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A/N - I hate having to do this, but since NovelHD has already started to pirate some of my books, here we go. These works are mine. My poor little brain came up with the plots and characters, and I'd really prefer you to not steal them. If you're reading this on a site that is NOT Wattpad then it is most certainly stolen.Thanks!

Loiosh

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41 Years Ago

"This day can't end soon enough." The young woman complained as she stood still, her arms outstretched, weighed down by a heavy silver gown.

"Oh, Princess Inez, be happy. By the end of the day, you'll be wed to a King!" the seamstress who was pinning her dress up gushed.

"You're not helping Penny. No woman in Appalya would want to be married to Hudd," the Princess countered sourly. "In fact, almost none of his own citizens would want to."

"Inez, you'll be fine. I'm sure he'll find his mistresses, so he'll leave you alone. That way you can find a few young ladies of your own," an older maid flashed the princess a wink. Gettle was almost a second mother to Princess Inez, who never worried about formalities with the woman. It was also well known that Inez didn't like men but had an eye for some of the maids instead. "You know you'll still have Aethyl waiting upon you."

Inez couldn't help but blush as that, as did Aethyl, currently wading through the fabric in the back of the dais. The pair had been together for a few months now, though obviously statecraft necessitated this wedding. Inez was bitter, because her father, King Gerard, had been able to pursue a love match, wedding her mother who was certainly no royal. She always remembered the stories her parents told her about their meeting. Her mother, Surasa, had been a caravan guard, a swordswoman of great renown from the Caliphate of Dallinia to the east. She had a chance meeting in the throne room as she escorted a merchantman presenting gifts to the king.

It turned out that the best gift the merchant brought was the king's future bride, as her father had been smitten as soon as he saw the young woman and had married her within a month. Inez had inherited the dusky skin and dark hair of her mother, and the blue eyes of her father, and all would agree that she was a beautiful young woman. She had also trained zealously with weapons, as did her mother, and always had a blade of some sort nearby. Hudd may want to marry her, but he also knew she could slice him like a melon with little effort. Hopefully, that would keep him away from her bedchamber.

Aethyl was a few years older than Inez, 22 to the princess' 19, but the pair had formed an immediate bond. That bond had turned romantic over the summer, and Inez was wondering if their feelings could turn to love, though it was much too soon for that in her mind. She wanted to feel a true spark, and while Aethyl was much fun, it wasn't what she had heard stories about. Otherwise, she could have wed the maid later this year before Hudd had offered the choice of war or marriage. A war would be expensive and cost many lives, they'd been through it before with Winterhaven, and so the wedding was agreed upon. Inez's only hope was that the older King, already 31 and a widower two times over, would die before she would, and soon at that. She also hoped to keep Aethyl safe from him. Inez could protect herself, but there wasn't much she could do if Hudd learned about her relationship with the maid. Sooner or later, he would find a way to get to her, and then Inez would be in trouble. Her only hope was to keep the young woman safe in hidden quarters that were attached to her own and keep her as a secret mistress. It wasn't ideal, but her maids were loyal, and what Hudd didn't know about, he couldn't ask about.

She hoped.

Other maids from her castle in Glirion were bustling about the chamber, cleaning, and decorating for the upcoming event while her private guard stood by and watched. Back at the castle, hours away, another team would be preparing the feast that would be awaiting them once the ceremony was complete, while her parents should be getting ready to leave to join her here shortly. Inez didn't care about the meal though, she doubted very much that she'd be able to eat anything tonight. As for a cake, if she got near one with Hudd, it would be in his face for sure. As upset as she was about the wedding, it might behoove her parents to not attend!

"Alright, you can put your arms down now Princess!" the seamstress finally announced. "I'm sorry this is taking so long. This dress was never meant for someone as tall as you I'm afraid." She didn't mention the wide hips of the princess, which gave her excellent balance with a sword, needing extra fitting as well.

It was true, at over six feet tall, Inez towered over most of the guards, and would be the same height as her future husband. Inez lowered her arms gratefully, then let her eyes linger on the inlayed jewelry in the stone set in front of her. An ironic smile played over her lips as she thought about a doomed marriage taking place at a failed altar. It was the perfect location for such an event. Rumor had it, that the miners who dug for diamonds in the mountain had built this shrine, in an effort to appease the mountain god Alin when the diamonds disappeared. They then fused the best diamonds already mined into the altar in hopes that he would be happy and let them find more. Since the mine died out, it seemed as though their prayers went unanswered.

Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the young guards who held out some dried fruit for her to eat. "You look like you could use it." The guard said with a shy smile.

"Thank you, it is perfect actually," Inez thanked her with a smile in return. She didn't even know the young guards name but remembered seeing her around the castle quite a few times, and she had recently joined her personal guards. She felt bad about that, she'd made it her business to know all the names of the people doing their job to keep her fed, clothed, and protected. "Excuse me, what was your name?"

"I'm Nahmia, Princess," the guard answered with a small bow. "Please let me know if you need anything else."

"I might need more of the food if this goes on much longer, this dress is heavy!" she complained. Indeed, the dress was made from fine white gold threads, expertly woven into an intricate gown that was additionally festooned with diamonds at the waist, cuffs, neckline and hem. All in all, the dress weighed over 50 pounds, and while that would be fine for an hour or so, she had been wearing it for over three hours, and had at least that many more to go before she could exchange it for something more comfortable.

Nahmia passed over another piece of the fruit with a wink. "I can make that happen, princess," she whispered.

