7 | ACT I, SCENE VII

P R E V I O U S L Y

"Well, then," Cosmo stood up, smiling. "It seems this fight has reached a decision. We are to have a new Queen."

RYVENNDEL MANSION, BELLHAVEN, STEFFITH.

EDWINA

"DON'T BE RIDICULOUS. YOU'RE TELLING me you were so good that they gave you their time for free?"

"I'm Aidon Tremayne," he huffed his chest importantly, "and she was the Black Pearl. Very picky, all those courtesans are - some even have the audacity to refuse gods if they don't like their coc-"

"-someone should make you drink a vat of holy water," I put my hands over my ears and my brother laughed. "You're married, Aidon," I crossly reprimanded him.

He shrugged nonchalantly.

He was married to one of Favian's sisters, a cheerful goddess. They both had eloped in a fit of happiness years ago, giving Emerick Rotavelle one more excuse to hate us Tremaynes.

"She doesn't mind. Drop it," he said sullenly.

"She's your wife, don't you have any sort of loyalty to her?"

"Lord," he sighed, closing the window, his tone now serious. "We are immortals. I'm not saying I don't love my wife. I do love her. But spending years and years - centuries and centuries - with someone gets boring. We all have our fun. She does it too."

"But-"

"-drop it," he repeated firmly, his mood off. "Seriously. Instead of being so sullen, can't you cheer up a bit? You're going to be the Queen, for god's sake. You've made us all so proud today."

He leaned over and hugged me where I was perched on the windowsill, and I ruffled his hair good naturedly. "I think you're lonely," he observed after a while.

"I'm not."

"You are. After mother died, you just distanced yourself. From all of us. Even me, Edwina," Aidon said, his voice thick with hurt. "And after your Trials, you just... disappeared. Just like that. I spent all ten days searching for you and when I finally saw you, you looked like you hadn't eaten in weeks. And if that wasn't enough, Amphi was crying as if it had been her who was starved. And now you're here. You're going to be the Queen. So stop moping around. Imagine how proud mother would have been."

"I miss her," I said softly.

"Why did you let the dick go?" he asked me.

"Whose dick?" I flinched in horror as he chuckled.

"I meant Favian. You could have pierced his heart with Seraphine."

"Sometimes, Aidon, mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice," I said, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

He took my hand in his warm palm, squeezing it comfortingly.

"How's your shoulder?"

"It's gone. It was just a scratch."

"Fancy."

There was a knock on the door. With a huff, I got up and opened it.

There were four men waiting outside.

My father, Lucius. My grandfather, Helios. My great grandfather, Cosmo. And Eric. All four were dressed casually, yet the look of apprehension was common on all their faces.

"Yes?" I asked mildly.

"May we come in?" Helios, the eldest son of Cosmo, asked. God of day with gold hair and ice blue eyes, he regarded me curiously. Soft light filtered out of his hands into my room. It might as well have been the morning here, although it was nighttime in real.

I brushed my hair to one side where it shone like burnished copper, and opened the door further.

"Be my guests."

They came in as Aidon jumped down from the ledge, sensing something was wrong. A sheet of metal appeared in his hands from nowhere, and he quickly wielded it into an ornate chair, sitting on it.

Cross, I eased a bit of my power out and the brightness in the room dimmed. Being the goddess of fire allowed me to do quite a lot of things - even influencing the sun, the day, the weather. Titania was goddess of the seasons, but it wouldn't be a problem once she left. I could easily take over her missing duties.

We were three elements. Three parts. Three rulers.

Fire, water, sky.

One whole.

"How... how is your shoulder?" my father began hesitantly.

"It healed in five minutes."

"I must say, that was an excellent match," Helios piped up. The cheerful god was too much of an optimist sometimes.

"How is Favian?" I asked sarcastically.

"Absolutely fine, and in boisterously high spirits when I went to check on him," Eric confirmed.

"What you did was an act of mercy. You let the man live, Edwina. Mercy is a strong, brave quality. You cannot imagine how proud everybody is of you," Helios said, but he stopped, seeing the disinterested look on my face. They were working up to something and flattering me before they told me what they wanted.

"Can you get to the point please?"

He looked stunned for a moment, exchanging a fearful glance with Cosmo. The King nodded and sat up straight, now serious.

"Well...there's something that came up."

"You're going to make Drusilla the Queen," I said with a start, sitting up straight as it hit me.

"You don't want to be a Queen?" Eric asked sharply.

"I don't want to be a Queen. I want to be the Queen."

"You will be coronated as the Queen, fair and square. You won the Trials, you won the retrial, and you won the match as well. It is obvious that you have been chosen," Cosmo chuckled.

