Forced to marry the enemy prince in her sister's place

"Please, let me in," Iris begged.

For a while, Hera sat silently on the floor. She wanted to open up the door so badly, but her mind raced with thoughts. This bad been their dynamic from the beginning. Hera would be in a some sort of problem and Iris would help her fix it.

Unfortunately, she’d taken advantage of that privilege and thought that her actions would have no consequences.

"I’ll be fine Iris," she said, "i want to be alone tonight. Let’s talk in the morning."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Today just wasn’t a good day, that’s all."

There was a pause outside. "I’ll be back on tbe morning. Get some rest."

Hera smiled wearily. "I will." She heads her head against the door and listened to

Iris foot steps retreat.

She stared at her hands and leaned ber head back against the wall. Her thoughts drifted to Astrid. Somehow she felt like Astrid would have been here to comfort her, and made everything righr.

Morning came and went, Hera lay on top pf her bed thinking on the former day’s event. She wondered why Theo had been so cold to her, then shook her head to forget

"Hera," Iris said as she opened the door," are you awake? " she entered into the room and pulled open the curtains like she used to. "Rise and shine Hera."

"I’m awake already."

"Then why are you still on your bed like you’re tired of life?"

"I’m not tired of life." Hera chuckled.

"Is that really the case?" Iris sat on the bed and looked at Hera, "then why were you crying last night? What made you cry?"

Hera sat up to look at here. "If i really think about," she sighed, "its because i miss you. I saw you and Penelope at the the tornament yesterday. I saw how she made tou laugh and how you relaxed around her ans i was sad because i know i was the one who pushed you to ber side."

Iris stared as Hera wided eyed as she spoke and then laughed.

"You find this all funny?" Confusion was written all over Hera’s face.

"Of course i do." Iris scoffed. "What make you think you pushed me into her arms? Do i not have the right to make other friends here? You’ve made other connections, why can’t i do the same?"

"Because its penelope. She made our lives very uncomfortable. Then suddenly she wants to befriends with you." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"You’re woeeied foe me rhst she might have an ulterior motive."

"You’re telling mw that my friendship with Penelope was the reason you cried yesterday? And not because of Niko?"

Hera opened her mouth to speak and closed it, then shook her head slowly.

"You see," Iris sighed, "I know you’re not really worried about me," there was a pause, "so what’s the issue?"

"He’s badly wounded. I don’t know how long he’s going to take to recover. And..." Her voice hitched, "the girls laughed yesterday. As soon as i entered the palace, the girls laughed at me."

Iris shut her eyes and breathed in, "I’m sorry. I understand perfectly. But just bevause somthing bad happened doesn’t mean you’ll hide in your room the whole day, because i know that’s what you’re doing."

Hera huffed. "Fine."

"But, before we do anything together, you have to know that i and Penelope are close now. No matter what you think of her, you’ll have to tolerate her because she’s a friend to me. The same way I’ve tolerated niko even though you know my feelings towards your relationship."

Hera rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, fine."

"Now, get dressed, lets see what the world has for us today. I’ll be outside," she said and left.

Hera sighed, got up from the bed, searched her trunck for something to wear and then went down to meet Iris after she was done.

"So where are we going?"

"We’ll wait for Penelope first, she’s the one with the idea."

Hera gave her a look.

"Save it Hera."

"Well, well, if it isn’t her Majesty the queen," Penelope said, as she cane down the stairs.

Hera rolled her eyes and looked away from her.

"Lucky for you, i have the most perfect plan."

"I know you’re all for spontaneity Penelope, just don’t shock us too much," Iris said, her tone dry.

Penelope laughed, and linked her arm with Iris. "Nope. Follow me."

She dragged them out of the palace and into a carriage. As they watched the bustling street Erindros pass by, Penelope suddenly looked at Hera intently.

"What?" Hera asked, a little harsh.

"I heard about what happened yesterday. It wasn’t really nice, what the girls did."

"And why do you care? Its not like you didn’t exactly love to make my life hell when you got the chance."

Penelope chuckled. "You’re both so alike, you know. Why do ypu holda grudge for this long. It’s been more than a few weeks, almkst two months since we had our last altercation. That was just a lack of character on my part, but I’m making it up. Right now."

Hera narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by right now?"

"Well, we’re heading off to see Niko. Isn’t that what you want?"

Hera’s eyes lit up, "Really? I didn’t think he would bw alone in his house after his fighr yesterday and i didn’t know where his family lived. You’re sure they’ll ne ok with mw being there? "

"It doesn’t have to be you," Penelope said.

"What?"

"I mean, Niko and i have been friends for as long as i can remember. I’ll be the one asking to see him and not you, just so his family doesn’t, you know, give you both a headache right now. And trust me when i say, I’m doing you a big favor. You do now know Niko’s family like i do."

Hera rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair.

"What kind of people are his family? " Iris asked.

"Well, i think its better if you see for yourselves."