Chapter 1.
She stood with her head bowed low, nimble hands clasped gracefully in front of her dress. Around her, the music of the evenings festivities echoed around the hall, mingling with the cries of laughter, the smell of hog roast, mead and wine. “You do not seem to be enjoying yourself my lady.” The voice of the young lord confronted Edwynn playfully. Lifting her eyes to look up at he who spoke, Edwynn merely smiled cautiously at him, though her mind desired to scream at him to leave her be. “Festivities are not my strongest point I fear my lord.” She replied to him raising her chin stubbornly. The young lord laughed at her reply, took a sip from his goblet of wine, all the while his eyes never left hers. “Not even your own your birthday my lady?” He countered playfully.
The raven haired girl found herself wondering why such a lord was so insistent on trying to impress her. Granted he was handsome. He was tall, lean and a waterfall of fair hair cascaded over his shoulders, highlighting his black open neck shirt that had been roughed up due to too many goblets of wine, she assumed. Even though he was appealing she was not stupid. Something told her that he was not what he made himself out to be. Her mother had invited him to the feast in hopes that a union would be enforced. Marriage was not something that Edwynn was interested in not while her heart belonged to another.
Suspiciously she eyed the young lord before she spoke. Her eyes narrowing slightly. “Forgive me my lord but I don't think I know your name?” Her admirer laughed again at her defiance and respectfully took her slender hand in his, bowed low and placed a soft kiss upon her skin; all the while never taking his eyes from hers. “My lady.” He addressed himself confidently, an arrogant smirk etched upon his face. Edwynn was not fazed by his sickly charm. Instead she found it rather amusing. “And you are?” Edwynn's mind erupted into a fit of laughter at the young lord's question. Most guests who attended a feast knew who their guest of honour was. It was plain to her now that he was only at her celebration by her mother's permission. It took all the strength she had not to burst out laughing. “If I may sir,” She began, her voice wavering slightly from fear of laughter, “But, isn't it customary for the guests to know their guests of honour's name?” The look on the young lord's face filled her with so much joy that she knew her words had wounded his pride. He seemed to shrink away at her words, grow careful, but still he did not turn and walk away. He was stubborn it seemed. “In most cases you are right my lady, but where I come from, it is customary for the guest of honour to reveal their name when asked.”
Edwynn could not fight the smirk that threatened to burst free upon her lips at his arrogance. She admired his Gaul and found him to be rather an amusing, annoying fool than a suitor. So, reluctantly, the raven haired girl played him at his own game. “Edwynn.” The noble lord leant back on his heel and smiled in triumph at finally getting a reply. “A lovely name.” He insisted. “But tell me Edwynn, why do you hide away? This feast has been thrown in your honour. Surly it would be a waste to not show off the jewel of the evening?”
“And you want to be the one who shows off the jewel of the evening?” Edwynn questioned him sharply. She had no time for men who insisted on wooing her for their affections. There were other things that occupied the young woman's mind, and a rich, handsome noble lord was not one of them. “You must excuse me my lord but I do not take to meaningless flattery the kindest. Thank you for taking the time to attend my celebration but I grow weary and must rest. Enjoy the food and drink merry. Farewell.”
With her last words spoken, Edwynn departed from the high table and ever so gratefully sifted through the crowd of people that littered the great hall, stepped over middle aged men who lay passed out in a pool of their own vomit. She was careful to not stain the white lace dress that her mother had embroidered for her. It was symbolic. Edwynn knew. The whole purpose of the dress in white was to proclaim to all bachelor men at the feast that she was still innocent and untouched. Edwynn despised the attention more than anything.
It was a warm summers evening when she reached the outside balcony. The castle gardens were swollen with berry trees, rose bushes and wheat fields. The smell of the harvest perfumed the air and Edwynn inhaled the scent with closed eyes, letting the smell intoxicate her more than the wine she had consumed. Gently opening her eyes, Edwynn let herself get lost in the vastness of the kingdom of Wearhalla, drank in the beauty of the overflowing hills of green that shone emerald in the rays of a red sunset. Below her, voices of the village folk echoed through the silence.
The festive music had silenced the moment that she had entered the outside and shut away the celebration behind her. Being born a noble woman, a life of a princess was something that Edwynn had ever wanted. The life of a queen, like her mother, meant nothing to the raven haired girl. There was so much formality, so much to learn and most of it was not useful, not beneficial. Often Edwynn wished for a simple life.
It was the sound of a cold harsh voice that made Edwynn's blood run cold. “Edwynn.” Slowly the raven haired girl turned to face the wrath of her mother. The queen. She was dressed in rich crimson, her dress beautifully crafted, tailored tight at the waste, the corset perfectly fitting her tiny body, the skirts cascading around her hips like a beautiful parasol. Her own black hair hung in glossy tendrils over pale shoulders. Edwynn thought how she looked more like a sister than a mother.
“Yes Mother,”
“Have you spoke with Lord Morris? I saw him earlier speaking with you but you dismissed yourself. Where is he now?” When the queen spoke her words were filled with ice.
“I don't know.” Edwynn answered her mother just as coldly. “I left him at the high table.” A look of fury crossed her mothers face at her answer. Edwynn readied herself for the sting from her mothers hand as it struck her hard in the face. Once, her mother's strikes would have hurt the young woman, but now Edwynn had grown accustomed to them. “Insolent child!” The queen hissed. “Do you not know what I have gone through in trying to find a suitor for you? And this is the thanks I get? He is of royalty and did not have to agree to come to your celebration yet he made the effort to come and you greet him with cold contempt? How dare you be so ungrateful!”
“I do not wish to marry mother.” Edwynn replied mechanically. The queen scoffed at at her daughters disobedience. “You are of an age too marry now child!” The ice queen snapped. “You are have reached your twentieth birthday and you are still unwed! Do you know what shame that brings our family? Under the eyes of the gods I was wed when I was sixteen. You will and you shall go back and find lord Morris and make your apologies to him. If I don't see his lips upon yours tonight I will not be happy! Do you understand?”