Prince Dellan tried not to look at her. Sometimes he did, sometimes they foolishly made eye contact. She drew his eye as if she were the only person in the room. But there were so many others.

"Dellan?" Princess Runa said, and he realized it was her second time saying his name. He snapped his eyes away from the yellow-haired servant maid who was returning to the kitchen for another tray.

"I'm sorry, my dear," he said to Runa, sitting across from him. He always called her 'my dear' - for dear to him, she was. The term 'my love' he reserved for someone else.

Runa smiled good-naturedly. "I was only asking if you are nervous."

Dellan forced a laugh. "A little." A statement so inadequate it could be called a lie. He wasn't nervous. He was terrified to the very marrow of his bones. Runa did not deserve this.

"Most men are nervous the night before their wedding," said his older brother, Jarrod. He had stationed himself at the head of their table, with Dellan and Runa at the corners on either side of him. Jarrod, king of Grunwold, with his wife of five years sitting as far from him as possible. Jarrod never looked at her. His eyes ever remained on Runa with a covetousness that made Dellan want to slug him across the banquet hall. He had always despised Jarrod for this.

But maybe Dellan was no better.

The servant maid returned, bearing a large tray laden with pastries. Dellan kept his gaze on Runa, though the goldfinch yellow of the servant maid's hair seemed brighter than the torches as she moved about the room. Dellan reached for his goblet and his eyes unconsciously flicked back to her. Of course, she was looking his way as she gathered up dishes at the next table. She enjoyed those stolen glances, thrilled by their dangerous secret. Aelis wasn't afraid.

Runa reached across the table to rest her hand over Dellan's. "Have no fear, my darling. I'm sure we shall be very happy."

Dellan returned her smile. "I know." He did know. They would have been happy. Had he never discovered Aelis that fateful day under the willow tree, he was sure he would have been happy with Runa always. What man would not feel blessed by her? Her features, smooth and elegant as marble. Her hair, shiny as a copper coin. Her eyes, wavering between green and blue, that regarded him now with so much love. And unquestioning trust.

He was a monster.

With the dessert came a fresh pouring of wine and Jarrod chose to speak again to the hundred or so noble men and women who had come to the prenuptial banquet. As one body they stood and raised their goblets, wishing health and wealth to the royal couple. Runa grinned with pleasure, excitement painting her cheeks red as the wine. Dellan wondered how he must look. Pale as a corpse? Was anyone there perceptive enough to notice? To guess this was something more than wedding jitters?

By the far wall, Aelis too had found a goblet to raise and was smiling with pure amusement. Her eyes were dead on Dellan.

(AI Illustration)

Dellan sat down, shocked by her boldness. Yet it was her boldness that had drawn him in the first place. What he loved most about her. He would have to warn her, though, this was no time for fearlessness. Their greatest danger was sitting right next to him.

He glanced at Jarrod, only to have his dread confirmed. Jarrod had noticed the servant maid, his eyes falling from her place just as Dellan looked at him. A slight crease of confusion marked the place between Jarrod's eyebrows, but it vanished as he returned his attention to Runa. Dellan hoped his brother would dismiss it without a thought. But the shiver in his heart told him otherwise.

Dellan stood again. "Shall we take a short walk, my dear?" he said to Runa. "Feel as if I've been sitting for hours."

Runa rose without hesitation. "I'm happy to, so long as our guests do not mind."

"Won't be long. You'll keep them amused, Jarrod?" he asked with a casual smirk. His brother possessed considerable talent there; enjoyed capturing a room with his booming voice. He was well-liked by everyone who didn't truly know him.

"Enjoy yourselves." Jarrod waved them off and gestured for more wine with the same hand. The guests were already laughing at his remarks as Dellan and Runa slipped away from the banquet hall.

"Where to?" Dellan asked. This was not his castle but Runa's, the crown princess of Lumenera. An ideal match, the second son of Grunwold to the only daughter of its neighboring kingdom. She kept her homeland while he gained a crown. And they were longtime friends, not new acquaintances. Everyone had expected this.

"The gallery? We won't be disturbed there," Runa said. "Though I can see you are already."

"Already what?" Dellan asked.

"Disturbed." Runa reached for his hand as they headed down the stone corridor. "You look like your brother, with that face."

"Don't say that!" Dellan snapped. Then quickly apologized. "I know. I do look like him." Though eight years divided him from Jarrod, the resemblance was obvious. By any consideration of size, both of them were large men, the descendants of strong and powerful kings. Both had heads full of dense, dark hair and beards that would grow in thick if they allowed it – Jarrod did but Dellan did not. It was their eyebrows that seemed to mark them as kings, black and heavy as broadswords, guarding the dark eyes beneath them. Aelis had told Dellan that his eyes were overpowering, had said it with obvious pleasure. He wondered if Runa thought the same.

