The Arranged Marriage (12 page)

“Now,” She continued as Ison observed
the woman who stood there, after only knowing him for a couple of
days, stand against the only truth she had ever known of him. He
was humbled as she continued to speak.

“If I was to go through every rumour
of everyone here and believe it, I fear that there would be quite a
few discrepancies to hold against you. But as your friend I have
given you the benefit of the doubt, as at times you have given me,
and look where we now stand.” She purposely made the gesture of
stepping down into the crowd. “Prince Ison has come here with good
intentions for this kingdom and he is the most loyal and honourable
person that I know,” She smiled. “I beg of you to give him your
acceptance with a blank slate, and let him prove to you his true
self” She raised herself to full height as Claimont scoured the
crowd and finally stepped towards her. He removed his
hat.

“You have it my lady.” He advised with
a toothless smile, knowing that he would be speaking for the rest
of the village. Rohesia did not waver.

“I am not the one who wishes the blank
slate Claimont. I hope I already have your trust.”

He looked very uncomfortable, and
seemed to wait for any objections before making his way over to
Ison. Even though he was an old man he still bowed before
speaking.

“You have a blank slate my lord,” He
advised, but if unable to resist added. “But you will have to gain
our trust.”

Rohesia winced but Ison did not
flinch.

“I am your equal sir, and you will
have my trust.” Ison held his voice firm. He may be out to prove
himself to these people for Rohesia’s sake but he was not about to
show weakness, at any cost.

Claimont gave a slight bow and turned
to Rohesia who nodded for him to be dismissed. Everyone continued
on their way as she winked at Kaya for them to continue around the
other houses. They had two more villages to visit before they had
ended their Walk, but word should fly fast between them all. She
just hoped the person delivering the gossip was in good health on
this day, as she doubted very much that she could go through that
every time she just wanted to deliver treats.

Apart from the people whom they had
greeted, Rohesia noticed Ison had not spoken much since her big
speech. They had just said their goodbyes to Kaya who had taken the
children to the kitchens to return their baskets, and Rohesia
decided to take a detour to her father on the way to see how he was
doing. Ison joined her.

“Ah, I see you have returned,” Argarth
advised after welcoming them both into his study chamber. “How did
the Walk go?”

Rohesia quickly looked in Ison’s
direction and then back to her father.

“A little bit tricky at first,” She
told him. “But in the end it turned out well.”

Argarth looked at Ison as if knowing
exactly what would have happened and then back to his
daughter.

“These things take time. Have all the
invites been handed out?” He replied.

“Yes, every single one,” She replied.
“Even those for the odd few with friends in the Foreign Lands,
apparently we’re the hot gossip.”

Argarth laughed as he noticed Ison’s
sour expression. Rohesia didn’t seem to acknowledge it as a sudden
tension was added to the room.

“Well father, we will leave you to
it,” She turned to Ison. “Would you like to go for a horse ride
around the kingdom? There is something I have been meaning to show
you.”

He knew he looked uncomfortable and
thankfully Argarth seemed to notice.

“I need him here for the moment
Rohesia,” He advised coming to Ison’s aid. “There a few matters I
have been waiting for him to sort upon his return.”

Neither of the men liked the look of
anger and disappointment that crossed over her face; something she
quickly supressed. The tension grew immensely.

“Very well,” She said with a feeling
of loneliness. “I shall leave you to it. I have a few things to
sort out about the wedding ball anyway. I trust what you have to
discuss will not last all eve?” She asked shortly. She didn’t think
she could spend another eve falling asleep without Ison by her
side, no matter how much she didn’t want to admit it.

“I shall get him back to you as soon
as possible.” Her father advised as he sensed the confusion and
fear oozing out of Ison. She didn’t reply and refused to look in
Ison’s direction. Her heart aching enough to make sure she slammed
the large wooden door shut, just a little, on her way
out.

Argarth poured Ison a brandy and
handed it to him before he broached the subject of what he had
witnessed.

“My daughter has a way of getting
under one’s skin one way or another,” He advised gently. “I take it
she has got to you today?”

Ison looked up at him once he had
emptied the chalice. He had never felt this vulnerable before in
his whole life as he could no longer deny the emotions unravelling
in him. He just had no clue with how to deal with it. Argarth
continued in the stead of his silence.

“
When I lost my wife
Marianna I thought that my world was also going to end. Do you know
why it didn’t?”

Ison shook his head. All the control
that he had taken years to master flying out of his mind. Argarth
continued.

“Because of all the wonderful memories
she left with me, for all the goodness that woman gave me,” He
paused as if shaking the pain that came with talking of his past
wife. “I was raised for many years to believe that a king should
show little affection for his Queen, that the partnership should be
one for the kingdom and not for each other. It was frowned upon to
allow passion in such a relationship,” Ison watched as Argarth
positioned himself by the window. “It took me a while to allow
myself to have that passion with Marianna.. I may never have done
so if it hadn’t have been for her,” He chuckled to himself as if
remembering his past. “She was a very obstinate and ambitious woman
Ison, very much like Rohesia but maybe not quite so, unruly,” He
moved to pour them both another brandy as he spoke. “I thought at
first that I would die with the pain of loving her so much, and
that if I lost her that I wouldn’t be able to survive,” He sighed.
“So much so that I started to push myself away from her, build
barriers so that I would never be hurt if she ever decided to stop
loving me or forbid, anything should happen to her,” He looked at
Ison intently. “But when Marianna forced me to confess my fears she
just smiled. She said to me that if I was to continue on like this
then my fears would prevent me from having anything at all; most of
all the memories that I could treasure for ever. She told me that I
had to enjoy every moment of us as much as she did, to take from it
all the glory and love so I could revel in it. She told me that no
matter what I did she would never stop loving me, and one day I
woke up and finally believed her.” Ison moved uncomfortably as
Argarth quickly wiped a fallen tear from his cheek. “She was so
strong Ison, so foreign to me, that I, who had fought against many
enemies in my past, was scared to death of this one person. This
one person who had so much control over me. But after I learnt to
trust it, learnt to trust her fully, that was the day that I think
I became a true man.”

