This has been festering in my brain for a few days. If I've messed up any times, dates, or names I'm sorry. I haven't read the books in a long time so this might be a little rusty!

-K.

"With all due respect, I feel that I should refrain from making any promises about what I will or will not do."

Lianne of Conte was standing at her window, staring out towards the royal forest. She had lost the fight with her older brothers on who would get the rooms that looked over the city when Roald had moved into his own area of the wing when he and Shinko were married. She plucked at her lip with her teeth, staring out at the view she had once hated but come to love.

"It's important that we secure our alliance with Vomine." King Jonathan of Tortall was staring at his second youngest child, waiting for her to meet his gaze.

Vomine was a large country even further north than Scanra and it spanned from the Emerald Ocean to the Roof of the World.

"I know," Lianne glanced back and then turned her attention back to the forest. "But I don't want to marry him."

The King sighed into his hands. "Why not?"

"Well he's old, for one, and he isn't rumored to be the most pleasant man in the world."

Jonathan shifted in the chair, choosing his words carefully. "He isn't that old, dear."

"Thirty-four is old for someone as young as me. I won't be happy in Vomine. I'll have no friends, no one to speak to," She shook her head and looked at her mother, who was staring into the fireplace as if the ashes were the ones talking. "I have no desire to be a queen."

"You were born to be a queen, Li."

Lianne's anger sparked. She stared down her father without any hesitation. "No. I refuse to go."

"Well," The king sighed and stood, holding a hand out to assist his wife to her feet. "Like your sisters before you, you will fulfill your royal duties. You cannot sit in this room your entire life hoping to be someone you're not."

"I won't go."

Jonathan glared, finally losing his temper with his daughter. This was the third time they had discussed her marriage and she still refused to cooperate. "If you do not go willingly I will have all the companies of the Own bind you and drag you there. You will marry Wolthren, King of Vomine for Tortall." He turned and stalked out, his composure shaken.

"Only you could upset your father so easily." Thayet stood gracefully and kissed her daughter on her forehead, following her husband out the chamber door. "Think about what he said, Lianne. It would be easier if you went willingly. You could learn to love… Maybe not love, but respect any man. I know what kind of person you are."

"I will never agree to leave Tortall." Lianne crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground, her face set in a stony glare.

Queen Thayet shook her head and closed the door behind her, stepping out into the hallway and towards the large, callused hand that awaited her to drag her to the body it belonged to.

"She's impossible." Jon growled, one hand covering his face.

Thayet embraced her husband. "She's just as stubborn as you are, but she'll come around to the idea. Lianne has never had to do anything before and she isn't used to things being demanded of her." She began to walk down the hall with Jon. "I think we may have spoiled her."

"Spoiled or not, we need her to make this work. Come, my heart, I have some free time before I meet with the tribes." He murmured as he swept toward their bedroom.

Lianne paced around her room; angry with her father, her mother, and most of all with herself. She had allowed herself to become trapped in a position just as her sister had. If she had been smarter she would have insisted on training to become a knight or even joining the Riders. Both of those dreams had been squashed after her ninth birthday and her accident. Riders and knights were not scared of riding horses. She shuddered at the memory and flopped down in the chair that her father had jus vacated.

"Stupid," She muttered to herself, her head in her hands. She met her gaze I the floor-length mirror that was fastened to her wall and inspected what she saw.

A young girl, no older than sixteen stared back. She had coal-black hair, from one or both parents, that framed her face and softened her strong nose that was straight and almost too large for her delicate mouth and eyes. She was the only child of the Conte line that had not inherited her father's brilliant blue eyes, instead gaining her mother's hazel gaze. Though she had so many of her mother's features, she was in no way as breathtaking as the queen. Beautiful maybe, but still a shadow compared to her sisters and the rest of her family. They were all regal, tall, and proud. They had an authority that people reacted to and caused them to listen when they spoke. They could command a room full of people with a simple speech. They were of royal descent and bled the fact.

Lianne was shorter than all her siblings, and tended to blend into the background. Roald was the heir to the throne, Kalasin had always been considered the beauty after her mother, Liam the valiant knight, who was known for his talent with the sword, Jasson the warrior, already proving himself an asset to the kingdom, and the youngest, Vania, who was happily married to a suitable husband from her mother's own country. Lianne had often wondered where this left her. She had always been the odd-bird in her family, hazel-eyed and without skills that would allow her to wield a sword. She had not even inherited the Gift that was so prevalent in her lineage.

The girl staring back at her cocked an eyebrow. What good was she to her parents? To her kingdom? The only purpose she could serve was to marry an enemy country's king and bring peace and order to save the lives of the knights and soldiers that had loyally pledged their lives to defending Tortall.

She rose as gracefully as she could and brushed off her brown breeches and loose-fitting white shirt. Before her father had approached her to talk she had been practicing her archery skills with the Riders. A pang of sadness hit her when she realized once she moved to Vomine and married Wolthren he may never let her pick up a bow again. She squelched the panic that rose in her chest and snagged her bow from when she had set it, determined not to think about marriage for the rest of the day.

