"Engagement?" Naomi repeated, having great difficulty processing the prince's question. "What engagement?"

Prince Jorna faltered, his frown mirroring some of Naomi's confusion. "The one that was supposed to solidify the alliance," he said, his voice ringing out in the silent theater. "The one that my mother was supposed to announce last night, but you got cold feet."

Naomi had no idea what he was talking about.

Yolan on the other hand, seemed to be well aware of the current situation. He growled in frustration, stamping his foot on the ground.

The runes on the edge of the stage glowed in response, cutting off their view of the crowd. The three actors that remained on the stage backed away, bent in half at the waist. They retreated off the side of the platform, moving easily through the mist.

"This is why I insisted on coming with you!" Yolan snapped, turning on his brother. "I knew you would do something like this. Princess Naomi had nothing to do with last night's announcement."

Prince Jorna narrowed his eyes. "And how would you know that?"

"Because it was my idea," Yolan admitted.

Naomi wasn't following the conversation at all. She was too busy trying to figure out what, in goddess' name, her mother was thinking. Naomi was two weeks out of her first plateau! She wasn't even used to her horns yet! She was still in her First Ascension, for crying out loud! Naomi wasn't ready to get married!

"What the hell were you thinking?" Prince Jorna demanded. "Everything was going fine!"

"I didn't tell mother to cancel it," Yolan said defensively. "Only to delay it for a few weeks. You were both too hasty with this. A true alliance isn't built on marriage alone. We need to show Princess Naomi what she could have here; to assure her that she was safe before dragging her into a union in a land she's never even visited."

"I've been to Ashen before," Naomi said, but the princes didn't seem to hear her.

"That's what I was doing!" Prince Jorna argued. "I made sure everyone looked like her. I went around with her to prove that I would be attentive to her needs and protect her from harm. I designed a whole room in the palace that filtered Miasma to give her a place to retreat to when she was tired of the constant vigilance, and I designed special dishes that would filter the Miasma out of her food so she wouldn't have to cook for herself. I was proving to her that living in Ashen could be the same as living in Ember."

Naomi gawked at the two men. When described in this way, their efforts were perhaps more thoughtful than they had come across at first, but they didn't even know her, yet they had done all of this—entirely without prompting—to do what? Win her hand in marriage?

"I'm not marrying you," Naomi said. The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them, but even with the ensuing silence giving her a chance to think it over, she didn't change her mind. "You have proven time and time again that you don't trust me or respect me. I came here as a visiting royal from another country, not a potential wife. I am fully capable of protecting myself, as I have done since first stepping foot in Ashen."

Naomi advanced on the prince, her anger catching him off guard. He backed away, his eyes widening.

"So, it was you?" Prince Jorna asked, his voice less sure than before.

"I didn't know about any of this," Naomi snapped, her hair rising with her anger. It pressed against the hood that contained it. "I thought I was coming here on holiday to celebrate my first plateau. I was excited to learn about the culture here, the people here. I was excited to see the Corvi in their natural state, not this charade that you expect me to thank you for."

She took a step forward with each sentence, her anger rising so much that she thought she might burst.

"You wanted—" Prince Jorna began, his voice defiant. Naomi didn't give him a chance to speak.

"I wanted to be a part of this!" she snapped. "Ashen has a rich and beautiful culture. No one needed to sell me the dream of staying here, I already had it."

Did she still have it?

The question hit Naomi like a blow to the gut, extinguishing her anger instantly. It left behind a sad, hollow feeling in her chest. In the space of two days, these princes nearly destroyed all of her enthusiasm; Prince Jorna with his overprotective and entitled attitude and Prince Yolan with his secrets and ulterior motives.

"I'm going back to the castle," Naomi said, turning to leave. The mist stopped her, dragging her back to the center of the stage.

"Release me," Naomi ordered, part of her anger returning.

"I will," Prince Yolan assured her. "But first, please allow me to apologize."

Mist swirled around Yolan, dropping a moment later to reveal him in his natural form. He was ten feet tall with spindly arms and legs. His eyes, black with white pupils, focused on her.

He bent down, looking Naomi in the eye.

I had hoped to ease you into this, Yolan said directly into Naomi's mind. That's why I told Kally to make sure she was in her public form today. Believe it or not, we don't go around looking like this all the time. This is somewhat akin to a Lerian walking around naked.

