This will be a happy chapter :)

Chapter Quote:
"Love conquers all cause I kick major ass."
~Eros
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Chapter 9

Kiara

The past few days had been my proaulia. It's where my I spend time with my family with the remaining time I have as a single women and where I make offers to Aphrodite for a happy marriage. Kyrian and I had been forced to be separated from each other three days before the wedding so he could spend time with his father but he also included Julian since they were practically brothers. We had both tried to sneak out to see each other but my father and King Alkis were strict with security. It felt weird not seeing him after we'd been together every day for the past two and a half months. My mother was getting emotional at the thought of leaving me soon. I was going to miss her, but Thrace felt like home now. Maybe it was because my family had been here with me so long. I wasn't quite sure but something about this place felt right.

On the day of the wedding, Zelina made sure my hair was perfectly styled with waves and petite flowers woven through it. My dress was sleeveless but the back of it went sort of low. I worried about what people would think. I didn't want to be considered a harlot...

"Kiara you look gorgeous!" Elysia exclaimed, giving me a massive hug.

I grinned. "Thank you."

"Kyrian's going to die at the altar at the sight of you."

"I'd prefer if he didn't. I don't want to be widow before I've even said my vows," I joked.

"That would be bad. Come, it's almost time!" My mother insisted. We left my room and headed down the corridors. Twelve guards escorted us downstairs. My father and brother were waiting for me.

"You look beautiful darling," my father said, beaming at me.

"Thank you father."

"You ready little sis?" Taren queried.

"As ready as I'll ever be." My parents, brother, and Elysia left to go take their seats. I had to walk down the aisle by myself with four guards. Two ahead of me and two in the back. I took a deep breath. There was still some time before I actually had to walk though.

"Kiara?" A familiar voice whispered.

"Julian!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm one of your guards. How are you feeling?"

"Nervous but I guess that's normal. How's Kyrian?"

"Anxious to see you again." Horns blared all around us. Julian nudged me. "That's our cue. Men, form up!"

Julian stood at my front right. The doors to the front of the palace opened. I had to walk a good while through the crowds before I actually got up to the altar. It was so the crowds could see me. Guards blocked the civilians from coming to near me, lining the streets with swords and shields. People stretched their hands out, hoping I'd shake them. I brushed my fingertips with theirs. It was the most I could do since the guards were blocking from doing anything more.

A little girl, hardly older than five, broke out from the guards. Julian was on her in an instant.

"Let her go!" I commanded. Julian stared at me and I stared back, challenging him to question my authority. He may be a general, but I was the princess. He nodded and let go of the girl. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyrian halt in his steps towards me, carefully watching me.

Kneeling down to the girl's height, I asked, "What's your name?"

"Daphne," she replied quietly, looking at me shyly.

"It's an honor to meet you."

By now the crowds had fallen silent, watching us. Daphne placed her chubby hands on my cheeks. "You're very beautiful."

"As are you," I said with a smile.

"Daphne! Get back here!" A woman hissed. I looked up. It must've been the girl's mother. She looked absolutely mortified.

"Listen, I have a wedding to go through with right now, but I want to get to know you some more. Where do you live?" I queried. She told me. "Well, Daphne, when all this is through, I will come visit you. Does that sound good?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed. Daphne wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I was taken aback but returned it. I then picked her up and handed over to her mother.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness," the mother apologized, hanging her head.

"Do not be sorry Miss...?"

"Sophia."

"Do not be sorry, Miss Sophia. It was an honor to meet her and you. I will see you both soon." She curtsied to me and I curtsied back. I faced Julian. "Lead the way."

He was smiling under his helmet. "Yes, Your Highness."

The guards formed up again. We began walking. Cheers started going up around us. Most chanting my name. I felt my cheeks getting red. I hadn't meant to make a scene but I guess stopping your bridal walk will do that. When I reached the altar, Kyrian grinned at me.

"You're going to make a wonderful queen," he whispered.

