3: Shaky Alliances

My father took over from him and explained the need for an alliance with the Brockbanks, he expressed his trust in our soldiers and in the ability of the men to triumph at battle with the Leprechauns who were equally great fighters but their realm also consisted of Goblins who were exceptional armoury crafters and the fairies who had magical abilities.

He further explained that while our realm consisted of powerful vampires and Banshees, they had an unfair advantage against us given their numbers and their access to the finances and resources at their fingertips. He talked about the possibility of the Werewolves and Druids who could join forces with them if we indulged in their quest for bloodshed.

I listened to the debriefing with rapt attention, I knew I was going to be involved in these sort of minutes sooner than later but I had hoped my father would keep me away from his work much longer. I wasn’t certain of my role in this matter and this unnerved me. I felt my heart race against my chest as I listened to my father talk about how the council thought it was best to propose a peace treaty to quell the trigger happy folks while they sent out detectives to investigate the real cause of the issue.

I swallowed as the room went silent and all eyes except Rory’s turned towards me. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he fiddled with the pasta in his plate, never lifting the fork to his mouth. I blinked and focused my gaze on my father and smiled wistfully.

“Maeve,” He began slowly. “It is in your interest and in the interest of every single inhabitant of the Blackwell realm, your home, if you married King Sweeny Brockbank.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and dropped the fork that I was holding in my hand. My gaze travelled around the room and landed on Rory once more. He had stopped playing with his food but still had his gaze lowered. I shifted my eyes from him and looked directly at my father.

“I’m not marrying anyone Da.” I said firmly after a long awkward silence. The tension in the room was palpable as my father wrung his hands together in a bid to steady his nerves while his men all lowered their gazes.

“Maeve, think about this very carefully.” He replied and I shrugged in response.

“I’m sorry but I’m not giving myself away to the Brockbanks as a peace treaty. I know it is expected of me to be loyal to my realm, I am but I will not willingly walk into a den of enemies. Did any of you in this room consider what it would be like for me, a vampire, to live in Brockbank? They hate us there!” I retorted.

“Maeve, if you refuse to do this, these people would swoop in on us and take away everything we’ve ever known. We have to work with our best odds here. You would not be alone in Brockbank, you’ll have your personal maid and bodyguards go along with you. You do not have to bear offsprings for him, hybrids are forbidden therefore you will always be provided with the exotic potion, Mnoirl to disperse any offsprings but you will live there as queen in the realm, isn’t that the dream of any girl?” He responded.

I shook my head and smiled. “We’ve not had a conversation in a long while, you think I’m still that six-year-old that played with her dolls right and skipped around the place in a tiara. This is not a dream for me but I am damned anyways.”

I turned to Rory and grinned. “Look at me Sir Rory Rhys-Brockbank.” I said authoritatively. He raised his head and met my gaze. “This was the news you came bearing, little wonder you delivered it in the manner that you did.”

His eyes widened as the color drained from his face. I turned to my father and smiled wistfully.

“I have no choice in the matter, Lord Colin Blackwell.” I said sternly. My father swallowed at the sound of my voice reverberating through the room. I tried to steady my nerves and continued talking.

“If I refused to marry Sweeney, I would be the heiress that caused the death of her people and if I did, I would be walking into a volcano with my eyes open. If that’s what the Lord and great generals of the Blackwell realm want, then so be it. I’ve lost my appetite, my apologies.” I said, visibly annoyed. I leaned backwards, pushed my weight against the chair I was seated on, stood up and stormed out of the room.

I spent the next few days touring the Blackwell realm and discovering new parts of the island I hadn’t been to. My last night in the realm, I snuck out of the estate into the streets and spent the wee hours partying. I met Rory at one of the parties I had gone to, at first glance, he looked like he had been drinking a little too much and the expression he wore readily displayed his misery.

When our eyes met, he began walking towards me but I grabbed the hand of the girl I had been speaking to before noticing him and we left the party. I was hurt that everyone seemed to unanimously agree that it was alright to uproot me from my place of birth and throw me into the realm of our perceived enemies. I was angry that Rory hadn’t bothered to be on my side.

