Chapter Text
In the budding morning light, a dance of fingers ghosted upon the heated skin of a lover, deep in slumber. His pale chest rising and falling with every breath; its dance erasing the anxieties of his lover. Mayhap, she had been frightened he would have expired in the night. The warmth of the fire was dwindling as the embers flared in their final song, soon a hapless overtaxed servant would come in to wordlessly throw another log on and stoke the dying remains back to life.
Politely, she would pretend not to glance at the entangled pair as they lie among the cups, clothes, and crumbs scattered about as she went about her chores. In the ruse, she would share a knowing glance with her mistress; one that women of all status knew. The expression of knowing the girl had lied awake all night along with a fretful silent apology for not being able to spare her of a startling conclusion. The realization that her mistress lived in a man’s world where her desires would go unfulfilled. A promise to clean the mess with dignity would end their exchange and the servant would leave the young girl to her husband and her thoughts.
In the moment between an inhale and exhale, the woman supposed that everything went according to her mother’s wishes. Despite the discomfort, she had done her duty the night prior. She had bit her lip as the lords of the realm stripped her of her garments on the way to the chambers she would share with her husband. She had suffered their lewd jokes and mirth-filled japes about the maiden she was soon to transform from. Persevered as her lover claimed his rights to her maidenhead without compliant or hesitation. She didn’t bargain or weep as he pushed her onto the bed, she remained stoic in the face of her fate as the layers of her privacy or safety were removed. She didn’t even ask the man who had become her husband to sooth her when the deed was done.
No, she had falsely permitted the man to roll off her, his seed leaking from her as her maiden’s blood cooled and dried upon her thigh. Listened as her lover sighed and sneered at the chortling voices which praised his honour to the duty of bedding his maiden wife. She had pulled the blankets tightly to her breasts and lied awake listening to the faint sounds of the festivities celebrating her marriage, the crickets and homeless crying in the night, and the soft snores of her husband lulled by wine and her body. Among the witching hour’s reverie, the young woman would find she held no power that she didn’t seize in her own mind.
“The trail leads to a forest of green…. Green thread…. Green eyes… tearful and red….. green will adorn their garments as it adorns their shrouds.” The ghosts of the Red Keep listened in tender care and vow, her ancestors being the only witnesses to her declaration or so she thinks. “A war kindles among the polite conversations of kin, the call for war embraces the pieces upon the chessboard.” Daring a glance, she can see her lover remains blissfully unaware in his dreams. Despite their awkward arrangement, her heart beats with joy that her lover is comforted by his dreams. “The red beast rides for glory and anger while an old mount rides for remembrance…” A breath’s pause passes, interrupted by the fire crackling. “A gold one rides for love of its rider.” she murmurs into her nails as she chews them to the skin. A disgusting habit she had inherited from her mother despite her grandsire’s pleas.
A groggy voice calls from her side, hoarse from sleep.
“Helaena…… what did you say?”