It was a lot easier than Io thought it would be to get off the palace grounds. She’d managed to find her actual clothes that she’d arrived with, haphazardly shoved into the back of the closet with little care for them. They were a bit wrinkly now, but she managed to dig out some sweatpants and a cotton long sleeve, because she felt like going for a run. At least, if anybody asked what she was doing, that was her plan. She timed the guards patrolling, snuck through, and was off of the property in practically no time- and was pretty confident she hadn’t been caught doing so.
Had she been expressly forbidden from leaving? Not technically, no, but she had been told she wasn’t to leave without an armed escort just in case somebody from either side decided they’d rather not see this marriage go through. However, Io didn’t want to go anywhere with any bodyguards, and especially didn’t want to visit her bestie with them tailing her, either. She preferred being able to have this upcoming conversation in private, particularly if it didn’t go very well.
Now that she was officially snuck out, she had two options. Keep on her run until she got into Copenhagen, which could take a few hours, or try to get into the garage and sneak a car. Did public transit run this far out into the rural areas? If so, where did she go? And how long would that take, both to wait and to get there? Did she walk for a bit to get into a less suspiciously royal area, then call Luc to pick her up? She didn’t want to risk stealing a car at that moment, however temping it may be, so she jogged down the road a bit while she weighed her options.
She couldn’t really read or pronounce any of the street names or any other sign she saw, because they weren’t in English, and the Imdalians never bothered to put translations in their own language (which she was fluent in) on most things. Major buildings and highways, sure, but everything else, not so much. She did, eventually, find what appeared to be a train stop- considering she could see it approaching in the distance, she ran up and quickly purchased a ticket, then climbed on. She didn’t even know until the ticket was bought that she was even going to the right place, but it was indeed going to take her basically downtown, and would only be about an hour journey. Much better than the multi hour run it would’ve taken her. Thankfully, she was pretty alone on the carriage, and her interview wouldn’t be airing until that evening so she wasn’t yet recognizable.
She watched the landscape go by, turning from trees and fields of wildflowers into clustered buildings, sidewalks, and streets. Shops were bustling with Imdalians buying clothing, jewelry, snacks. There were a few human customers as well, but the city wasn’t very packed with them- living in the capitol was too expensive now for most. Jobs were harder to come by, and mainly blue collar or trades work. Red light district, too. Or, rarely, some were in the media business, like the news, such as the crew and the journalist from earlier. None were in politics any longer outside of assistants or secretaries.
When the train pulled into the station Io hopped off, and Lucinna was shockingly already waiting for her there. She didn’t know why, she hadn’t said she was coming by train, just that she was on her way- and definitely didn’t specify where she was on her way from. There was no reason why Lucinna should already be there.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” Lucinna seethed once she saw Io, arms crossed, stalking forward and looking frankly a little homicidal.
“I mean yeah, it’s really me, I’m really here,” she shrugged slightly, playing it off like she had absolutely no idea what her friend was referring to. “I’m not like, a ghost or something,” Io joked, which was probably the wrong thing to say in the moment.
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve known you for fifteen years. I know you know what I’m talking about. I’m not stupid, Io, it’s you. The upcoming ‘announcement’ that’s been teased about for the past two weeks? The whole bride reveal? Then you telling me not to watch the news? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Lu, can we not do this here?” she sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m not even technically supposed to be here. I snuck out to come see you.”
“Oh wow, I feel so grateful,” Lucinna drawled. “That three months into this whole thing you dared to grace me with your royal presence.”
“It’s not like that! I wasn’t even in the country until yesterday!” Io protested.
“But you still knew this whole time, didn’t you? That you were chosen? It’s not like he just made his decision and brought you here immediately. There was planning involved, prep. You knew. And didn’t even bother to call me.”
“I could turn it around on you too, you know. You didn’t call me either. The drawings were televised live. You knew as well as anybody else that mine was drawn for Tolreus, you knew there was a ten percent chance it would end up being me. Don’t put this all on me when you didn’t ask, either.”
“… That’s not fair, Io. Of course I knew there was a chance, but I had hoped that, you know, you’d tell me if it ended up being you. You never said anything, so I just assumed it was someone else, then you said you were here and not to watch the news and I just knew.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t…” Io trailed off, walking out of the train station and down the street towards where her friend’s car was parked. That was even if they were going to actually spend time together after all of that. She really hadn’t wanted to get into it there. She’d wanted to sit her down, break the news gently, not argue about it.
“You thought I would be pissed.”
“I thought you’d hate me and never want to speak to me again. I thought I was going to lose my best friend.”
“Oh hon, no, you’d never lose me!” Lucinna said reassuringly. “I’m upset you didn’t keep me in the loop but that’s it, I’m not going anywhere. I promise, okay? I promise.”
