The Goddess' Blessing: Lovers by Truce

Aspen was, by far, the biggest and most prosperous nation on the continent. They were known far and wide for their arts, their innovative designs, warfare and extremely fertile land. Yet with all these amazing attributes, the thing the kingdom was most known for was the joint reign.

The history of Aspen was one filled with hatred and bloodshed, story often told from generation to generation with both lies and truths mixed in. There were two houses of royalty instead of one, half of them descentants of the first family on the land and the other half being the descendants of the second family on the land. When each heir of the respective houses came of age, they were expected to participate in trials to prove their worth and then crowned once a winner was picked. The Crowned Prince and Princess of the kingdom were expected to rule alongside each other until they produce new heirs. The most peculiar thing about the houses was definitely the fact that they hated each other passionately. The only reason they ruled together was because of a blessing from the goddess of the land. Or a curse, depending on how you looked at it.

Centuries ago, the kingdom of Aspen didn't exist and there were only two little towns in the region. Both towns were always fighting and squabbling over ownership of the land. The two town leaders had children who unlike their fathers loved one another. They met at a faux peace meeting that ended up being a waste of time but a new bond was formed that day.

From there the two lovebirds met in secret. They continued like this until their parents found out about their affair. As expected, they were furious and decided to tear the lovers apart. But they were cruel in their method and they gave their children swords to fight and kill the other person. It was either that or the leaders of the town fighting and killing the other's child. If that happened, the towns would have started fighting and there would have definitely been a never ending war.

The two lovebirds decided to stab themselves despite their fathers' protests. The goddess of the land saw this and looked upon them in pity. When their souls came to her, she decided to grant them a wish. But for their wish to come true, she gave a condition.

Later on, it was revealed to the prophets of both towns. The goddess had granted them prosperity, massive wealth and immense growth but the condition was that the two towns had to coexist together and a person from both head families must always rule. If at any point they disobeyed this, the kingdom would fall and calamity would prevail until not one citizen was left.

The heads of the families agreed grudgingly and so Aspen was born. With the rule, one would expect the families to have gotten along eventually but that was not the case. They always trained as enemies and competed with each other. They both believed one must be best and it had to be the one from their families. Their children were raised like competitors instead of future heirs destined to share the throne.

The Kings and Queens only ever came from these families as per tradition, the court was made up of their families and a few lesser families to even out the warring houses. The lesser families handled the overseeing of the several provinces in the kingdom.

Choosing the next ruler never came easy. Both houses had their children training for a long time before their royal trials, some even starting their training immediately the child starts speaking. The Royal trials involved tests of strength, grace, intelligence and integrity. They lasted for weeks at times, with just two people standing at times.

Even being born to the former king and queen of the land doesn't guarantee a person the spot on the throne. They had to compete just like their counterparts.

No one could ever tell what the trials would be like, as they were decided by none other than the high priests and priestesses of the land, who lived in seclusion until they were summoned for the trial and subsequent coronation.

The winner of the year this time happened to be last born daughter of the king, the daughter of not even the Empress but a concubine's spawn, the one that nobody expected to survive the trials too.

The results had the current royal family in an uproar, her siblings and even her own mother asking for the re-trial. Her father, who would have probably been on her side, had died on the battlefield which prompted the impromptu selection process in the first place.

The council refused her family's pleas, already viewing her as the Crown Princess immediately she stumbled out of the last trial bloodied and bruised but standing strong along with the man who would end up marrying her.

Which brings us to this point.

The wedding.

____________________________________

Analeigh walked into her waiting room and sighed, mentally cursing herself for not using magic wards to guard it in the first place.

"I see the palace security is lax now." She eyed her attendant who stood by to help her take off her armour and flopped heavily on her chaise longue, dusty body be damned, the poor girl trying to avoid taking the blame for letting the intruder in.

She heard a tsk. "Is that anyway to speak with your mother-in-law?"

She scoffed. "Our houses are not joined yet, trust me, you shouldn't be so smug calling me that yet." She hated the woman more than the winged rodents flying all around the downtrodden parts of the kingdom. For context, one of those bloody things nearly took out her eye when she was a little girl.

"Your mother let me in, isn't it lovely how we're already acting like family." The woman said with a fake smile on her face, no doubt cringing inside at the amount of dirt Analeigh had tracked into her living quarters after spending an entire morning on her horseback.

