The Arranged Marriage (7 page)

Suppressing his anger at this
information, Ison ordered one of his men to make sure the baggage
from the travelling coach was emptied, and that their belongings
were left at The Loyal. Some of his men could come back and collect
it later. If Ison was going to get Rohesia to Ecripian without her
knowledge, he would need her peacefully asleep during the journey
in order to achieve it.

Last eve had affected him more than he
was willing to let on, he thought as the dark still remained in the
skies above them. She was a woman who was used to having her own
way, and he was certain that she was going to be a whole mound of
trouble, especially when she found out about his true identity. But
something had made him decide it would be quite interesting getting
to know such a woman as Rohesia. It would certainly be
challenging.

He did his best not to wake her as he
lifted her body from the bed and gently carried her out of the
room. Thankfully, she remained sleeping as he carried her to the
coach. He placed her on the cushions that had been laid out for
her, and he could have sworn she snored a little as she wriggled
into a comfortable position. A small smile played on his lips at
the slight imperfection and he could not believe the next time
Rohesia woke, they would be in Ecripian and only moments away from
being wed.

Chapter Five

Rohesia felt comfortable in her sleep
until the memories of the eve came back to haunt her with a
vengeance. The humiliation of falling into the arms of the man who
had rescued her was almost too hard for her to bear.

She didn’t feel like waking as her
head ached from a deep sleep, but she knew she must be on her way
to Dondayas soon before her father managed to find out where she
was. And there was Sir Huntingdon to face.

She sighed at the reminiscence of
their kiss and briefly allowed the pleasure behind the memory of
it. He had tasted like a million and one flavours all rolled into
one, as every part of her being screamed in response to him. She
seemed to be content in his arms and it was a nice change to be
near a man who towered over her rather than meeting her height. It
had been a precious moment, one that she must treasure, for there
would be no future with him even if she could regard one. Not with
Sir Ison waiting for her back at Ecripian, and she was doubtful Sir
Huntingdon would journey with her to the Foreign Lands. No one
would choose that fate if they were content with their home in
Centurias.

A tap on the door urged Rohesia to
open her eyes. She tried to push off from what she thought to be
the bed and felt disorientated when her legs could find no edge.
She opened her eyes wider to try and make sense of where she was,
when her hands flicked out to the sides. It stunned her to feel a
hard surface rather than the bed drapes was she expecting and she
suddenly felt very claustrophobic.

She tried hard to stable herself and
ensure she wasn’t dreaming. Had she been kidnapped again? Had she
completely misread the signs of Sir Huntingdon or had they all been
attacked whilst sleeping? She had been so tired from her adventures
that she could have been carried off all the way to Faudaga without
even waking. She felt her heart jump when the knocking came again.
As she continued to feel around her, she realised she was in some
form of coach. Didn’t Sir Huntingdon travel with a carriage of some
kind? She thought. Maybe he didn’t want to disturb her from her
sleep and had placed her in here for them to be on their way? She
knew she was hoping against her instincts but she was not tied up
and cushions had .been laid out for her. Plus, someone was knocking
on the door as if waiting for her to answer, so the door must be
unlocked. What was going on?

Rohesia prepared herself for the worst
as she slowly reached for the door handle and opened the
door.

She could not focus at first as her
eyes adjusted to the sudden light, but she could make out the
figures standing around the carriage, apparently waiting for
her.

“Rohesia!” A voice came suddenly as
she recognised belonging to her father.

“Father?” She asked, confused. She let
him take her hand as she stepped out of the coach and into what
appeared to be the royal stables of Ecripian.

Why was she here? Had her father
caught up with her at the Loyal and taken her whilst sleeping so
she wouldn’t cause a fuss? Had he harmed Sir Huntingdon?

“You gave us a fright when we couldn’t
find you Rohesia,” Her father babbled on. “We have been looking
everywhere for you. Thank goodness that Sir Ison explained
everything before I went out of my wits.”

