"I don't want to marry you."
He blinked down at her in surprise. The man on the horse beside his stifled a laugh and waited for his friend's response. His eyebrows lowered as he let out a sigh. "Nor I to you." His glare grew icy as he watched her grab the carriage door. "But we were both given orders; I expect you will obey just as I am."
He thought she'd be angry but instead she nodded, some of her brown curls spilling over her shoulders. "Then at the very least we start with a mutual understanding." She waited for no reply as she stepped into the carriage and her servant quickly avoided their eyes and followed.
The footman signaled to the front of the convoy and they all slowly began to move along. Just out of earshot of the palace soldiers his friend brought his horse up to his side. "She's rather brazen for a human woman isn't she?"
He glanced towards the carriage but she had drawn closed the cloth curtains. "She's terrified; her fingers were trembling. Still, I am surprised she spoke her mind so easily."
She crossed her arms and clutched her body tight inside the carriage. Across from her, her lady-in-waiting stared at her. After several long silent minutes she shifted her blue eyes towards her. "Are you out of your mind?!" The servant hissed.
"I know -"
"Clearly you don't! Those are first words you choose to say to your future husband? 'I don't want to marry you,' how was he supposed to respond? Good let's call the whole thing off? Do you really think that was smart Julika?"
She slipped a finger between the curtains of the carriage and took a peek at them beside them on horseback. "Father always told me I could marry whoever I wanted, that he wanted me to find a man I loved."
Her lady-in-waiting rubbed an eyebrow with a huff. "The king also didn't imagine this war would go on for six years."
She pulled away from the window and her fists clenched the skirt of her dress. "But to marry me off to a demon for a few soldiers."
Amira smiled sadly as she rose from her spot to sit beside the princess. "Even a human prince would be upset if you said that you know?" The princess's eyes scorned her but she shrugged it off. "You still have me right, we'll walk into this hell together." She gave her hand a squeeze. "The princess and the slave, they won't know what hit them."