I looked into anything but the mirror. My red hair was pulled back into neat tight braids with flowers and little streamers weaved in and out. My face was caked in makeup, I looked ghost pale in this stuff and I felt like I couldn't breathe quite right with it on. The material creased along the corners of my lips whenever I tried for anything more than a neutral blank stare. Speaking was nearly impossible. It was like I was talking through a clay mask. The makeup made me look like an amateur painting. My face did not match the rest of me in the slightest. The dress, which was simple and hung off my shoulders, highlighted the deep red undertones of my skin. At least without the makeup on I was all one color from head to toe. For now I looked like somebody had taken a paddle to the shoulders of a porcelain doll. The cut of my dress was not meant for comfort, it was meant to draw a man's attention. The Corset pulled tightly under my breast and made them feel way larger than they had any business being. I couldn't even laugh at the stupidity of it all on account of the tight squeeze of the green corset around my stomach. The torturous thing drew my waist into a quill point and turned any ideas of a full breath into nothing but fantasy. I hated that I couldn't move with freedom, I hated that my hips looked so out of proportion to the rest of me. What man would want a woman that looked so fake. I bitched my way down the stairs with two servants guiding me to meet my parents at the front door.
The prince waited just beyond the two huge dark stained doors of Langdon Keep. I didn't know how long he had been sitting in his carriage waiting for me to be ready to greet him. I didn't care. I had been awake longer than the sun had today. If he was as tired as me I would count it as a victory.
"It took you long enough, Aryanna." my father scolded. He wore his finest clothes, as did my mother who did not seem any more pleased with her corset than I was with mine.
"I'm sorry, It took some time to braid my hair." I said, taking my place at the side of my father.
He gave me a look up and down and turned his nose up towards the door.
"Open the door," he ordered.
I held what little breath I could as the doors creaked open. For a moment I almost considered bolting out past the prince and into the village. I wouldn't have gotten far enough for it to mean anything.
The bright light from the world outside would have pushed my eyes away from the door if they hadn't gotten so wrapped up staring into his. He was nothing like what I had imagined. He was young, my age perhaps. He had a sharp jawline and toned shoulders of a well trained man. He radiated confidence, or maybe it was arrogance. I couldn't tell which.
"Good Morning, It is a pleasure." He bowed at the waist to my father, then to my mother. Once they had bowed back he took up the space in front of me with purpose, I only came up to his nose.
"My Darling, Aryanna. It is my greatest pleasure." He sank down to his knee and brought my hand to his lips. He dusted each knuckle with a kiss no heavier than the wings of a butterfly. The delicacy of his touch made me blush somewhere under my mask of powder.
"Your name, my prince." I played along. He wasn't my prince. He was a very handsome man with plenty of power, but there was no sense of belonging.
"For you, my lady, my name is Achilleus" a soft smile spread over his lips as he stood back up. I gave my best impression of a smile back to him through my clay mask. My mother broke up his fawning over me. Thank the gods.
"Prince Achilleus, I hope your journey was as easy on your body as you are on our eyes." She said, already gesturing for the prince to follow behind my father.
A smug grin crawled across his face "Much better, nearly as delightful as you and your daughter are on my eyes. I swear it." My mom gave him an amused smile. I threw up in my mouth just a little.
Achilleus and my father sat off together through the castle as he gave a tour of the grounds and surely a guide on how to deal with me as well. Father always made me seem so difficult to work with. He liked to warn men of how impatient and unpleasant I could be. I know because I had snuck through the halls more than once to hear him speak to princes. He would show them the garden and the library, my usual hiding places. He would show them where to find his office, their room, and other useful places around. The tour through the drab labyrinth of cold stone and drapes took the poor men hours. Never once had I really bothered to follow them through the entire thing. Today I hadn't bothered to try at all. I marched up to my room, scraped the clay off my face, pulled the streamers from my hair and tried to reach back to untie myself. With hopes of being able to change into more manageable clothing I snuck down to the kitchen in search of something to cut with.
It was noon before the prince found me. I was in the garden away from servant eyes cutting the string that held my corset together, at least as well as I could with the very tip of a steak knife. My arms didn't bend in the right ways to make good progress, but I was determined. His voice startled me. "Tired of your dress already, my lady." I rolled my eyes and prepared for some lecture about beauty, but his hands simply came from behind me and took the knife. He sat it on the bench.
