The Dark Bride

Chapter Five

Lucetta

~~

My mind was in a fog from the moment that I realized that I was the bride of the prince from the Kingdom of Darkness. Since I was a little girl, I had heard stories of that kingdom and none of them were good. Their population isn’t very large because the dragon king goes on a daily rampage and destroys the earth that the humans are to make a living on. For his entertainment, he has a human perform difficult and dangerous acts. If the human fails to please the king, they are killed. And finally, the land is so dark because the Sun God refuses to shine his light on the land for all the evil that the dragons and mages have done. It was a place of evil and no citizen of the Kingdom of Light should go there for any reason. I had once tried to ask Viscount LaVough if all the stories were true about the Kingdom of Darkness, but he had never been there.

What little trade that they did with that kingdom had limited room on their ships so they didn’t allow passengers. And then the waters that they traveled around the Kingdom of Fire were so dangerous that only their skilled captains were allowed to sail into those waters. All that went through my mind that I didn’t realize that I was already on a ship headed for Bengolarrea. By the time I snapped out of it, I was already out of the city that I had grown up in. When I tried to have the boat turned around because I needed to get my things, the priestess traveling with me informed me that my family had already packed and ready to go. That was it then, I was leaving and I never got a chance to say goodbye to my brothers. Knowing that I would never see them again caused me to break down and cry. I sobbed for a long while, even after my tears had all dried up. That night, we stopped at the Kingdom of Wind’s temple to rest before continuing to travel in the morning. Sleep didn’t come to me easily as I tossed and turned on the stiff mattress. It was the opposite of the one back home that was so old that it had a smell to it and the springs had all gone out. The mattress at the temple was like a wooden board wrapped with some wool.

On the carriage ride the following day, I tried to catch some sleep but the look on Lysander’s face haunted me every time I closed my eyes. Lysander, my first love. Not only would I have to see him with another bride but I would have to fight him at some point as well. It would have been one thing if I wasn’t selected as a bride, but to be forced to watch him marry another broke my heart. I knew what the odds were but it didn’t make the reality any less bearable. The worst part was that I was the bride to his enemy.

When the carriage finally made it to the land of Bengolarrea, the landscape completely changed. Though the Kingdom of Wind had green fields and trees, it was nothing compared to Bengolarrea. It was originally the home of the elves, but they allowed it to be the land of the great king and queen dragons to rule over all. As long as they obeyed the laws of the gods and didn’t try to force the land to take on the form of their former home. The nature that thrived in Bengolarrea was foreign to everywhere else in the world. You couldn’t find plants and wildlife that you do in Bengolarrea anywhere else. The sight was breathtaking and we had only just entered the territory. When we got to the castle in the heart of Bengolarrea, it was sitting on top of a hill with a small cliff off to one side that had a waterfall. The water was so clean and clear, that it looked like falling gems rather than water. Once at the castle entrance, an elf came and greeted me.

“Hello my dear, and who might you be?” His smile was enchanting and warm, but different from the one I had seen on Lysander.

“This is Lucetta Valentinus, the dark bride.” Hearing the priestess say those last three words as if the Sun God might curse her made me want to weep again. I must have made a face because the elf gave me a sad smile and gently brushed some hair from my face.

“We have been waiting for your arrival. Please, follow me.” As I followed the first elf, others went to the carriage to grab my trunk. My single trunk with all my possessions looked so very small and I heard whispers about how little I brought. As we walked down the halls, the elf led me to a room where two men in black robes with the symbol of the moon embroidered on them were waiting. They looked just like the robes of the Head Priest and Head Mage back home, but theirs were white with gold suns. Before I could ask what was going on, the elf spoke to me gently like I was fragile china that could break when someone spoke too loudly. “These men are from the Kingdom of Darkness. They are here to verify that you are indeed the bride for their prince.”

I looked from the elf to the two men and my body started to shake. My stutter returned as I tried to speak. “I-I did nothing w-wrong. W-Why am I-I…”

The Head Priest walked up to me with his hands up as he hushed me quietly. “There, there my child. No one in this room is accusing you of anything. Our prince just wants to make sure that you aren’t a pawn in someone else’s plan.” I looked between him and the Head Mage, hoping for this bad dream to end.