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Our servants led the new arrivals to their rooms. My father appeared almost asleep, but he beckoned at me with a flick of his index and middle fingers.
“Metheus,” he groaned.
I wondered what important matter could not wait for after his rest. I went to his throne, which he said would be mine soon. I did not like the sound of that. I could wait if it meant his long life and happiness.
“Yes, Father?” I asked as I approached.
“Metheus, it’s time for you to marry,” he managed to croak out. I looked at him suspiciously. I did not think he was this weak. In my opinion, he simply needed to drink less and exercise more. However, he loved the attention he got whenever he acted like he was about to faint.
Was this his long game?
I laughed. I looked back to see that Cora and Razuku were still there, looking bewildered. I widened my eyes at them. They looked at each other as if trying to decide if they should obey my cue. Razuku shrugged and gave Cora a gentle push with the tips of his fingers. The two left the throne room, possibly to wait for me in the courtyard.
I heard that Mogochislenian castles had blooming gardens with mazes and pebbled pathways. Still, our own courtyard had its own charm. It was sandy and bare as if it had not yet heard the news that the rest of Prozeus was already producing bountiful crops. I had not yet decided what to do with it. It did have a fountain in the middle, spouting out of a marbled satyr surrounded by similarly-hewn mermaids and dryads. We had started planning flower bushes, a single strip closest to the palace entrance. Our palace itself did not resemble Mogochislenian castles. Instead of tall four-story structures with turrets, towers, and a keep, ours had a large two-story dome in front. Then, the dome spread out to the back. The whole structure covered more than 30000 square meters, about twice the area of the usual Mogochislenian castled.
To be fair, I had not been to that other continent, but I read a lot. We were not the uneducated barbarians they thought we were.
“I am not jesting with you, Metheus. I am worried about you. What happens when I die, and you have not married yet? What will our lineage be like? Would it be cut off because of your arrogance?”
“My arrogance?”
“Most of the young women presented to you felt the same thing – that you found them beneath you,” my father insisted.
“It is not like that, Father! I do not feel anything for them. Nothing! Not from here,” I jabbed at my chest. “Nor from here.” I gestured vaguely at the area between my legs.
“You are a prince. One day, you will be a king. There is no time to be too selective. You are twenty-eight years old! I met your mother at twenty-five and had many women before her,” he said, his voice suddenly stronger. Aha.
“So, you will order me to marry any woman of your choosing. It seems I have seen them all, and some are already married. I hope you are not thinking of marrying me off to Cora? She is just a friend.”
“No, not Cora. You’ve heard her name earlier.”
Huh? What was he talking about?
“You cannot mean Princess Luella, the witch who burned that man’s hand?” I asked. “Don’t tell me you want me dead, Father? There are easier ways to get rid of me.”
“No, son. I believe you have something in you that can stop her.”
I thought about that. We looked at each other in recognition. Of course, I remembered, but I did not believe it then.
“What am I supposed to do? Stop her or marry her?”
“Both,” he said almost ominously, but my father tended towards theatrics.
“Of course, you get to do what you enjoy. The contract between Queen Soraya and me states that you need to help Mogochislenia recover from the drought.”
I could not help it. Excitement flared in my chest. I was already half-successful in Prozeus, and I had passed on my knowledge to Razuku and the rest.
“Who has to leave their continent? Don’t tell me it would be me, father,” I complained. We were progressive people, the Prozeans, but it did not mean I was ready to be the bride and give up everything I worked hard for here.
“Six months in Queenspell. Six months in Prozeus.”
“What if I solved the drought problem? What else do we have in common, Princess Luella and me?”
My father fixed me with a stare, and I knew he was trying to send me a message. Those mind’s gears were definitely turning at breakneck speed somewhere in there. He was scheming.