"And you a king," I replied. He took my hands and we listened to the sermon about marriage. Thracian weddings were different to Greek ones, and I was thankful for that. It was much simpler. The minister pulled out a piece of rectangular cloth about two feet in length. It was pure white lace with intricate designs and small, delicate gems woven into it. I didn't even want to know what the cost of it was. It was wrapped around mine and Kyrian's hands, symbolizing our union. Kyrian and I said our vows, his nearly driving me to tears. Afterwards we were allowed to kiss. The cheering by the crowd was deafening. When we pulled back, his eyes were glittering with happiness. I was pretty sure mine were too. The cloth was unwrapped around our hands and placed on my shoulders. Julian and the other soldiers took their positions again, leading us back down the pathway to the palace. My arm was looped through Kyrian's, my left hand resting on his muscular arm. He placed his hand on mine. This moment was going to be treasured forever in my mind. I couldn't remember the last time when I'd been this happy. This would never be forgotten.

"I forgot to tell you this earlier because you'd taken my breath away," Kyrian whispered into my ear. "But you look stunningly beautiful."

"And you look tantalizingly handsome," I responded. My husband smirked. Joking, I added, "I'm going to have to fight to keep the women off you."

"They may try to win me over, but my eyes will forever be only on you."

"I need to add charming to your list of amiable qualities."

"I need to add sarcastic to yours."

"Like you didn't know that already." Kyrian laughed before giving me a kiss, causing the crowds to roar in approval again.

Before we entered the palace, Kyrian swept me up into his arms and carried me across the threshold, saying: "Welcome to your new home."

Setting me down, we turned to face our parents. King Alkis stepped up and said, "Dinner will begin in three hours. Change into the appropriate attire. Servants will help you get ready. We will see you soon."

Kyrian and I practically ran upstairs to our room. I fell back on the bed, sprawled out, laughing in disbelief that I was finally married. My husband propped himself above me. "So, what do you want to do before we have to get ready? We have about an hour."

"I can think of many things, sleep being one of them but that is not what I'm thinking of."

"What are you thinking of?"

I pulled him into a kiss. "I can kiss you whenever I want now and trust me, I plan on doing that a lot."

"I'm okay with that. More than okay in fact."

"Then what's stopping you now?"

Kyrian appeared genuinely perplexed. "I have no idea."

And he kissed me again.
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The next morning...

I woke up to Kyrian shifting in the bed. At some point in the night I'd switched positions so my head was resting on his shoulder. I groggily opened up my eyes. He was rubbing his face with his hand, trying to wake up. When he realized I was awake, he smiled and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. "Good morning Kiara."

"Good morning Kyrian." I closed my eyes again, not wanting to wake up.

I felt his hands fiddling with the ends of my hair. "What a night."

"I can't believe we're married," I laughed, still amazed. "I never thought it'd happen."

Kyrian smirked and I knew he was about to say something charming. "I never thought I'd marry the most wonderful person in the world."

There it was. "The same goes for me with you."

"I love you vasílissá mou," Kyrian said lovingly. At that I opened my eyes. I'd always had my nickname of 'General' for him and while he called me 'prinkípissa mou', it was only when he was teasing or joking with me. This nickname seemed different. It was a serious one.

"I love you too, General," I whispered. A knock at the door made us look over.

"Enter," Kyrian shouted. Zelina and a boy I didn't know entered.

"Good morning Your Highnesses," my hand maiden curtsied. The boy followed in suit.

"Good morning Zelina," I greeted, sitting up.

"It's time for you to open your wedding gifts."

"This early?" Kyrian questioned.

"You received a lot..."

"I am honestly frightened to see how many gifts we have gotten if you're waking us up this early."

"You should be. Come, you both need to get dressed."

I blushed, knowing fully well that now we were married, we weren't supposed to have any shame in getting dressed in front of each other, but I was still embarrassed, and Kyrian seemed to pick up on that, suggesting that one of us could get ready in the bathroom. I opted for that. Zelina helped me into a blue dress and rather than pinning my hair up, I convinced her to just let it hang freely. Having it pinned up gave me headaches. Kyrian and I walked hand-in-hand down to the room where our gifts were stored. Julian was waiting outside. When I gave him a questioning look, my friend just grinned and said, "You're going to want help."

Sure enough, when he opened the doors, presents were stacked to the ceiling. I felt my mouth drop open. Julian explained that after my meet and greet with the girl Daphne yesterday, more gifts had flooded the doors of our palace.

