The time she had spent with Jalice that night had made the trip worth it. She would never forget these moments; when he danced with her in the rain he hated, wearing nothing but his birthday suit, simply because she had asked. Neither would she forget the events that followed, as he freed her from her clothing and made love to her right there in the rain. For that brief moment, she forgot that life would be so different tomorrow, just as he seemed to forget that he hated the rain, because all that mattered then was their love.<br/><br/>When the morning came, she woke to feel Jalice’s arms pulling her into a tight embrace. She smiled and nuzzled against him; she would have been happy to stay right there for as long as she could, had they not been interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Without thinking, she clicked her tongue at the mention of the princess who would soon be coming to take him away from her.<br/><br/>She felt her annoyance rising again, but it was cooled by the man next to her. She turned her brown eyes up to look at him when he spoke. She reluctantly nodded to his instructions, agreeing to sneak out when the right moment presented itself.<br/><br/>She savored that last soft kiss her gave her, returning it in kind before he pulled away. “I love you, too,” she told him, giving him the best smile she could before he moved away to dress himself. Once he had slipped out, she reluctantly slid out of the bed and collected the clothes she had worn the night before. They were still damp from the rain, but given that she had no other option, she put them back on.<br/><br/>It was a little while longer before she got the chance, but the moment an opportunity presented itself, she slipped out of the room and quietly made her way down the halls, trying not to draw any attention to where she had come from. She had hoped to make it out unseen, but as she walked through the parlor, she heard someone approaching. Rather that try to run and risk seeming like she was trying to hide—which she was—she instead chose to act as though she had a purpose in being here.<br/><br/>The man who came stalking into the room was a tall and somewhat stalky vampire; a man she recognized as a lord of the House of Cards. “I thought I smelled a Bird in here,” the man’s somewhat raspy voice addressed her. She narrowed her eyes, nearly snapping back at the man, but thought better of it. “Did you need something?” she asked, trying not to sound as impatient as she felt.<br/><br/>“As a matter of fact, we are in need of hunters to bring in meat for the feast,” he told her as he eyes looked her up and down, “That is at least one thing you’re good for,” he spat the insult with a toothy grin that made her want to knock those teeth right out of his mouth. She resisted, though, instead swiping the pendant he held out for her to borrow for this task. “Fine,” she reluctantly agreed, only barely managing not to leap across the room at the man as he practically slithered out of the room with a self-satisfied grin plastered on his stupid face.<br/><br/>Grumbling, she stomped down the hall, heading farther into the building once again. This wasn’t a task particularly well suited for a single vampire, especially given how gluttonous humans were, and how little time she had been given to complete the task. Worse, there were few options available to her for recruitment. There was one, though, that she knew would probably just be lying about somewhere, doing nothing and being useless as usual.<br/><br/>She stalked down the halls, following his repulsive scent, until she finally found him. “Help me hunt these stupid animals for these stupid, fat humans,” she demanded more than she asked, hating that she had to ask for his help at all. Even more so, though, she hated that it was on behalf of these stupid, insignificant humans and their stupid princess who was going to be marrying the man<span style="font-style: italic">she</span>should be marrying. The thought made her angry all over again. “Well?!”<br/><br/>--<br/><br/>Aria awoke to the sound of her doors opening and servants practically flooding into the room. The sun wasn’t even up yet and already they were preparing for the journey. “Up, up. We haven’t time to waste,” the queen told her as she entered the room, clapping her heads together to draw the princess’s attention.<br/><br/>She didn’t feel like getting up; she wanted to just lie there miserably forever, to forego this wedding and run away. She did none of those things, though, instead pushing the covered off of herself and sliding out of the bed. She didn’t particularly have to do much to get ready, as the servants did everything, even dressing her for the journey and fixing her hair.<br/><br/>On a normal day, she might have protested when they pinned her hair up into an elaborate updo, but today, she hadn’t the strength to protest. Today, she didn’t care at all about such trivial matters. She still felt that same numbness that she’d felt the night before as she had fallen asleep.<br/><br/>It was better than feeling the pain, she supposed, but at least the pain reminded her that it was real. It wouldn’t do for her to seem so miserable, though, so it was for the best that the feelings had been replaced but the cold emptiness. It was this that got her through the morning, allowing her to go through the motions of the day.<br/><br/>The entire morning felt like a blur, not because it was a whirlwind, but because she’d felt so disconnected from it all. She would smile and go through the motions, but inside she felt hollow. It was probably silly, and she thought that it would be best if she could move on, just forget all of this by the time they reached the Valic Dominion, but that was easier said than done.<br/><br/>She couldn’t forget, but the long trek gave her time to reflect on everything, to examine herself. She couldn’t just mope around. She was getting married today, whether she liked it or not, and she needed to prepare herself for that reality. It wasn’t only the wedding she had to worry about, either, but what came after the celebration was over, and then the life that followed that.<br/><br/>She needed to find something inside of herself to get her through this, to help her cope. It would also be wise to consider how it was that she planned to face this prince, and this entire kingdom. She had a few hours to consider it, but that wasn’t long in the grand scheme of things, so rather than focusing on what she did or did not feel, she instead considered her duty and her own survival, planning for what was to come as she watched the scenery slowly roll by.