"Lovely. Of course." Analeigh said calmly. "Is there a reason why you personally sought me out, Lady Roseanne?" She said purposely and watched in satisfaction as the lady in question bit her tongue to keep from hurling curses at her.

"Your Highness, I believe you've not been informed about the new titles." She gritted out forcefully. Analeigh's grin grows even wider.

"Oh I have. But the wedding hasn't happened yet and your Son is still the Prince Consort. Until then, you will remain Lady Roseanne to me."

She watched Roseanne go through several stages of anger just by looking at her eyes. The woman was definitely a liability, Analeigh wondered how she ended up marrying into the house of the most cunning people in the land.

"As you wish, Your Highness." She finally settled on, no doubt swallowing her pride to avoid any issues that could prevent her son ascending the throne. Analeigh could almost hear her plotting how she was going to get her back once that happened, that was how expressive her face was.

"Of course."

"I came here to help you with wedding preparations, seeing as your family wasn't too keen on it happening so suddenly. I wanted to help you get ready for your big day." She said, a more genuine smile creeping onto her face, no doubt thinking she could hurt Analeigh with the reminder that most of her family members weren't in support of her ascension.

"Before the trial, I was already a Princess, descendant of the late king as you know. This is nothing more than a formality to me, surely there's no need for my family to fawn over me. I'm simply continuing my father's legacy." She replied coolly, not at all bothered by the fact that her family members weren't there to help her. In fact she was glad, she had received enough backhanded 'advice' and well wishes that would quite literally last her an entire century. "Besides, my attendants are here to get me dressed."

"Of course, but it's always better when a family member helps out. I've also brought a gift." The older woman said, leaning down to open the brown box she had been resting on the whole time she sat in front of Analeigh. In it lay a beautiful headdress, brilliantly glistening with some of the most precious gemstones of the land. Analeigh, despite not wanting to be, was impressed. It was obviously the work of a master craftsman.

"My son had this made for you after the trial results were released, so you could wear it for the wedding. As tradition doesn't permit him to meet you before the ceremony, he asked me to help deliver this to you. We hope it is to your liking, your Highness." She presented it with a little bow. Analeigh's curiousity, and suspicion, was piqued. What exactly did they use to make this beautiful piece that was worth sending the current Pelagios matriarch to deliver it herself?

"I'm grateful for the gift, tell your son I said so." She said, collecting it. It wasn't as heavy as it looked, the craftsman must have considered her poor neck and used lighter weight gems or used magic somehow. Either way, she would have to ask her dear husband-to-be for their name so she could send a gift for their brilliance.

"He will be thrilled to hear that you are pleased with his gift."

"I'm sure he will." Analeigh hums passively. "If that would be all," She raises her voice a little so she can be heard outside the room. "I'd like to get changed please. The servants are waiting outside and as a bride, you know I have to make several preparations before the wedding this evening." She said, not giving the woman space to say whatever she planned on saying. The servants came in as soon as she finished her sentence, effectively shutting up the other woman and making her leave with a barely disguised frown on her face.

Analeigh turned to face the girls that would dress her up for one of the biggest days of her life, probably only behind her coronation.

"Well, we are quite certainly behind schedule now due to Lady Roseanne's visit, so move fast and smart girls. We barely have any time left." She smiled as they nodded and followed her into the inner room where several ceremonial robes lay on the bed for her to choose. She sighed while picking up a red and gold accented set and nods to the girls behind her.

It was time to prepare for her wedding.

"Well, don't you look regal?" A wonderful, familiar voice says as soon as the owner stepped into the chamber.

"Aulus." She smiled wide on seeing her brother. He opened his arms to give her a hug and had to awkwardly lean far away from her neck, so as not to get poked by the amount of jewellery around it. She laughed and hugged him even tighter, purposely leaning forward to make him feel the press of the hard gems on shoulder.

"You're such a brat, if you weren't in ceremonial robes right now, I'd mess up your hair." He mimed putting his hand over her head and laughed again when she flinched back instinctively.

