The sea crashed against the cliff side, rumbling the ground underneath me. The salty air weaved itself tightly around my body, too warm for my liking. I used to love coming here, but now, I came here to hate on the deep and unendingness of it.

It didn't matter how many times I looked at it; I'll always just hate it even more than the last time.

I got off the ground, wiping away the heat that I could feel dripping down my cheeks. The scorching heat of Thaeleck just made me despise the palace that I saw in the distance.

"Princess, we must go back," the guard said behind me. "You know the Queen and King wouldn't allow you outside."

I cleared my throat, allowing myself to lift my chin up at the disgusting depths that lay in front of me. "Very well, Ilias." As if I never cried, the streaks disappeared off my face. I stepped past the armored male and into the carriage, wishing that he could, at least, sit near me.

He helped me in, his callused hand scraping against my gloves. Before he closed the door, he smiled weakly. "If it makes a difference, I'll come by your chambers tonight."

"There's no need." I waved my gloved hands to usher him away.

He pulled himself into the carriage, his hand wrapping behind my head. I could feel his soft lips touch my forehead. "We're going back, but if you need me to slow down, just knock the wood."

Ilias was about to step out of the carriage, but I quickly grabbed ahold of his arm and pulled him back in. "I hate doing this. I just want you to know that."

"I know you do, but you're Crown Princess, and you have to marry a noble." He stretched his neck back, allowing me access to view the landscape behind him. "It's wrong."

I wanted to shake my head at him. I wanted to push him out of the carriage for reminding me of my marriage, yet I wanted to stay and let us have our way. Even with all these reckless thoughts swarming my head, I let him shut the carriage door.

Twisting my head to the window, I caught the sea slam against the cliff's wall.

Ilias checked me often, constantly stopping the carriage so he could look back. If I knew how to climb a moving carriage, I would've came right now to him and stayed there.

We pulled in near the palace. I opened the carriage door, smiling when three girls ran toward me. "Valarya, you're back!" the youngest one, Whila, said. "Mother and Father were looking everywhere for you—"

"And what did you do?" I asked.

"We did what you told us to do." I widened my eyes and jerked my head up to Ilias, who probably heard what Irene, the twin to Whila, said. "We made the—"

"How about you two go back inside? I'll be right in there." I reeled my head away from Ilias, trying to ignore him and the stares that he was giving me.

The eldest, Diana, walked forward, her armor clanging as she does so. "When are you going to stop sneaking around?"

"Diana, go back in. Sir Blackus said he was going to train you," Ilias said, gesturing to the entrance of the palace. Her eyes lightened as she hugged me and ran back inside.

I chuckled as I looked up toward Ilias. "I suppose you want to know what I asked them to do?" I tried to paste an innocent smile, but he only lifted a dark brow.

He shook his head and rubbed his temples. "We'll most likely find out when we go inside. I just hope your sisters didn't catch the throne room rug on fire. Again."

Damn his smart mind.

"My sisters are angels," I said as I started to the entrance. "Besides, you adore them, however strangely you show your affection."

I heard him stop walking when we entered the palace.

"Why is it so quiet?" Ilias glanced around the corridors, trying to find out what my sisters had done. "Did they kill everyone?"

He jumped against the wall when he heard a woman shriek. "Whila, what did you do to my violin?" Mother whirled around the corner, her crown missing. "Valarya, where have you been? Your father has ordered every guard to look for you—"

"Mother, I think Diana might've stolen something that should be on your head."

Mother patted her head, and I knew that she was trying too hard to contain curses since Ilias stood nearby. "Your sisters have wrecked the palace while you were strolling in the garden! They painted my violin, too!"

Behind me, Ilias stifled a snort. I folded my arms around my back, trying to keep my own series of laughs from erupting. "You don't say?" I lifted a brow, slightly amused. "I promise, Mother, I'll have a long talk with Irene and Whila about this. And I can assure you: Diana will not steal your crown again."

Mother's face tilted to the side, almost disbelievingly. "I never said who took my crown."

Shit, I couldn't keep making small mistakes like this.

I heard Ilias' steps get closer to my back. He rested his hands on my lower back, and I held back from falling into his touch. "I'm sure what the princess meant to imply is that Diana is the only one of the three that can sneak around efficiently. After all, Sir Blackus himself taught her."

Mother nodded, but before she could get a closer look, Whila ran out of the corridor, then grabbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry. Come with me and I'll give you all the stuff back."

Whila pulled her away, Mother's protests echoing close behind.

"You're going to pay for doing that," I said, spinning around to face Ilias. "Such an ass. Did you really think you'd get me flustered by touching me?"

He didn't let me finish scolding him as he sauntered away. He spun around, winking. "You'll see what else I can do later."

"Such an ass," I murmured to myself. His presences lingered, and I still feel like he just finished digging his ditch in my body. It was a shame that he reminded me of the sea so much; so wicked.

I knew my father was waiting for me in the throne room, and when I arrived, I knew I would see nearly every guard in there.

This always ended the same way, anyway.

It was entertaining to watch men swarm the palace for me—or rather, the chance to be the King of Thaeleck. It was just a game for them, but I loved amusing them. It always ended with my father telling me to get married, my mother telling me to get married, and Ilias in my bedchambers, however uncomfortable he was watching men place rings onto my finger.

When I entered the throne room, I looked up to the dais and saw my father sitting there, an empty throne beside him. "Valarya de Mertaire of House Daen," a male called out as I walked to my throne and sat.

