The first snowfall of winter was always Neve’s day of the year, as it reminded her of her mother, who always delighted in snow. Even in those final days, her mother found joy as the world coated itself in fresh powder. She had even insisted on a sleigh ride through the countryside despite the doctor’s protest.
Neve had been young when her mother passed, but that last sleigh ride tucked under her mother’s arm and draped in her finest fur shawl as the sky glittered with falling snow was a memory she clung to.
Now, fourteen years later, Neve watched from her window as great, fluffy flakes dusted the courtyard below. It had only just started, but already small piles were accumulating on the cobblestones. Sadly, this year, the year of her eighteenth birthday, there was little joy to be had, for today was the day she was getting engaged.
“Your Highness?” a soft voice said gently from behind her, and Neve turned from the window to find Louisa, her best friend and one of her seven ladies-in-waiting, watching her cautiously.
“Sorry, did you say something?” Neve asked, rubbing her hands together, one stinging with cold after being pressed against the window.
Louisa looked like she was fighting the urge to roll her eyes, but with Neve’s step-mother present, they had to at least pretend to execute decorum. “Your bath is ready.”
Neve nodded and followed her friend without a word, eyes darting to her step-mother.
Queen Cordelia sat on a velvet settee on the far side of the Neve’s bedroom, dressed in a magnificent gown of sapphire blue, one hand resting on her pregnant belly. She was still months from giving birth and had only started to show, but the queen was eager to remind the court that she was carrying the king’s second child. Neve supposed she couldn’t blame her. Several courtiers had whispered snide remarks before and after Cordelia had married King Cygnus, all along the lines of she wouldn’t last long. They believed no one would ever be able to replace Neve’s mother in his eyes.
Neve and Cordelia got on well enough, though one would hardly call it a motherly relationship, seeing as the latter was barely a decade the former’s senior. Still, Cordelia was kind and seemed to make her father happy, which was all Neve could ask for.
Cordelia supervised as Neve’s other ladies-in-waiting smoothed out the gown Neve was to wear at her engagement ball later that evening. The thought made the young princess’s stomach clench painfully. She had never met her husband-to-be, Prince Asher of Cendril, but would be meeting him in a few short hours.
Cendril was located directly south of Neve’s home country, the Kingdom of Hercynia. While Neve had never met Prince Asher or his father King Daurian, Cendril had been allies to Hercynia for years. So naturally, as soon as the young princess came of age, it was announced that she was to marry their neighbor's heir, unifying the kingdoms even more.
Tonight was the ball where Prince Asher would formally “propose” to Neve, who of course would formally accept, even if the thought made her want to rip her hair out. While she had always known she wouldn’t get to choose the person she’d one day marry, she hadn’t anticipated how upset it actually made her until her father called her into his study two weeks prior and told her the wonderful news. She had cried herself to sleep every night since.
Once engaged, the couple would marry the following week, and then Neve would travel back to Cendril where she would live with her new husband and one day rule as queen.
Despite the impending birth of her step-sibling, Neve was still destined to rule Hercynia, regardless of what sex the baby would be. Her father had insisted on it. So, one day Neve would be queen to two kingdoms. Whether or not Cordelia agreed to this hardly mattered to King Cygrus. As far as he was concerned, Neve being his firstborn was entitled to his throne.
As far as Neve knew, Cordelia didn’t really care if her child was sovereign or not, only that she and her baby would be taken care of. It was a good thing too, or else it would have made their relationship incredibly strained.
Following Louisa into her bathing chamber where a servant girl was pouring a final pail of steaming water into a wooden bathtub. The servant bowed and left the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as they were alone, Louisa began to pull the lace fastenings at Neve’s bodice.
The bathroom was decorated with wallpaper of pink silk with an apple blossom design, the official flower of Hercynia. Beyond the tub was a large window that looked out into the courtyard, and next to it a small stove used to heat the water for Neve’s baths. On the opposite side of the room was a vanity crafted from gold with an ornate floral design.
“You look like you’re on your way to the gallows,” Louisa teased as she pulled the exterior layer of Neve’s dress over her head. Neve slipped out of her chamise as Louisa draped the fine, dark blue silk over the chair by the vanity.
Louisa was already dressed and ready for the ball, wearing a fitted gown of rose pink velvet that complimented her rosy complexion. The gown had a square neckline trimmed with tiny white pearls and long sleeves, with a fit-and-flare skirt.
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“Am I not?” Neve asked as she carefully slipped into the water, which seared against her chilled skin.
“You might grow to love him,” Louisa said, though she wouldn’t meet Neve’s eye.
“Doubtful.”
Louisa snorted before bringing Neve a dish of apple blossom soup, a gift from Prince Asher. While Hercynia was home to many species of apples, Cendril was known for a particularly rare white apple that was sweeter than all others, except the rumored golden apple of the fae lands of course. Neve’s nose scrunched as the sweet yet tart smell assaulted her nostrils. She detested apples. Still, it would be considered an insult if she didn’t use it.
