A Queen Redestined

Chapter 2

”I can’t believe you’re really going away.” Isabel sat moodily at the foor of her bed as Marie folded her clothes into a chest, while Hugo lingered likewise stormily near her door. 

”Yes, don’t marry the crown prince,” Hugo added, as if that would prop up Isabel’s complaint any. ”You can stay and marry one of the clan leaders like Sofia did! Then you could stay at Castle Vifort forever.”

Marie couldn’t help smiling at the naivety of her youngest brother. If only things worked in real life the way they seemed to do in the thoughts of children. 

”It’s not my decision to make, darlings,” she said, sighing heavily herself, as she pulled out a line of walking dresses from her wardrobe and systemically folded them down. ”If it were, I’d want to stay home too.”’

—

And oh, she’d tried. She’d really, really tried. Marie had sought out her mother to argue her case immediately, the morning after, and received a resounding counter-argument instead.

”Is there really no way to reject this?” she had asked. Lady Violetta had been in the midst of writing a letter, and she looked up sharply as her second daughter came in through the door without so much as a knock. But given the circumstances, she supposed it would be churlish of her to castigate her for the breach in protocol.

”Tell me your reasons for rejecting the betrothal,” she said, laying down her quill and pushing aside the letter. 

Marie took a deep breath.

”I want to stay at Castle Vifort. This is my home.”

”You grew up knowing that there was always a possibility you would have to marry for an alliance and move out of the Southlands. The same went for all of you- only one of you really has to stay to take over the House. Sofia was lucky. But not everyone can be Sofia.”

Yes, not everyone could be Sofia. Marie tried not to be too bitter towards her older sister, whom she’d always loved dearly. But in this moment, it was hard.

”I’m not good at politics. If you or Papa think that I can bring any advantages to the family through this marriage, you might be waiting for a very long time.”

Her mother seemed almost faintly amused despite the tension of the situation. ”Oh Marie darling, do you think your parents don’t know you? We’re well aware that you’ll have a difficult time even assimilating to the culture at court, we don’t think we’re hoping for anything more than a grandchild, maybe two or three, and smoother relations with the crown.”

That seemed absurdly simple for such an ambitious political marriage. 

”Then why...?”

Lady Violetta turned away then, her eyes seeking the gardens beyond the window. 

”House Anguzon,” she said simply, after a long moment. Marie frowned in bewilderment. The House of Anguzon was another noble house, with lands bordering their own. Before the unification of Gadilida, both houses had warred with each other, fighting to usurp each other’s lands. Now, two hundred years after unification, they were still at each other’s throats, albeit in a less violent fashion. These days, the power play tended to be at court.

Then understanding dawned.

”They were looking to betroth their youngest daughter to the crown prince too,” Marie guessed, and Lady Violetta nodded.

”It wasn’t our intention to fight for the position of princess consort to begin with... But now that the cards have played out in our favour, as the lord of House Vifort, your father can hardly let the wins go to them. The ramifications would weaken our house for generations. Do you understand now?”

Put this way, what choice did she have? It was duty indeed, even if it was to her own house rather than the country. Marie closed her eyes in defeat.

”You don’t have a lover I should know about, do you?”

Her eyes flew open again, and Marie blushed, embarrassed that her mother should ask her such a personal question.

”Mama!”

Lady Violette shrugged unapolegtically. ”Well I just wanted to know if there was a more secretive reason why you didn’t want to marry Prince Alfons... And if I should be doing anything about it.”

”No I don’t,” Marie mumbled. Unfortunately so, she thought, or maybe her mother might have tried harder to intervene. She’d had dalliances with several people around her age, both boys and girls, but nothing that could really be considered serious. 

”That’s good then. Do you have anything else to add?”

”No...” A sudden thought struck Marie just then. ”Actually, yes. Yes I do. You’ve never told me about your marriage to Papa. Was it a love match?” 

All these years, Marie had always assumed that her parents had married out of love. But now, faced with her own impending marital shackles, she wondered. 

