"Well, don't you look regal?" A wonderful, familiar voice says as soon as the owner stepped into the chamber.
"Aulus." She smiled wide on seeing her brother. He opened his arms to give her a hug and had to awkwardly lean far away from her neck, so as not to get poked by the amount of jewellery around it. She laughed and hugged him even tighter, purposely leaning forward to make him feel the press of the hard gems on shoulder.
"You're such a brat, if you weren't in ceremonial robes right now, I'd mess up your hair." He mimed putting his hand over her head and laughed again when she flinched back instinctively.
"And delay the ceremony? You wouldn't dare." She said, still smiling. Of all her brothers, he was her favourite by far, which always surprised people considering he was the son of the Empress and only her half brother. The last time she spoke to her actual brother from the same mother, she ended up sending poisoned spikes to his knees. Thinking back on it now, she felt she could have done a lot worse than putting him on bedrest for 3 weeks so maybe the sibling love wasn't lost after all.
"I came ahead of the rest to give you a heads up. Lucius is pissed at you, by the way." Lucius being the brother she was thinking about in the first place. No sooner had Aulus said that, the heavy doors of the chamber opened to reveal the rest of the royal family, save a few that had legitimate reasons to not make it.
"Congratulations sister, you look radiant as always." Felix, her eldest brother said. She bowed her thanks but said nothing in response.
"We decided to come pay our respects before the ceremony, despite it not being customary. Do forgive us for arriving late, it was hard getting my hands on a few of them." The Empress herself, Queen Aurelia, came forward to touch her shoulder.
Analeigh bowed even lower, "No need for apologies your Majesty. I'm honored to have you here."
Contrary to popular belief, Analeigh did not resent the current Dafidi matriarch. Terrified, yes. Wary, yes. But resent? Definitely not. The woman was amongst the few in her family who didn't utter a word in objection when it was revealed that Analeigh would be the successor to the throne. Analeigh was still wary of her, no doubt a woman that could go through the trials to win the right to the throne would be shrewd and cunning. She didn't consider the Queen her enemy but she knew better than to think the woman was her ally as well.
"There's no need for formalities, today is your wedding day. We have come to support you as a family."
"And give our condolences to the poor unfortunate soul that has to marry you in the first place." Someone muttered behind the Queen. Analeigh resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she heard the voice. She had hoped that this particular sibling wouldn't show up today. She looked up to see his snickering face, obviously pleased with his little snide comment.
"Lucius." Queen Aurelia said calmly. "Did you forget the rule on interrupting your ruler? Or did you do it because you no longer consider me to be a person of authority." She continued without looking at him. Lucius, realising that he had broken a rule while trying to upset his sister, fell to his knees in submission.
"I apologise my Queen. I won't repeat this mistake ever again." He bowed his head, begging for forgiveness. The former king had been pretty lax about the rule, often enjoying when his children spoke all at once when they were around him. The Queen on the other hand was a stickler for rules, a fact Lucius had forgotten due to not spending much time in her presence since he wasn't her son. Analeigh watched in satisfaction as her arrogant brother cowered beneath the Queen, and almost missed out on her name being called by the woman herself.
"Analeigh. What is the punishment given for breaking this rule?"
"Ten lashings and a night in the cold pool." She replied, internally shivering at the thought of spending an entire night naked in the coldest body of water in the palace.
"Good. As it is your wedding day, I will be magnanimous and reduce his punishment to the lashings only." She looked down at the obviously relieved man, cowering at her feet.
"You are too kind, Your Majesty." Analeigh bowed, internally disappointed that her idiot brother got his punishment reduced. It would have been nice to stay nearby and hear his howl when he entered the cold pool with his body stinging from the lashings.
"Get up. It would be disgraceful if you showed up at your sister's wedding in rumpled clothes." She said, watching him stand up immediately at her subtle order.
"Of course your Majesty. Thank you for your consideration." He bowed once again. He was really laying in it on thick now wasn't he, Analeigh thought while watching her cocky, giant brother bowed at 90° as he patiently waited for the Queen to look away from him.
"I have a few matters to attend to so I can not stay here until you're called in, I'm afraid." Queen Aurelia said, addressing Analeigh once again.
Analeigh nodded with a smile, "Of course your Majesty. I'm thrilled you were able to come here at all, please don't let me keep you from your other duties."
Queen Aurelia nodded and walked out of the room with her maidservants that were hanging by, two of them scrambling to lift her train properly so the regal woman wouldn't stumble, or goddess forbid, trip on it.
The moment she stepped out of the room and the doors were shut again, Lucius rounded up on her and gave her a menacing glare.
She raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"You planned this, didn't you? Acting all small and innocent, you planned this just like you always do." He pointed her with barely restrained rage. Analeigh saw her servants in the corner getting ready to intervene and shook her head lightly. Her elder brother was hardly a threat. A fool yes, but not a threat.