"And delay the ceremony? You wouldn't dare." She said, still smiling. Of all her brothers, he was her favourite by far, which always surprised people considering he was the son of the Empress and only her half brother. The last time she spoke to her actual brother from the same mother, she ended up sending poisoned spikes to his knees. Thinking back on it now, she felt she could have done a lot worse than putting him on bedrest for 3 weeks so maybe the sibling love wasn't lost after all.

"I came ahead of the rest to give you a heads up. Lucius is pissed at you, by the way." Lucius being the brother she was thinking about in the first place. No sooner had Aulus said that, the heavy doors of the chamber opened to reveal the rest of the royal family, save a few that had legitimate reasons to not make it.

"Congratulations sister, you look radiant as always." Felix, her eldest brother said. She bowed her thanks but said nothing in response.

"We decided to come pay our respects before the ceremony, despite it not being customary. Do forgive us for arriving late, it was hard getting my hands on a few of them." The Empress herself, Queen Aurelia, came forward to touch her shoulder.

Analeigh bowed even lower, "No need for apologies your Majesty. I'm honored to have you here."

Contrary to popular belief, Analeigh did not resent the current Dafidi matriarch. Terrified, yes. Wary, yes. But resent? Definitely not. The woman was amongst the few in her family who didn't utter a word in objection when it was revealed that Analeigh would be the successor to the throne. Analeigh was still wary of her, no doubt a woman that could go through the trials to win the right to the throne would be shrewd and cunning. She didn't consider the Queen her enemy but she knew better than to think the woman was her ally as well.

"There's no need for formalities, today is your wedding day. We have come to support you as a family."

"And give our condolences to the poor unfortunate soul that has to marry you in the first place." Someone muttered behind the Queen. Analeigh resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she heard the voice. She had hoped that this particular sibling wouldn't show up today. She looked up to see his snickering face, obviously pleased with his little snide comment.

"Lucius." Queen Aurelia said calmly. "Did you forget the rule on interrupting your ruler? Or did you do it because you no longer consider me to be a person of authority." She continued without looking at him. Lucius, realising that he had broken a rule while trying to upset his sister, fell to his knees in submission.

"I apologise my Queen. I won't repeat this mistake ever again." He bowed his head, begging for forgiveness. The former king had been pretty lax about the rule, often enjoying when his children spoke all at once when they were around him. The Queen on the other hand was a stickler for rules, a fact Lucius had forgotten due to not spending much time in her presence since he wasn't her son. Analeigh watched in satisfaction as her arrogant brother cowered beneath the Queen, and almost missed out on her name being called by the woman herself.

"Analeigh. What is the punishment given for breaking this rule?"

"Ten lashings and a night in the cold pool." She replied, internally shivering at the thought of spending an entire night naked in the coldest body of water in the palace.

"Good. As it is your wedding day, I will be magnanimous and reduce his punishment to the lashings only." She looked down at the obviously relieved man, cowering at her feet.

"You are too kind, Your Majesty." Analeigh bowed, internally disappointed that her idiot brother got his punishment reduced. It would have been nice to stay nearby and hear his howl when he entered the cold pool with his body stinging from the lashings.

"Get up. It would be disgraceful if you showed up at your sister's wedding in rumpled clothes." She said, watching him stand up immediately at her subtle order.

"Of course your Majesty. Thank you for your consideration." He bowed once again. He was really laying in it on thick now wasn't he, Analeigh thought while watching her cocky, giant brother bowed at 90° as he patiently waited for the Queen to look away from him.

"I have a few matters to attend to so I can not stay here until you're called in, I'm afraid." Queen Aurelia said, addressing Analeigh once again.

Analeigh nodded with a smile, "Of course your Majesty. I'm thrilled you were able to come here at all, please don't let me keep you from your other duties."

Queen Aurelia nodded and walked out of the room with her maidservants that were hanging by, two of them scrambling to lift her train properly so the regal woman wouldn't stumble, or goddess forbid, trip on it.

The moment she stepped out of the room and the doors were shut again, Lucius rounded up on her and gave her a menacing glare.

She raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"You planned this, didn't you? Acting all small and innocent, you planned this just like you always do." He pointed her with barely restrained rage. Analeigh saw her servants in the corner getting ready to intervene and shook her head lightly. Her elder brother was hardly a threat. A fool yes, but not a threat.

