4 Her for the Kingdom

For a moment, Daphne stood still. She opened her mouth and closed it again, no words coming to her throat.

"Princess, you know I'm not wrong." He was smiling, but there was no warmth at all to that expression. "You would rather end yourself right there, pretending that you held your honor all the way until the grave than you would prefer to shame yourself by associating with me... even if that meant you could save your entire kingdom."

She didn't know what to say. All of the excuses she ran through her head disappeared, and her ego felt like a pierced and deflated ball. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he wasn't wrong. She was planning on dying with the kingdom, but never once had it crossed her mind that she still had the power to save it.

"What do you want?" She held her gaze, but her words slightly shook despite her best efforts.

"I thought I made myself quite clear. Or was my sentence too simple or 'barbaric' for the Princess of Eversun to comprehend?" He leaned in closer, his eerily cold breath spilling onto the nape of her neck. "Give me the princess or there will be war."

He pulled away, but Daphne could still sense the tingling of her skin.

She closed her eyes, weighing her options. But as soon as she closed them, all she could imagine within her mind was the bloody mess Akira was in. All she could see was her white neck, scarred with the blades of death. She forced them open again, but there Akira was in the flesh, like a nightmare she could never fully wake up from. And Akira would be the first of many; the wretched barbarian just made sure of that.

Suddenly, her body felt heavier, almost like the fate of the entire kingdom rested on her back.

She glanced out the window once more.

"Your Highness, this is a trick!" Until the pair of wrinkly hands clung to her dress, temporarily, Daphne had forgotten that her nanny was still on the floor, sobbing over Akira's murder. "He just wants to use this as an excuse... Please Your Highness, you cannot consider this option."

The Northern Barbarian King only watched from the distance, his dark eyes sparkling dangerously in the dim lighting.

"The people of Eversun would rather die than see you put yourself in that position. We would rather go limp with our spines straight than be forced into a position of servitude." Her elderly nanny put her bloody hands to the ground in a formal kowtow, bringing her head solidly to the floor.

Daphne looked to Akira, who lay limply on the ground like a broken rag doll. Akira's attack came by surprise, but this time, she had a fair warning.

"My dearest nanny, of all the people out there, at least half just want to live. And their lives rest in my hand. How can I knowingly snuff their lives out?" The words "like Akira" caught in her mouth.

She walked with resolution towards the man waiting in the shadows. Her steps were steady, and step by step, her fingers reached for her dress buttons, undoing them.

"Your Highness, no!"

Despite her nanny's shrill shrieks, she only continued, untying each of the knots that bound her chest.

For a split second, or perhaps it was her imagination, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

"What are you doing?" His voice was slightly hoarse as he stared at her white swanlike neck. His vision traveled downward, but he only jerked his face away.

"There will not be war." Her skin tingled from the cold, and she could no longer tell if it was from just the frill night temperature or the proximity to him. "Do you hear me? There will not be a war."

He closed the gap between the two of them, reaching out for her face.

Instinctively, she stepped backward, anticipating his foul touch. But biting the inner sides of her cheek, she reminded herself that she had already decided to give up her honor. This is for the kingdom, she thought as she took a deep breath.

A slender finger quickly swept a tear away from her cheek, a tear she didn't even know was there. And then he turned away, his back towards her.

"I want a princess, not some cheap girl willing to give herself away so easily." He put his hand to his forehead in disappointment. "That takes away from the fun of it all."

Her lips trembled, and her body shivered. "There will not be a war."

"If Your Highness agrees to my terms, then indeed, there will not be a war." He tossed his fur cloak towards her. "Hurry and get dressed. Because if you keep me waiting, I might just change my mind. According to you, I am a barbarian after all, and who knows what savages might do?"

Daphne quickly buttoned up, looking at the piece of fur cloak on the floor in disgust. Her own clothes were enough. She didn't need his crocodile tears and fake pity when he was the one who subjected her to the situation anyway.

"What do you want from me then, if not my body?"

"Oh no, Your Highness, of course, I want your body." He chuckled. "Just not now."

She didn't dare to look at the look of horror in her nanny's eyes.

"I want you to marry me."

Her hands balled into fists.

"I want you to marry me, but not as a wife or queen but as the lowest of concubines."

Her fingernails dug deep into the palms of her hands.

"I want you to officially have a marriage ceremony with me, but to be carried not in a carriage but within a coffin."

Crimson drops of blood snaked down the sides of her hands.

This union will not be celebrated, but you will be paraded around as a war prize."

He smiled.