"Yes," I said. "You try to wear one of these things. Beauty is not worth a lack of breathing." I scolded, and started to breathe easier as his hands found the lace along the small of my back. He began to untie it.
"I have. When I was younger I would put on my sisters and pretend that it was armor." I laughed proudly at his expense, finally able to force the sound out of my throat again.
"Not the best armor" I joked a little. The image of a young boy wearing a corset and marching around the castle in it was enough to lift my spirits just a little. It was delightfully strange.
"Terrible armor. But it taught me that no women ought to be forced to wear such things. Unless she wants to of course, for her own sake." he pressed a tiny little kiss at the base of my neck and started to lift the corset. It drew a light but quick inhale from me.
"you're a fast one, aren't you?" I teased, nearly accusingly. Most men would not have the audacity to kiss me in such a vulnerable place so early in their stay.
He laughed and sat the corset to the side of the bench.
"not typically. You have more beauty than most." as his hands slid back down my shoulders I could almost feel his smug grin.
I rolled my eyes and leaned back against him. If he wanted to touch me, he was welcome to, as long as his hands stayed in respectable places. Still, I shook my head at how immature his advance had been.
"You aren't my first prince, Achilleus. You'll have to try harder than that to win me over."
He sat himself beside me on the bench. He wrapped his arm around my waist and lightly held onto my side. My side, my stomach, both parts I didn't particularly care for. I hoped he wouldn't judge too much. Though, after being the one to free me from my fabric prison it would have been very strange of him to do so.
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"Lady Aryanna, I will try until you sicken of me." he laughed and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "If it so pleases you, I will try until I sicken myself. Good things take persistence." I decided that he may be right. My best books had taken weeks to read through. The longer the journey, the greater the reward. Still, he was a prince, and I had no interest in being his princess. The sooner I could get him to give up, the sooner I could be on my way.
"You have until the ball. If you haven't won me over by then, you best be on your way. I'm very stubborn like that."
he chuckled and kissed my shoulder. "I know, your father warned me as much. But I don't mind. I'm certain you will love me. So certain that I will wait for you to come to me." I glanced up at the prince and caught his prideful smirk. I rolled my arms and started to stand up.
"I should be leaving you then. You came to me this time after all." I picked up my corset and walked inside without turning back to face him. In my mind I imagined some look of shock at being turned down. I made no attempt to stifle the smug grin on my face.
The Prince found me in the library later that day. I was cozy beside the hearth reading an old journal I had found of an adventurer that had once journeyed west, before The Great War. It was a terrifying story about a haunted forest where the veil between living in death was hardly present.
The harsh woods creaked under the weight of the wind. In my many days in the woods I was far too aware that the wind was an illusion, brought about by the dead to make us feel more at home before they attacked.
The hairs on the back of my neck were at attention. He had been on the run for pages. I could feel it closing in on him.
"Hello My Lady."
I jumped out of my seat and threw the book halfway to the ceiling.
"YOU" Bastard "You.... Scared me! Don't you know not to sneak up on a lady like that?" I yelled at him, already up and out of my seat.
His laughter made my skin boil. "I am sorry, My Lady, I would have warned you about your book if I had known it would be so scary."
"It's not scary." I protested. "It's suspenseful, there is a difference."
He chuckled. "You seemed scared... Unless you mean to tell me that you weren't frightened, but were instead suspended." a smile crept across his lips that made me want to punch him in the face, softly, with a chair. "Of course, then I might wonder how you found your way back to the ground."
I flipped him off.
"How lady like." He mocked, not particularly seeming phased.
"I have a real knack for it."
He handed my book back to me "I don't mind it. As long as you know your place in public there is no harm in letting loose in private." I snatched the book from him.
"That's the crazy thing about books. My place can be wherever I want it to be."
"Of course, and with me, In the East, You are free to be whoever you'd like as well." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"And what is my place in public for you. Heir giver, silent and obedient, non existent while you have affairs? What flavor of princess is it my place to be?"
He looked down at the floor and wet his lips before meeting my eyes again. "I want you to be the princess you've always wanted to be. In a beautiful kingdom, with fascinating people."
I laughed and shook my head. In no world did I dream of being royalty in any land.
"And if I shouldn't want to be royalty?" I asked.
