02| A Sudden Engagement

"She may not agree. I can't—"

Her brother, Anton, cut in, "You never put her consideration into this matter when you offered her to the Orions. Now that they need their dept repaid, why are you hesitating?"

"We just need time… persuade her."

Anton scoffed. Mel could imagine him flinging a hand at the air, one of his annoying gestures. "Persuade? I know what you're thinking, old mad! She's passing twenty-two soon. Which man here in the kingdom would be interested in wedding a woman past her prime? Drag this out any further and not only might we incur their wrath, but your daughter would also be unable to find a suitable spouse for the rest of her life!"

Mel stepped away from the doors silently, dumbfounded as she tried to process the ongoing conversation. What did all of this mean? She had lived most of her life in the castle and its surroundings. It hadn't dawned on her that there was a certain age girls were supposed to be wed. Was that why all of her friends were with husbands? From the way her brother spoke, was she even a girl anymore?

'No. No. This cannot be true,' she thought.

She shook her head and ran away from the hallway, certain her brother and father could hear her departing footprints. She had to find her mother. She always knew what to say and how to comfort her. Surely, she had to know that her father was planning to send her to the Orions? This was news she would have fully accepted in the past but it felt sudden, too sudden.

"Mother!" Mel burst through the glass double doors and into the manor's greenhouse. Her mother stood wearing transparent gloves as she watched the gardeners tend to her plants.

"Mel!" the woman exclaimed, surprised as her daughter ran to her and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hold. This wasn't unusual on Mel's part, but the frantic tone of her voice and her tight hold on her mother disturbed the woman.

"I want to talk to you," Mel spoke, stepping back, but holding her mother by the hand. "Alone," she added.

Her mother, Harriett, looked at her daughter, her forehead wrinkled with a puzzling gaze. The lady of the castle then waved away the servants, and they left the mother and daughter alone in the quiet greenhouse.

"Father and brother speak of sending me to the Orions! Have you heard any of this?!"She grabbed her mother's arms and the woman stiffened in her grasp, her confused look shifting to that of shock.

"Where did you hear this?" she softly asked, her dark eyes widening as a slow fear crept up to them, dispensing the shock.

Mel paused, sensing something strange with her mother's tone. It then dawned on her and her eyes widened. "You knew?!"

Harriett straightened. "No—Mel—I didn't know it would be this sudden—Mel!"

Mel tore away from her mother and rushed out of the greenhouse, making her way past curious servants and castle staff as she made her way back to her room, where her two chambermaids were waiting, tired from the chase and half expecting her return.

They stood at alert at Mel's presence and let out relieved breaths.

"My lady," one of them spoke up, rushing towards Mel just in case the young woman would run from them again. "You ought to have been dressed for the day!"

"Mel." Anton burst into the chamber, pausing to see Mel in front of her poster bed and take in the startled state of the chambermaids. He sighed and adjusted the folds of his golden tunic, darting an apologetic glance his sister's way. "Pardon my intrusion."

"What do you want?" Mel snapped at him, her hands fisting at her sides. She stood still, waiting for her brother to speak. A slight fear grew within her as she knew just what her brother was here for. Rarely did he just come into her room as he pleased.

He frowned slightly and narrowed his eyes. "It was you," he whispered.

Mel returned the frown with a suspicious glare of her own. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Anton's features eased and he shook his head, running a hand through his fair hair. "I happened to hear someone running in the passages of our father's hall, but never mind that." He ignored Mel and faced her chambermaids. "Get rid of whatever dressing arrangements you've made for your mistress this morning. She will be wearing something else. Something fit for travel."

Mel's heart skipped a beat and her brows knitted into a hardened frown. She marched up to Anton, pointing a finger at his chest. "These are my maids, you cannot tell them what to do!"

"Mel." Anton looked down at her. "At the end of the day, they all belong to Father. You will have your own when you become the lady of your own house."

Mel was about to spit out a retort when three maids rushed into her chambers, casting apologetic gazes at Mel and going deeper into the chamber to run her bath and prepare her clothes from her dressing room. Mel's chamber maidens stood still, mirroring the shock their lady had on her face.

"I must go," Anton said and turned away.

"Wait" Mel lashed out and grabbed his sleeve. He stopped and looked back at her, a pained expression on his face. "You can't do this to me," she continued, a hand on her chest. "It's too sudden."

"I'm sorry you had to overhear us and learn of it this way, Mel." He squeezed his eyes shut. "We have no choice."