"And as for Drusilla," father said, "she must have pulled off some trick to get her name on that slip, though how she managed to do it escapes me."

"If it escapes you, how do you know it was a trick?"

"Look, Edwina. The sheet never lies. And we all knew you were going to be chosen. It was the obvious choice. Do you remember the marks you scored in all those tests you spent a century studying for?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Now," he continued. "There's something we need you to do."

"Which is...?"

The three of them looked tentatively at each other as Cosmo spoke in his noble voice.

"Promise me that you will hear me out once."

"Fine," I agreed grimly.

"There's going to be a marriage."

Silence.

Marriage. I'd never thought about marriage.

"Edwina, married? That I'd like to see. There are beasts in Cledymt Forest you'd have an easier time taming," Aidon snorted from atop his fancy stool.

"To whom?" I asked, but fearing the worst.

"Tristan Valmont."

I threw back my head. And then I laughed.

It was pathetic, really. Pathetic that my father would suggest a marriage to the son of his wife's killer. But then, he'd never really loved her, had he?

"Told you she'd take it well," Helios whispered to my father.

"You just need to make her see reason," he muttered back.

"I'm right here, you know," I said, making the both of them look up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eric shake his head slightly. My father glared at him, as he drew his chair closer.

"Always had a penchant for drama, hadn't you?"

"Is this your idea of a joke?" I asked, voice clipped. "Tristan's father killed my mother."

He might have the insanely attractive looks of the devil, but there was no way I was marrying Apollo Valmont's eldest son. No way.

"Edwina-" my cousin began to speak even as I sharply cut him off.

"One reason. Give me one reason, Eric."

"I'll give you many. Will you shut up for once and listen?" he asked.

Suddenly I felt his cool hand on my wrist. The patience flowed into me like the water he was master of, dousing the burning anger before it began to manifest. I glared at him, irritated.

"Now... see. Everyone is well aware of the - of what - is between the Tremaynes and the Valmonts."

"Yes?"

"So... now that a Tremayne and Valmont are both rulers, they expect that the - rift - will continue."

"And they frankly might not be thinking you both are on the same side," Helios continued.

"So... that means that unless you give them some semblance or assurance that your interests are aligned - what is to keep the people from - say - supporting your enemies, if such a time comes, god forbid?"

"Speaking of enemies-" I tucked my fingers under my chin, "won't it be politically better for me to marry an Everly?"

Women are sentimental, deep flawed, and they don't understand politics!

"Speaking of enemies, Edwina, won't you deal with the ones closer to home first?" Cosmo asked, voice harsh.

"So you do admit that Tristan is an enemy to me?"

"I'm saying that Apollo Valmont is your enemy, and that only - it was an accident! Accidents happen! Your mother died in an accident!" my father said, the ice back in his voice.

"So my mother's death is some poor, worthless, accident?" I snapped, getting up, as the chair scraped the floor. "He carved the Valmont lion on my dead mother's forehead. Purely accidental, yes?'

"I - of course, I didn't mean it like tha-"

"You marry a person based on how the present circumstances are!" Helios hissed.

"And what about the circumstances of the past, grandfather?"

My father's indifference to his own wife's death was shocking. He understood the meaning implicit in my words, as his eyes hardened.

"I loved your mother. I truly did."

"Did you?" I narrowed my eyes.

"She is gone. Gone, Edwina. The whole family has come to terms with it but you still refuse to let it out of your head!"

"Out of my head? Out of my head? My mother took her last breath in a place miles away from me and I couldn't even hold her hand as she left this world! How do you expect me to forget it?"

I angrily drummed my fingers on the window ledge, my hands shaking slightly the way they did when I thought of her. The room behind me was silent.

"Edwina." Aidon took my hand, making me turn around. "We all loved mother. We loved her. It's a shame Amphitrite never knew her, but I know I loved her. And she's never left. She's always been here," he placed my hand over my thudding heart.

"Also-" my father added from behind me, "your sister is married. Your brother is married. You are the eldest. Dilston Castle and Dracnesse are both yours. If you don't marry now, what will people say?"

"And why should I give a fuck as to what the people say?"

"Edwina, you also forget that Tremaynes and Valmonts have the most powerful blood. Descendants of Helios, Cosmo's only son to stand beside him to fight the Titans. Most powerful, noble blood runs through your veins!"

"And both of you - Tristan is the god of the skies, you are the goddess of fire!"

"You are asking me to marry my first cousin brother! That is incest," I said, in a final plea.

All five gods laughed, scoffing.

"Please," Aidon with a grin. "Don't tell me that was the best you came up with. It's not like you have to marry your father or grandfather," he said, dodging the punch I threw at him. He couldn't save himself from the next one which landed on his jaw, letting out an annoyed grunt.

