"And Rory..."
"Yes?" I laughed eagerly, hoping for more compliments.
"That girl who gave you the golden pin..." she paused for dramatic effect.
"Is your betrothed."
"M-My betrothed!" I stuttered, suddenly feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of me. My betrothed, she said, but I wasn't even seven years old yet. How could I already be engaged? I suddenly felt light-headed as the gravity of the situation hit me.
My dizziness was harshly knocked out of me as uncle Cassian laughed loudly at my reaction and slapped my back painfully hard.
"Haha! Don't look so perturbed Rory. It just an engagement." He laughed.
"Owww." I whined as I rubbed my throbbing back, sure that he had probably left a red handprint on my skin.
"Be gentle with him Cassian." My mother chided as she rubbed my back for me.
While I was close to my mother, the first mother I had actually ever had, I took the opportunity to wrap my arms around her neck and rest my head on her shoulder. She smelled lovely, a soothing vanilla scent that I breathed in happily.
"Mother," I spoke into her embroidered vest. "Am I really betrothed to that girl?" My eyes wandered to the hall doors where all the nobles had already exited from. I didn't even get a proper look at her. I wish I had known so that I could have properly introduced myself to her. I remembered that she had introduced herself as Aurora Favian, the cute shy girl who gave me a golden pin in the shape of a cloud. I reached down to my jacket lapel and traced over the pin with my fingers.
"Yes, my Rory." She soothingly combed her delicate fingers through my white hair.
"If the idea displeases you, you need only say the word and Your father and I will cancel the engagement. Isn't that right Alistair?"
My mother glanced over to my father who had shifted in his throne and was now gazing down at us softly. It was probably the most gentle expression I had ever seen on his stone face.
"It is true that we have secured all we needed from the Favian's mines and have sufficiently compensated them for their land. So if the idea of marrying miss Favian troubles you the engagement can be called off. However, I would prefer to keep my word to Lord Favian and go along with the engagement." My father directly looked into my eyes.
"The decision is yours, Rory."
I dipped my head further into my mother's shoulder trying to conceal the smile that had appeared on my lips after hearing my dad call me by my nickname.
"Well, it's not that I hate the idea of being betrothed..." I started. "It's just that I don't know anything about her... I mean maybe she doesn't want to be engaged to me... I don't want to be the cause of any unhappiness." I turned to face my dad again. I didn't know if I was seeing things but it looked like he had a slightly proud smile on his face.
My other uncle, Duke Savras spoke up, "There is no need to worry about whether the maiden wishes to marry you or not."
Uncle Savras chuckled slightly as if I had said something amusing. He pushed his glasses up his nose with his finger because his chuckling had shifted them down his nose bridge.
"Of course it is every maiden's wish to marry a prince of Azlantean." He said that as if it was common sense.
I thought his thinking was kind of outdated but I wouldn't point that out to him.
"Furthermore, I'm sure Miss Aurora would be happy to marry such a beautiful and kind prince." My mother wrapped her arms around me and hugged me even tighter. I blushed sheepishly and turned my head away from her.
"But still!" I protested, thinking about Aurora's point of view in all of this.
"Even if I am a prince, she still might be nervous or unhappy to marry me. Shouldn't I first get to know her so I can see whether she is interested in me?" I asked them.
"But I also don't want to make dad break his word either..."
"Really Rory! You are too young to be so kind and considerate..." Uncle Cassian squatted beside my mother and me and persisted in ruffling my hair.
My mother proceeded to reward me with a big kiss on my cheek which made me blush and feel all warm and giddy inside.
"Don't worry my little Rory. Why don't you attend a few days at the academy to visit her or invite her to the palace for tea and get to know her a bit? From You're interaction you can make your decision I think that would be the best solution."
I nodded in agreement. "Okay. For now, let us keep the engagement. If I find out that she doesn't want to marry me I'll call off the engagement. As for me, I'm fine with marrying her as long as she is a good person."
My mother continued to stroke my hair while Cassian decided that poking me in my side would be amusing. I was enjoying mother's affection while playing with Cassian with the background noise of father and uncle Savras talking about serious matters in hushed tones. This was my new family. A strange but happy mix of people I was already beginning to love. However, after spending years of my life with Nehemiah, I was really starting to miss her presence. I wanted to see her again but the excitement of the past few days had completely banished her from my mind until now. At the next opportunity, I would ask the mother about her and whether I could go and see her.
Suddenly our happy family time was interrupted by the announcer's earthquakingly loud voice.
"Duke Irathmus Rosenheim and his entourage enter!"
