Beastly

The conditions

She danced with the lord of Nightfalls,she mentally slapped her palm to her forehead repeatedly,how could she have danced with two lords in one night and one of them being their supposed suitor,great!,and what was with all the gloomy faces. Going back to the person who had just spoken to her,she said,

"I didn't mean to."

"Of course you didn't."he said giving her parents a look as he sauntered towards the table, opening the wine and pouring himself another glass he took a prolonged sip from it leaving the room in both silence and dread.

Dropping his glass back on the table he turned to look at Cathrianna half leaning on the table with both hands in his pocket as he drank in her appearance,she looked pale and her once neat bun was now messy due to the wind and was threatening to fall if not for the pins that held them in place and her eyes....

"To think you kept the gem away from me." He muttered to no one in particular.

"It wasn't my intention to-"he made to speak only to be cut off again.

"But you did." He said as his smile came back on his face.

"It is quite obvious what my choice is , isn't it lord winter?"he said ,his eyes moving from Thrianna to her father.

"Lord Valot,if I may say,she is still quite young and Beatrice here is the crown princess,it would be a shame if she is to stay unmarried whilst her younger sister gets married so if it's not too much to ask,I would plead you take another pick."Fredrick said with the courage he had gathered during their long wait.he couldn't just let his last daughter go,not with the circumstances surrounding,he wasn't ready for it,he had thought that he would choose Beatrice but he didn't, there were things he would have loved to tell her but at this point he feared he wouldn't be able to and with a marriage like this visits are like a once in a blue moon affair not to speak of the type of person she was getting married to,he feared he would never see her again.

Beatrice felt her heart sink at her father's words,did he really want her married off so bad?,but then he had a point, Thrianna couldn't be the first one to get married - not that it matters to her but the people would put so much pressure on him and it wouldn't be good and it wasn't that Thrianna was too young either cause the ladies were usually given off in marriage at the age of sixteen but it's just that it wasn't the norm of their family.

Lord Valot's gaze held Frederick's for a while before he took his wine glass from the table and raised it to his lips,that they were going to such lengths to keep her away from him only made him want her that much more,it wasn't just that she had caught his interest on first glance but also did they really think that anyone could strike a deal with him and he was ever going to make this easy?,he wasn't in the habit of helping people but when he did it came at a really huge price and this time around he might have hit the jackpot, that he agreed to help didn't mean he wasn't going to make good use of the opportunity that presented itself and for some reason he just found delight in their horrified faces and his smile brightened even more.

Thrianna who hadn't said another word since her last stood in place still trying to process their discussion and apparently her parents didn't want her married off just yet but then this formidable man was having none of it.she couldn't help but mentally laugh at her situation ,if someone had told her that she would be the one getting married to the lord of Nightfalls she would have probably laughed in their face but then Beatrice loved another and she didn't know if she would be able to bear the marriage, Thrianna thought as she looked at Trice who seemed motionless.

"I'll marry you."she said as her gaze shifted from Trice to lord Valot who for some untold reason had a creepy smile on his face and right after her words it broadened that much more making her shiver just at the thought of seeing it everyday of her entire life.

Laurel looked alarmed by her words while Frederick looked heartbroken like he had just lost a war he didn't know he started.

"On my conditions."

"Two conditions."lord Valot said giving her an exact number while she glared at him,it was her conditions she should get to choose the number ,he had no right to that but then this was actually for the good of her family so she would go with what ever he was giving her.

She sighed as she spoke,"I get to see my family from time to time."

"Of course,I wouldn't dare keep you away from your family."he said.

Okay that was one ,she thought as she got down to the second one.

"You would court me for a year."she said, well of course she wasn't ready to marry him, in fact she wasn't ready to marry anyone at all and she was definitely not ready for anything concerning marriage consummation and she knew that the only way to get that was to delay the marriage,she didn't even know what she had done to deserve this,she knew she always got into trouble but this time around she was on her own and it came to her .

"That is absurd, one month and that is all I can offer."he said,he couldn't believe she was even bargaining with him when they had more to lose.it looked like she was going to talk again but she looked at her sister's and choose to keep her mouth shut, good.

And there goes her condition,now she had just one month to keep her virtue, perfect!,and there goes her dreams of marrying the love of her life,she fisted her hand as she stared at the floor,if only they knew how hard this was for her.