"Couldn't you bother changing your gown? What impression will this make to your husband?" Father muttered next to me.

I scoffed and looked down from dais. I always thought that everyone looked like little ants ready to climb toward me. "Thank you all for coming yet again. As I say every day we must do this: 'let's hope we finally find the one meant for me.'" No one laughed at my poor attempt at humor. Ilias dug his face into his palm, his face turning scarlet. I cleared my throat and continued. "Today, like every day, suitors will pile for a chance to win the Crown—I mean, my hand in marriage."

My focus drifted to Ilias, who was leaning against the wall for support. Every time I did this, it seemed like he might faint. I still didn't know if it was because he was jealous of all the men, or if he was about to burst out laughing at a point. Whichever it was, he had made it explicitly clear that he won't tell me.

I couldn't blame him for it; the men that came this time definitely seemed much better than the previous from the past two years.

*~⚜️~*

Dinner tonight was awful.

I always wondered where Father got all the food from. After the Second War, food became hard to come across. The servants made my favorite foods, and I had to thank Ilias for bribing them to make this.

Diana sat close to me, slowly drinking her stew. The lights of the torches against the marble walls always made me anxious, but I tried to focus on the plate in front of me.

My focus was disrupted by Mother. "Are you not going to talk about today's batch of suitors?" she asked. Father looked up, his brows lifting in hope.

"Can we please avoid this topic?"

Father dropped his spoon and laid both his hands on the table. "Enough of this... pickiness, Valarya. How do you expect me to die peacefully when you haven't even married?"

"I don't want to think about death, at the moment." I sipped another stingy spoonful of broth. "To be quite frank, may I just marry when I wish?"

Mother straightened her shoulders as she said, "You know why we need you to marry. The Second War has damaged us considerably, and our magic is slipping away." She gently placed her spoon down and looked at me in the eye. "You understand the threat of Cadice, do you not?"

"I know." I averted my attention back to the bowl in front of me.

"We had the enchantress come to hide your eyes, but we cannot hide this forever. Valarya, we need magic back, and we need you to have an heir." All three of my sisters looked at their feet, aware of the topic that was being struck. "House Cadice needs you.  We can't keep telling everyone you're of House Daen."

"I don't even know what kind of magic I have, much less how I can be able to 'save' Thaeleck." My grip tightened on my spoon. At the corner of my eyes, I caught Diana playing with her broth. Irene and Whila whispered to each other, their giggles heard.

Father lifted his head up straight, not once did he bother to address anyone else. "Which is why I've already arranged a marriage between the Prince of Entorre and yourself."

Irene snapped her neck faster than I could even process what he just said. "Father, no. She can't marry him."

"What are you talking about? Don't you mean he'll come over?" I dropped my spoon, slowly pulling back from the fire that I know was going to spread quickly. "I won't marry him—"

"He has graciously agreed to marry you, and as your duty to Thaeleck, you're going to graciously agree. He will arrive in two days, so I suggest you get used to it." He pushed back on his chair, not bothering to excuse him, and stormed out of the room.

"Father, wait! You're making a huge mistake! I can't marry him!" I stumbled out of my chair, ignoring Mother's calls for me to sit down.

I ran out of the room and toward his bedchambers, not stopping to fix the shoes that were surely slipping off my feet. At the corridor, two guards stepped in front of me. "We apologize, Princess, but King Lorcan has ordered you away from his presence."

"You don't understand. I need to speak with him!" I tried to push past them, but they only seemed to get harder and harder to push past. "Please!"

"Whatever issues you have to address, we can deliver the message to him. We're sorry, Princess."

I finally stopped trying to push. I felt like I just tried to reel the sun from the sky and into the sea. Impossible. It was impossible for me to ever argue against this idea.

My bedchambers laid at the opposite side of the palace. I saw Whila entering her bedchambers, but she turned around and wrapped her arms around my chest. "I wish I could do something," she breathed onto my gown.

She went back into her bedchambers, and soon, I entered mine.

"You took long." Ilias emerged from behind the door. He always managed to make me yell out of fear, but tonight, I didn't think he'll make me feel much. "What's wrong?"

I twisted the lock as I looked into his earthy eyes. I'll never look at them the same way again. I'll hate myself if I actually let myself marry the Prince of Entorre.

"Are you feeling—?"

I stuffed my face into his chest, unable to pull myself back, unable to cry whatever storm I had held back, unable to pull him closer.

He ran a hand through my hair, carefully pulling me away. "Who did this?"

"Just tell me something, Ilias."

His body tensed at the mention of his name. He glanced at his hands, which have wrapped around my hips. "I'm listening."

I lifted his hands away from my hips and brought them to my hair, allowing him to tangle them in the endless abyss. "Never mind. I don't want you to speak."

"Valarya, what is it that you want? What's wrong?" His eyes came to mine, the illusion covering the changing colors. The silence bit through the emptiness of the darkness that was here. Ilias' hands ran down to my neck, his fingers brushing away the strands of hair. "What happened?"

"My father decided to arrange a marriage between me and the Prince of Entorre."

As quick as the words arrived to him, he pulled his hands away. He stepped back, not hesitantly, not confidently. It was strange to see him so confused.

"I don't want to marry him," I added, trying to go toward him. I felt his will drip down to his palms, and as much as I tried to step forward, I couldn't come close to him.

Ilias wasn't stupid. He knew exactly why this was happening, but even then, he couldn't fathom the idea of seeing me married to someone else. We both knew this was something that could happen.

Yet the world decided to drown us in its depths.