Lianne pushed the little green spring around her plate, ignoring her father's words about the Kingdom and her happiness and his pride. It did little to sooth her frazzled nerves about her impending marriage. Two weeks after their last conversation the talks had gone though and she was to be moved north to Vomine by Midwinter. It was already the end of summer.

"Of course we will be sending her with her maids," Jon was talking to her Uncle Gary, who was deeply interested in the conversation at hand as well as the giant deer steak on his plate. "We're also in talks about a few noble women who could also accompany her. Perhaps the youngest girl of Kings Reach could go with her? As I recall she is almost finished with her studies…"

Lianne tuned out of the conversation, trying to quell her heart thundering in her ears. Her head pounded, her lungs stopped pumping air, and the walls began to bend and waver. All the panic that she had been ignoring for weeks rose up and threatened to choke her.

Run. The panic demanded of her. Fly from here, you don't belong here. Go. Run!

"I need to go to Carthak!" She spat out and suddenly the panic stopped, the walls snapped back into their regular shapes. "Please," She said in a softer, gentler tone. "Please let me go visit Kally one more time."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Jon began, but a pleading look from Thayet silenced him. "We'll discuss it after we eat." He shook his head and turned back to Gary, who shot her a questioning look.

She ignored her Uncle's stare and focused back on her food, which she could no longer eat. She could feel her mother's pained eyes boring into the side of her head.

Poor Mama, she thought gently, slipping the slivers of eat off her plate to the waiting dogs under the table.

Scant days later Lianne was watching her brother Liam check the straps of his horse's saddle to make sure that they were secure. His horse, Victory, was a large animal, dark grey with a white mane and tail. Victory was the kid of horse that bards sang about in their heroic ballads, and Liam was fit to be part of those songs as well. He was identical to their father, but years younger and a few inches taller. He would be her protector on their long ride to the port.

"It'll be good for you to see Kally again." He told her as he moved to check the saddle her pony was wearing.

"I know," Lianne whispered, letting Victory nudge her with his giant head and tried not to shift away.

Since her accident she was unable to ride anything but a pony, for fear of being thrown.

Liam finished inspecting the straps and held her pony for her while she swung into the saddle. "That's a good girl, Violet." He patted the old pony and mounted his horse. "Alright men, off we go." He nudged his horse into a quick walk and Lianne fell in behind him, the rest of their riding party falling in behind her. With them traveled ten of the King's Own for protection.

Lianne turned around in her saddle, careful to keep her boots firmly in the stirrups as she looked behind her. Her mother was standing at the gate, her eyes dark and sleepless while her father held her, his hand raised in a silent goodbye.

She gave a small smile and a wave before turning back around. She would only be gone a month and then she would spend time with them before her departure to Vomine. She shook her head. She couldn't remember either of her sisters having such a somber farewell before their marriages'.

Maybe it's because they know I'll be miserable. She thought as Violet tottered to keep up with the horses the men rode. Or maybe it's because they know when you leave you'll never come back. The sinister thought whipped through her head before she was able to banish it and she swallowed hard. These sorts of ideas had plagued her recently, especially when she was alone, telling her to go saddle her pony, to pick up her bow, to go to the Royal forest. For the most part she was able to ignore them, but they still persisted, chipping away at her sanity like hammers chipping away at rock.

"I'll be fine," She told herself, giving Violet a loving pat.

"What's wrong now?" Liam called back.

"Nothing!" Lianne shouted quietly and falsely cheerful. "Just excited to see Kally's baby."

"Don't speak of such things. I can't stand the thought of my sister participating in marital acts." Liam shuddered in his saddle and the other men chuckled softly. Those who had sisters scowled.

"Even if she's married?"

"Even so."

Lianne was unable to reply, too choked up by the thought of her impeding marriage and what marital acts her future husband would require of her.

The small trope rode for a few days at a steady pace no faster than a brisk trot to reach the port. They wore plainclothes and relied on Honu, a mage in the Own from the Yamani Islands, to protect them. If need came to they would fight, but since the war in Scanra they had learned that to slip undetected was usually much easier and required fewer men and less bloodshed. The trip was jovial and the siblings jostled one another and teased each other and the men. The ride was easy and the most fun Lianne had had in weeks.

They were only week's ride away from the port when it hit them. One morning unseasonably cool air blew in from the North and brought low, dark clouds with it. By midmorning the riders were beginning to feel slow and sleepy, like they were traveling through deep water. Their joints became stiff and Lianne could feel her fingers that were gripping the reins going numb. They pressed on until Honu gasped and slid off his horse, rubbing his eyes furiously.

"Magic," Liam said softly, staring at her in bewilderment before he slid from his saddle.

"No!" Lianne cried, but even to her ears it was barely a whisper. She tried to kick Violet into a trot but her legs wouldn't work.

Then men from the Own all slumped in their saddles or fell off their mounts.

"Goddess," She whispered and heard the muffled sound of hoof beats behind her before the darkness overtook her.