Forced To Choose

Synopsis

My father, the emperor, couldn't bear to let me marry into another kingdom. He demanded I choose a consort within a single day. I looked at my childhood friend, the crown prince Tristian Dennis, only to hear his thoughts. "I am already secretly betrothed to Martha. If Princess Valerie chooses me, I'll have to refuse, using my father's death as an excuse." Then I turned to my kind and gentle tutor, Brennan Hodges, but again I heard his silent complaint. "I've treated Princess Valerie well only to prevent her from opposing Martha. If she insists on marrying, I would rather take a drug that ends my bloodline than betray Martha." Martha Stewart was my younger sister. I sighed quietly, about to tell my father I agreed to the arranged marriage, when a sharp, defiant voice rang from the corner. "Tristian and Brennan are no good. They won't do it, but I will!" I turned to see it was the young general Walker Howard, with whom I had long been at odds. His face was calm, but his mind raced like a battlefield. "If my leg could be cured with Chromatic Fungus, I could lead my troops at once, and no princess would ever be forced into misery again!" Chromatic Fungus? I recalled the batch of smuggled items intercepted at the border just the day before... and there it was.