The Princess Swap

10. ZION

“I told you I wouldn’t marry her.” I shrugged. My father sighed for the hundredth time that evening.

I rubbed my cheek. It didn’t sting but I felt her palm on them hours later. No one dared to slap me before. Not even my father.

The nerve on the wench!

“Zion –“ My father began in the resigned voice he used in guilty me to do ridiculous things like marry his friend’s daughter.

“This is a valid reason to put a stop to this madness. Would you condemn me to a marriage to an abusive girl?” I challenged.

We were betrothed before I knew what that meant. Before her birth. Married off to a simpering fool whose only concern lay in flowers and parties, just to secure a political connection.

“Only Princess Ariana can say that, son. You threw paddles at her. What did you expect?” Father snorted, rising from his seat. He stared out the window with stiff shoulders, smoothing down his clothes.

What had I expected? Good question. With Princess Ariana, I expected blind obedience, silly smiles and dumb nicknames. No one said ‘Yes, my dearest prince,’ faster than Ariana Baltimore, with her stupid smile

Dust covered her brain from all the while it sat unused in her head. She was nothing more than a silly girl. The only conversations she could hold centred around weddings and balls and nonsensical things. And my father expected me to make her my Luna? What was queenly about a girl who could not take a stand for herself?

I paused.

“You’re too harsh on her, Zion. How do you think her father would react if he heard how you’ve treated her? I am not her father but I feel for the innocent girl. I have to make sure I’m not condemning her to a sad marriage,” My father was saying.

My cheeks held on to the memory of her hitting me. I would never have dreamt, never have thought that airheaded Princess Ariana could hit anyone, least of all, me. Could it be – I shook my head. It couldn’t be.

I knew Ariana since her birth. Even at seven, it had been ingrained in my head that I would spend the rest of my life with her. It hadn’t meant anything until I was fourteen and she was seven. The first time she came to the castle. Even then, her docility had irked me.

Except, a few hours ago, her hands had struck my cheek. Her eyes had flamed as her fists clenched beside her without a drop of docility. Had I succeeded in breaking her? Goddess, I hoped so!

Mother strode into the room with determination tightening her soft features. I groaned under my breath. I would do anything for my mother but lately, she had taken to demanding.

“She wants to call off the engagement,” She announced, taking the seat my father vacated.

“Perfect. Now, it would be her fault the union is ruined, not mine.” I scoffed. “Princess Ariana slaps her Prince in a fit of maddened rage and calls off the wedding.” I could imagine the sensation! I took my legs off the coffee table in my father’s office as my mother sat opposite me.

“It is yours that will be ruined. ‘Arrogant Alpha loses Perfect Princess.’ No one would blame the Princess if she refuses to wed you,” Mother sneered.

I hated when she got offended. Mother needed not pretend to save face. She was a true beauty, both inside and out. She never got angry unless someone messed up. I knew I had messed up with the way her usual soft eyes hardened at me.

Goddess, why didn’t anyone see that Ariana wasn’t fit to rule beside me? She claimed to be a Beta but I never once saw her wolf. The only thing she thought of was how best to look pretty, hiding her wolf in shame. I had never seen it but I assumed it was an ugly brown rather than the pristine white empty-headed girls like her wished for.

“No one would think her perfect if they find out she goes about hitting her future king.” I scoffed.

My parents would not let me out of this betrothal. I planned to frustrate her out of it but no matter how much I tried, no matter how nastily I treated her, she never once dropped her silly smile that she thought to be cute. My last option would be to find my true mate. At twenty-seven, I had given up every and all hope for that ever happening. So back to frustrating Ariana out of our betrothal.

Goddess, some days, I wished I wasn’t honour-bound to do this. It was the only thing stopping me from calling off the engagement myself. My honour would not allow me to disgrace my father like that, to force his words back into his mouth and destroy a promise he made over twenty years ago.

Damn you!

“Do you know what goes on in Ovao, Zion?” Father asked, turning to me. Mother sat up straighter at that. They shared a private look that did not escape me.

“What has happened this time?” I asked, steel in my voice. I hadn’t been to the South, officially called Ovao, in a long time. Last I had been there, I made sure to subdue all the troublemakers popping up faster than moles.

As the biggest subdivision of Karriel, they gave the Capital more trouble. With more people came more bad eggs and I loved to crush bad eggs.

“Is this the right time, Zed?” Mother asked with a calm voice despite her stiff posture.

I uncrossed my legs and stood, shoving my hands deep into my pockets. “If another rebel faction has risen, you better tell me now. It is better to crush them at their early stage.” My father turned to me. Gone were his usual smile and relaxed posture. He stood as rigid as a tree trunk, hands crossed over his chest.