I felt my mother's shoulders stiffen and I lifted my head to see that she had a concerned expression on her face. Her light blue gem eyes had gone quite cold and her face and been flushed of any joy as she stared ahead of her.
My eyes shifted to uncle Cassian who had a similar unsettled expression on his face. Whoever this person was, I could feel that he wasn't welcomed by the family.
I already didn't like him.
I turned to see a man, with the same black hair and amber eyes as my father and uncle Cassian. I immediately knew that he must be a relative of mine, yet another member of the Royal family.
He looked quite similar to my father actually, but older and somehow meaner with grey sprouts of hair on his beard disturbing his naturally black colouring. His brow was protruded and his beady eyes were sunken into his head behind them creating a dark shadow down the rest of his cold face. The combination of wrinkles and dark circles under his eyes made him seem quite old. Actually, I take it back, compared to this man my father seemed like the bright dazzling sun.
He seemed to bring a foul mood with him as I saw both my father and uncle Savras tense up at the sight of him.
Around his shoulders, he wore a large grey fur coat. Judging from the colour and size of the fur, it looked like honey bear fur. This made my gut twitch uncomfortably because of my experiences with honey bears. One such bear had lived near the forest valley Nehemiah and I had stayed in. Honey bears were known for their gentle and inquisitive nature. They were never violent, they just travelled around a lot in an endless pursuit of more honey. The worst they ever did was squash people's garden when they made their travels through the forest villages in their search for honey.
My jaw clenched angrily at the sight of such a gentle animal strung around this man's shoulders.
From behind the man's grey fleece, I saw something even more disturbing. Two noticeably beautiful women with thick metal collars around their thin necks, with chains that lead to their ankles and wrists. Their clothes were made from unusual exotic looking fabrics that seemed to be styled to be purposefully revealing. A lot of their chests and thighs were on display and I could see their discomfort in what they were wearing from the self-conscious body language they displayed. The two women's eyes were downcast, they looked so thin and frail, underfed and badly treated. Most of all they looked so afraid.
A cold chill blew up my spine at the realization of what I was seeing in front of me. There was really no doubt in my mind about who the two girls were. From the fear in their eyes to the seductive clothes to the chains, there was no doubt that they were his slaves.
"Aha!" He smiled. "So the famous 'lost prince' has finally returned home!" The man's stare was directed at me.
"You must be so happy my King." Although his words were friendly his tone was not.
I got up from my mother's arms and took a step towards the strange man. I bowed to him even though I didn't want to. What I wanted to do was break those slaves' chains and free them. I knew that slavery existed because my teachers from the forest valley had taught me about it, but from their teachings, I knew that Azlantean was a non-slave kingdom. Azlantean was famous for making slavery illegal and even punishable by death. So then how was it possible that I was seeing two slaves right in front of me.
"Ah... that's right. You probably don't know who I am, do you?" The man asked me with an obviously fake smile.
"No, I am afraid I don't know who you are. But I recognize your hair and eyes."
He chuckled coldly, perhaps upset that I didn't know who he was but then proceeded to introduce himself.
"My name is Duke Irathmus Dusan Rosenheim. The older brother of the king of Azlantean."
I frowned sharply because his introduction didn't make sense. I knew I didn't perfectly understand how the inheritance of a kingdom worked, but I knew the cardinal rule. The kingdom was left to the oldest son or daughter. The first prince or princess. If this Irathmus was my father's older brother, surely he would be king and not my father. I would be sure to ask my mother about it later.
"A pleasure to meet you Duke Irathmus." It wasn't a pleasure though because all I could think about were the two slave girls chained up behind him. They looked really young, probably teenagers.
"Ahh..." A sly sickly tone seeped from his voice as he reached behind him and harshly tugged on one of the girl's chains, causing her to tumble forwards and stand a few meters away from me. She let out a terrified and painful gasp as she twisted her ankle and landed on her hands and knees on the cold floor.
I heard my mother and uncle Cassian sharply intake a breath of air, concerned for the poor slave girl. I was about to run forwards and help her up but his cold tone kept me in my place.
"It seems your eyes are drawn to my girls." He grinned slimily. I hated the way he said, my girls. I hated the way he had attached some vile connotation to the words.
Before I could stop myself, I just blurted out the question.
"Isn't it illegal to have slaves in Azlantean?"
My tone came out quite harshly too.
"...Duke Irathmus." I quickly added to try and sound less hostile.
His eye twitched in response to my unwelcome question. He soon returned to his starkly cold demeanour and looked down at me with irritated amber eyes.
"Although the young prince is very gifted in the magical arts, his knowledge of Azlantean laws leaves something to be desired I see..." he looked smug and I hated it.