Thread: Arranged for the Best(closed for xanaphia)

Lorelai's stomach was tied in knots as the King led her to their table. It should have been the happiest day of her life, the day most girls dream of, and yet she was filled with apprehensiveness. She hardly knew this man and she had just sworn to spend the rest of her life with him. To love, honor and, ugh, obey him. It was different when he was away at war, and letters were their means of communication. He didn't seem real then, just words on a page that were far removed away from her. Of course, this was the price of royalty and all the fine trappings that came along with it, wasn't it? She had lived a life of relative ease, and for that, who she married and shared her body with were not a choice for her to make. It was her duty to her people that she marry the man that would best benefit the kingdom, and King Barcliff was that man. He wasn't bad looking, even if he was old enough to be her father. Strong, square jaw and dark brown wavy hair that almost touched his shoulders. He was very tall and strongly built, towering over her delicate frame. From what she knew of him, he was a good man, and a gentle husband to his first wife. He just didn't excite her passion. The man who did excite her was standing just behind her table, at attention. Her personal guard and childhood friend, Lucian . His blue eyes pierced her and she made her way towards her table and that look made her body ache with longing. He was the man she would have chosen if she had ever a free choice of her own. It would never fly, of course, him being a common born man, able to rise as far as he did based on his skill with a sword. Even now, as a knight, he was far below her station to be anything more than this. It was both painful and comforting to have him around. He was the only member of her staff that she was bringing for her home. All her ladies in waiting and other servants were the ones already in place at King Barcliff's castle. Lucian would be the only familiar face, and true confidant she would have. She was truly grateful for this and yet, having him so close and not allowed to be with him left her feeling empty. Even now , as she took her seat next to the king and he whispered to her about happiness, she smiled and nodded, while still wishing it was Lucian sitting next to her. She had offered herself to him once. When the war had broken out and he was called on to fight, they had met, in secret. He held her tightly to him and she cried, fearful she might lose him forever. In her desperate sorrow she had offered him her virginity, then and there. It was no place for a princess, a dirty stable in the dead of night, and he had told her as much. He did take a kiss, deep and long and she had held on to that kiss for three years now. Until today, when she kissed her husband during the ceremony. It was nothing like the passionate embrace she had known. Lips hardly parted, it was as chaste as a kiss she might give her own father. And tonight she would give this man her body, as she would every night for the rest of their lives. Your words are most kind, my lord, She said, forcing herself to smile. This was the happiest day of her life, wasn't it? She drank wine until the words didn't feel so hallow anymore.