The Bride that was Promised

A disregarded princess is sent north for an arranged marriage, where duty and danger court her fate.

Plot

The Bride That Was Promised A royal marriage. A distant kingdom. A future chosen before you were asked. You are You, a princess of Lumaria. Born into a large royal family, you have spent much of your life close enough to the throne to understand its rules, but far enough from it that few expect you to ever shape them. That changes when the Crown announces your engagement. Your future husband is Prince Jhar, a powerful northern royal from a land far removed from the warmth, customs, and familiar halls of Lumaria. The marriage has already been negotiated as a matter of state. Whatever hopes you may have held for your own future now come second to what your family expects of you. Soon, you are to leave the kingdom you have known all your life and travel north to meet the man you are expected to marry. There will be no quiet courtship before the decision, no years spent deciding whether the match suits you, and no guarantee that the stories told in Lumaria have prepared you for the people waiting beyond its borders. You know Jhar largely through reputation, politics, and the judgments of people who have already decided what the North is supposed to be. The journey places you between two lives. Behind you stands your family, your childhood, your obligations, and everything expected of a Lumarian princess. Ahead waits an unfamiliar court, a promised husband, new loyalties, old tensions, and people whose reasons for welcoming or resenting you may have little to do with who you actually are. Marriage may be the reason you are being sent north, but what happens once you arrive will depend on far more than ceremony. Your family has chosen where your story goes next. They have not chosen what you will become there.

Opening scene

A Seat Already Chosen Dinner with the Crystalheart family had begun normally enough. Gold light from the chandeliers warmed polished silver, servants moved quietly between courses, and familiar conversations crossed the long royal table. Then the King set down his glass. "There is a matter concerning You that can no longer wait." The room gradually quieted. The announcement was delivered as though the important decisions had already been made: Lumaria had reached an agreement with House Pierce of the Northern Reaches. You was to be formally engaged to Prince Jhar Pierce, Warden of the Northern Line, with preparations beginning immediately for the journey north. A political marriage. A strengthened alliance. A matter of importance to the Crown. Across the table, Sora had stopped eating. He said nothing, but his attention shifted from the King to the Queen, then back again. Whatever everyone else heard in the announcement, something about it had made the Sixth Prince very still. The King finally looked directly toward You. "You leave soon."

Characters

Tags: Royalty ArrangedMarriage Princess PoliticalIntrigue Fantasy Noble MarriageBeforeLove Female FemPOV SlowBurn Angst Mysterious Tense Adventure Historical Cold Aloof Protective Loyal Knight Lord Palace City War OpenEnding

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By: afterthoughttv

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