“Sir Ison?” She asked inquisitively,
what did he have to do with it?

“Yes of course,” Her father said with
surprise. “He advised me that you met him at The Loyal, apparently
you couldn’t wait to catch sight of your future husband, and he
advised me you ran into a bit of trouble. That’s what you get for
running off without a chaperone, or running off at all Rohesia. And
to meet a man alone who you are not yet wed to? It is a good job
that no one is aware of this union.”

She shook her head to try and make
sense of her father’s words. Sir Ison? Had he followed her? Rohesia
could not make sense of anything as her father moved her past the
few servants her father trusted with his life. They were all glad
to see her, or relieved more like, as her father would have
probably had them up looking for her.

“
I have explained to your
father that I would have returned you sooner, but after your little
escapade I thought it best that you had a much needed
rest.”

The voice made her skin tingle in
recognition as she turned to see Sir Huntingdon appear in the
stable door. She looked at him standing there as if he had morphed
from one person to another, suddenly realising the cleverness
behind his deceit.

“Sir Ison.” She whispered as her eyes
met his. She looked at him coldly as a small smirk rested on his
lips; the lips that had kissed her.

“Princess,” He greeted her. “It
appears we are to be wed straightaway. It is unfortunate that we
are unable to change into wedding attire first isn’t it? Shall
we?”

He positioned his arm for her to take
it as he stepped forward.

“We are getting married now?” She
turned to her father, trying hard to hide her alarm.

“Yes Rohesia, as soon as you arrived
here I roused the Honorary of Sanctuary. He is waiting for you in
the Throne room to perform the legalities.”

Rohesia stared at Ison as if he were
poison. He had known who she was from the beginning and he had
dragged her back here in her sleep. She had been so tired from the
water and her journey to The Loyal she that had slept through
everything. Now she was here, back to where she had been running
from.

“Come now daughter, we need to have
this ceremony now. I promise you the celebrations at a later date
but first you must wed.”

She looked at her father and then back
at Ison. She had been tricked, in a way by both of them, and at
that moment she had no choice but to allow her heart to freeze as
she held the tears at bay. She reluctantly took hold of Ison’s arm
and made her way to her wedding.

Ison had not liked the way Rohesia had
looked at him. He had not expected her reaction to his true
identity to have affected him so much. The way she had pulled back
on her emotions had affected him more than if she had been shouting
and screaming.

No matter his thoughts he had to admit
she had looked beautiful as she had stepped out of the coach, half
asleep with her hair tousled and out of place. Her gown had been
wrinkled and her face held the natural creases from lying against
the cushions, yet she still seemed to look striking. It did not
bode well, he thought before stating his wedding vows and honouring
the marriage.

Only the Honorary, King Argarth, two
servants who posed as witnesses, and himself and Rohesia were
present at the oaths.

She looked at him as the Honorary
concluded the ceremony, announcing them husband and wife, and he
would have sworn at that moment something passed between them. She
may be angry with him, and it may not have been Sir Ison in her
mind that she had kissed last eve, but she did feel something
towards him. He was certain, and for some stupid reason it made his
heart feel lighter.

They both signed the legal ledger once
the brief ceremony was over and the smile on King Argarth’s face
spoke volumes to them. He kissed Rohesia gently on the cheek and
shook Ison’s hand.

“Welcome to the family,” He addressed
Ison. “We must go talk about your new role as advisor and Prince to
this kingdom; then you can rest if you wish.”

Rohesia looked at them both and smiled
with all the anger she felt.

“Please forgive me,” She requested
through gritted teeth. “But before either of you go anywhere I am
to have a word with you,” She pointed towards Ison. “In private,
and then I will be wanting a word with you.” She pointed to her
father. “Now,” She added, with a hint of growl in her voice. Her
father looked at Ison and then back to her. It was apparent that
Ison was willing to humour her so Argarth shook his head with the
knowledge of what was to come, and moved everyone out to leave them
to it.

