if we’d never see each other again.

My stomach sank further than before, quivering until I thought I was visibly trembling. I did my best to hold myself together for their sakes.

“This is Besian,” Rhidian said.

“He’s going to adorn you with traditional marital tattoos,” Father cleared his throat and gestured for Besian to enter.

“Oh,” was all I could say.

In a kingdom of magic wielders, it was customary to wear temporary magical tattoos for all important ceremonies. I sat in the main room of my suite, half gasping for air in Cressida’s dress, surrounded by watching, assessing eyes while Besian worked.

His fingers glowed with a blue light, and he stroked the tip of his fingers along my knuckles, the back of my hands, and around my wrists. The mystical light from his fingers seeped into my skin and glowed like sparkling ink. I admired the pattern that appeared on my skin. It reminded me of lace. His fingers continued up to my face.

“Are you a priest?” I asked him.

“No, your highness. I’m an Abjurer,” Besian answered swiftly. His focus remained on his work as it appeared on my flesh.

Abjurers worked specifically in protective spells. My throat constricted upon realizing that the symbols weren’t simply temporary wedding tattoos. They were protective spells marked directly onto my skin.

At the realization I started to feel dizzy. Without admitting it, the emperor was worried about my safety. The world spun around me until all the faces lurking in the corners became blurs. Shadows darkened the edges of my vision despite the golden light of dawn penetrating the ostentatiously large windows at my back.

I finally was able to gather my wits. “Well, your work is lovely.”

He glanced up, sharing a careful smile with me. “Thank you, princess.”

Besian added a glimmering blue line down the middle of my bottom lip and chin. More magical ink created sweeping lines over my brows, down the side of my face, and over the hollow of my cheeks.

The reflection staring back at me in the mirror almost made me believe it was my wedding day. But the sickness in my heart and stomach, rather than love and excitement, reminded me of the truth. It was only a façade, and I was only pretending to save my father’s kingdom until the trueborn princess was found.

Outside the palace, an unmarked carriage waited for me. With a war far too near in the south, it was prudent to proceed as any other traveler might. Inauspicious, silent, and joyless to avoid unwanted attention.

My handmaidens sniffled as they said goodbye. By then I was no longer mentally present. My limbs moved, as did my lips when I replied, yet I was a husk of who I was the day before.

“You look beautiful, sister. I can’t thank you enough for this sacrifice you’re making.” Rhidian hugged me tighter than he’d ever hugged me before.

I mindlessly patted his back in return, not truly feeling his arms around me. I’d vanished into the depths of my mind where there was no war and there was no missing princess, and I wasn’t taking her place.

“Sacrifice? This is a temporary mission. I’ll be home in time to take my vows, brother.”

“Aye, you will, sister.” His eyes glistened with unshed tears as he pulled away.

A tall, pointed crown on Father’s head gleamed under the morning sunlight. The gemstones imbued with magic glowed from within. The bloodred cloak on his shoulders rolled back as the emperor reached for me.

He wasn’t a man for casual affection and never had been. Yet the air was crushed from my lungs when my father pulled me into his solid barrel chest. His heart thumped madly in his chest, and his breath shuddered so quietly I almost didn’t hear it.

“You make a lovely bride, Selene. I’m sorry you’ll never have the wedding that most princesses dream of,” Father said.

“It’s all right, Father. I’m happy to become a priestess when I return.”

He curled a finger under my chin and lifted my face into the sunlight. “You look so much like your mother. May her spirit guide you and keep you safe on your journey, princess.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” I dipped into a curtsy the second he released me.

An instinct told me to pay attention. A sleepless night of prayer and heavy-hearted news had stolen my capacity to reason. I knew my brother and father were acting odd, but in the moment, it meant nothing to the unfeeling shell I’d become.

In the cold of the prewinter air, I was wrapped in a cloak of gold and crimson for the kingdom’s colors. I took my place in the awaiting carriage, giving my family a small wave through the window. Father and Rhidian remained outside as the carriage and my small escort of mage knights carried me through the palace gate.

I stared through the window of the coach, my eyes locked on the only home I ever knew. Once the palace and the opulent capital city was out of view, the knot in my stomach grew.