Royals of Ruemri Book I: Betrothal

Chapter 1 - Part 3

RAFFE'S EYES went wide at the sight that greeted him the second he stepped into the White Garden where His Majesty decided to have a tea party.

Every delegate of the High Council was there, the Essian Dukes, Rathayan Earls and their spouses, some nobles from the kingdoms of Nal Amel and Ianthe, and famous minstrels and dancers from Tarnamel who were currently entertaining everyone. He was even surprised when he spotted several renowned courtiers from Selemea and Istel — given that there were rumors about rebels rising in their kingdoms in opposition to the peace agreement between humans and faie.

The Great War started three thousand years prior, marking a golden age for civilization to flourish. Human desperation for resources, particularly the coveted boles from the great trees within the faie's lush forests on Harken Island, was paramount. These resources were indispensable for building bridges, houses, and boats.

In the early days, an exchange of goods—clothes and silverware—sustained a mutual trade between humans and the faie. This continued for nearly a year until a discovery unsettled the balance. The faie learned that humans were plundering their deepest caves for raw diamonds, gold, minerals, and precious gems. These actions desecrated the temples of the faie's pagan deities. Concurrently, some humans realized the sturdy boles they received from the faie were substituted with weaker trunks unfit for even a small boat, raising doubts on the authenticity of the trade.

No one knew who deceived who first but it was then that the war began.

Faie fought against human soldiers, overpowering them with their skill to borrow nature's strength and command both the flora and fauna against their enemies.

In a series of losing battles where humans seemed pitted against nature rather than the faie, a turning point emerged. During one skirmish, a young soldier found an unexpected vulnerability of their foes to iron. Engaged in combat with a faie, facing an imminent defeat, the soldier's small chain, a cherished gift from his father, looped around the faie's wrist. This prevented the faie from invoking the power of nature, allowing the soldier to deliver a decisive blow to the faie's heart. As the soldier experimented and validated his discovery multiple times, it significantly shifted the course of the ancient battle.

Years after years, more deaths were recorded by historians—both faie and humans. Battles won and lost, houses burned, territories went asunder, and families crippled one by one.

Three hundred years later, Malina, the sole daughter of the Sihr Thar, drew the attention of High King Isam. Determined to halt the ceaseless conflict and casualties between their clans, High King Isam fiercely advocated within his High Council and among the Twelve Clans' Tharre for a truce through a matrimonial alliance.

Raffe didn't know what happened after that though—mostly because he ended up sleeping throughout his history class with Elder Samael and often got a smack in the back of his head—but he remembered that the war had stopped by then. And according to history books, High King Isam loved his wife dearly not caring if she was faie or not and they lived a happy life together with their five half-breed children. Their family portrait was still hanging splendidly in the Royal Gallery and Raffe could tell from High King Isam's comely and warm face that he did not regret his decision to marry a faie, not once in all his short human life.

Over time, the truce evolved into a firm accord, cementing the belief that as long as a bond linked the royal families to the faie people, the harmony between them remained unshakable. Thus, a decree was established: in each succeeding generation of kings, a member of the Royal Family would wed a faie, selected by the Twelve Tharre to ensure the enduring connection between the two worlds.

In Raffe's case, as the only son of High King Alizade, he was assumed to continue the conditions of the agreement, marry a faie and sire a half-breed. That's it. A mundane kind of business. Nothing more. Just a fucking business. So long as he settled that one piece of his life, he was free to get himself a concubine or settle with another of his own choice.