He shrank down to a little under six feet, his hair shrinking into something similar to his Lerian form and his eyes turning white with green irises. His misty clothes morphed into a simple tunic and britches with his bag from earlier that day.

"This is what we look like in public," he said, offering her an embarrassed smile. "It's a bit more compact and doesn't get in the way when we're moving from place to place." He shifted even smaller, taking on the appearance of a small furry creature that stood on four legs. Though sometimes we prefer to make ourselves even smaller to hide from predators.

He changed back into his Lerian form. "The life of a shape-shifter is to forget sometimes that you even have a natural form. Trust me, the people of Korsa are not uncomfortable, but I'm sorry that we made you feel like we didn't trust you."

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Naomi frowned. "Doesn't it hurt when you transform?"

Yolan's startled laugh melted away the last of Naomi's tension. "Hurt? Who told you that it hurt to change our form?"

Naomi's cheeks burned. "My mother. And during the play, wasn't Ralek screaming because it hurt?"

Yolan shook his head. "Yes and no. I suppose if you hold a form for too long you can get stuck like that—kind of like stretching a muscle after years of disuse—but transformation in and of itself is not painful."

A weight lifted off of Naomi's chest. She had felt responsible for the unnecessary decree that caused so much pain, but if transforming was painless, then it was merely an inconvenience; unnecessary but easier to stomach.

Prince Jorna cleared his throat.

Naomi's mood instantly soured, but she kept it in check. "Yes, Crown Prince Jorna?"

He took a deep breath. "I would also like to apologize. I allowed my anxiety to cloud my judgment, and I have insulted you at every turn."

Naomi nodded. "I will accept your apology as long as you stop running around the capital like a rampaging linbeast protecting its picklefruit."

Both princes stared at her blankly.

"A what?" Prince Yolan asked.

"A linbeast," Naomi repeated. "Big, furry, covered in spikes?"

Prince Jorna frowned in confusion. "How can something be furry and covered in spikes?"

"Well, technically, the fur is only on its belly, but that's not really the point," Naomi shook her head. "If you can adjust your attitude, I'm willing to forgive you for the past two days."

Prince Jorna nodded.

"Great." Naomi stretched, straightening her hood. "Now I think it's time to have a chat with my mother."

* * *

"It was still in discussion," Naomi's mother said, looking entirely unapologetic as she fixed her hair. She had apparently gone Lorkback riding with Queen Hemma and the wind had blown it everywhere.

"A discussion that I should have been a part of," Naomi said, hating how belligerent she sounded. "This is my future we're talking about."

Naomi's mother frowned. "Don't you wish to see more of Ashen? This seemed more like an opportunity than an obligation."

Naomi flopped onto her bed, letting out an exasperated sigh. It was true that she wanted to see more of Ashen—not only Korsa but other countries as well—but that didn't mean that she wanted to live there. That would mean keeping her bubble up constantly; never being able to lower her guard.

"How would a marriage with Prince Jorna even work?" she mused aloud. "We wouldn't even be able to hold hands."

Naomi's mother hesitated. "We are still working on that part. In the beginning, you would be married in name only, and you would be allowed to travel back to Ember from time to time. Prince Jorna has expressed an interest in learning more about Emberian magic—particularly in regard to wards and energy management. You would have plenty to talk about."

Prince Jorna was interested in wards? Why didn't he say anything? Naomi would have gladly discussed the topic with him. The majority of her training had been in boundary management and warding since she was on a path to becoming a dungeon architect. That sort of discussion was right in her area of expertise.

"Was the delay in the engagement the reason that I wasn't involved in any of the meetings this week?" Naomi asked. It had been suspicious from the start, but Naomi wasn't one to spoil an opportunity with ill-timed observations.

"Queen Hemma approached me the first night we were here and suggested we wait until you and Prince Jorna had been given a chance to get to know each other," her mother said, putting her brush aside now that her hair was back in order. "I thought it was a wonderful idea, though I didn't expect you to learn about it until much later. It was important to see how you fared here, as well as how Prince Jorna fared in Ember, since you would be spending time in both places."

Naomi snorted. "You should have told me in the first place. I think Prince Jorna dislikes me, at the very least, and I'll admit, the feeling was dangerously close to becoming mutual."

