Duty and Destiny

She slipped on her white dress and put the veil over her head. Adalia didn’t let her mother talk her into wearing her diamond tiara. She wanted to get married as she was, not as a state symbol but just as a girl. She waited outside the chapel doors her flowers in her hands. When the doors flew open, she took one step at a time to the altar where Archer waited for her.

He was in his royal attire, clean shaven, his hair cut short. He looked just like she had seen him the first time. Adalia thought about all the times that she could have lost him that this day seemed to be more like a dream than anything else. His face radiated a smile as she walked up to him. He was going to be her husband and she couldn’t be happier.

Once they had taken their vows, Archer and Adalia ran to the balcony. She pulled off her veil and let her hair loose. Archer combed his fingers through her thick raven hair as it flew in the wind.

“You want to fly with me?” he took off his jacket and tossed it on the floor.

“Do you think you can catch up?” Adalia laughed and stood close to the edge. She could hear her mother’s protesting cries. She was about to rip the back of her dress, but she didn’t care. Being in the skies with Archer was all she wanted.

She heard the dress rip followed by her mother’s gasp, as she let her wings out of her skin. Adalia jumped into the air and let the wind beneath her wings carry her into the sky. She watched as Archer flew at her, his smile tugging the strings in her heart. But he seemed out of reach to her. Each time she tried to hold him, he would get further and further away from her. And in an instant, they were back at the forest. Archer was covered in his blood, her white dress quickly dyed in crimson. She shook him, but Archer didn’t move. He wasn’t breathing either.

“ARCHER!”

***

Adalia sat up startled and sweaty. She looked around her and noticed she wasn’t with Archer anymore. She was in her own room, her soiled clothes replaced by clean black silk. She sat in her bed for what seemed like eternity. Her dream had pointed one thing out to her. It was so real that she felt her heart bleed from hurt. Could it be true? Could Archer be gone from her forever? No one was in her room with her, and that meant one thing, something wasn’t right.

One foot after the other, she got off her huge bed. Her body trembled and she was unsure her feeble legs would carry her outside. Taking a deep breath, she took one determined step after the other. When she left her room, she half expected to find, mourners all around her but the hallways were quiet. She walked towards the room where she had last seen Archer and there, she heard voices coming from that room.

“We should wake up Adalia,” she heard her mother’s voice.

“No, let her rest,” her father said.

Why? Adalia asked herself. Why should they let me rest, which won’t postpone the pain I am bound to feel. She pushed the door open wider and there he was. Relief almost sent her to her knees as she watched Archer sit up in the bed, smiling and talking to their family that had gathered around him.

“You’re alive,” she said in a whisper. Adalia exhaled and with it, all the tension drained from her body. She launched herself at the bed and on his chest. She needed to feel his warm skin against hers.

“Be careful Adalia. Remember what the doctor said about your delicate condition,” Archer said to her as his arms wrapped around her tiny body.

“The doctor? Oh yes,” Adalia had always gone through this when Archer had gone out to battle. The same dream, no reality haunted her. And when she finally woke up, she thought they were back in her father’s palace two years ago.

“Did the memory come back?” Archer’s voice was muffled as he spoke into her neck.

“I don’t know why, but I can’t shake it.”

“You won’t be able to. I remember when your father almost died. Each morning I wake up with fear and gratitude in my heart,” Leora ran her fingers through Adalia’s hair.

“It will be alright,” her father’s comforting voice echoed in her ear.

Just then the door opened, and Lionell and Ilana walked in with the new addition to the family. “I wish Randi and Noel would bring my granddaughter here soon.”

“Sorry Ilana, but Randi and I can’t both leave the kingdom,” Gabrielle said. “But you have our grandson here.”

Adalia looked at the little boy in Ilana’s arms. The sign of her and Archer’s everlasting love for each other. One of the reasons she couldn’t go into battle with Archer this time. Her mother was right; choosing to stay behind with their son was now her duty. Although it pained her not being able to fight side by side with Archer, this was how it was supposed to be, especially now that she was expecting again.

“Archer, keep this up and you will have as many children as I have,” Lionell teased.

Adalia shook her head in terror. No way was she going through childbirth nine times. She would rather have a steel blade run through her ten times. She looked at Archer and stared into the swirling silver of his eyes. Concern warmed them and Adalia knew what he was thinking about.

“Don’t worry, I can handle the nightmares. As long as they never come true,” she mumbled.

“It did happen, Adalia. I don’t expect you to pretend it didn’t,” Archer placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “But I need you to trust that nothing will take me away from my family.”

“I trust you and I love you,” she leaned in closer to his ear and said, “If we have a girl next, could we stop at that?”

Archer chuckled the stress lines on his forehead away. “My warrior princess walks into battle without batting an eyelid, but quakes at the thought of childbirth. I want six children my love.”

“Three is my final offer. Take it or leave it,” Adalia said sternly. Three children who were ′Bred for Duty’.