“It’s quite alright, Sol. Her words do not offend?—”
“My language is no more foul than what he’s doing to me.Your daughter.” I finally meet his glare. “You say you love us, but you ignore us when we tell you the men you’re bringing into the palace are hurting us.” I rise from my seat, the scared faces of my sisters flashing in my mind. “Prince Hugo was going to take Liliana away with him, and when I tried to stop him, you let him drag me out into the gardens to punish me. She’s fourteen, Father! Fourteen!” My heart races. “And now Prince Orion is here, you’ll let him do whatever he wants to me. Why, Father?”A tear slips down my cheek, but my voice doesn’t falter. “Tell me why!”
With a frustrated sigh, he sinks into his armchair. “Sit down, Amaryllis.”
My gaze narrows.
“Sit down, please, and I will tell you the truth of all this.”
I return to my seat as Orion tenses beside me. “Is this wise, Sol?”
“It doesn’t matter now. You’ll be returning to your own palace when morning comes.”
My lips part, but before I can ask whether I’ll be returning with him, Father begins in a cool tone, “I need an heir, Amaryllis.”
My brow scrunches in confusion. “But you have one,” I remind him. “In fact, you have more than one – you have twelve.”
“I have twelve daughters,” he grumbles. “I need a son.”
I shake my head. “But how could forcing me to marry Prince Orion help with this?”
Orion chuckles while Father exhales uncomfortably. “Because he’s going to give me one.” He wrings his hands together. “With you.”
“What?” The room spins. I can barely breathe until Orion clasps his hand upon my shoulder, and the realisation hits me. “I amnothaving a child with him.”
“You will,” Father warns. “Because if you are unable to produce an heir for me, then it will be Blossom’s turn, and then Camellia’s, and then?—”
“Don’t you dare bring them into this.” My skirts almost tear from the force that I grip them.
“Then you will give me a son,” he sighs. “I only require one. You may keep any daughters or sons that follow.”
Disgusted, I twist away to face Orion. “And you’re okay with this?” I meet the smirking prince’s gaze. “Giving up your firstborn to another king?”
“That is merely a small part of the price I paid to claim your hand, dear princess.”
I stiffen. “Price? What price? What are you talking about?”
Orion just chuckles.
“Father, what is he talking about?” I whip my gaze back to the king.
Father winces, running his fingers through his golden hair. “It was for your own good.” Red flashes in his eyes. I blink, thinking it must be a trick of the light, but there’s another flash of red when he says, “It’s important to me that you have a good life with your husband. I do not wish for you to be unhappy.”
My stomach sinks. I don’t have time to consider what the red means as he continues, “I need an heir, desperately, so I sent your portrait to every eligible noble across the realm, with a letter explaining my predicament.”
“Along with an invitation to a private auction for your hand.” Orion smirks.
“An auction?” Fear washes over me. Had I not been sitting, I’d have collapsed to the floor. “You sold me to the highest bidder?” I yell.
“It wasn’t like that!” Red sparks in Father’s eyes. “It was more of a discussion.” More red. “And it was simply so I could make sure your future husband could afford to take care of you.” Red. Red. Red.
My knees tremble as I put the pieces together.
‘True sight’, the fallen star had said to me on that cool summer night – the night before I first saw red in Hugo’s eyes.
Hugo claimed he didn’t know how old Liliana was, but pursued her anyway. I saw the red flash again when Dahliacalled Camellia ugly. And again when Orion promised he wouldn’t kiss me unless I asked him to.
“Father.” My hands become fists. “Is my name Amaryllis?” It’s silly to test it. I’m sure I already know what the red means, but there’s a part of me that wants to know one more thing – something I can’t bear to be a lie.
