Despite the chaos of the day before and how late it had ended before she could drift off to sleep, Alyssa was up with the dawn. It was a habit built in after years and years and she wasn't able to discard it just because of one unsettling day. Seeing the sky start to lighten through her window, she pulled her pillow off her face with a groan.
Even though she'd gotten some sleep, her head wasn't any clearer. It was ridiculous, that she, Alyssa, was the heart mate of the prince. Not only ridiculous, it was downright ludicrous. What was fate even thinking? Not only that, what would her parents think of this little development? They had sweet-talked her into going to the capital, saying that it was a great chance to travel and spread her wings. She seriously doubted that this was what they were thinking of when they'd sent her.
Claude, on the other hand, would strain something from laughing so hard. He would find it the height of irony that his little sister who had no desire to leave Anaria was now responsible for the entire kingdom. She punched the pillow just once, picturing Claude's smug face, but it did nothing to alleviate her irritation.
Sighing, she flipped over onto her stomach and kicked her legs back and forth idly as she propped her chin up on her hands and thought. Whether or not it was what she had wanted, Rowan had recognized her as his mate in front of the entire court the night before. That had been a little bit unexpected, she'd expected that the prince and his mate would go off somewhere first and talk before anything was declared. But no, Rowan had held her gaze with his own magnetic, compelling gaze and had asked for the chance to court.
She hummed thoughtfully. That was another interesting thing. Rowan had asked her to 'court'. It was a point in his favor that he hadn't assumed that just because she was his mate, she would automatically accept him. Instead, he had asked as was proper, to see her wings and if he could court her. She had always thought her wings to be rather plain, but it had been all she could do not to gasp when he'd extended his wings for her to see. It was one of the most gorgeous things that she'd ever seen. One of the largest spans of wings that she'd ever seen, the rust and bronze colored his wings in bold strokes, tiny filaments of gold discreetly threaded throughout them catching a tiny glimmer of light here and there with the minuscule movements of his wings.
Feeling her cheeks heat slightly, she rolled up into a sitting position. What was she doing, lounging around and thinking about how handsome he was? She had much better things that she needed to be doing with her time.
Pushing to her feet, she grimaced fractionally at the slight pull that she felt on her arm. That was another thing that Claude would never let her live down, allowing an assassin to land a hit on her. Ignoring the injury, she'd had much worse from simple training accidents, she immediately started going through her warm-up routine.
Once she was satisfied that everything was fine from the scuffle the day before, she launched into her unarmed routine. Once she had maids, it would be harder to accomplish this without anyone discovering it, so she made sure to enjoy it, losing herself to the rhythm and flow of the form.
When she finally spun to a stop, breathing gently, she was surprised to hear quiet applause behind her. She turned lightly on the balls of her feet to see who was there, only to relax when she saw Risa standing there, an ewer of water and a towel in her hands. Brushing a lock of hair behind her shoulder, she said lightly, "Good morning, Risa."
Risa nodded and moved forward, "Good morning. I apologize if I startled you. I was coming to wake you, didn't realize that you'd be up and moving already. I'll make sure that I'm here earlier from now on."
Alyssa shrugged, "No need, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. In Anaria, we usually rise with the sun and tasks keep us busy for the majority of the day. I am not accustomed to idleness, it does not suit me."
Risa grinned at her, "No, I can certainly see that. And may I say that your form, what I saw of it, is exquisite. You've trained extensively, it's clearly evident. Makes much more sense about why you didn't panic about the assassin last night." She scowled, "I don't know what kind of honorless worm even dared such a thing, but they will pay. For even daring to think of touching the prince's mate, they crossed a line that will spell their doom."
Splashing water on her face, she said wryly, "So, if I weren't Rowan's pair, then there wouldn't be any outrage over the assassination attempt?"
Risa shot back immediately, "If you weren't Rowan's pair, there wouldn't've been an assassination attempt."
Patting her face dry, Alyssa admitted, "Point to you. So what are you doing here so early, anyway? I thought Rowan said that the brunch would be at mid-morning and it won't take me any time to get ready."
Risa shrugged, "Truthfully, despite everything, I was still expecting you to act like a noblewoman when it came to clothes and preparing. I also thought that last night might've finally sunk in and you might be overwhelmed. I can see now that I was wrong on both counts. However, having come from Anaria, I figured that you wouldn't be up on the current capital trends. I don't want anyone to mock you, so I plan on giving you a quick run-down before brunch."
Alyssa smiled at her, "You may explain all of it to me, with my thanks. However, be forewarned, I will not be appearing in anything else than what I currently own." Risa raised an eyebrow in question, so she elaborated, "I want them to think me uneducated, plain, a backwater nobody. It will make their schemes easier, at least at first. It won't last forever, but it will buy us a bit of time. For example, if that assassin last night had known that I was a trained fighter, he would've been much more likely to use a contact poison on my bed linens than attacking me with a sword."