Runa did not speak until they were inside the gallery. They took a few turns around the room, hand in hand, barely glancing at the enormous tapestries sprawling across the walls. Dellan knew that Runa could feel his turmoil.

"Don't let him distress you," she said softly. "We'll barely see him, after tomorrow."

So that's what she thought. That it was Jarrod. Dellan huffed a sigh. "He still...."

"I know." Runa caught Dellan by the arm, stopping him to look full in his face. "I told you, he tried once. And I let him know which brother I preferred." She smiled, letting her love for him shine. "You have nothing to fear."

Nothing but shattering the heart of someone who had never done him any wrong. Dellan knew he should tell her. But though he knew her well, he couldn't be sure she would truly understand. Runa, for all her perfections, had a fair helping of pride that came from a life such as hers, from a beauty such as hers. She knew her own desirability, how many men would leap at the chance to fill Dellan's shoes right now. If she knew Dellan's heart had unexpectedly strayed... and to a kitchen maid, no less....

No. He could not tell her.

"Thank you." He offered his best smile. "I'll try to ignore him."

Runa crooked her arm through his and they continued their stroll. "I have something to ask you. Something important," she said, though her tone remained light.

"Yes?"

She gave him a sidelong glance, as if worrying about his reaction. "I'd like to talk about children."

This was the very furthest thing from Dellan's mind just then. "Oh... uh. Children?"

"Have you thought about it?"

"Not at all," he answered truthfully.

Runa laughed, her good humor restored. "Well, I'm afraid I have! Quite a bit, actually. I was wondering if you could promise me something."

"Of course." This future was pure fantasy, he could promise her anything.

"I would like my kingdom to pass to the eldest child, whether it's a boy or girl. I know in Grunwold, the heir must always be male, but we don't have to do that here. So if our first child is a daughter...."

"Doesn't bother me at all," Dellan said. "Have all the daughters you want, fill the castle with them! My only hope is that they all look like their mother."

"Thank you, Dell!" Runa pushed herself up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "You're always such a darling. How many daughters shall we have?"

"No sons at all?" he asked, matching her playful tone.

"Well, so long as we're pretending." She grinned. Dellan stifled a sigh, trying not to think of how true that was.

"Hmm...." He pointed to the ceiling. "How many royal bedchambers upstairs?"

"Well, if you don't count the ones for the king and queen, and the special guest room – nine."

Dellan grinned. "There you have it. Nine daughters."

Runa laughed and squeezed his arm. "Wouldn't it be glorious? All those girls?"

Dellan smiled down at her, feeling suddenly paternal. At nineteen years, Runa was barely more than a girl herself. But he knew she had grown up lonely, without any siblings for companionship. And the care she bestowed on her small horde of cats showed her love of nurturing. He could easily see her as the proud mother of a large brood. But it could not be with him. That future ended when he met Aelis under the willow tree and she surprised him with a kiss, a move so dangerous it could have ended her life, had he been a different man. Instead it had freed him, instantly, from the path laid out for him, stone by stone, by others. He saw he could make a choice, a thing hitherto never offered him. And he chose Aelis.

But as he walked the gallery with Runa on his arm, he began to question that choice. Perhaps following one's heart was something best left to the poets. Perhaps duty was the greater calling, the truly noble thing to do. Was the heart's desire more important than the lives that would be broken? Could he ever really say he was justified?

He thought of Aelis in the kitchen, preparing to wash the stacks of dishes left by tonight's feasting. If he turned back now, she would do this to the end of her days, first here in the castle, and then later, in some shabby cottage with a different man in the background.

No, it was intolerable. He could offer her so much better.

"Let's go back," he said. "We need to bid our guests farewell."

"I suppose," she said with reluctance. "But they'll all be returning tomorrow. And many others besides."

"I know. But still...."

He would go back with her. Show no trace of nervousness. Smile with pride. Thank the guests as they departed. Escort Runa to the door of her bedchamber and kiss her forehead. Wait until he heard Jarrod snoring in his bed. Until every candle in the castle was snuffed and even the dogs were beyond stirring.

Then he was going to run away with Aelis.

AI illustration. Not planning to put these in the printed book since it's hard to make the characters and styles consistent. And it's not perfect - as you can see, their clasped hands are a little weird. But for Wattpad it's fine. :D