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Chapter 1 - Ianora
Ianora had always known that her fate was to be married off to a king, prince, or man of noble birth. That was the fate of most princesses, whether they were interested in marriage or not.
For years, she had dreamed of being paired with one of the few eligible and handsome kings who ruled the other kingdoms within Elysium, either neighboring her parent's lands or far across the world. She would get to travel, and he would woo her with gifts and sweet nothings. Finally, he would propose to her, and she would be unable to say no because she would have been utterly in love with the man.
The reality of her situation was not at all like her fantasies had been.
Certainly, she had played the fantasies up in her head for the last ninety-five years of her vampiric life, attending balls and feasts across the kingdoms. She had played to the affections of several princes and kings, making them all chase after her while her options stayed open—until her parents decided who her match would be, or until her heart decided for them.
But during her many years toying with men, making them fall for her, one king had long staked a claim on her. A man who Ianora was certain only wished her harm.
Ianora sat at the vanity, the plush seat shifting beneath her weight. She couldn't help but squirm as she prepared to face her future husband, a man who, under no uncertain terms, did she want to marry.
Because though, once upon a dream, they had been in love with each other, going to him now would reveal a world of lies and pain that Ianora did not want to dig up.
She stared deep into her own pale gray eyes as the servant behind her brushed her long, blonde locks with care and braided them into a crown. Ianora saw no hint of the fear or worry in her heart reflecting at her, but she didn’t know for certain she could face Castor and the cruel man he'd become in the decades since she'd last seen him.
Thirty-four years, eight months, and twelve days, to be precise.
"There, you're ready. What do you think?" the servant asked, drawing Ianora from her thoughts.
She blinked at her appearance, the perfect makeup and hair, the long, silver, and gold dress that suited her hair and eyes.
"Too pretty," Ianora sighed. "But it will have to do."
Rising from her seat, Ianora carried herself from her temporary lodgings in her brother's castle down the worn stone steps of the tower toward the grand hall where they would all be waiting for her. Her brothers and some of their wives—but not her parents.
She had not invited them, for they were responsible for striking the deal with King Castor, a deal that could not be revoked no matter how much magical support Ianora employed. For whatever reason, Castor wanted this marriage to go through so badly that he secured a contract that no magic could unbind. At least none that Ianora and her family's considerable resources could find.
It was her brother, Elijah, and his wife, Esmeralda, who spent much of the last three weeks slaving away on Ianora's behalf, researching spells in dusty tomes to break the spell that compelled Ianora to marry Castor.
The deal was not on pain of death, for she as a vampire was already dead, but far worse: if the wedding did not go through—or presumably, if Castor himself did not call it off—she would be cursed just like him. Stripped of her immortality, she would be exiled to the human world to live out the rest of her days and forever doomed to endure a slow, excruciating death as a human.
It was the standard agreement for a royal wedding contract: severe enough consequences for backing down that both parties had to be certain before proceeding with the agreement. And in turn, Elysium royal weddings had high follow-through rates. Only a few contracts had been broken in hundreds of years.
Ianora would not be one of them. If there was anything she valued more than her luxurious lifestyle, it was having the immortality and youth to enjoy those luxuries forever.
The thought of being banished and forced to leave the only home she had ever known was enough to make Ianora's stomach churn with dread. But Castor had added an extra clause to the contract to hit home how well he knew her, despite all the years that had passed. With her exile, none of her family would ever be able to visit her in the human realm, either. She would be alone and isolated, forever.
Assuming she didn't die of some inane human disease before she died of a natural human lifespan.
To live the rest of her life without seeing any of her brothers again would be the true curse, A torture more painful than any physical pain she could imagine. Though she had spent less time with her brothers over the past few years because they finally all found their mates and took the Seats of Power owed to them by birthright, they were all beloved to her for different reasons.
She wanted to believe that if any of them had heard of the arrangement struck between Castor and their parents, they would have stood to stop it in its tracks. They all knew how much she despised Castor, and none of them liked him, either. There was history between their families ... and not the history that had once been good, like between Castor and Ianora.
Instead, Ianora, and her brothers, were only made aware of the arrangement on the eve that all the kings, except for King Sinnegard of the fae realm Gaivalon, and their father, King Castor of Rainada, had been cursed.
Cursed for being enemies of the Eroch bloodline.
Ianora vividly recalled the panic on her mother's face when she explained what had happened to the other kingdoms, and then casually threw in Ianora's fate at the same time. For almost a century, her mother had been a champion of women's rights within Elysium, taking them out of the stone age and into a world where women were now often respected, at least in positions of power. How dare she turn around and let her only daughter get sold like a common chattel to a man she couldn't stand anymore?
Whatever her reasons, whatever her father's reasons, Ianora hoped it had been worth it. Because, for this, they were dead to her. She would never speak to them again.
Her brothers were her only family now.
Ianora glided down the steps toward the grand chamber, the massive doors swinging open upon her approach. Inside, her assembled brothers and their wives hushed when she entered.
The uncomfortable silence told her all she needed to know about the situation, but she didn't sever her last thread of hope just yet. She prayed some miracle had manifested in the previous twelve hours that would save her from this fate.