Io sighed in relief and nodded, getting into the passenger seat when prompted, and just enjoyed the drive back to her friend’s place in peaceful quiet. Well, it wasn’t totally quiet, Luc decided to punctuate the drive with pointing out landmarks, buildings, touristy areas. Or at least, what used to be the touristy areas. Before everything that’s happened over the last decade and a half. Looking around at the infrastructure, you almost couldn’t even tell a global war took place. In the human-only settlements on the other hand, it was all to obvious.
They pulled into the driveway not too long later, getting out of the car and heading inside to finally fully discuss the pending nuptials and all it would entail. Lucinna made a good living from her winery and vineyard, but her home was still small and modest, seeing as she lived there completely alone. Her bedroom, a guest room, single story and decent yard, and that was about it.
“So… what’s he like? The king?” she asked, plopping down on her couch.
Io sat in the recliner and crossed her legs underneath her, sitting like the bisexual that she was. “About what you’d expect. An asshole. I mean, we’ve both met far worse, but he just… kinda gets under my skin, you know?”
“Yeah that sounds about right,” Luc scoffed, crossing her arms. “Are you worried? About this marriage thing? I mean what if he like, assassinates you after you guys are married?”
“Nah, I’m not really worried about that. He’s a dick but I don’t really get any violent vibes from him. Besides, you know as well as I do that I can handle myself if it came down to a fight.”
“I mean yeah I guess, but I wouldn’t put it past him. Maybe he doesn’t do it himself, but he’s the king, he can easily have someone kill you for him. He’s an Immy. They’re all violent, in some form. He’s just as capable as any other even if you don’t get that vibe.”
This was why Io hadn’t wanted to tell her best friend about this. Obviously she wouldn’t have been able to get away with it forever unless she went completely no contact, which was never an option to begin with, but the woman was severely prejudiced. It was a maybe slightly understandable disdain, but it’s been well over a decade. Seek therapy for the hatred that bleeds over into everything. Io herself still felt a vague dislike towards the Imdalians as a whole for everything they did, but not every single individual when not every Imdalian was a soldier killing humans. A lot of them are hardly older than her, and arrived as children.
“I’m sorry,” Lucinna eventually sighed, noting the silence that fell over the room. “I don’t want to fight about this, you know? You’re a good judge of character. If you aren’t worried, then I’m sure it’ll all work out. But if you ever need an escape, just call. Even in the middle of the night. I’ll come get you out of there.”
“Thanks, Lu. I know you’ve got my back, it’s just something I have to do. For all of us. The worst that will happen is him catching an attitude because he doesn’t like me, and id that’s the case, well I’ll smack him for it. Catch an attitude right back.”
After that, the rest of the hangout went reasonably smoothly, if still a little bit of lingering tension. But despite all of that, the two women still had a lot of fun together- having a glass of merlot, watching their favorite terrible old soap operas, snacking on popcorn and cookies and fruit instead of having a proper dinner. Overall, it was the first good day Io had in a long time. Certainly since before having her name drawn. She’d really missed her friend, and even if she got in trouble for sneaking out, she didn’t regret a thing. This kind of day was needed.
Eventually, the evening crept around. More specifically, the seven pm newscast, where her interview with Anrinar would be aired. “Lu, don’t even think about it,” Io threatened, having seen her hand inch towards the remote.
Too late. The channel was changed, and she and the king flashed across the screen. “Oh c’mon, this’ll be so good!” she grinned, watching the beginning of the telecast.
Io just cringed through the whole thing. She felt that she looked awful, hadn’t given very good answers to things, and got needlessly flirty just for payback. She hadn’t thought that through very well in the slightest.
“You actually said on national television that you two slept together? Oh that’s so gross!” Lucinna cackled, then practically gagged at the thought of it. “But you never actually fucked him, right? I mean I know you were just getting there yesterday, and stuff, but like… you were just saying that, right? You never…?”
“Oh god no, I never fucked him,” she shuddered. “Even if I had been there from the beginning, the last few months, that was not a thing that was ever going to happen. Like, I’m good on all of whatever he’s got going on under those suits, not interested.”
The whole hour of the interview passed much the same way, with Io cringing, Lucinna laughing, and them both making fun of the entire thing. It really deserved the poking, it was obvious to anyone who saw it that His Majesty was coming off very forced. She on the other hand, had been a natural in front of the camera, so it mostly appeared to the general audience that Io was infatuated with Anrinar, and he didn’t so much feel the same way, despite his flowery words of affection.