"They love her Kyrian," Julian said.

"I can tell," my husband laughed.

"They love Kyrian too," I piped up.

"That's probably because of my dashing good looks."

"Among other things."

"Although they probably don't know how annoying you can be," Julian bantered. The two men started wrestling on the floor. I let them. They were still young and rambunctious, even if they were two fearsome generals in the Thracian army. No one except me and Penelope would know how childish they could act.

"What are you two boys doing?" Penelope asked, leaning against the doorway.

"Wrestling," Julian answered, greeting her with a kiss. Penelope was starting to have a baby bump. She was glowing from happiness too. Julian was too.

"I can see that. What are you doing here with them?"

"Making sure they don't die under the mountain of presents."

"Which we probably will if we don't have help. You two want to help us open presents?" I questioned, pulling a small box out of the heap of gifts. Opening it, I gasped. The necklace I'd been eyeing when I'd visited the turquoise jeweler was nestled in there, a small note saying 'From your jeweler friend you met when you snuck out. Many blessings on your marriage. ~Dorian'. I immediately hung it around my neck.

"Who's that from?" Kyrian asked, glancing at the note. He groaned. "How many times did you sneak out?"

"Just once."

"Plan on it anymore?"

"No, I'm watched too carefully."

"Because we still haven't caught your assassin."

"There's been no recent attempt. Maybe we killed the assassins when they attacked me."

"Do you really believe that?"

"No..." I admitted. Kyrian took my hands and said gently, "Whether we did or not, I'm not risking your safety until we are positive your assassin is gone."

"I know. Come, let's open up some presents." I sat down on some pillows on the floor with Penelope. The boys brought over presents for each of us to unwrap. We'd only gotten through about thirty when my family and Kyrian's father entered.

"I see you've began," my father commented with a smirk.

"We had to start sooner than later. Look how many presents there are. We have Julian and Penelope helping us thank the gods."

"I shall help too," Elysia declared, plopping down next to me.

While Julian and Kyrian talked with my father, Taren, and King Alkis, and Penelope talked with my mother, I leaned over to Elysia and asked, "Do you feel well? You look pale."

"I've been throwing up recently. I don't know why."

"Morning sickness?"

"Possibly. I mean have... I don't know Kiara. He and I have been trying for so long and nothing's happened. I don't want to get my hopes up and then have it not be true. And Taren wants a lot of children so we started really early. Are you and Kyrian thinking about having any soon?"

"No. I'm not ready to go that far and I'm so grateful that he understands that. Were you ready right when you got married?" My sister-in-law stayed silent, her face somber. It made me suspicious. In a low whisper so we wouldn't risk being overhead, I demanded, "Did my brother force you to do anything you didn't want to do?"

"I mean... I wasn't completely ready but we were being pressured so badly, and I think rather than have your parents antagonizing him about it, he wanted to get them off his back... I got used to it after while."

"Elysia, why didn't you tell me? I would've talked to him!"

"What could you have done? We're women. We have no rights. Our husbands are like our owners. We're supposed to do whatever they want. I love your brother but I hate how we're treated. You're lucky you live in Thrace where women are more respected."

"That's only because the men are gone so much to battle. The women run things here when the men are gone. But you'd be surprised by how much power I can have over my brother. I could've stopped him. And I'm sorry I did not realize what was happening sooner."

"I didn't let it show. I had to be strong. I'm going to be queen of Greece. I must learn to be strong."

"You don't have to be strong in front of me," I told her gently. Elysia looked at me with a grateful smile and tears in her eyes. "You're my sister. I'm here for you whenever you need me."

"Then keep this quiet until I know for certain. Promise?"

"Promise." We smiled at each other.

"What are you two whispering about?" Taren asked, wrapping his arms around his wife's shoulders.

"Nothing to entertain," Elysia answered, giving him a kiss. He smiled at her. Kyrian leaned over to me, showing me a gift. For the time being, I enjoyed being with everyone. We acted like one, big, happy family. If I'd only known then how much things were going to change.
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So I've decided to extend this story past the ancient times into modern times. Hope you enjoy! :)