A Fateful Chance (2)

“Ryker, I can’t let them do this to you.” Ryker’s mother sobbed. “I’d rather-”

“Mother please.” Ryker sighed in frustration. “Father is dead. I can’t lose you and Rosie too.”

It had been two hours since Fate had spared Ryker and his remaining family from being executed and now he was in his father’s office making arrangements for his journey to the Cadilaria Empire. That was until his mother had barged into the office.

She wanted to stop him from going, the idea of her son marrying a strange woman so she could live being too much.

“No Ryker!” Duchess Westerwyn cried out angrily, grabbing Ryker’s shoulders. “Sending you to marry that demon…It’s a fate worse than death. I’ve lost my husband, I can’t lose you too.”

“Mom…” Ryker stared at his mother, seeing the pain in her eyes. “Think about Rosie. Do you want her to die? This is the only way I can save everything.”

“I don’t want my children to die, Ry. No mother wants that. But I also don’t want to send my son to a demon so I can live. I can’t be the reason you have a miserable life…” Ryker’s mother cried, tears flowing freely down her face. “What kind of mother does that?!”

Ryker wiped the tears streaming down his mother's face. “Mother, I know you hate this whole thing but I need to do this. So please, stay strong for Rosie and me…”

The Duchess stared at Ryker for a moment before turning her head away. “I see…So, that’s what you’re planning.”

“Mother…”

“Don’t act dumb. I know what you’re planning, Ry. I was the one who raised you after all. Just promise me you’ll be careful okay? The duchy isn’t worth your misery.”

“Alright I promise.” Ryker pulled his mother into a hug. “Just promise me you’ll take care of Rosie and the duchy in my stead.”

“Of course darling.” The Duchess replied as she hugged Ryker back. “Just come back to me safely.”

***

Ryker looked upon his mother and fifteen year old sister, Rosie, with a wave of sadness and fear. They had just escaped death and now he was leaving them. Sighing, he gave them a small wave before turning away.

Ryker lifted the hood of his black cloak to cover his head. He then grabbed the reins of his gray horse and set off.

Normally, Ryker would have teleported straight to the Empire but seeing as he was representing the Pellan Kingdom, he had to prepare a few things as well as take care of a few pressing matters as the new Duke.

Thus he has sent his vassal ahead with the mages to prepare everything for the visit, planning to meet them in a small town in the Cadilaria Empire. There they would teleport to the capital.

And with the King keeping his sister and mother hostage, Ryker was going to have to convince the princess that he was a worthy choice. The only issue was how he was going to go about it.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t courted anyone before. He had actually courted a few ladies from various noble families but Ryker didn’t think flowers and escorting the princess to ball parties was going to cut it.

He wasn’t even sure if she would want to go to ball parties with all the bad rumors about her going around. Would she even be invited or welcomed? Ryker doubted it.

And then there were the courting customs of the Cadilaria Empire. He was sure they were slightly different to that of the Pellan Kingdom’s.

Ryker sighed in frustration, looking up at the darkening sky. He wished he had grabbed some of his sister’s romance novels. Maybe they would have helped. A few were from the Empire so would have had at least helped him understand their courting customs.

“There’s no point in regretting it now.” Ryker muttered to himself. “I’ll just have to pick up a few books on the way.”

With that in mind, Ryker rode onwards with determination for the next few hours. He soon made his way to a small village near the border. He quickly found an open inn and headed inside, his body weary from the journey.

The place was small and had a few drunken people inside gambling or just horsing around. A plum, middle aged woman was overlooking a bar, her eyes like a hawk as she watched her patrons.

She quickly spotted Ryker entering and called out to him. Ryker, realizing that she was probably the owner, headed over to the bar.

“Good evening.” Ryker called out over the rowdiness of the inn. “Could I get one room and someone to take care of my horse outside?”

The woman pursed her lips. “I can give you a room but it’ll be small.”

“And the horse?”

“Stable’s full and it’s midnight. No one to care for the horse.” The woman shrugged.

Ryker smiled, quickly recognizing the woman’s tactic.“I see…Will this do then?”

He pulled out a gold coin and slid it across the wooden counter. The woman looked at it for a second, her eyes soon widening as she processed what she was looking at. The coin was enough to feed a peasant's family for a few months.

“Of course m’lord.” The woman said quickly, her tone becoming more polite. “Shall I send some food to your room?”

“Sure and a jug of ale.”

“Of course.” The woman turned away. “Tina! We have a guest.”

A girl about the same age as Ryker’s sister suddenly appeared through a wooden doorway near the bar.

“Yes…” The girl murmured, probably wondering why she was being called.

“Take our guest to Room Four and go wake Marcus. He needs to take care of the horse outside.” The woman quickly instructed the younger girl.

The girl nodded and turned to Ryker. “This way m’lord.”

Ryker followed the girl upstairs and was shown to a medium sized room. Obviously the gold coin had upgraded him to a bigger room.

“Will that be all?” The girl asked.

“Yes. And please do make haste with the food. I’m quite weary and would like to retire soon.” Ryker responded, taking a seat on the small bed.

It wasn’t like the one at home, the bed he was sitting on being made of straw and covered with a wool blanket. But it was better than sleeping outside.

The girl soon left and Ryker lay back on the bed, his muscles sighing in relief despite the straw poking his body. He wanted to sleep right there but needed to eat first.

Maybe just for a few minutes, Ryker thought as his eyes closed.