It wasn’t so much that Neve didn’t want to get married, only that she wished she could marry for love rather than a political agenda. She knew it was foolish, given her rank, but the reality of her powerlessness in the situation stung nonetheless.
After she bathed, Neve sat at her vanity and watched as Louisa brushed out her wet hair with an ivory comb. It was funny how different they looked considering they had grown up together. Neve took after her mother in looks, though she had inherited her eyes from her father. Neve was as pale as the snow she usually loved, hair as dark as night and eyes like a fresh layer of frost over a lake. Louisa on the other hand was summer personified, with skin that was somehow tanned all year long, golden hair and honey-brown eyes. She was also a good foot taller than Neve.
“You're being eerily quiet,” Louisa said as she worked on a particularly difficult knot.
“I’m trying not to vomit.”
A small smile graced Louisa’s lips, and she gave Neve a play nudge at the back of her head, forcing the sullen princess to smile as well.
“You know I’ll be with you every step of the way,” Louisa said softly. Normally it was customary for a foreign bride to choose a new set of ladies-in-waiting upon arriving in her new home, but Neve had insisted that Louisa join her when she left for Auric, the capital of Cendril and home to Glassen, the palace where she would be living from now on.
Neve glanced at her friend’s reflection, who still seemed to avoid her eye. “I know.”
Perhaps there was something in the way she said it, for Louisa paused and glanced up, finally looking at her. They stared at each other through their reflections in the glass for a hairsbreadth. Louisa opened and closed her mouth, as if she was struggling with what to say, when a sharp knock jolted them both.
Neve straightened in her seat before calling out, “yes?”
The bathing room door creaked open and Alicient, one of Neve’s other ladies-in-waiting, poked her head in.
“Sorry to disturb you, Your Highness,” Alicient said, not sounding sorry at all. Alicient was a curvy girl with olive skin and sleek, black hair. “But Her Majesty would like you to know it’s nearly time.”
Fighting back a groan, Neve said, “we’ll be out done momentarily.”
Alicient bowed her head and ducked out of the room. Neve placed her head down on the surface of the vanity and let out the groan she had been holding back.
“I suppose it’s showtime,” she mumbled before standing up. Louisa squeezed her shoulder encouragingly.
An hour later, Neve’s dark hair had been twisted and pinned back with glittering garnet clips, a bit of rouge applied to her cheeks and lips and she was finally fastened into her gown. It was a deep red silk that reminded her of blood, with an off-the-shoulder neckline, long sleeves, a ruched waist and billowing skirt. More garnets had been sewn all over the dress, making her shimmer in the light with every move.
“You look stunning,” Cordelia gushed, rubbing her belly. “Prince Asher will smitten the moment he sees you.”
Neve forced a smile and thanked her step-mother for the compliment.
Outside, the sky had turned purplish pink as the snow continued to fall, signaling that it was nearly nightfall.
“We should meet with your father soon,” Cordelia said. She gestured at Melody, another lady-in-waiting with a face full of freckles and dark ringlets, who brought over a crystal glass of wine. “For your nerves. I remember how nervous I was when I was presented to your father.”
Neve accepted the glass and turned to Cordelia. “Oh?”
The presentation had been five years prior, when Neve was thirteen, and to her Cordelia had seemed the pinnacle of confidence. King Cygnus decided it was time he married again, and called for a ball in which all the eligible ladies of nobility were to be presented to him. Cordelia, then the daughter of a particularly wealthy lumber merchant, had practically glided into the ballroom where several other women were waiting to be presented. Like Louisa, Cordelia had hair that appeared to be spun from gold. Her skin was milky white with a rosy complexion and she had sapphire blue eyes.
Neve remembered the doors to the ballroom being thrown open and Cordelia waltzed in nearly an hour late. She had been a vision in her finest dress, a blood orange gown of tulle that did not even remotely fit the current trends and on anyone else would have looked garish, but it suited Cordelia perfectly and had made her features pop. King Cygrus’s eyes had immediately jumped to her the moment she entered the ballroom, gesturing for her to cut in front of the waiting line to meet her.
A month later, they had married in a ceremony fit for a god and celebrations that lasted a month longer.
Now, it was Neve’s turn to marry, though unlike her father she didn’t get to choose her spouse.
“I very nearly fainted when your father called me up,” Cordelia said, eyeing Neve’s wine with envy. The palace doctor had advised against alcohol while pregnant, something Cordelia begrudgingly followed. “I thought I had time to mentally prepare, what with that long line and all. It didn’t help that the entire room looked like they wanted to poison me.”
She gave a nervous laugh at the memory, and looked away, rubbing her belly again.
“I would have never guessed,” Neve said before sipping her wine, which would turn out to be an earthy merlot and one of Cordelia’s favorites. “You looked like a queen the moment I saw you.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Cordelia said, running her hands over her dress to smooth out invisible wrinkles. “Now finish that wine. Your father is waiting for us.”
With a sigh, Neve poured back her drink, not caring if she appeared unladylike. Setting her drink down, she turned back to Cordelia. “Alright, let’s go.”