Aileen stood next to her betrothed, Prince Fionn as they heard the trumpets blare, signifying their arrival.

Her dress, which was a gorgeous emerald green thing flowed around her, and while she should’ve been pleased to be next to her betrothed, she was about to see her one true love, her husband die.

Husband. It was word that should’ve have made butterflies rush to every part of her body, should’ve made her feel light and loved. But now, when she heard that word, she only felt dread.

For a brief moment she allowed herself to close her eyes, to marinate in the mementoes they had made together.

Her, riding through a field with him at her side, both of them laughing

A picnic, underneath a willow tree by the Constaine River. He had made all her favorite foods, and they tasted twice as good because he was the one who made them.

Him laying on her lap, as she quietly wove daisies through her hair.

Her sobbing as she’d told him that she was to be married within the month.

He’d constructed a plan for them to run away and to elope. Her father had found them. He always found them.

And her husband had been sentenced to death, and her to lifetime of slavery.

She opened her eyes and the bright sun streamed in all at once, and the shouting of well over 1000 people flooded her ears. She could smell the stank of them as well, and wrinkled her nose. Executions were always her least favorite part of being a princess.

She shoved thin strands of leather colored hair out of her eyes as the trumpets blared once more. The world fell silent. The bird stopped chirping, the wind stopped running. And her husband was lead out by the guards. His friends and brothers. She could already feel the tears welling in her eyes.

Her father cut to the chase and began naming all of his crimes.

“ I sentence you, Malcolm McCormick to hanging for kidnapping the princess, abandoning your post, and treason. Do you have anything to say?” King David boomed.

“I will always love your daughter, Aileen McCormick. For now and forever.” Malcolm replied.

Aileen looked away from the stand, tears already falling out of her big, brown, doe eyes. She could barely hear the rest of the execution, and she only looked back when she heard the cheers of the crowd. They all looked up at them, and she let them see the tears of grief rolling down her face. Fionn took her arm, and firmly led her off of the balcony and into the castle. His strong arms gripped her as he hugged her. But as soon as the doors shut, she pulled out of his embrace and rushed up flight after flight of stairs and into her room, where she grabbed her wedding band off the dresser, and sobbed for the rest of the day.