"I stood here to accept the Queen's blessings. You stood there and interrupted her to get your five seconds of fame. I hope you like your punishment dear brother, if I'm not too busy with post wedding bliss, I might even come to watch your public lashing." Which was the real deal of the punishment. The pain of the beating will come and go but the public humiliation would last way longer than that. Knowing her brother and his stupidly fragile ego, that was what bothered him the most.

"Post wedding bliss." He repeated, derisively. "You say that like you're getting married to a person that can actually stand you."

Analeigh sighed, trying to hold herself back from saying something that would make her brother even angrier. It was perplexing to people when brought up, that her only brother from the same mother absolutely disliked her. It wasn't that way when they were children, he used to take her everywhere and brag about being a big brother. Then they started growing older and Analeigh started surpassing him in aspects he didn't expect. She wasn't given royal combat training from the guards like he was but still fought better than him, she had the gift of magic and he didn't, she was meticulous and strategic yet her elder brother was viewed as nothing more than a joke in the palace. As the years went by, his jealousy transformed into hate and he has become her biggest antagonist in the palace, truly an outstanding feat considering how terrible most of her other siblings were.

"It doesn't matter if he can stand him. We are to marry so whatever reservations he has, he has to bury it for the sake of the crown. I've heard nothing about him having a lover so there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to work together cordially at least." She answered, not rising to her brother's taunts. She knew if she brought up his failed marriage, especially in front of their other siblings and the servants hanging around, he would throw a fit and cause a commotion that she really doesn't need on the day of her wedding. She could always get him back later for his idiocy.

"Now sister, are you really not bothered by this? We heard he hasn't made any effort to meet you since your trials ended." Another voice spoke up. A voice Analeigh wished she didn't have to hear when she didn't have a sword to threaten her with. She smiled, tight lipped as she stared at Livia, her third sister, who was one of the loudest voices against her ascension. The woman stood, as beautiful and vapid as always, smiling brightly at Analeigh, no doubt choosing her words carefully to hit the mark as usual.

"You act like this more than a joint partnership between houses. Am I supposed to cry and moan about how my husband from a house that we've been enemies with since the beginning of time doesn't love me?"

"I never said anything about love, Leigh. But isn't it basic respect?" She plastered on an expression of concern so convincing, even Analeigh was impressed. "Frankly speaking, he is the one marrying into the family. You are the princess, while not the child of the Empress, your title has to count for something... right?"

"Our marriage was impromptu. We barely mourned father before the high council declared the need for a new monarch. Lastly, like I said before, he sent me a gift through his mother for the wedding."

"Will that be enough to save you from disrespect in the court?" Livia scoffed, a rare unladylike reaction from her.

"I do not care about the court."

"Sister, I know you believe you're all clever and wise but ruling isn't just about passing the trials. Before ruling the people, you must know how to sway the officials. You barely participated in court before this-"

"That was because I wasn't allowed to. Remember? You and your little group would make sure to shut down any ideas I had before they could even get to father." She always felt so small during that time. As much as she loved her father, he was a busy man and so could barely grant her audience whenever she had a new idea for the issues brought up in court. Not when he had a whole group of officials to listen to first and the children of the Empress were always granted audience before those born by concubines. It was customary. Normal. She made peace with it and only spoke about mundane topics when she got a bit of her father's time.

"I did nothing of the sort. They barred you from speaking of their own volition, I never told them to do anything."

"Right of course. My apologies." She answered her voice laced with sarcasm. The doors opened and a new set of servants and guards walked in, carrying gifts from the guests that had started arriving. She beckoned to her head maidservant.

"Amaryllis, make sure to check the gifts along with one of the mages and an imperial physician. Do not touch anything with your bare hands and instruct the other girls to refrain from doing it." She whispered in her ear.

"Of course, your Highness." She curtesied and went back to where she stood before.

"You should really call your betrothed to order, sister. Even your mother is worried about this marriage." Livia spoke up again, apparently not done antagonising her little sister.

"What mother feels is none of my business." Analeigh said, hating how she could hear the frustration finally sipping into her voice. She looked around the room as she counted down internally, knowing it was going to very little to help her rising anger. There was no use lashing out, especially not in front of the workers. She focused on the armoured guards, mentally counting the details when she noticed something that made her freeze.

