In Chains - C. Noble (ebook reader ink TXT) 📗

or who you are, or whatever. I just want to make one thing clear. If you’re going to be so arrogant, then you can leave.” A touch of rage mingled with the exasperation in her voice.
“I know what’s going on, I know who I am, and I do not believe I am arrogant. I have no intentions of leaving just yet,” Hadrian’s purple-black eyes stopped staring into the twilight gardens and began boring into Darcey’s emerald green ones. He stared into her face for a long moment before letting his eyes rest on her headband once more. “A doe. You do not seem like a doe.”
“Yes, well, I’m a little out of sorts. You hardly seem a stag.” Darcey was stung. She so hoped to be a good leader, and being told that she didn’t seem like what she was didn’t help any.
“Appearances can be deceiving. You used to be poor, living with common people in a house. Hardly the accommodations one would expect of someone so lauded, so loved as Princess Martinaque.”
“Do you know what being ‘poor’ did to me? It forced me to learn humility and appreciation, something you obviously lack.”
“This is hardly the way to start a relationship. Perhaps we may start again? I feel that I may have been incorrect in more than one manner and appreciate your feedback.” Hadrian looked smug. In a single sentence, he had shown that he could mock both her humility and her appreciation.
“Indeed. Now, if you are quite done, I will be going.” And leaving him standing in the gardens, Darcey turned on her heel and marched back into the palace. She stormed past the hundreds of servants in their vain attempts to please her. She was past that now. She wanted to fume, to storm, to rant. She wanted to hit something. Her preferable target was still wandering the gardens with a self-satisfied look on his face.
These angry thoughts carried her past her bedroom and into her closet. She stripped off the dress and pulled a silk nightie over her head. She tore the golden tiara and band out of her hair and dove headlong into her bed. But before her perturbed mind could be farther troubled by Hadrian’s extreme disrespect, she had sunken into a deep sleep.

It was nearly noon when she woke to her mother hovering over her. She had a strange combination of regret, anger, and fear plastering her smooth face. She clutched her thin shawl around her, as if to warm herself.
“Darcey, what did you do last night?” Thessilia began quietly.
“I gave a spoiled prince what was coming to him,” Darcey replied hotly. Her memory was spotty, probably due in part to a considerable dosage of fruity champagne.
“My dear, you have no idea what you have done. No idea…” her mother reached out a hand and plucked the golden band from the ivory night table where it lay and tucked it neatly in Darcey’s hair.
“What do you mean?” The doe coming out yet again, Darcey was curious. When someone left an interesting tidbit like that hanging it drove her crazy. She was not nosey, but she had to know. This sounded like it concerned her a great deal. Her mother sighed before answering.
“Darcey, the Sanchez’ are staying here for several weeks. If you and Hadrian can’t get along…Darcey, love, you know that your father and I have your best interests at heart. I know that you are dating William Doscier, but you really need to end it. He has other plans, and so do you. I know you are young, but you and Hadrian…well, darling, you are to be married. An arranged marriage, planned from your cradles. You see, you are a doe, and Hadrian is a stag. A person may marry someone that is a different species than their symbol, but people who marry within their animal species tend to be better together than if not.”
This speech by her mother had completely bowled her over. An arranged marriage? It was the epitome of old school. Darcey didn’t even think that it had still existed. A single question exploded inside her head. “But…why me?”
“Well, darling, the Sanchez’ and Martinaques are the best of our class. Our families are the richest, the grandest, the most loved. Marseille has not had a public upset in over three hundred years, when the Sanchez family first took control. Up until now, an opportunity to unite the two families has not presented itself.”
“What about Will? Mary Ann?”
“Honey, Will and Mary Ann are free to do as they wish. It is a burden of being royalty. You must make sacrifices for your kingdom.”
“Sacrifices. So I have to give up my freedom to marry that pig? He’s an arrogant jerk!” Darcey stood up, her temper rising. Her pale gold nightie fell to just below the middle of her thigh, her long dark curly hair cascaded wildly downs her back.
“Dear, not everything is as they seem. Please, make efforts to get to know him.”
At that precise moment, the very boy who they had been talking burst into the room. Everyone stood still, surprised. Hadrian stood with his hand on the open door, looking like a frightened deer. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again. He reminded Darcey of a fish out of water. He suddenly decided that he had something to say.
“Highness, I apologize for my intrusion. Is it possible for me to have a private conversation with Princess Darcey?” Hadrian asked, every bit the gentleman. When it appeared that the servants had every intention of staying, he added: “Alone?”
“Of course, Prince Hadrian. Come along,” Thessilia gestured to the dozen or so servants milling about. On her way past her daughter she whispered: “Be good.”
While Darcey had no intention of being so, she decided that she would humor Hadrian and hear him out. She stood in front of her bed defiantly, wearing only that pale gold nightie and her headband.