"And a Tremayne child sired by a Valmont l will have gifts beyond wildest imagination!" Helios added cheerfully, waving his arms.

This time I lost it, grabbing a fistful of his shirt.

"So basically your plan is to get me fucked and knocked up so that I can go on popping out gifted children?" The fire in the grate rose three feet higher. "I AM NOT SOME BROODMARE!"

"I - look, didn't mean to-" he stammered.

"I will tell you one thing, grandfather," I hissed into his ear, "I am much more than a royal womb on legs, do-you-understand?"

Cosmo appreciatively chuckled, giving me an indulgent smile. He was merely humouring me, and my temper raised a few notches.

"Edwina, I'm sure he didn't mean it in that way-" Eric tentatively said. "Listen - I can very well understand how you feel."

"Oh, do you?"

"Tristan is also an extremely powerful man - Lord of Stormholt, Lord of Skies - and High King of Endollon in two days."

I took a deep breath, thinking very carefully.

"You will be the most powerful woman in the six kingdoms in two days, Edwina. Don't you both deserve a consort fit and powerful enough as your position?"

The fire in the grate went out.

"No," I hissed through my teeth. I wasn't going to get fooled by them.

"Edwina, listen, you should-"

"Not Apollo's son! Not the son of a man who slaughtered my mother. Not a Valmont!"

"It's just a political arrangement, Edwina," Helios coaxed me gently, and then my eyes fell to the thin red line on Cosmo's wrist.

"You mean for us to take a Blood Oath," I said quietly, my voice too loud in the night as I took in the implications.

He shrugged carelessly.

"A King and Queen, child. Titania and I did it, Uranus and Aurea did it. It is fair that the next pair of rulers does it as well. It is just a small cost for such a huge post," he chortled and I eyed him, brash and suspicious.

"It's a-"

"- a tradition where the pastor holds the hand of the person while their significant other cuts a vein in their wrist, then joins both the slit wrists together-" Eric began with a glare, but I briskly cut him off mid sentence.

"-so that the same blood flows through both their veins after the wound has healed. I will not do it! It's fucking barbaric, that's what it is," I spat. "Why should I spill my blood for a Valmont?"

The cut would be made with Eros's Knife, made of the rarest metal - Bloodstone. Wounds inflicted by Bloodstone never vanished, unlike ordinary ones. A reminder that your significant other - literally - left a mark on you. And only two sets of couples had done it so far in the history of the gods.

Once we both our wrists would be cut and bleeding, they'd be joined together for a minute, mingling our blood.

Meaning that his blood would flow in my veins and mine in his.

Only Cosmo looked at me with a stern expression. Slowly, his face broke.

"I'm sorry, then," he said in an unexpectedly soft voice. "Let's go. I'll just tell Titania to adjust the arrangements," Cosmo muttered, and the colour drained from my cheeks as the glass in my hand broke to pieces.

"What - what do you mean by adjusting the arrangements?" I gasped.

"Oh, nothing, you know. Just need to tell her that someone else will be accompanying us in leaving our immortality behind."

It took me a moment to fully comprehend the message he was giving me, and I tried to make the words fully settle in.

"You're... you're threatening to strip my immortality if I don't marry?" I asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Quick, this one is," Cosmo clapped his hands gleefully.

"You - you can't do that!" I stammered.

"Well, I can. The gods of spells and witchcraft have brewed up reincarnation potions for us already, I'm sure they'd be happy to whip up another flask."

My hands were shaking so badly as he got up and made his way to the door, shoulders slumped with a gleam in his eyes. I hated being manipulated like this, and I hated that my family had agreed to this. I hated making myself agree to this. And yet.

Aidon was watching me warily. Eric regarded me curiously. My father was biting his lip, fists clenched. Helios was trying hard not to burst out laughing.

Only Cosmo looked straight into my eyes with his authoritative glare. And like it or not, he was still the King.

"There's no need," I croaked, as he set a foot out of the door.

Cosmo turned slowly, lopsided grin on his lips, hand resting on the doorknob.

"Yes?" he asked.

"There's - there's no need. I - I will... I will marry Tristan Valmont."

• • • • •

Now, now, now... what do you guys think happens next? This was necessary - obviously - but was it right? I felt a bit irked when Cosmo actually threatened Edwina, yes, but was he right in doing it? Alliances have to be made, and the best way to make alliances is by marriage. Do you think she was right in refusing? Or do you think she was just being angry and personal about it?

As always, thanks for reading, love you all, and please, please don't forget to click the tiny vote button below if you liked it! Love you.