Naomi's mother raised her eyebrows. "What has he done to offend you so?"

Naomi sat up, shaking her head. "He apologized, so I believe we can move past it, but he doesn't look favorably on Lerians. He called us privileged and spoiled and accused me of sabotaging the alliance."

Her mother's frown deepened, and Naomi rushed to add, "It was a misunderstanding. I will get past it, I think. Don't let it affect the alliance."

"Of course, I won't let it affect the alliance!" her mother said, looking almost offended. "But I have a right to be angry when my daughter is being mistreated. Since you have already received an apology, I will refrain from bringing this up with Queen Hemma, but I hope you will come to me if this happens again. I intend a marriage for you, not a prison."

Naomi smiled. "I know, and I will. Though, I think we will be fine from here. I don't promise that I will cooperate with this plan of yours, but I won't dismiss it outright."

Marriage was certainly not something that Naomi wanted right now, but it was the fastest and most permanent way to solidify an alliance. They had been friends with the kingdom of Korsa for years, this was a way to make it official in the eyes of both Ember and Ashen.

"That's all I can ask for," her mother said warmly, even though that was far from the truth. Were she less benevolent a ruler, she would simply order Naomi to marry Prince Jorna without any regard to her desires or wellbeing.

Naomi's mother rose from her chair. "Come, I hear they are preparing something special for dinner, and I wish to speak more with Prince Jorna. It seems that I will also need to learn more about your future husband before I give him my blessing."

* * *

The Present

"Three months passed," Naomi said. "And in that time, I got to know Prince Jorna better. He wasn't romantic, but he was bright, and he had ideas for his kingdom that went beyond making ties with Ellis."

"We're just skipping three months?" Corban asked incredulously. "That apology wasn't even close to enough!"

"This isn't a romcom," Rayna told him. "Don't expect drama."

"You don't think that was dramatic?" Harry asked incredulously. "The prince nearly chopped someone's head off because he was pissed over being dumped before they were even a couple. Sounds to me like a grade A asshole."

Naomi frowned, barely keeping up with the conversation. Romcom? Grade A asshole? The terms they were using didn't make any sense.

She decided to address the more important part. "Prince Jorna was afraid. Not just for my safety, but for what would happen to his kingdom if I didn't survive the trip. He went too far, and was rightly admonished for it, but he wasn't a bad man."

"Yolan would make a better leader," Din said, shaking her head. "Prince Jorna was denying his identity for the sake of a smooth alliance. That would only hurt him in the long run."

Naomi raised her eyebrows. "You're on the side of the Corvi?" she asked, surprised by the woman's stance. "That's a rare position."

Din didn't shrink away from the observation. "I'm on the side of the person who was right. You can't build an alliance on lies, and you can't build a relationship on hiding who you truly are." Her gaze flickered to Lady Emery and Naomi almost thought there was a hint of guilt there, but it vanished before she could be sure.

"Well, regardless, you're absolutely right," Naomi said. "Yolan's approach certainly had more finesse, but as the younger brother, he wasn't under as much pressure. I didn't know it at the time, but Ashen was already seeing signs of the cataclysm's approach. They didn't have monsters spawning randomly, but Essence was leaking into Ashen faster than we could close the cracks. It was affecting their crops and their citizens. The alliance was a sliver of hope in what seemed like a decaying world.

"The Corvi were a proud people, and they didn't tell us until it was too late." Regret crept its way into Naomi's voice. Perhaps if she had been paying more attention—if she had seen the signs that the Corvi were trying to hide from her—she could have done more to help them before the end.

"You couldn't have known," Enathar said, correctly guessing Naomi's thoughts as usual. How was it that after a thousand years apart he still knew her so well?

"Why don't we take a break?" Rayna suggested. "I'm hungry, and you've been talking non-stop for hours."

Naomi nodded. She could use a break.

She hadn't expected the retelling to be this painful. The story started out so hopeful—even with its hiccups—but as the ending grew closer, the pain became real again.

It had been years since she thought of Jorna and Yolan. How had they fared during the cataclysm? Surely they were long gone.

But she was still here, and so was her brother, albeit in different forms.

Perhaps there was hope that she would see them again someday.

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