“I should be getting back before the trains stop running. I don’t think I can be out too late without risking getting caught, and I definitely don’t want to risk you getting caught dropping me off. Last thing we need is the guards trying to say you’re a bad influence and banning you from the property. Before I go, I do want to ask you something, though.”
“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” Lucinna asked, reclining back onto the couch and stretching across it. “You can always ask me anything, you know that.”
“I know how you feel about this whole thing, but will you please be my maid of honor? I really need you standing up there with me. I need my best friend there for moral support, and you know, just in case. Please? I’ll beg."
“Oh my god Io, of course I will. Yeah, I kinda hate the idea of you marrying into all of that, but I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world. Even if it’s to him. I’ve got your back, and if you need to flee the altar, I’m your getaway car. We’ll go into hiding together. Just like it used to be.”
Io nodded, feeling relieved, and a little more at peace with her decision now that she knew she had an ally, someone who had her best interests no matter what, someone who would help get her out if it came to that. Someone who would support her throughout everything, be there for her. “Thank you. I’ll call you with more info once I have it, but for now I really have to go. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Io left after they got their hugs and goodbye’s in, heading out the door and back to the train station, she’d insisted on not even being driven that far because she wanted to enjoy the fresh night air. It felt relaxing, and smelled lovely out there. It was also an uneventful walk, which was just what she’d needed after the day that she’d had, even considering how decently the talk with Lucinna went.
The train ride back to the stop she’d initially gotten on was also just as benign and boring, with the sun having gone down there was far less to look at on the way back. Some stars, the moon, and random street lights made up the majority of her view. It was pretty enough, just prettier in daylight, and she’d found herself wishing she’d thought to take a peek at the sunset. She hadn’t bothered the day before, either, and it was probably her favorite time of day. She liked the colors the sky turned, the pinks and corals, the oranges and golds, all fading into a deep blue.
The train pulled into the station, and Io had to blink away the daydreaming. She’d been lost in thought for the last several minutes of the ride, though she hadn’t really been thinking about anything in particular. It had mainly flitted from one scenario to the next, about what her life was about to turn into. What may happen to her in this marriage, what may be expected of her in it. Would she be expected to have heirs, for example? She already had been warned of responsibilities and ‘doing her job as queen’ that she was going to be taught about, but hadn’t been given clarification on what exactly those responsibilities were going to be. She was reluctant to find out, but it would be beneficial if she actually asked that fiancé of hers rather than discovering the hard way.
Io continued to stay fairly lost in thought while she jogged from the station back to the palace, but she really ought to have been paying better attention to her surroundings. If she had, she would have noticed the shadow behind her following her, the empty glass bottle in a closed fist, would’ve had a better reaction time before being hit as opposed to after. At least the blow of glass to the back of her head stunned rather than knocked out.
“Traitor!” came the male voice from behind her, the glass bottle now on the pavement, still in one piece. It had been thrown, rather than used as a bludgeon.
“What the fuck is your problem?” she snapped, whirling around and holding her hand to the part of her scalp that had been struck. She didn’t feel any blood, but it was sore, and would definitely bruise later.
“You heard me. Traitor. Marrying a disgusting immy rather than fighting to kick them off our planet. You’re betraying your own people!”
“Oh fuck off, dude. You don’t know me or why I’m doing this. This is for us, for our people. For their safety. I’m doing what I have to, because somebody does.”
He clearly wasn’t really looking for a fight, at least, not a physical one. He was younger than her, probably hardly even remembered what life was like before the Imdalians showed up. He was just going along with the rebellions and riots because that’s what the people around him were doing. Maybe he really did think it was the right thing to do. To keep fighting. Maybe it was. But for every one Imdalian that was killed by a human, ten humans were killed by one of them. This marriage was the last option she felt existed to avoid more death.
“So, you… you have a plan, then?” he asked tentatively. She knew what he was really asking- if she was using this marriage to kill the king.
“You’ll understand, in time. Why this has wedding has to go through. It’s fine to have your opinion, it’s fine to be scared, and angry, I get it we all are. Just don’t go around attacking people over it. You’re lucky it was me and not someone armed. I was on the front lines in the war, if you want a fight you won’t win,” she shook her head. He didn’t make any other moves towards violence, it was the only reason she hadn’t hit back. He was basically still a kid.
He didn’t apologize, just picked up his bottle and ran off. At least he wasn’t littering on top of trying to jump someone. Io sighed, rubbing the part of her head that got smacked, and kept jogging back to the palace. It was basically the middle of the night when she snuck back in, and she made it all the way back to her room completely undetected. For now, she had every reason to think she totally got away with her little excursion for the day.
Once her clothes were off, and pajamas on, she crawled under the covers and scrolled her phone a few minutes before conking out. She was thoroughly exhausted and hoped to be able to sleep in a little bit.