I understood the circumstances but I still sulked at the idea of being given away like some commodity. I was in a foul mood the next morning and thankful that Aisling and the stranger I had brought home had slipped out of the room as the other servants entered a few minutes later to prep me for my wedding. I slowly got out of bed, poured a glass of wine for myself and watched solemnly as they ran a bath, arranged my properties into large suitcases, packed up my other things and carted them to the lot where they would be carted away by the bellboys to Brockbank.

As the time to stand in the Hall of the Old gods to proclaim the marital oaths drew near, I pinched myself and prayed silently that something would happen and I would wake up from what seemed to be a much more terrible dream than my nightmares had ever been. Nothing of the sort happened, I cursed under my breath and went through with the wedding.

As I sat in the grand hall which had been redecorated to suit the occasion and listened to the cacophony of voices, my eyes scanned the room angrily. I felt sick to my stomach at the realization that while everyone ate heartily, this party was the only farewell I was going to receive. Rage coursed through my body as the thought that my life and perceived sense of freedom was being given away for a group of people that barely knew my name.

I had spent all my life growing up in the Blackwell realm, I learned to fight and defend myself in the pits of Ares, I was taught about our culture and the cultures of the other realms of the island of Larne. My father had been insistent about keeping me safe in Blackwell as the inhabitants of the other realms were our known enemies regardless of the silly, selfish pacts and laws they made at the beginning of every other year under the guise of keeping the peace on Innis.

Yet, my father seemed so eager to send me away to protect himself. The snivelling cowards he called his men would readily send away someone to take the brunt of whatever all of this was than fight for their lives. I turned my gaze to the left and it rested on Sweeney who sat next to me biting into a chicken wing he held in his hand. As I watched him eat I wondered what it must feel like for him to be a King who came for war and was given a wife instead.

Did he feel fulfilled or was I just another thing to boost his ego and status? I pulled my gaze away from him when our eyes met and his grinned happily. I blinked twice as I looked around while trying to mentally block out his face which was currently a disgusting mess of food particles and syrup caught in his beards. I scanned the room once more and noticed with satisfaction that Rory was absent. He had always professed his love for me then turn around to tell me how what we were doing was wrong in another. I wondered how he felt to see my go. I would miss his presence but I had Aisling to keep me company at least, my face flushed at the thought of him in bed with other women.

I clenched my fists and exhaled silently at the thought of my life being disrupted for people I barely knew. As I tried to steady my nerves, I wondered if this was what it was like to rule a realm, I would be back to Blackwell to rule when my father passed away. I pondered on the fact that I would have to make sacrifices like this one in order to keep my people safe. I swallowed as the effects of war which the Brockbanks had initially proposed dawned on me, I thought about all the people that were going to be safe and sound in their houses now rather than being slain or caught as victims of an avoidable clash.

I felt myself calm down a little but my emotions still conflicted within me. I did not want to leave my home and go to a strange land but I knew I had a duty to my people. I looked eyes with Aisling who was standing at the end of the room with a jug of wine in her hand. She smiled wistfully and lowered her gaze as my father leaned in from the right to whisper in my ears.

“Maeve, Listen child, you’re going to be with the Brockbanks, they might have the numbers and the money but our greater enemies are the Laffertys. They are aware of this alliance between the realms of the Blackwell and Brockbanks but they do not know your identity, you must ensure to keep it that way. You will have guards to keep you safe, you have grown into a young graceful woman and I know you will do what’s right for us all.” He said.

I nodded in response, pulled my gaze away from Aisling who had started serving the guests more wine, picked up the cutleries and dig into the food places in front of me. If I was going to a foreign place, I might as well leave on a full stomach. The party was still in full swing by the time I had finished eating but I couldn’t take being here any longer, I stood up from my chair, muttered a low “excuse me” to my father and walked out of the room smiling to guests on my way out.