Welcome to my newest work. This is your obligatory 'slow burn' warning. There's no sex in this chapter, and there may not be for a little while. Otherwise, enjoy.
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Chapter One
Once upon a time, in a kingdom not so very far away from here, there lived a princess. Fair of demeanour and fairer of face, she was the very picture of regal beauty and poise, charming everyone she met with her manners, her long golden hair, and her fluttering laugh, which was said to put the chiming bells to shame. By all accounts, she was the most desirable maiden in the kingdom, and lords and princes from miles around came to seek her hand in marriage. For not only would her eventual husband have the privilege to call one of the world's most beautiful women his own, he would also rule at her side when her parents passed on the crown to her.
There was just one problem: the princess was completely unmarriageable - or otherwise dismissive of every man she met. At least, so the rumours went among the common folk. This wasn't exactly the sort of personal issue that royalty made public, if it were even true. But why else would Princess Eliana have turned down every one of the dozens of eligible, handsome and downright charming suitors that had come to court her? There must have been something wrong with her, people whispered. Surely by now - approaching her twentieth birthday - one of the visiting princes, nobles, heroes or demigods would have fallen into her favour. But instead, she continued to pleasantly rebuff them, sending them all home with a smile.
In truth, Eliana had found many of her suitors very agreeable indeed. Sure, there was the usual assortment of prancing fools, stuck-up viscounts and sons of merchants with more money than sense, but a good number of them had been genuinely pleasant gentlemen. A second cousin that she used to play with as a child had dropped by to ask her to come and live with him in his dukedom; it had been a splendid reunion and the two had talked all day long, but he still left despondently when evening came. A square-jawed conquering hero from her father's army once caused quite a stir by staying in the princess's chambers all night, but as it turned out, she had convinced him to regale her with gory, blood-filled war stories, and they had both simply lost track of time.
Six months before Eliana's twentieth birthday, it would finally come to a head. Late in the evening, the king summoned his daughter to his chamber, far from the prying ears of servants in the throne room.
"Darling," he said with a heavy sigh, "this really must stop. Under normal circumstances, you would have been married off years ago, and that would have been the end of it. I have tried to respect your autonomy as much as we can, but at the end of the day you must marry if our kingdom's future is to be secure!"
Eliana sighed gently, her crystal blue eyes fluttering slowly as she seated herself opposite her father, hands folded delicately in her lap. She knew he was right, of course. As princesses went, she was pretty lucky to have understanding parents. In those days, princesses were commonly married off as young as thirteen, and betrothed far younger, in order to produce heirs and connect powerful bloodlines. Rather than rebelling outright, she had gone along with the endless visitations of men her father favoured; she had been polite, spoken with them at length, and then found some reason to dismiss them."I know this, Father," she said, her voice light and gentle as a trickling brook. "But I do not rule my heart; it rules me."
The king, for his part, sighed once again. "I have been through this with you, Eliana. Marriage for love is a wonderful thing, I know. Your mother and I were lucky, and it is only because we wanted you to find the same kind of love that we have allowed this to continue for so long. But if you have gone this long without finding the one you wish to marry, I am afraid that matters may be out of my hands."
Eliana did not frown - her brow must always, of course, remain regally unwrinkled - but her eyes betrayed confusion. "What do you mean, Father? You are King here, and no man's word is above your own."
Eliana's father shook his head. "Aye, my sweet child. But alas, it is not the word of a man that I fear. There is something I must tell you."
Eliana remained silent, impassively waiting for him to continue.
The king was silent for a time, looking more troubled than the young princess had ever seen him. At length, he spoke again, and his voice was heavy and dull. "Nearly twenty years ago, on the day of your birth, your mother and I were visited by a malignant spirit," he confessed, his brow thunderously dark with emotion. "It claimed you as the firstborn child of the summer solstice, under a dark and ancient pact that one of our ancestors made to secure the safety of this kingdom."
Eliana's throat hitched at her father's words. She had expected merely to be chastened for sending her latest suitors away, but this was starting to sound like something out of a nightmare. "You cannot be serious."
"Oh, I wish I were not. My father's grandfather was a good king, but the people fell on hard times. A drought, a bloody war, and torrential storms in quick succession devastated their crops and left thousands starving. In exchange for the soul of one child each year, he summoned a demon and employed its magic to save his people. A difficult choice, to be sure, but probably the right one."
Eliana pursed her lips. "It sounds so terribly cruel, but... if there really were no other options, I believe I may have done the same. The life of a few to save many? Far greater sacrifices have been made in the past, and to far worse ends."
"I did not think as you did, when my father told me of this tale," the king said wryly. "I came around eventually, but I was an idealist in my time. I wanted to find some way to save everybody. In any case, the problem is now. Or rather, twenty years ago. For four generations the demon had come to our kingdom each year and quietly spirited away the first child born on the summer solstice. On the night when you were born... your mother and I felt true fear for the first time."
"But he did not take me." There was an unspoken question in Eliana's words.
Her father nodded, his face grim. "The beast was delighted with the prospect of stealing a royal soul for his own, particularly since it was your ancestor who made the pact in the first place. It appealed to its twisted sense of humour, I think. But we pleaded with it not to take you."
"And it just agreed?"
"Not exactly. First, it offered to consider the debt paid in full and cease stealing infants if we let it take you. 'One soul for many', it said..."
A slight shiver passed down Eliana's spine, making her shift uncomfortably in her chair. It was a chilling echo of her own words just moments earlier. "But again, clearly you did not give me up to the creature. How were you able to thwart it?"
The king again fell silent for a minute, looking troubled as he rubbed his beard. "I am not proud of this tale, Eliana," he said solemnly. "I accepted a further bargain. A wager, if you will. The demon told me that if you were not wedded by your twentieth birthday, it would take you then - as well as undoing the magic that protects our land from famine and drought. If you were happily married to someone whom you could love with all your heart, then it would consider the debt paid and leave us in peace.