Ison remained seated, feeling numb as
Argarth’s words came clear to what he was trying to say about
Rohesia. He stayed silent.

“Rohesia is my daughter Ison and my
loyalties lie with her,” He paused for effect as he watched the
words sink in. “But you are now my son, my family, and I want to
say that my daughter is falling in love with you.”

Ison’s head snapped up so quickly that
he feared he had removed it from his neck.

“We have only been acquainted for a
few days.” He said quickly.

“It only took moments for me to meet
my love. It was just a pity that it took me longer to realise it.”
He told him, a slight smile on his lips.

Ison shook his head as he numbly
handed out his chalice for Argarth to refill it with more
liquor.

“I, need time.” He managed to spurt
out against his will. He felt like none of these past few days had
been real.

“Time is precious, and so is Rohesia,
don’t lose out on this opportunity you’ve been given.” He refilled
the chalice feeling content that he had said enough to plant a
seed. “Now my man,” He said, his tone changing. “I really do have
something I need you to look at for me. We must sort out those
plans for the boulders to be moved in the cavern as you requested
if we are going to made headway before your ball.”

Ison pulled himself together, using
the sanctuary of safer ground. He would have to deal with his
emotions at a later time, because right now an angry mob were
waiting to be discovered. And at this moment in time Ison fancied
his chances more fighting with them.

Rohesia waited in her chamber up until
the point she was found it too hard to keep her eyes open. Her
temper was reaching its limit at Ison’s absence in their chamber
again. It was well past the time everyone should be sleeping and
finally she decided enough was enough.

Grabbing her eve robe and slippers she
made her way out of her chamber, disobeying every rule that no one
should step out into the halls in their eve wear, but Rohesia was
on a mission. She knew that her father and Ison were probably
hunched up in the study chamber and she was determined to get her
husband back, even if just for a few snatched moments.

Ison and Argarth had been surrounded
by a number of ideas to move the boulders out of the cavern without
causing too much destruction, or to give any warning to anyone on
the other side. So far up to yet they had come up with nothing that
would work.

“There is no way I can see where we
can get a grip on the boulders from a distance, especially if we
don’t want to risk exposing our knowledge of them. We’ve been
through everything.” Ison continued, hating the fact it appeared he
was defeated. They needed to move those boulders, but with the
height of the cave and the number of small boulders to move, they
were running out of options.

“There can be no other way in Ison. My
men have searched around the Mount a number of times and come up
with nothing. Maybe the rumour is not trustworthy.”

“No,” He replied, remembering his
earlier reaction to the cave. “There is definitely something going
on in there, I can feel it.”

At that statement both men turned
around to the sound of the large wooden door being opened. They
were a little surprised to see Rohesia standing in the doorway
wearing only her eve wear and she didn’t look happy.

“Don’t mind me,” She said to them both
before entering the room and shutting the door behind her. “I have
only come to see if this wedding was purely arranged for your
benefit father, seeing as I have had hardly any time with my
husband since the wedding.”

Argarth winced at her tones as Ison
hid a smile at her coming to find him.

“We have some important plans
underfoot Rohesia that must be seen to straightaway,” Argarth
advised her, obviously trying to put a harsh fatherly strictness
into his tone. “And what on Centurias do you think you are doing
parading around the castle in your eve wear? If the public journals
were to ever get wind of what you got up to....”

“....They would make a personal
mockery of the royal family blah blah,” She finished for him, her
arms crossed. Ison shook his head in pity for Argarth.

“Rohesia,” Argarth advised through
gritted teeth, his patience running out. “Go back to
bed.”

Rohesia was defiant.

“No, I will not. And if I cannot have
my husband then I would like to take part in all of this secrecy
that you father, promised not to do again after the
wedding.”

“
It is our business.” He
protested, knowing that he was losing the battle.

“Father,” She walked up to him
pleadingly. “I am not asking to take a sword and ride out to
battle. I only want to know what is going on with this kingdom that
means everything to me. I may be able to help.”

Argarth looked at Ison for back up but
he just shrugged his shoulders.

“We’re not getting very far on our
own.” He said, knowing this attitude was another change for
him.

Argarth sighed and lit some more
candles as the others were burning low.

“Fine,” He growled in defeat. “Seeing
as you will be queen someday. I sometimes pity you Ison,” He sighed
again but Rohesia took no offence as she knew her father meant
none. She was aware of how much hard work she caused him sometimes.
“Why don’t you tell your wife what we are doing this eve?” He
advised whilst making his way over to the decanter to pour himself
his ritual brandy.

Once Ison had updated Rohesia and
showed her the plans, it was apparent from her enthusiasm that she
found it all very exciting.

“Oh this is quite shocking,” She said
to them both once Ison had finished, but she didn’t look shocked at
all, she looked enthralled. “But I don’t think moving the boulders
is your answer, there has to be another way in.”