“Rogues.” I blinked. It was Mother who spoke first. “Our wolves are turning rogue, Zion. We have to do something.” I sank back into my seat, my hands limp before me.

Karriel catered to wolves. We had a few registered witches, a few elves and faes, fewer vampires, a demon, and a building number of rogues.

They were the spawns of hunger. Wolves that had gone too long without food and turned to their animal side to stay alive. Except, rogues did not hunger for deer or antelopes. Their hunger couldn’t be quenched but sated to a degree after feeding on a wolf.

“That bad?” I muttered, head bowed, hands gripping my head. “Why am I just hearing this?” I raised my head, feeling my eyes burn with the anger of my wolf as I glared at my parents.

“Because we already know your solution.” Mother rose to stand by Father who watched me with eyes tightened with sadness. “We cannot storm the South and kill men that have families, no matter how feral they have become.”

I felt like clawing my eyes out. Things hadn’t gone well in the past decade. From the constant flooding in the South, the plague that ravished the North twice, the increased theft in the East, we had more poor people than any kingdom would want. A higher chance of people going mad with hunger.

“They are a danger to us all, Mother. What have you done so far? Let them roam the streets depleting our already depleted population?”

“We can kill the feral wolves, but for how long? How much longer will we continue to kill our kind?” Father took off his crown, placed it on a desk and fell into a seat. “We must help these people and as it stands, the South hates us. They scorn our gifts and demand for the resignation of the monarch, a.k.a, us.”

“What do you expect? You whored with their daughters and picked your queen from the North. Of course, they hate you!” He turned to me then, ignoring Mother as she rubbed his shoulders.

“Do you see a pattern?” He asked, his brows drawn in a manner similar to mine. I cast my head to the side, feeling my cheeks flame. It made no sense. I was a twenty-seven-year-old male.

“I’m not whoring about in the South, Father.“ Though they had the prettiest women, they also had the pettiest ones. They inherited grudges more than family heirlooms.

“I’m glad that you haven’t followed in my footsteps but whoring in the East isn’t any better than whoring in the South when you have a bride, Zion.”

“That was years ago,” I hissed.

It all boiled down to the dumb Princess Ariana. Everything did. No matter how much I tried to be rid of her, she clung on like a leech. I could not break off the engagement, not without angering her people the more. I could not take a mistress, not without risk of being found out and angering her people. Goddess, I didn’t even find her pretty!

I didn’t fancy blondes. Again, because of her. I equated fair-headed girls with empty-headedness. She wore the most ridiculous clothing, like her mother. All big and puffy.

She had to get rid of herself for me.

Father sighed, shrugging Mum’s hands off him to stand. She glared at me as if it was my fault. I was paying for the mistakes he made as a youth. He got to settle with someone he loved but I would be forced to live with someone I couldn’t even bear to look at!

“I’m sorry you have to pay for my mistakes,” Father said, reading my thoughts. I had voiced them so many times, he knew to expect them. “I am grateful, Zion. I cannot imagine marrying for anything other than love. Never think for one second that I don’t know I’m in your debt.” And there he went again. Every time this came up, he found a way to guilt me back into pretending to love Ariana.

“For now, the rogues have been removed from the streets. We have employed a few witches, elves and fairies to see if they can be cured.” He went back to staring out the window.

One day, this room would be mine. This palace would be mine. The people would be mine. I would put them into account before I made any decision. But even now, before I had to shoulder the responsibility of close to three million wolves, I could have no freedom. No warm body in my bed, no bride with sense and no choice as to who I wedded.

I remembered it as if it had happened a second ago. It had been seven years since we had a concerning number of rogues. They had been caught. Witches and wizards and elves had been employed. And then they escaped. We lost close to a hundred wolves in their rampage and I still had marks from their claws digging into me. I led the charge of ‘Operation Rest' as my father had called it. To put our brothers to rest with my sword.

“This is a bad idea,” I muttered, standing. “The last time this happened –“

“As long as I’m king, you will not kill another of our kind. You cannot be king without a queen, son.” I raked a hand through my hair rather than launch a fist into the wall. “Alpha Baltimore influences the South. This is our chance to repair our relationship with our brothers.”

“Zed, you know this is more than repairing a relationship,” Mother’s soft voice sounded. I turned to her, then to Father who winced.

“What? What more are you hiding from me?” I stalked forward but my father fell into his seat with such wretchedness, my legs seized their movement.

“I will not burden you further, Son. These are my problem to ponder as king, not yours. I can only ask one favour of you that may save us all. You must marry Ariana, Zion.”