"Then you should have sent me home already. Are you keeping me around because I make you laugh, or just because I'm fun to look at?"
"I keep you around because it is easier than arguing with my parents. If I wanted to laugh, I would look for you. As it turns out, I don't have to because you have once again come to me." I teased.
"This building does not have a brick of excitement in it. What am I meant to do?" He joked
"Put your dazzling eyes to use and flirt with a servant, that's what the last guy did."
"What?" he furrowed his brow. "I'm sorry that happened but, my eyes are only so dazzling when they look at you." He grinned. He had something smart to say about everything. I felt my fingers tighten on the binding of the journal.
"I know you are supposed to flirt, but this clever word play and smugness does not do it for me. In fact, every time you open your mouth I want to leap off the roof."
I had probably been a bit more firm that I meant to. shooting off at him like this would certainly make my mother fly off the handle if she found out, but I meant it. Even still, the hurt look on his face made me feel like I would be better off to apologize.
"I'm sorry, I didn-"
"Don't." He interrupted. "I'd rather you tell me I am not meeting your expectations. I'd rather feel embarrassed about it now when I can fix it. It is much kinder of you than watching me make a fool of myself for the whole week." He hovered behind the chair for a moment considering if he wanted to add onto what he said, but chose to just leave.
Dinner came with its usual abundance. I ate quietly and listened as the men discussed trade and affairs throughout the human regions. Right now, that means Achilleus was asking easy questions of my father in some attempt to stern conversation, it worked well enough.
"I believe that the North means well, but my kingdom has little use for the iron they offer. How would you decline their trade without angering them." Achilleus asked, waving his fork around as he spoke.
"I wouldn't. Your trees are worth less, and more abundant. I would trade them for your wood and then resell their Iron at a lower price." My father gave a hearty laugh. He found great joy in the art of trade, It was what our kingdom was best known for by far. I pushed chicken around my plate and cleared my throat.
"wouldn't it be rude to them, to undersell their own goods?" I asked, raising a brow. My father scoffed.
"It's called business sweetheart." he waved his hand dismissively at me. It's called business I mocked in my head. I kept my head down for the rest of the meal. I pushed my peas into a shape of our castle and shut out the remainder of their conversations about the other kingdoms. It didn't take long, all that was left for them to gossip about was the southern kingdom which dealt mainly with the sea. All they ever brought back with them were fish and maps. I checked back into the conversation for a moment to see if I could wiggle my way out of picking around my cold food.
"Together Prince, I hope we can bring some sort of deal together to get more of your men to aid in our defense of the West Woods." My father proposed with a not particularly subtle head tilt towards me. The prince gave a chuckle and nodded along with him.|
"I would love to commit more men to your cause if the situation was right."
I groaned at the thought of being traded around like my sisters had, in exchange for troops. I knew that we needed the manpower to patrol the forest to the west of us. Nobody ever cared to document what laid beyond the forest, But we had our faerie tales. It was certain that nothing good laid beyond the forest. Pretty land perhaps. But there was no civilization, and no land worth civilizing, not with all the monsters that crawled through it like the plague.
I remembered asking my mother about these lands, before I was old enough to read. She told fantastic stories of how the four kingdoms banded together to fight the creatures back through the forest. The old king, my Great-grandfather, gave his life to secure safety not just for our family, but for all of the kingdoms. He was a great man, a noble man. The kingdoms all honored him and his sacrifices by sending their strongest soldiers to us to make sure the kingdoms stay safe. After years ensuring that nothing crosses the forest, they stopped trying. The other kingdoms could not justify losing so many men to us for no reason, and so the troops stopped coming as well. These days, the kings' men patrolled the edges of the forest regularly. Reporting creatures they found, and Killing them if needed. Nothing tangible ever made it home, not enough to truly convince the other kingdoms of danger, but the stories they told in the taverns nearby made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. The West lands were a terrifying place, no doubt. A barren wasteland of risk and danger, and yet every story I ever heard of it was full of so much color and excitement. I wandered what I might find on the other side of those woods if I snuck across. Maybe I would find beautiful lakes and hills. Maybe I could build a little cabin right on the edge of the woods where I could be safe. Maybe I wouldn't live long enough to make it that far. As far as I could tell, It was the last true adventure to be had in our world.