Marietta walks through the palace’s halls, simply admiring the view of the harbor from this high up. When she was young, she questioned why the founders of the kingdom had used magic to raise a hill to put the royal palace on, but had only constructed a castle defending it from the mainland, not from the sea, but she sees the wisdom in it now. In fact, she could practically hear the ancient discussion, arguments like ‘If our navy is strong, we will not need to defend that side’ and ‘I will not be forced to look upon cobble and soldiers when I could look upon the sea’ drowning her anxiety in distraction.
Eventually though, she stops letting thoughts like that occupy herself. The trip to the palace from her private manor out in the Ferran plains hadn’t been comfortable, and worse was that the moment she’d arrived she’d heard news of a meeting of all major nobility and the royal court, one she was expected to attend and share the entirety of her vision in. She fucking hates those meetings, and wouldn’t mind for a single second telling any or all of the people who organize them that. The one saving grace for her was that there thankfully hadn’t been any bad news that could be related to her vision.
The adventuring parties ‘Edora’s Hand’ and ‘Crimson Mists’ report no changes in the status of their member’s curses or lives, and none of the nobility or major settlements have reported sightings of anything even tangentially related to ‘an undead army’. All of that is fantastic to Marietta, as it means her vision was far enough into the future that planning for it would-no-should have been easy. So why was she in the capital?
Her father’s reply letter had called her in, of course, it wasn’t like he was the one who said she should stay away from the capital in the first place, but no, she needed to be here for the planning sessions, meetings, and other assorted political bullshit by old fogeys’ who can’t even wipe their own asses without permissi- She tugs on the side of her dress and exhales slowly to calm down. Marietta understands, truthfully, that her prophecies are probably the only reason her father tolerates her and her requests even a little bit. Requests like living away from the politics, her not being married off like a bartering chip, or her oldest brother being treated like a living weapon.
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The only silver lining is that said brother-James-would be here for this, meaning she could finally see him again after so long. She recalls the last time they had a chance to enjoy each other's company was over six months ago now, back at the third prince’s coming of age ball. Finally, we can go for a walk or do whatever we want for another week or so…
It turns out that ‘finally’ was much closer than expected, as someone grabs her left wrist and right hip and pins her to the glass. She looks up, and sees James’s face, but before she can open her mouth to speak, James’s lips crash into hers, and Marietta closes her eyes to return the sloppy kiss. She opens them as she feels James pull away, and watches him move to the base of her neck, stifling a moan as he softly teases her collar with his lips. Marietta immediately responds by planting several quick kisses-and a soft bite-on his neck. Coming to her senses, Marietta manages to get her right arm onto James’s chest, and she presses it into his abdomen-and pushes with all of the strength she can muster. James coughs from having the wind knocked out of him, and stumbles backwards away from Marietta, freeing her from the glass.
“Not right now you idiot. Brother!” Marietta growls at him, and lands a gentle slap across his face. “Someone could have been watching us!”
Strictly speaking, someone was, but the maid accompanying Marietta is one of the princess’s personal maids, and thus already aware of the two eldest royal scions’... Unique bond. Indeed, the maid’s sole reaction to this scenario had been to simply start fixing Marietta’s dress the moment she heard the word ‘brother’, which was the sort of magic phrase that signaled they weren’t going to continue.
“I checked and made sure first, plus you looked like you could use-” James tries to start, and while straightening his back and fixing his formalwear, Marietta steps forward and grabs the collar of his clothes.
“I’m staying on the third floor’s guest suite. Do not be late this time. Now, come with me, we have a meeting to go to, brother.”