Chapter 3
I stood in the centre of all the books in the library, my fingers trembling as I flipped through another ancient history book, the pages brittle under my touch. The ink bled in places, the words looked smudged with how old they looked, but the message was clear…royalty must marry royalty. Always. Without exception.
My breath hitched, my chest tightening as I turned another page, then another, my hope fraying with each passing second. There had to be something, a loophole, a forgotten decree, a single damn instance where a princess had chosen love over duty. But the books offered only cold, unyielding tradition.
A curse slipped from my lips, low and venomous. The thought of that old King's hands on me, his breath sour with wine, his body pressing mine into the marital bed, made