“Princess, I am sorry. I did not intend to come off so badly last night. I was nervous. I have known of this arrangement for seventeen years, and last night was the first time I had ever seen you.” He spoke well, but there was a touch of anxiousness that Darcey couldn’t place.
When Darcey made no movement, not even to open her mouth to answer, Hadrian continued: “I know that this isn’t ideal for you. It isn’t for me, either. But it is our part of our duty. It is a burden that we as royalty must carry. If we had had siblings, perhaps this would have been deferred to them, but I am afraid that it falls to us.”
“So what now? You go buy a suit, I go buy a dress, and we’ll go find a comfy little beach to get married on? Give me a break.” Darcey snarled. Her disgust of this was evident, her anger boiling over. She had never been as angry as she had been the last two days. This level of rage was entirely new to her, but she felt it justified.
“Please, try to be reasonable. We cannot back out of this. It’s…it’s just who we are. I’m not totally thrilled. I had a girlfriend, against my parents’ wishes, that I had to leave behind. I think that you and that Doscier boy, William, are dating. You kind of need to…break it off –” Darcey interrupted him, furious. “How dare you? First you insult me by telling me that I’m not pretty enough to marry, and now you’re telling me who I can and can’t date! What is wrong with you?”
“I never said you weren’t pretty. In fact, you’re beautiful,” Hadrian said quietly. Darcey’s aggressive stance and fiery look in her eyes softened a little bit. He noticed, but quickly redirected his gaze to the marble floor at her feet.
Neither could think of anything to say for a rather long period of time. Hadrian’s thoughts were a mystery. Darcey was looking at him. He leaned against the whitewashed wall of her bedroom, his eyes roaming from the white marble tiled floor to the red and gold silk drapes blowing in the wind to the open patio doors. Eventually he could no longer control his eyes, for they started their wander once again and rested on Darcey’s face.
“Well, we can’t just stand here like idiots all day long,” Darcey began, meeting his gaze with a steely courage that took Hadrian’s breath away. He stared into her bright green eyes that reflected a dull acquiescence.
“Are you going to leave so I can get dressed?” Darcey asked impatiently. Hadrian bowed and turned on his heel, closing the doors behind him. Resigned, Darcey chose a dress similar to her customary green one and arranged her headband in a more feminine way. She chose leather sandals with golden buckles and her family’s crest on the heel. Checking her appearance in her mirror framed in roping gold sprouting crimson flowers, she walked out into the hall.
After asking a servant where her parents were, Darcey joined them in the library. They were sitting with the Sanchez’s, including Hadrian. They all looked up as she entered and sat on a red velvet settee next to one of the floor to ceiling windows. She studiously ignored them all, gazing resolutely out the window to the surf she was missing. Will, Mary Ann, and Dawson were out there right now, testing out their new boards.
Darcey only reacted when her father’s voice boomed into her ear, telling her to take Hadrian for a walk that didn’t end halfway through with her storming to her room. She grumpily acknowledged this and stood up, waiting for Hadrian to join her. After considerable prodding, he did so. Together they set off down the hallway, wandering aimlessly.
“Where are we going?” Hadrian asked tentatively.
“I don’t know…I’d rather just go to bed, but I don’t think that’s an option.” There was no resentment in her voice, merely acceptance of what was to come.
“Unfortunately, it is not. Your island is known for its excellent waves. Let’s go surfing.” Hadrian’s voice did not contain a suggestion, but a finality that she didn’t dare contradict.
“Fine. I’ll grab my board, you stay here.” Darcey ran off to her bedroom to get her customized surf board. When she came back, Hadrian was just sending off a servant. “I have just learned of an excellent little beach. We will go there.”
Without argument, Darcey fell in behind him, the board dragging her back. She was too mentally upset to really be able to carry it properly. Noticing this, Hadrian stopped and took her board. “Here, let me.”
They made their way through the palace gardens to a rather steep set of stone stairs. Darcey realized where they were going, but prayed she was wrong. Just before the stairs gave way to the slanting path, they broke off and headed to another beach that she had yet to explore. Hopefully this was the one he intended to go to. It wasn’t.
By the time they had reached the crossroads, Darcey was almost begging him to turn around. He continued resolutely on his way. Dawson saw them coming and waved them down, oblivious to her obvious discomfort.
Will and Mary Ann were just coming in on a wave when Darcey and Hadrian reached Dawson’s surf shack. He dug the end of Darcey’s board into the sand with one hand while extending his other to shake Dawson’s hand.
“I hear you’re one of the best surfers in the world. I was wondering if you’d have a board I can borrow. I haven’t been on the water in over a month, and it’s driving me crazy,” Hadrian laughed, his mood greatly lifted.
“Indeed I do. You’re Sanchez, right? I’ll have a board for