She laughed suddenly, "Goodness, if he'd even bothered to check my belongings, he would've seen that there were multiple weapons in there. However, he'd gotten it into his head that I was some poor country lass who would die of fright from his mere presence. If it hadn't been for the declaration that all candidates must come to the palace unarmed, the confrontation wouldn't have even lasted as long as it did."
Risa spoke, weariness and humor lacing her words, "It wasn't as illogical as you might think. Some of the women did not take the news that they were not the prince's bond well, at all. Especially the women in and near the capital, who had had the chance to see him before. Several had to be escorted out and one even tried to attack him with an ornamental hairpin, saying that if she couldn't have him, no one could. It was quite the scene and I'll never forget the pained look on Rowan's face at having to deal with such indignity."
Alyssa rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm sure it was quite the indisposition for him. Still, it sounds like she was out of her mind, I hope she got the help that she clearly needed."
Risa motioned for her to sit in front of her vanity and started gently brushing her hair out, "It was a spice merchant's daughter. According to gossip, she'd often seen him when he was patrolling the market and had fallen in love with him at first sight. Her family sent her to a convent in the countryside, a quiet place of healing. They said that her mind has started to calm amongst the tranquil surroundings and that there is a high chance of complete recovery."
She sighed, "Well, there is that, at least." She looked at Risa in the mirror. "How many women were involved in this anyway?"
Risa didn't even have to think about it, "The list of eligible women ended according to age range and within our borders ended up being just over seven thousand. Between the time the list was drawn up and invitations were sent out, the list had been reduced to five thousand, six hundred and ninety-three women."
Alyssa gaped at her, aghast, "And they all accepted the invitation?"
Risa just kept calmly brushing her hair, "It was a royal decree and most had no reason to decline. There ended up being five thousand, four hundred and fifty-seven women that answered in the affirmative."
"And how do you even know all of this off the top of your head?"
Risa grimaced, "It was part of figuring out the security. What a nightmare. We all pulled double shifts for months just trying to get a workable plan into place and that wasn't even counting all the collaborating that we had to do with the city guard to prepare for the influx of visitors. Truthfully, festival planning was less work than this event?"
Intrigued, Alyssa asked, "And why was that?"
Risa started loosely weaving her hair into a braid, "Priority. When you have a festival, you know where the weak spots are as well as any potential trouble areas. The capital had over five thousand people arriving along with whomever accompanied them. We had no way of knowing which one of you would end up being the prince's mate, so there were basically over five thousand queen candidates that we had to watch out for."
Alyssa let out a thoughtful hum, "No wonder the city guard looked so harried when we arrived. I thought he was irritated by having to deal with, well, country bumpkins. I didn't think about the larger implications. That must've been a nightmare."
Risa smiled at her, "Truthfully, I'm glad that you ended up being the prince's mate. You seem to be quite level-headed compared to some of the other candidates. Pragmatic as well."
Alyssa laughed, her smile impish, "Well, you say that right now. I could be quite irritating, for all you know."
Risa just rolled her eyes and reached for the vase of flowers she had brought, "Well, if that's the case, milady, I'm sure that we'll all be dancing to your tune anyway, so it will be what it will be. Now hold still, I want to get these just right."
X
It ended up taking Risa just over an hour to explain several things about court etiquette and fashion, Alyssa eagerly soaking up the information. It had taken some work, but Alyssa had managed to make the guard cave to her about the clothes and she was dressed in a dress similar to the one that she had worn the day before, but one that matched the turquoise in her wings.
Her parents had gifted it to her on her last birthday and Alyssa had immediately fallen in love with it. While it draped beautifully and was flattering to her figure, one of its best features was the fact that one could move easily in it and it also concealed the presence of a dagger sheathed on the thigh. There was even a tiny pocket that allowed her to access the dagger more easily without drawing attention to herself.
Risa was scandalized but after the assassination attempt the night before, she had reluctantly agreed to the necessity of Alyssa being armed. However, in order for her to wear the dagger, she'd had to allow Risa to weave flowers into her braid for a prettier style. They were orchids that matched her wings and dress and she would've accused her of planning it, but there was no way that Risa could've known that Alyssa would choose her turquoise dress that day.
Looking at her reflection critically in the mirror, Alyssa was pleasantly surprised by what she saw. Yes, she was no fine court lady, but she was the very picture of a charming country lass. Since she was going for innocent and naive, it suited her perfectly. If it set tongues wagging about the unpolished country bumpkin, all the better. After all, Rowan needed to earn her favor, she didn't need to try to gain the court's favor until matters were settled between them.
A knock sounded on the door and Alyssa looked at Risa who mouthed, "The prince."
Taking a deep breath, Alyssa resisted the urge to smooth her hair before going to open the door. Time to face the prince again, whether she was ready or not.
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