“I will meet you in the kitchens in a
moment then Rohesia. I will have Nani prepare my tonic.”

She waited for him to leave then
turned on the man who had just become her husband.

“You,” She could not find the words
that were beating through her at the way that she had felt cheated
by this man. “How could you? How could you have been so
inconsiderate and deceitful?” She managed to get out of her mouth.
It was all she could do to prevent herself from strangling
him.

“Me?” Ison replied calmly. “I am not
the one who ran from their duties to kiss a stranger; whilst
betrothed to another.”

“I was never betrothed to you.” She
glowered at him.

“Well actually Princess you were. From
birth it has been your duty to marry for the kingdom and your
father did his duty by arranging the marriage.”

She started to stomp back and forth,
her temper eating away at her.

“You lied to me, you deceived me.” She
said, wanting to cry out of frustration.

“I did what I had to do to get you
back here. If I had announced who I was you would have fought me to
the end just to get the hell away from me.”

She did not reply to that. Her cheeks
were reddening, she could feel them.

“Rohesia,” He came nearer to her as he
spoke and she took a step back. “I came to this kingdom because I
was advised by my father that it was the best course of action for
us both. Believe it or not I have never wanted to be wed and I was
non-too committal to this union either; but I saw reason and
thought with my head and decided that it was not a bad
notion.”

Rohesia looked at him for a lifetime
then, the sudden patience in his features knocking her guard down.
He was right. She would have fled if she had known who he was, and
it was a sound notion in the grittiness of it all for them to be
united. But her feelings? Love? What was to become of these after a
sacrifice to a man who was rumoured to be heartless? She felt the
battle start within her again, but the memories of the kiss they
had shared came back to haunt her. A little spark of hope in mind
made her wonder if Sir Ison was actually as bad as people had made
him out to be; no one was that good a pretender. Were
they?

“If it had not been for you Sir Ison,”
She said with distaste, her initial anger returning. “I would be on
my way to the Foreign Lands right now to a life of freedom. Yet
because of your greed to get your hands on Ecripian you have ripped
that away from me.”

He smiled but there was no joy behind
the gesture.

“Princess, trust me. The Foreign Lands
are not a place for a lady, and you would have found that out the
moment that you stepped off the boat. I did you a
favour.”

“A favour? Being married to the
Bloodhunter is a favour? Don’t make me laugh.” She moved further
away from him.

“I see you have heard the
rumours.”

“Just a few of them. What is the harm
in hunting a few men and killing them for coin?”

Ison walked up to her then. He did not
like the way she spoke of him, even though his instincts advised
she trusted him more than she let on.

“My Princess, if I was so intent in
manipulating you for a kingdom, would I be truly capable of wanting
to do this?” He moved closer to Rohesia before she even had time to
anticipate what he was doing.

He put his large hand against her soft
cheek and brought his lips slowly towards hers. Rohesia could not
breathe. She knew what was about to happen, and this time she knew
exactly who he was. But for some reason she found herself willing
his kiss, willing the close contact. This was the man who she had
made the decision to run from, the one she had blamed for her hazy
future, and he was here, making her feel like she was about to melt
to the floor.

His kiss was soft, welcoming and warm.
His hands held her face gently as he rubbed his lips against hers,
pleading for entry as his tongue lightly licked her mouth. She
could not even think of anything at that point. No resistance or
thoughts of pushing him away even entered her mind. The only thing
she could think of was the fact she was married to this man now.
She was standing here, being made to feel like the most wondrous
person alive by a man who she could actually call her husband. Oh,
she wanted to feel this good forever, but as the good feeling ran
through her, her independence started to flow against it with full
force. So this man was able to appeal to her this way. He was able
to make her feel like she had never felt before. But she had also
been used and that fact was not going to go away; whether it had
been her initial duty or not. She found the last piece of her
strength to push him gently from her.