"I stood here to accept the Queen's blessings. You stood there and interrupted her to get your five seconds of fame. I hope you like your punishment dear brother, if I'm not too busy with post wedding bliss, I might even come to watch your public lashing." Which was the real deal of the punishment. The pain of the beating will come and go but the public humiliation would last way longer than that. Knowing her brother and his stupidly fragile ego, that was what bothered him the most.
"Post wedding bliss." He repeated, derisively. "You say that like you're getting married to a person that can actually stand you."
Analeigh sighed, trying to hold herself back from saying something that would make her brother even angrier. It was perplexing to people when brought up, that her only brother from the same mother absolutely disliked her. It wasn't that way when they were children, he used to take her everywhere and brag about being a big brother. Then they started growing older and Analeigh started surpassing him in aspects he didn't expect. She wasn't given royal combat training from the guards like he was but still fought better than him, she had the gift of magic and he didn't, she was meticulous and strategic yet her elder brother was viewed as nothing more than a joke in the palace. As the years went by, his jealousy transformed into hate and he has become her biggest antagonist in the palace, truly an outstanding feat considering how terrible most of her other siblings were.
"It doesn't matter if he can stand him. We are to marry so whatever reservations he has, he has to bury it for the sake of the crown. I've heard nothing about him having a lover so there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to work together cordially at least." She answered, not rising to her brother's taunts. She knew if she brought up his failed marriage, especially in front of their other siblings and the servants hanging around, he would throw a fit and cause a commotion that she really doesn't need on the day of her wedding. She could always get him back later for his idiocy.
"Now sister, are you really not bothered by this? We heard he hasn't made any effort to meet you since your trials ended." Another voice spoke up. A voice Analeigh wished she didn't have to hear when she didn't have a sword to threaten her with. She smiled, tight lipped as she stared at Livia, her third sister, who was one of the loudest voices against her ascension. The woman stood, as beautiful and vapid as always, smiling brightly at Analeigh, no doubt choosing her words carefully to hit the mark as usual.
"You act like this more than a joint partnership between houses. Am I supposed to cry and moan about how my husband from a house that we've been enemies with since the beginning of time doesn't love me?"
"I never said anything about love, Leigh. But isn't it basic respect?" She plastered on an expression of concern so convincing, even Analeigh was impressed. "Frankly speaking, he is the one marrying into the family. You are the princess, while not the child of the Empress, your title has to count for something... right?"
"Our marriage was impromptu. We barely mourned father before the high council declared the need for a new monarch. Lastly, like I said before, he sent me a gift through his mother for the wedding."
"Will that be enough to save you from disrespect in the court?" Livia scoffed, a rare unladylike reaction from her.
"I do not care about the court."
"Sister, I know you believe you're all clever and wise but ruling isn't just about passing the trials. Before ruling the people, you must know how to sway the officials. You barely participated in court before this-"
"That was because I wasn't allowed to. Remember? You and your little group would make sure to shut down any ideas I had before they could even get to father." She always felt so small during that time. As much as she loved her father, he was a busy man and so could barely grant her audience whenever she had a new idea for the issues brought up in court. Not when he had a whole group of officials to listen to first and the children of the Empress were always granted audience before those born by concubines. It was customary. Normal. She made peace with it and only spoke about mundane topics when she got a bit of her father's time.
"I did nothing of the sort. They barred you from speaking of their own volition, I never told them to do anything."
"Right of course. My apologies." She answered her voice laced with sarcasm. The doors opened and a new set of servants and guards walked in, carrying gifts from the guests that had started arriving. She beckoned to her head maidservant.
"Amaryllis, make sure to check the gifts along with one of the mages and an imperial physician. Do not touch anything with your bare hands and instruct the other girls to refrain from doing it." She whispered in her ear.
"Of course, your Highness." She curtesied and went back to where she stood before.
"You should really call your betrothed to order, sister. Even your mother is worried about this marriage." Livia spoke up again, apparently not done antagonising her little sister.
"What mother feels is none of my business." Analeigh said, hating how she could hear the frustration finally sipping into her voice. She looked around the room as she counted down internally, knowing it was going to very little to help her rising anger. There was no use lashing out, especially not in front of the workers. She focused on the armoured guards, mentally counting the details when she noticed something that made her freeze.
"And as for my dear husband to be, I'm sure he will learn some manners after we wed. Men are creatures to be tamed afterall." She finished with a smile, then turned to Aulus. "I've recieved your well wishes with thanks but I need to discuss something with Aulus. Alone." She said without looking at her family. Lucius made a sound, as if to start another argument, then stopped when he realised he had a pending punishment. The maidservants, guards and family members shuffled out except Aulus, who stared at her steadily.
"What's so important you had to send everyone out mid showdown?" He asked lightly.
"There's an intruder amongst the guards."