Inez blushed at the forwardness of the guard, but rather liked the attention. Not that she'd act on it, of course, since she still was sorting things out with Aethyl. But having an attractive woman make comments like that made her feel a surge of excitement, even if only in passing. She watched the young guard stride calmly out of the chamber and into the great hall, unslinging her bow as she did so. Normally, Inez liked the slimmer and more feminine women, which is what she had in Aethyl, but it wasn't hard to admire the grace and strength of a fellow warrior.

Shortly thereafter, Jennel, her head guard, hurried into the chamber. "My lady, King Hudd is here!" she called out with a hasty bow.

"What? Already? He shouldn't be here for some hours yet!" Inez growled. "Quick, Aethyl, hide!" she called out over her shoulder.

Aethyl gulped in fear. Looking around and seeing no place to hide, she buried herself under the fabric that she had been trying to organize. Moments later, the thud of boots could be heard echoing through the outer hall before the bulky form of King Hudd entered. For a man who had once prided himself as a warrior, his muscles had gone the way of copious drink and heavy meat. His heavy beard could hide his chins, but not his stench. God was this a horrible man who had put her in a horrible situation.

"Ahh, my bride! You look wonderful today, so fitting for such a momentous occasion!" he called out to Inez while remaining near the doorway.

"Hudd, you're early, and not at all dressed for this farce. What do you want?" Inez snapped. Indeed, Hudd was dressed in a dark banded mail armor more suitable for a war than a wedding. How they got a suit of armor that large, she wasn't sure, but she pitied his mount if they had to go into battle. "And isn't it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?"

"You're quite right it is bad luck," Hudd smirked, pulling a small clay ball from inside his shirt. "Indeed, for all of you it is very bad luck!" The man may be large now, but there was still some strength in his form, and he hurled the ball at the ceiling over Inez before running back into the hall. The ball burst into find powder when it hit and fell upon all of those below. Not understanding the danger, Inez threw her hand over her face to keep the dust out of her eyes.

Everything that the dust touched turned to stone if it wasn't already, and Inez's last thought was hatred that the man she already loathed had stooped further than she had thought him capable. When the literal dust had settled, the princess, her guards and attendants were all statues. At that point, King Hudd returned to the room with a hammer, and with maniacal laughter set to smashing all the statues but Inez. He growled once when he realized that the arm over her face kept him from kissing her, but it didn't stop him from running his hand over her new stone body. "I'll be back for you in time princess, or perhaps I'll save you for my son once I have control of your kingdom. I'm sure they'll be heartbroken about your death at the hands of the bandits after our vows were exchanged.

With one more hearty laugh, King Hudd strode from the chamber, leaving silence in his wake. Or at least silence for a bit before muffled crying and yelling could be heard from under a pile of stone fabric.

That was the scene that Nahmia returned to a bit later, with three rabbits over her shoulder to feed all the people working on the wedding. She was surprised to have found the secret panel closed again, but with a shrug she opened it back up as they had been taught to when they arrived. But one she entered the shrine, she stopped in confusion. She couldn't understand the scene before her. Wandering about, she could see stone pieces on the ground, some of which were heads that looked like her comrades, and of course the statue of Princess Inez, who she had admired and desired from a distance for years.

Luckily, the quiet chamber allowed her to hear the muffled crying from the back of the room, which led her to an oddly shaped lump of rock. Taking her dagger out, she rapped the pommel on the stone, causing the yelling inside to become more frantic. Hurriedly, she hit it harder until the hardened fabric finally chipped away enough to pull Aethyl out of the little stone egg she had been trapped in.

"Oh, thank the gods! I was starting to have trouble breathing in there!" Aethyl cried out as she clung to Nahmia.

"What happened in here?" the guard asked. "Everyone is stone?"

Aethyl looked around the room, seeing the statue of Inez and the destruction of the rest, and burst into even more tears. "I'm not sure. Hudd came, and I heard them talking, but I was hiding! Inez didn't want him to see me!" she choked out through her sobs.

"Hudd did this?" Nahmia growled. "I'm going to kill that man!"

Aethyl knelt on the floor next to Inez's statue, gripping her legs and crying at the loss of her love. She knew her life at this point was going to be much different, but she wouldn't stop until Inez was free. "Nahmia, forget Hudd, we need to save Inez. Hudd obviously used magic to trap her, like he turned the fabric on me to stone, so maybe there is a spell to undo it. We have to turn her back! We can't leave her like this!"

Nahmia nodded at that. Freeing Inez had to be their priority. She knew Aethyl loved the Princess and Nahmia had always been jealous that she had been the one that had been lucky enough to be close to her. But now they would both have to work to free the woman that they wanted, no matter what it took.

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Authors Note: Yep, over a dozen works published and I finally made my first author's note. Exciting stuff! Really, I just wanted to pass along a little bit of interesting trivia. Many years ago there was a web site that did trivia type contests, and you could win things if you answered them fast enough. So, one day, the trivia question was something along the lines of, which queen was coronated after her death. Well now that isn't something you hear about every day, but some research turned up the story of Inês de Castro of Portugal. If you every want to hear about a twisted love story/tragedy that puts Romeo and Juliet to shame, by all means check it out:

https://artsandculture.google.com/theme/in%C3%AAs-de-castro-portugal%E2%80%99s-only-posthumous-queen/AwICC_FWA_z4Jw?hl=en

In any case, while their story really isn't anything like mine, I did like the whole 'coronated after death' deal and have been hanging onto that for quite some time. So that was the inspiration, loosely, of this story. Hopefully you enjoy and learn at the same time!