"And as for my dear husband to be, I'm sure he will learn some manners after we wed. Men are creatures to be tamed afterall." She finished with a smile, then turned to Aulus. "I've recieved your well wishes with thanks but I need to discuss something with Aulus. Alone." She said without looking at her family. Lucius made a sound, as if to start another argument, then stopped when he realised he had a pending punishment. The maidservants, guards and family members shuffled out except Aulus, who stared at her steadily.

"What's so important you had to send everyone out mid showdown?" He asked lightly.

"There's an intruder amongst the guards."

"What?"

"There's an intruder-"

"I know, I heard you the first time." He cut in impatiently. "How do you know and why wait so long to tell me?" He asked anxiously. Bless his heart, he was always worried about her.

"I just discovered it while Livia was talking. It's the shoes, the person wasn't wearing the palace sanctioned shoes." She explained, pacing in front of him.

"What if they just forgot to change?"

"You know they have heavy protocol when it comes to these things. Plus," She paused. "They were Pelagios made. I'd recognise the leather and craftsmanship anywhere."

"Why do you think they snuck in?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be telling you. I'd be out there stopping them."

"Maybe it's a thief?"

She shook her head. "Shoes are too expensive to be that of a common thief. The posture seems regal too, not something that a person just imitated. Besides, if they were just a thief, they wouldn't need to come to this hall where we're all gathered. Its too big of a risk unless they were actually after one of us. Which i highly suspected is me."

"Assassination attempt then?"

"Possibly. I'm sure more people than Livia and Lucius were furious about the trial results. They've definitely been preparing to house Livia for years and then I come in, throwing the whole plan off." She bit her lip, a nervous habit she had yet to get rid of. She already prepared herself for the trouble that would come with being chosen by the council, but this wasn't quite part of the events she had zeroed her mind on.

"So what's the plan?" Aulus said, gearing up to fight.

"I need you to stand down and do nothing."

He faltered. "What?" Looking at her like she had gone mad. Which, to be fair, sounded like it.

"I need you to stand down and do nothing." She repeated. "Don't alert the guards, I have my personal ones who will be discreet. I told you about this just so I could have you as back up." She said firmly.

"So what are you planning to do if we can't alert the rest of the palace about the intruder?"

"I'm going to find them. The person I saw had the build of a man but you could never be too sure. He walked in with Livia's guards." She said, sighing heavily.

"...You suspect she has something to do with this?" He asked, voice going lower with worry.

"It's possible. It's also possible he hijacked one of her guards and the poor fella is hurt somewhere now. That's why I didn't ask the others to grab the intruder as soon as I noticed. I'll find him and find out what they want, if he wanted to kill me or the rest of the family, he could have easily tried when the Empress left. There's no use causing problems on my wedding day, goddess knows when next they'll find a good enough date for it."

"I understand."

"I'm leaving now. I need you to track me with the crystal, just in case something happens."

He scoffed. "I was going to do that anyway, even if you said not to."

She smiled and squeezed his hands gratefully.

"Be careful." He whispered to her back as she walked out of the hall to find the imposter that had found their way into her space.

*****

She walked around the empty halls of the palace, knowing the intruder wouldn't stick to the places with people, but wouldn't be too far from the main hall as well if he was actually targeting her. She wondered if he was a magic user to be able to maneuver the palace security system, brute force alone was not enough to defeat them and they could only sneak in if someone withing the family brought them. She sighed, hoping her sister wasn't stupid enough to be part of this.

Livia was ambitious, yes. A pompous ass who had made Analeigh's life hell since they were old enough to understand their positions in the palace, but she wasn't a fool. She would gain nothing from this, other than getting exiled when discovered. If she truly did plan this to harm Analeigh, it was sloppy. Certainly not her best work.

She soon got tired of walking around in her heavy robes over her equally heavy dress so she stopped to take them off.

'I'll just wear them back once it's time'. She thought, no use logging extra weight around when she would possibly have to fight whoever snuck in.

She undid the tie at the back of the robe and carefully placed it on the hooks usually reserved for the servants coats. She considered folding it and placing it on the floor but thought about the reaction she would get if her maidservants saw that. Amaryllis might burn her with her eyes if she even heard about it so servants hook it is. She moved to take off the headpiece given to her as well.

