King Elric smiled through gritted teeth and nodded. "His regards are well received. I'm sure the prince had something urgent. Do come in for a rest, it must've been a tiring journey?"
He proposed an amiable welcome.
The escort guard remained deadpanned. "There will be no need of that, your Majesty. Eragon is a long way ahead and we must arrive by next sunset." He paused to glance at the princess and then announced mildly, "If His Highness approves of the princess, your majesty will receive a wedding invitation in two days."
The people gathered in the courtyard heard this clearly.
Rain felt her breath cease. The prince was even more impudent than she feared!
There was silence for a short moment in the courtyard.
The king chuckled and eyed the princess meaningfully. "Surely, we'll be expecting it."
*
Rain didn't realize how long it took, but when she came to her senses, she was on the carriage riding on the way to Eragon.
She rested her heads by the mahogany walls and stared blankly out the window. The castle she'd lived all her life shrunk in the distance. The fine carriage rumbled as it rode past the familiar scenery, rising the distress in her heart.
Repeatedly, she would recount the tearful face of her maidservant as she sent her off with a reassuring hand squeeze and her heart would ache knowing she might never see her again.
Margaret had been her nursemaid and governess since she knew how to say her own name.
Hence, she trusted her a lot_ with her weirdest curiosities and abominable secrets.
But there was no way Margaret could have followed her to Eragon. A servant belonged to the king, to her kingdom and to her family.
Just before sunset, when Rain had worried herself to such extent that she dozed off, the carriage suddenly came to a stop at Buch. A county few miles away from Eragon's capital, just outside the city walls.
The carriage's tremor shook her awake and her weary eyes opened to stare out the screens.
Rain was sure they hadn't reached Eragon. She was wondering why they had made a stop, when the guard escort opened the carriage door and requested she wait inside the carriage for a while.
Rain simply nodded and leaned back inside. However, once the guard turned and left, she studied the deserted street and was immediately tempted to escape. It was like a sign from heaven.
The guard had walked into the huge gate of a white manor fenced with trimmed bushes.
It would probably take a while before he returned.
In haste, she stepped out of the carriage and sneaked into an alley, taking nothing with her.
For long, she ran without turning back, past empty market squares and dilapidated residents, until she was out in an area with hardly anything in sight.
A forest expanse stretched forward and she came to a stop to catch her breath, crouching to rest her hands on her knees.
The sun had already begun setting, and in few hours, evening would come. Only then did she notice she'd run far.
She stared at the forest before her and at the darkening sky.
The prince of Eragon clearly found her demeaning enough not to grace Cradya's alliance and receive her, a mere substitute. She had no royal blood flowing through her veins. If the prince of Eragon was everything the rumors said…
Rain didn't dare to imagine what she would go through. The prince surely wasn't going to take her as his wife. But have her pay for the sins of king Elric as anything but his wife.
An artifact collected merely for the glory of his name perhaps. She would be a caricature!
For the wife of the first prince would inevitably be the queen, such position couldn't be offered to her.
The prince would never approve of her in that way. Perhaps if she were like her sister… but he would have no use of a defective like her.
Rain didn't think further. She swallowed her fear and hastened into the forest. Although she moved carefully to dodge the twigs and climbers covering the ground, tiny thorns still scratched her ankle, drawing blood from her delicate fair skin.
She had traveled for a short while into the dim bushes when a caterwauling shrill suddenly rang out from amongst the huge trees.
The cry sounded close to her ears and echoed through the forest, trembling the ground beneath her feet.