Thread: "I thee wed, in sickness and in health, in curses and...what?!" (w/ ƒeral)

Preposterous!. The maiden's voice echoed across the halls like a war siren high pitched and utterly annoying. All the attendants in the Florent Palace were covering their ears by that time. They had heard the argument when it had started at dawn when they had been curious, now they wished it would stop. All the intelligent arguments got reduced to jabs of mockery and threats. Whenever she argued that she is a highborn, a princess of House Lyran, a woman of stature and beauty whom lords and prices would fight over, her father shoot down the argument with one stupid excuse or the other. We need the money he said, we are at war , he had a habit of pointing the obvious. All her feelings were dismissed, and she felt like a pawn in a chessboard her father was playing. With volcanic rage she threw a vase his way and missed, then stormed out of the throne room with great dismay and apparent disbelief. Leah was the seventh daughter of King Kyllar Lyran, ruler of the prosperous city of Vyllam. She stood before the mirror, her large blue eyes peering into her own soul looking for truth. Was this her destiny? To be wed into a merchant family for a mere pot of gold. All of her three her true-born sisters were married into royal houses. They bore children with golden crowns who ruled over provinces and fiefs as far as the eye can see. Even her base-born sisters, albeit illegitimate, were fortunate enough to be taken by knights of high esteem and gentry of great renown. To be sold for money like a common prostitute, forced to live in a merchant's house and bed a commoner was a grand insult. She had curly brown hair that went in spirals and waves around her head effortlessly. When the sun rose, her hair would match its golden shade. Her soft facial features and gentle smile were enough to soothe a dying man's last coughs, and her voice could calm babes and rally men alike. A lean body with small yet perky breasts and hips that spared no mercy. It was no wonder that men looked at her with lustful eyes and wives burned with rage whenever their husbands swooned at her shadow. She was an angel shy only of a golden crown. A tear ran down her rosy cheeks like dew on rose petals, and she undressed herself and stepped in the bath her handmaidens prepared. If only mother was alive.. she thought as they scrubbed her back with soaps and oils. One maiden handled her hair, washing it with honey water mixed with white and pink roses. Another bint brushed Leah's chest with saffron and gold water, then massaged her back with a soap made with milk and vanilla. She smelled wonderful when she emerged and with a finger pointed at the door, she sent the servants away. That would be enough. Thank you she simply said and sat down patting her body dry with a silken towel. Her face was a challenge whenever she dried it, her tears would water it again. Eventually she ran out of tears, and shade of pink flush painted her face. Simple eye shadow and nothing else, she wore that blush like a champion and elected not to hide it. She wore a baby blue dress, light as a feather and adorned with a golden floral pattern and the sigil of her house embroidered at her back. No matter how sad she was, she still had to look nice. It was how her mother had raised. You're a proud lady, Leah, dress and act like it. Cover your lips when you laugh, and look down when you talk she used to say, One day you'll bear children with crowns of gold and scepters of silver she lied. She sat later on the dining table like a new widow about to get married again. What will the people think of me? she thought as she stared blankly at the corn soup in front of her. Am I lesser than other women? Are my sisters better than me? she questioned more, and each question brought her closer to tears. Around her sat her family, her father and two of her brothers, as well as her younger unmarried sister. The rest of her siblings were either too busy or too proud to eat with a commoner no matter how rich they maybe. He will buy you everything you want, dear. He is a good lad with a good heart, he'll make a fine husband her father tried to assure her but she shook her head. He still can't see it.. she pondered as she looked at the other side of the table still shy of guests and her betrothed. He didn't even bother showing up on time.. she sighed. Leah, sweetheart. There are many merchants in the city, and even more around throughout the land. If you didn't like this one, we'll find you another one. Just.. smile. It pains me to see you on the verge of tears like this her father continued, his hands patting her shoulder and rubbing her back. She sighed, and nodded with a fake smile, then started to drink the soup. I'll turn him down. And the next. And the one other that. Maybe the war will be over by then..