Princess Willowyn's Arc

Chapter 21 of 70

Willowyn had not left her room in three days. The white minx paced the windowsill while she sat on the floor, papers spread around her. She had tried to draft a letter to Lord Eros. She had tried to plan a new border deal. Each idea led back to the same wall. To break the marriage, she must dry the river. To dry the river was to break her mother's peace. She wiped a tear with the back of her hand. "I don't know what I'm going to do," she whispered to the empty room. The minx jumped into her lap. Willowyn stroked its soft fur and stared at the wall. Then a thought struck her, so simple she laughed out loud. Her mother had raised her alone. Elara had been widowed since Willowyn was a young girl of seventy-four. The treaty needed a marriage to bind the two kingdoms. But it did not say the marriage had to be hers. "You clever thing," she told the minx, and kissed its head. "My mother should marry Lord Eros. They are close in age. She could have more children. The border would be sealed, and I would be free." She gathered the papers and ran for the great hall. She found the Queen alone, standing beside the tall windows in her flowing white gown, her silver braid over one shoulder. Elara turned. For three days she had let her daughter sulk behind a locked door. Now her green eyes narrowed at the papers in Willowyn's hands. "Mother," Willowyn said, breathless. "I have found another way. One that keeps the peace and needs no water magic." Elara did not soften. "Speak it." "The treaty needs a marriage between our house and his. It does not name me." Willowyn set the papers on the table. "You could marry Lord Eros. You are near his age. The river stays. The border holds. And I keep my freedom to help the kingdoms, as I have always dreamed." The hall went quiet. Elara's hand rose to her braid, then dropped. For a moment her stern mask slipped, and Willowyn saw something bare underneath. Loneliness, perhaps. Or fear. "You would trade my life for yours," Elara said, low. "No." Willowyn stepped closer. "I would give us both a chance. You have been alone since I was small. I do not want to be alone in a marriage I never chose. This saves the peace without breaking either of us." Elara stared at the papers a long time. Then she pressed her palm flat against them. "I will not answer today," she said. "But I will not refuse it, either. I must speak with Lord Eros myself." It was not yes. But it was not the wall. Willowyn breathed for the first time in three days. Her mother would carry the question to Eros now, and his answer would decide everything.