It truly was a wonderful work of art. She found that it was her perfect size too and briefly wondered if the spell on it also included resizing, like her personal armour that she stole from her brother and made her own. She was still studying the pretty headdress when she felt a presence behind her.

She moved just fast enough to dodge the swing of the blade just at her elbow, looking back to see a masked man, definitely the sane man she saw before, gearing up to swing again.

She dodged the attack barely, light on her feet but obviously no match for the master swordsman this person definitely was. She kept dodging and walking backwards until her back hit a door of a room, just like she wanted. She swiftly entered the room, which held some of her father's prized swords that he kept on display, picked a katana and parried the next attack as soon as the man caught up with her.

She was by no means weak or unused to sword fights, as she had practiced all through her childhood and teenage years with Aulus, the palace guards and at some point, even Lucius. This person was skilled, blocking each attempt of hers to land a hit so calmly she felt he was toying with her.

"You know, the proper thing to do at a wedding is to greet the bride and wish her a long life of prosperity." She grunted, blocking off another harsh attempt at landing a hit on her shoulder. So far, this person seemed to be playing around, not using his full strength. It angered her but she supposed she should be grateful he wasn't actually trying his hardest to kill her. Being underestimated always worked out in her favour anyway.

Making a half step turn, she threw out a few needles she had up the sleeves of her dress just for this moment. Evidently the other person didn't expect it cus she saw his eyes widen, the only visible part of his face, before trying to dodge it. Unfortunately for him, and very fortunate for Analeigh, one landed in his upper arm and he grunted in pain.

"You're lucky I didn't carry the ones with fatal poison today, you're not going to be able to move that arm for some minutes though." She grinned, happily using the side of her sword to hit him in the shin. He barely flinched, she noted, either very good at feigning nonchalance or having a high pain tolerance. Both possibilities amused her, it had been a while since she fought someone actively trying to hurt her.

With one hand out of commission, she found it easy to fight back, even enjoying it now that she wasn't actively fighting for her life. She watched as he moved expertly with his good hand, apparently unfazed by his dominant hand being useless, she felt a hint of jealousy at that. She wished to be that good at sword combat.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

"Who sent you?"

Silence again.

"Why are you here?"

...you guessed it again. Silence.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that being silent when being addressed is rude?" She said, increasing the frequency of her attacks. She was slowly getting used to his fighting style, obviously heavily impaired by the fact that he wasn't using his dominant hand.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that using dirty methods while fighting is dishonorable?" He spoke for the first time, voice unnaturally gravelly and rough. He was distorting his voice on purpose, she realized, so it had to be someone that had an identity to protect. She mentally combed through her guests and hoped to the goddess that her sister wasn't actually so stupid to do this. Not because she cared if she was exiled, but she definitely didn't need public scrutiny on her ascension. It was bad enough that news about her family's objection to her position had been spread to other noble families, she didn't need her first act as Queen to be the banishment of her sister. As much as it would please her to do it, the general public wouldn't take kindly to it as family was supposed to be above everything. The court of nobles would be against her too considering Livia was a court favourite. Everythng about this situation put her at a disadvantage and she hated it.

"I hardly doubt the ministry of ethics would fault the heir apparent to the throne for doing whatever she could to avoid getting killed by an assassin." She grinned when he huffed in frustration when he missed a hit once again.

"Good point."

"What a logical fellow, are you sure you can't put the sword down so we can chat?" She narrowly missed the sword being buried into her stomach.

"I'm afraid that can't happen, what if you decide to kill me instead?"

"Fair point. Would you believe me if I said i would never do that?" She grinned, dancing around him to land a hit at the back of his thighs.

"I'm afraid not." He sounded amused as he stepped back a few paces, no longer within her range, swinging his sword in a very characteristic way that Analeigh recognised in an instant. She stopped moving.

"I can't believe I didn't realise it all this time."

"What?" He asked, doing the move again and hitting the wall behind her instead her arm, thanks to her moving out of the way.

She reached into the open sleeves of her dress and threw out a new set of needles, this time lodging three in his other arm. She threw another set at his legs, making him fall down with a yelp. Once she was sure he was fully incapacitated, she stepped over him with a sword, pulling off his guard mask, smile no longer on her face.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?"

On the floor, looking pathetic and bullied, was her dear husband-to-be.

Prince Leonidas Pelagios.