The letter burned in my hands.
"Stonehaven troops are near our border and your marriage did not protect us".
For a long time I could not breathe.
This was not rumor, not gossip passed through frightened mouths. This was a report, written in the careful language of soldiers who did not panic easily.
Stonehaven had promised protection. Dane had promised peace and now his soldiers are near my home, like a shadow getting too close to the fire.
I folded the letter and stood up. The sun was coming up outside, making everything look pale. Somewhere in the castle, horns were blowing, signaling it was morning.
"He would already be awake", I said to myself.
Dane was always awake before the sun.
I walked into the council room without announcing it. The doors were open so everyone was talking loud.
"...positioned close enough to respond quickly", a lord was saying.
"Too close", another replied. "Aurelia will see it as a threat.
I stepped inside.
Silence struck the room like a blade.
There were maps covering the table, markers lined the eastern border of Aurelia. Stonehaven banners stood where they had no right to be.
Dane stood at the head of the table and his eyes met with mine.
He did not look surprised.
"How long?" I asked.
The council shifted uncomfortably. Dane dismissed each one of them with a gesture. One by one, they left, casting glances at me that ranged from wary to satisfied.
When the doors closed, I placed the letter on the table between us.
"How long have your troops been near my kingdom", I asked.
Dane looked at the letter then back at me.
"Three days", he said.
The room became silent.
"Three days", I echoed. "And I'm just hearing about it now?"
"I was going to tell you".
"When?" I demanded. Was it after Aurelia panicked or after rumors turned in fear?"
"They are not there to attack", he said.
"Then why are they there at all", I asked.
"So the people in the sought wouldn't use Aurelia to sneak weapons", he replied.
"You could have asked or warn us", I said.
"And risk your council leaking it?" he asked sharply. "Risking open conflict?"
I stared at him.
"So you decide for me?" I asked.
"This is my kingdom's defense," he said. "I will not gamble it."
"And my kingdom?" I asked quietly. "What about that?"
Silence stretched between us.
Then he said the words I had feared since the day we met.
"I will always choose Stonehaven first."
There it was, the truth cracking something inside me.
"I gave up my crown," I said. "My home, my people. I married a man I did not love because you promised peace."
"I promised protection," he said. "Not permission."
The cruelty of it surprised me.
"So this marriage is a strategy," I said. "Nothing more."
He did not deny it at all.
I laughed once, sharp and bitter. "You didn't marry me to unite our lands instead you married me to control the borders without resistance."
"That's not…."
You knew Aurelia would hesitate to challenge Stonehaven with me here," I said. "You used me".
"I used an opportunity", he said
The word opportunity sliced deeper than any insult.
I stepped back. "Then let me be clear. If your troops cross even one step further, Aurelia will see it as betrayal. And so will I."
He looked at me without flinching, "then prepare your people", he said.
I turned and left before he could see what that choice cost me.
By midday, whispers raced through the castle.
The foreign queen was furious, the marriage was cracking and peace was failing.
I summoned my remaining Aurelia guards to my chambers. Some loyal men who had followed me into exile without question.
"We leave at dawn", I told them.
One looked startled. "Your Majesty?"
"I will not wait here while my kingdom trembles," I said. "If Stonehaven moves like an enemy, I will answer as a queen."
Word reached Dane before sunset.
He came to my chambers without knocking.
"You are not leaving," he said.
"I already am," I replied calmly.
"You will put yourself in danger."
"So be it."
"If we don't work together, Aurelia might attack us thinking we betrayed them", he said.
"Then perhaps," I said coldly, "you should have thought of that before placing your men at our borders."
He moved closer and said, "if you leave, you will fracture the alliance".
"I didn't fracture it," I said. "You did."
For a moment, something like regret flashed in his eyes then it vanished.
"If you walk out of this castle," he said quietly, "you do so without my protection."
I met his eyes. "Then I will walk as I always have. Alone."
That night, as I packed what little still felt like mine, a second message arrived.
This one bore Aurelia's emergency seal.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
The words inside were fewer than the first one.
The council is divided.
Some believe Stonehaven plans to occupy us.
Others say you are complicit
I sank into my bed.
They were already doubting me.
By dawn, the marriage meant to save my kingdom had turned me into a suspect in my own land.
And somewhere beyond the mountains, Stonehaven's troops waited.
The question was no longer whether Dane had chosen his kingdom over me, It was whether I would be forced to choose mine over him.