Yui’s hand hovered over a spindly dessert fork etched with a geometric, frost-like pattern. Next to it, another dessert fork, this one ever-so-slightly longer, the next was curvier. She glanced up at her tutor, full of fear. There were tomes of etiquette rules to memorise and little she remembered from her fleeting travels within high society. The vow exchange, the ceremonies… the consummation. Yui’s hand yanked back from the utensil to cover her mouth reflexively. It was all too much too soon with too little patience from her teachers. Their expectations of her were somehow sky high and rock bottom. She was nothing but a low-born herbivore omega, not fit to sit at their table, and yet she should be able to take part in a formal dinner using their decorum. Either way, she was a disappointment.

The end of any given lesson was revealed to Yui only upon being escorted back to the First Princess’ chambers. It became a form of purgatory, the site of Yui’s on-edge waiting that took up a solid quarter of her days. Alone. Bellona did not take any time in the wing named for her during daylight. Yui imagined her at the head of a room-length table, directing the distribution of resources, stamping her seal on orders intended for far-flung officers tempering the new territorial lines she had forged with her campaigns, receiving reports on the latest threats to the empire. Skin-tight armour flexing, thick hair falling in her face with an accompaniment of tinkling silver, confidence that brought cowardice from those expected to speak before her… and a thrill from Yui fantasising about her. Yui pretended to smack her own hand, then rubbed it when it smarted more than she expected.

The First Princess would not allow this charade to reach its climax. She smacked her hand again for even allowing the word ‘climax’ to pass through her mind. Bellona bed nothing less than high-born omegas, surely. She wouldn’t care for a slip more skin of Yui’s. An aged, foreign-born bunny that had already birthed a child by another.

She fell floppy to a cushioned seat and a puff of Bellona’s heady alpha scent surrounded her. Yui drew her knees up, crossed her ankles, and forced her eyes through the windows to keep from wallowing in the smell. It tickled at her anyway, prickled at her skin, filled her head through her nostrils. Cloud of scent became foggy daydreams.

An alpha’s arms around her. A mate’s caress. What she would give to be treated delicately. It had been so long since she could submit fully to another, to someone she could trust. Cold struck her spine. Thought she could trust. That was enough of that. Her imagination should be taking her through all she could remember of the ceremonies to come. The words she must recite, the dance she must follow, the jewels she must hang from her body in the correct order.

A knock at the door and she was summoned once again to sit under further stony tutelage.

―ǁ―

Her final class of the day ended, and Yui was graciously allowed to retire. The sun had already set, but the First Princess’ chambers were lit with candles when she arrived back for the final time that night. Desperate to slip into her nightdress then hide beneath her bed covers and acutely aware of Bellona’s impending arrival, Yui dithered about in the main parlour instead. Fully dressed, lightly refreshed with rose-scented water, scared to sit and appear too comfortable in her betrothed’s private quarters.

Scrolls of specifications drafted to the royal shipwright littered the table in half-furled coils. Yui couldn’t decipher the technical terms, but the numbers were large enough that she could deduce that a war ship was on its way to the Anartier Empire’s shores. Thoughts of the sea that snaked the mountains led her back to one of the many ceremonies ahead: a bathing ritual in which she would wash away all former attachments to dedicate herself to her mate. The water would be as cold as the sea, deliberately so. And Bellona would watch her, inspecting her, until she was satisfied with Yui’s cleanliness. She could only hope she didn’t lose a toe to frostbite before her bride was willing to accept her.

Yui curled said toes under her upon a plush seat and warmed them with her hands through the thin slippers supplied in her trunk of ‘appropriate clothes’ by the von Sköll family. There was a permanent chill in the centre of the Anartier Empire, and the royal family’s castle captured it in the grey stone walls and tiled floors. Any heat was drained out into the equally grey sky and mountains that ringed their fortress-like home. If this bothered the carnivores striding the halls, they never complained in front of Yui. Not even the omegas. Perhaps, at the moment she was expected to sink into the ice water for their ritual, she would have come accustomed to the cold like everyone else.

Of course, the moment she allowed herself to be at ease amongst the soft furnishings… the door opened without a servant’s knock and Bellona filled the frame. Her scent flooded the room faster than her shadow. Yui leapt to her feet, which subsequently slipped out from under her when silk met stone.

Bellona reached for her, but closed her fist a moment before touching. It was all Yui saw as she clattered back onto a plump footstool. Her sprawl was mortifying but her scrabble back upright may have been worse.

“I-” she squeaked. Upright and frazzled. “I’m sorry, First Princess. I-”

“Have you had supper?” Stood over her, Bellona’s expression was empty. It scared Yui all the more to have no idea what the princess was thinking.

She breathed, “Yes.” And it was foul.

“Then to bed with you, my mate.” Her words were soft, but her voice gruff. “The day has been long and tomorrow will be no shorter.” Sadly, she was absolutely right.

An awkward dipping curtsy and Yui croaked, “Thank you, First Princess.” The wolf remained unreadable and so the bunny fled.