Lady Violetta raised her eyebrows at her daughter.

”... In some ways, yes,” she said slowly. ”Not in others.”

Marie mirrored her mother’s look.

”I was in love with your father,” Lady Violetta clarified. ”Your father was not. He was in love with a woman from a wandering tribe from the south wildlands. Unfortunately the woman declined to marry into the House of Vifort, claiming that she would never forgive them for tearing her family apart in the previous wars, as much as she loved your father in turn... I wasn’t aware of any of this, until I was married.” Her gaze turned distant for a moment, recollecting. ”But in time, he forgot that woman. And our marriage worked out for the best, as you can see for yourself today. So I have hopes that your marriage with Prince Alfons will work out too, despite the rocky start.”

Marie had little hopes on that front. She chose not to say anything about at the moment, and merely curtsied.

”I will start getting ready to leave then.”

—

It was hard to say goodbye to everything. 

Her mother had been right when she pointed out that Marie had been raised with the knowledge that there was a very real possibility of marrying away from Vifort one day. But knowing it theoretically and having it happen, right here and right now, was a totally different matter. 

Before, it had seemed so far away. Marie was only eighteen, and she had watched her sister Sofia get married when she was twenty-two. She thought she still had some years to live as she pleased. 

And that was the other matter, that this was all happening so fast. Without any preparation or warning that her name had been shortlisted for the role of princess consort, Marie had simply lived without any notion that her life could be turned completely upside-down within a few months. It felt so short.

Her parents reassured her at several points that she could come back to visit if she liked. Yet it was also undeniable that the palace of Marimiers was several days’ ride away, and from what she’d heard about the exceedingly formal court, it was unlikely for her to come and go as she pleased. One fought to stay in the famed apartments of Marimiers- it was unthinkable to those who dwelt there that anyone should want to leave. 

”You have to write to us often,” Fabian had made her promise, when they were all down in the stables, preparing to ride out for the day. Over to the other side, Victoria nodded in agreement.

Marie sighed. If she had thought saying goodbye to her home was difficult, it was even more difficult to have to leave behind her childhood friends. Fabian and Victoria were the children of Vifort retainers, but Marie had never considered their social status. What mattered was that they had been her closest confidants, aside from Sofia, and now... to imagine life without them... 

”Of course I’ll write often,” she said dismissively, trying not to think too much about being away from them. ”But you know Marimiers’ reputation. I won’t be able to get away much, the two of you should think about visiting instead.”

Fabian and Victoria exchanged looks. It wasn’t as if they would really be allowed to visit willy-nilly either, especially since Marie would be the princess consort, but if she wanted that pleasant fiction to distract her, then they would simply continue to pretend it was true, for her sake.

”We’ll come up every chance we get,” Victoria agreed lightly. ”It’ll be like home.”

”One hopes.” Marie rolled her eyes. ”Ugh, it’s so stupid that a princess consort can’t come with her own retinue. What kind of ridiculous rule is that? But no, to come with his or her own retinue is apparently open disrespect to the crown and hidden plans for a coup. As if Vifort wasn’t capable of rising up if we wanted to break away for real.”

”Marie!” Fabian hissed, scandalised. He looked around and was relieved that no one else was around to hear this potentially treasonous talk. ”You’re really going to have to curb that tongue of yours. You know perfectly well that that’s exactly the reason why they forbid any old connections the consort might have- one did try to stage a coup.”

”A hundred and twenty years ago! Not an incident since.”

”The royals might very well say that’s their policy working out,” Victoria pointed out, climbing onto her horse and wheeling around to face the other bickering two. ”Are we going or not? Or are we just going to discuss and moan about this all day in the stables? I’d rather be moody out in the sunshine, at least.”

”At least I can bring the dogs I guess,” Marie muttered, looking down at the hunting dogs that nearly always accompanied the three of them. Her favourites, Sabre and Sunshine, gambolled around, excited to get started on the day of hunting and riding ahead. ”I can’t imagine what kind of coup a couple of dogs would get up to.”