Ciana Blacktree was laying on the couch, her feet up over the armrest. She had a wet cloth over her forehead to try and escape the intolerable heat.
“Shouldn’t you be out there with them?” Ciana said in a hurtful tone. The sweet, polite girl he had met on his wedding night had all but vanished.
Ciana had changed just about as much as Wesley had since their wedding. The two were no longer recognisable from the quiet, polite children they had attempted to portray themselves as in front of their families.
Wesley stepped back inside, shutting the doors behind him. “Father wants me to remain in Andervale, to… oversee things.”
“That’s funny, I don’t recall your father visiting and telling you that?”
“He doesn’t need to tell me. I am his heir; the city is my responsibility while he is gone.”
At least, that’s what Wesley was forcing himself to believe.
“Mhm, I’m sure that’s why he’s asked you to stay.” Ciana said sarcastically. She did not even bother to look up as they spoke.
Wesley hated any conversation with Ciana, and they had been forced to stay locked in the same room for days. His head was still solely focused on Jodie, and on everything that happened between the two of them.
He tried all he could to change her mind and win her back. He bared his heart out, he wept, he even fought her husband to win her honour- yet the woman fled at the first mention of their relationship to others.
Still, no one knew where Jodie Blacktree had vanished to. The woman had always been an enigma, but her disappearance reeked of something stranger.
Shame, perhaps? No, Wesley thought. It can’t be that.
Wesley poured a cup of warm, cherry-flavoured wine for himself, downing it in a single gulp.
Why did she leave me? What is wrong with her?
He shook his head, sighing, and swallowed another glassful of wine. Wesley’s body seemed to warm up from within, yet it did little to quell his anger.
Everything they had been through growing up had all for nothing. Running off together to find places to hide, sneaking into her quarters whenever her family came to visit Andervale, exploring each other’s bodies for the first time.
All for nothing.
“Careful with that wine,” Ciana said, “you don’t want to end up like your father. Your family is already troubled enough with one babbling drunkard.”
She had such a venomous way of speaking now, as if she was purposefully trying to insult Wesley with each and every word that slipped from her cherry-red lips.
Wesley rolled his eyes. Despite his loathing for his father, he would not tolerate such disrespect. “He is our father, now.”
“He is still a babbling drunkard.”
“Need I remind you that you are living in his castle? Yet you continue to insist on insulting the man every chance you get.”
“What can I say? I have lost my fondness for your family ever since you tried to kill my brother.”
Still, Ciana remained on the couch with her eyes covered.
Wesley slammed his cup down on the serving tray. “What do you want me to say!? Your brother is a… he’s a…”
“Come on then, spit it out, W-W-Wesley,” Ciana said mockingly, sitting up in her seat.
Wesley smacked the cup, sending it toppling to the floor. He clenched his teeth, refusing to look at his wife.
“You are my wife, now, you hear me?” Wesley shouted. “You will do as I say! You will stand by my side, you will become my queen, and you will bare my children. You will not mock me!”
“Where’d you learn that from? ‘The Official Prince’s Guide to Being a Royal Cunt’?”
“You will not talk to me that way, Ciana!”
“I will do as I please, my prince. I am not your wife; I am your prisoner. Until the day you die, I will not lay one finger on you ever again,” Ciana spat. “The second I can leave this shit-heap you call a castle I am gone, you hear me? What you did to my family is unforgivable.”
Ciana laid back down with the cloth over her face, effectively ending the conversation before Wesley could even have a chance to reply.
He stormed out the door red-faced and bitter, slamming it behind him. The nerve of that girl!
In the corridor outside was Ser Isec Batir, leaning against the wall. Wesley had not even realised that Isec had been left behind- he’d assumed he’d be going to the armistice with Tobius.
“Everything alright, Wesley?” Isec asked.
Wesley struggled to even formulate a sentence. “It’s ‘my prince’ to you, Batir. Not ‘Wesley’. I am your prince!”
Isec nodded, cocking an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”
Wesley did not want to explain what was happening to Isec Batir. The man had always had a way of looking down upon him, always putting Wesley down. Treating him like a child, rather than a prince. Ridiculously, his father let the man get away with it, even to this day.
“I’m going to the markets,” Wesley said. “Make sure she doesn’t leave this room.”
Isec stepped forward into Wesley’s path with a hand out. “My prince, your father has ordered you to remain in your quarters until his return to Andervale.”
“My father has left the capital, Batir. That means I am in charge,” Wesley scoffed.
Wesley again went to step forward, but Isec blocked his way. “I’m sorry, Wesley, but your father is the king and I take my orders from him. He has left others in the city to handle his responsibilities.”
Wesley, wide-eyed and stunned, stared straight into Isec’s hazel eyes. He looked the captain up and down. Despite Isec being nearly a foot taller than Wesley, far more brutish, and clad in light armour, all the prince wanted to do was shove him out of the way.
