Page 7 of Her Royal Blood

“Please your highness, mercy. Mercy,” the man prostrated himself to the ground bowing his head onto his hands as he gathered his legs up under him. “I am but a simple magistrate. I live for the law.”

“Which is why I’ve asked to have you officiate my wedding,” Polonius said with a dry deep voice.

“Oh, Your Majesty, yes, Your Majesty,” the man was still quaking with fear. “May I get up from the floor, Your Majesty?”

“You’re going to have to,” Polonius said with annoyance. “In order to perform the ceremony.”

“Right, yes, of course.” He picked himself up off the ground and dusted off his clothing, though it did not do much good. He had obviously suffered during the chaos of Polonius's attack and was dusty and unkept, but he wore the robes of a magistrate and that’s all Polonius required.

Polonius then nodded to the door where a line of Crypt claw guards stood and more trumpets played. There were several positioned around the room perched upon the rafters. The hall suddenly filled with the sounds of a triumphant reverie. The song was not appropriate for a wedding but the perfect accompaniment to a victory march, which this wedding was, for Polonius.

Gabrielle entered the hall to the sound of trumpets. Polonius had the good sense not to dress her in white. Instead she wore a billowing gown of crimson overlaid with translucent fabric the color of blood. Whirling in fluid lines were bright orange bright paintings crafted to look like flames. Gabrielle was the embodiment of lava and fire. A warning to all. Brahman’s Peak had once buried our kingdom under lava and ash and would again. Her wedding dress told our people that they were no longer safe in a place where hope had only just began to grow.

Despite the show of violence the dress represented, she was the epitome of grace and beauty. Her hair had been swept off her face in an elaborate weave of braids and twists, intertwined with strands of gold that caught the light streaming in from the windows above. On her neck she wore both Polonius’ mother’s necklace and the magic filled pendant I’d given Gabrielle. She did as I’d instructed and the magic delivered my perfect replica so Polonius would never know that he wasn’t marrying me.

Gabrielle held her head high, though her neckline plunged to show the slope of her breasts nearly revealing them completely. The waist was cinched in tight making her breasts push higher. The back of the gown dipped to her buttocks and was held together tightly by criss-crossing strands of red satin which looked like lashings. I would have never worn such a gown. By having Gabrielle don this wedding dress, Polonius was making his intentions clear, our union wasn’t wholly political. She carried one white rose, a wisp of peace amidst the blazing fire.

There was a hush of silence as the guests watched Gabrielle disguised as me walk down that aisle, her face unreadable yet painted to perfection, every inch meticulously beautiful…and vacuous. The magistrate stood at the podium shaking, looking pale and ill as Polonius watched Gabrielle approach with a subtle savagery on his face. Again I thought of what Gabrielle was going to have to endure, yet she’d already endured so much of him.

When Gabrielle finally joined Polonius before the stand, the magistrate cleared his voice as Polonius reached out and took Gabrielle’s hand. She bowed her head, in surrender. Gabrielle was playing her part, beautifully, though she was in such great peril. A satisfied smile crossed Polonius’ face and I thought of the lonely man who had become a monster. There was a sense of victory in his expression as he thought he was getting the woman he coveted. It was hard not to see the faults of a man raised withabuse and wonder if someone had loved him, would he have become a decent person?

“We are gathered here today to bring together Lord Polonius of Brahman’s Peak and Queen Aria of Onyx Rah in holy matrimony. Do you Lord Polonius promise to honor Queen Aria…” Polonius cut him off before he could say more.

“I vow to wed her, move on,” he ordered with a harsh command.

“Yes, right, of course. Do you, Queen Aria of Onyx Rah, vow to obey, honor, remain faithful and loyal to Lord Polonius of Brahman’s Peak until your death?”

“If I must,” Gabrielle said and my heart danced for just a moment as did other hearts in the room.

While I needed Gabrielle to be as submissive as possible until I came back from Vitoria Island with Lex, that little dig showed my people we still had some fight.

Polonius glared at Gabrielle and she looked up at him, staring into his eyes and said, “I do vow to obey,” Her voice was lifeless and flat. “Honor and remain loyal and faithful to Lord Polonius of Brahman’s Peak.”

Polonius nodded to her and the magistrate continued.

“Are there any objections to this union?” At the mention of objections, Polonius sought out Sire Vanoire who swiped his hand in a wide arching motion over his head and every mouth in the room sealed closed, including mine. It was an oddly terrifying sensation.

“If there are no objections, I hereby declare, Lord Polonius and Queen Aria, married. You may now kiss your wife.”

The magic on my mouth lifted and the trumpets blared again. Perhaps to drown out the fact that not one single person in the room clapped or rejoiced for the newly wedded couple who were now kissing in front of us. Polonius offered a possessive kiss, unlike the one he’d given me before. This kiss was full ofdominance and conquest which made me sick to my stomach, poor Gabrielle.

When the kiss was done the magistrate announced. “Make way for Lord Polonius and his bride.”

And just like that, Queen Aria no longer had an identity outside of being Polonius’ wife. She’d just become his property. We stood as Polonius took Gabrielle’s hand and she bowed her head again as they left, looking more like his prisoner than partner. Gabrielle was doing an incredible job. The world would see Polonius as a brute and her submission proved he wasn’t to be trusted. At that moment the sound of trumpets could be heard behind us and as the doors opened, where I saw a replay of the wedding projected onto the sky.

We filed out of the great hall to witness the wedding again, but this time it was playing across the clouds for all of Tobran to witness. Much like when Amadeus had projected Lex and my victories with the monsters he’d created during Navarrah’s City Royal guard training, the wedding made Polonius and Aria look as omnipotent as gods.

At the conclusion of the relatively short ceremony, Halo emerged from within the crowd and started asking the guests to leave.

“Everyone must go back home and leave Brahman’s Peak. The wedding is now over and the newly weds need their space and privacy. Please exit in a timely and orderly manner.” Halo was taking no great pride in her role of party pooper, but I was sure the wedding was as defeating for her as it was for me.

I was able to make my way to her, close enough to catch her eye without any of the exiting guests seeing me in their rush to leave.

I grabbed my magic back for an instant just to show her who I was. Halo’s eyes widened for a moment then returned totheir lazy, disinterested stare. This was the countenance she’d adapted to cope.

“Very impressive,” Halo said under her breath as she continued to encourage the wedding guests to leave. She was wearing a simple blue dress that hugged her slight figure to her waist, then flared into light layers of sheer fabric that danced around her playfully; a direct contradiction to the heaviness of the day. Her light brown hair remained neatly held in its elaborate style atop her head and her deep blue eyes still had their wariness. “Alright everyone, hurry up and exit. We will be closing the gates in an hour and all non-residents will be punished if they are not out of the city gates by then.” Such harsh penalties, this was who Halo was forced to be and I hated that Polonius was ruining her as thoroughly as he was destroying me.

“It’s getting easier to wield my magic,” I said back in my diplomatic disguise.

---