The Kingdom of Eachoudia, inhabited by humans and ruled over by the Prendale family, sat on the edge of a great forest, one that for centuries they hadn’t dared explore too deeply, although they of course knew of the Fae Kingdom that lay within. Eachoudia was mainly an agricultural kingdom, trading in crops and livestock, as well as various crafts like pottery and jewellery, and until very recently, they had mostly kept to themselves. 

Until King Richard took the throne, anyway. He was… a good king, some may say - he kept his people alive, mostly listened to their requests and allowed them to live as they like, but it was his relations with other kingdoms that many disagreed with. He was hungry for power, he wanted everything for himself. It was mostly his wife that prevented him from doing anything too bad, Queen Annabella far keener to keep the peace, though there was only so much she could do to stop him entirely. 

He started to expand, grow his kingdom more and more, at first out into unclaimed land but there was only so much unclaimed land to go around, and once he’d ran out? Well, there was only one thing to do - take land from elsewhere. Attempting to take it from the Faes was perhaps not a great decision, however, and it was clear that a war was brewing. 

At this point, Queen Annabella once again attempting to step in, and managed to convince her husband to go about it a different route, attempt to negotiate with the Fae Kingdom and come to some sort of agreement. And at first, the King hated this idea, though soon devised a plan to combine the two kingdoms together - a marriage of convenience, to unite them. His two daughters, the twin Princesses Alicia and Eloise, would of course be too young, but he’d also been attempting to set up his son, Prince Anthony, with a spouse, now that he was of age. 

Prince Anthony was… less keen of this idea, marriage being something he’d never really thought about, or wanted for himself. He had other things to be focusing on, being a budding historian and, of course, preparing to take over the kingdom himself once his father passed, and even that wasn’t something he particularly wanted. But it wasn’t as if there was much he could do about it, his father had never been one he could argue with. And since the letter had been sent off before he’d even been told, it was far too late anyway. 

Now, he sat in the library at in the palace, in his favourite seat by the stained glass window, hunched over a book he’d read a few times before, but always seemed to pick up something new on each reread, scribbling his notes in the margins. It was quiet, peaceful, and honestly Anthony could have spent the rest of his life there, in that moment, never bothered by the world again. 

But of course, his mother soon came through the door to disturb the peace. “Anthony, your father is waiting-“ 

Anthony frowned. “Waiting for what?” 

“For-“ His mother sighed. “Gods, you aren’t even dressed properly. Come one-“ 

And as he was dragged out of the library and up to his room to change into fancier clothes, even fancier than the usual fancy clothes he was forced into, he remembered that today was the day he was supposed to meet his future husband, the Fae Prince. Ah. 

Again, not much he could do about it. He just had to go along with it for now, maybe they’d find that his Fae Prince wasn’t a good fit for him and they could leave the entire thing behind them. Hopefully. Still, he accompanied his father in the carriage, sitting in silence as they rode to the meeting point, trying not to look too upset about the entire thing.